Cole Deggs & the Lonesome - Cole Deggs & The Lonesome (CD)

All Music Guide

Cole Deggs the Lonesome would seem to be true outsiders in Nashville, arriving fully developed on their selftitled debut album. This isn't so, of course, since no band on the scene particularly in 21st century country music has arrived fully formed from the ether. Deggs is well known in Nashville for his songwriting talents, contributing to the catalogs of Kenny Chesney and Tracy Byrd. The band contains two pairs of brothers, Cole (lead vocals and rhythm guitar) and Shade (bass), who hail from Texas, and David and Jimmy Wallace on lead guitar and keyboards, respectively, from Louisiana (the latter three all sing backing vocals), and drummer Brian Hayes fills out the roster. Though Deggs is a gifted songwriter, in typical fashion, Nashville isn't taking any chances on a debut album; Deggs cowrote four tunes of the 11 here. Produced by veterans Mark Wright and Rivers Rutherford, the set also includes tunes by wellknown Music City songwriting regulars such as Angelo, Dave Berg, Hillary... Lindsay, Anders Osborne, Tom Shapiro, Toy Caldwell, Phil O'Donnell, Jim Collins, and Rutherford. The band's sound is what keeps it all cohesive. Deggs, whose gritty roughhewn voice is more Southern rock than country, roars out of the gate whether it's on a tumbling rocker or a ballad. The threepart harmonies that support him make the tunes a bit sweeter while retaining a roots feel, and make the tunes accessible for radio. Read more Less