For singer/songwriter/guitarist Dave Simonett of the progressive bluegrass band
Trampled by Turtles,
Dead Man Winter has been described as his rock & roll side project (on the official
TbT website), but both parts of that description may be dubious. First, the music on
Dead Man Winter's debut album
Bright Lights isn't mostly rock & roll. True, "Get Low," "Cry for Help," and "Industrial Daybreak" all answer to that description, with their rock rhythms and electric guitar riffs. But much of the album is folk-rock at best, or even country-pop. Still, it can be said that the sensibility Simonett exhibits in his sly songwriting and strained tenor singing is rock-oriented, and when he does rev things up, as on "Get Low," he suggests
Neil Young with
Crazy Horse. The rest of the time, he suggests
Young in one of his more folkie or country moods. Whatever the style, however, the music and the band playing it are distinctive enough that the "side project" tag seems inappropriate.
TbT is just coming into its own with chart albums like Duluth and
Palomino. But
Bright Lights demonstrates that Simonett needs to split his time between them rather than relegating
Dead Man Winter to secondary status. ~ William Ruhlmann