Bought 4 CDs at once - this one, new Jakob Dylan (a fine album itself), Ryan Adams, Elvis Costello - and this is the one that stays in the CD player nearly full time. The early Steve Earle comparisons are fair, and I'd throw Chris Whitley's Living with the Law in there too (maybe even Lowell George era Little Feat), but Bingham's decidedly got his own sound, a raw authentic blues-inflected alt country rock that can piledrive on one song and lope on the next. The band's musicianship, particularly on the occasional banjo and slide parts, is exceptional.The sheer number of great songs on this record tell you that this is a guy who's got a lot more in him. Everyone loves "Southside of Heaven," "Bread and Water" is great (first time my girlfriend heard it, she started dancing - isn't any way you can listen to that song and *not* move), but right now I can't get enough of "The Other Side." I'm just sad when it stops after only two minutes.I haven't seen him live yet; I can tell you I haven't been this excited to see someone in person since I first heard Springsteen on the radio.Buy this CD or the MP3 version so he becomes a big star and we can all hear a lot more of him, OK?
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