WALKER MCGUIRE EP - WALKER MCGUIRE
LCM ALBUM OF THE WEEK
- Release Date: 12th January, 2018
- Artist: Walker McGuire
- Genre: Country, Country Rock
- Record Label: BBR Music Group - Wheelhouse Records
- Tracks: 5
- Website: http://walkermcguire.com
- Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)
Jordan Walker and Johnny McGuire have been working very hard to make a name for themselves in Country music. Signed to BBR Music Group’s Wheelhouse Records as the new duo Walker McGuire, they take an opposites-attract approach to their music, fusing electrifying “brotherly” harmonies with their fresh new take on modern country. Their new self titled debut EP provides a excellent showcase for this very talented duo and a great glimpse of future promise. I've seen Jordan & Johnny perform live at Bush Hall & Cadogan Hall in London last year and I've been very impressed on both occasions.
Jordan & Johnny first met onstage at a writers round just days after moving to Nashville, Jordan the “super country” guy, raised in Texas with a love for classics like Keith Whitley and Dan Seals and Johnny the quintessential “rootsy” guy, a Kansas City native schooled by left-of-center icons like Tom Petty and John Prine discovered a yin-and-yang musical connection that simply shouldn’t have worked, but there was no doubt that it did. Aside from the differences in taste, the duo even look like polar opposites. Jordan in an ever-present ball cap and cowboy boots and Johnny in his laid-back city threads, but their vocal blend has a chemistry that could melt steel, a match of crystal-clear and raspy tenors that recalls sibling-harmony greats. Since solidifying their bond, Walker McGuire have set to work honing their sound on the road, building an under-the-radar fanbase and playing close to 300 cross-country shows each year including a trip to the UK last year.
“The sound ranges from those old-school ballads to really uptempo, in-your-face pop-country rock,” Johnny explains. “We tell people, if you took Keith Whitley and Tom Petty and intersected them at Matchbox 20, that’s kind of what we’re going for” Jordan adds.
The duo has a lot to offer like the tender but playful “Mysteries of the World,” co-written by the duo about the against the odds nature of true love (plus other mysteries (like where do the socks in the dryer go, D.B. Cooper, JFK and more). Trying to explain how out of seven billion people on the planet. two people end up together and fall deeply in love.
Their latest single 'Lost' continues the theme of deep and close relationships. When he is together with his lover and they kiss he feels totally lost....and he wouldn't have it any other way. "Lost like a country boy's first time in the city......Lost like a ship in the middle of the ocean, with no stars to show me where I'm going.......I feel lost and I don't want to be found, girl". Since it's Spotify inclusion in Spring of 2016, “Til Tomorrow” has been streamed over 23 million times. This global hit captures the see-saw of emotions we all struggle through after a breakup, even some time later. “We wrote it like we were sitting on a bar stool, ordering drinks like ‘I’m fine. I’m good. I don’t need her,’” Jordan explains. “But in the morning you wake up and it hits you like a ton of bricks, you check your phone and you’ve texted them in the middle of the night.” 'Forever Young' reminiscences about their college years. Having the feeling of being invincible and being 18 forever. “Best Kinda Bad” tackles the flip side of attraction, an epic uptempo song about the wrong girl who is too good to forget. Some very clever lyrics in this one.
Guided by veteran producer Mickey Jack Cones (Dustin Lynch, Joe Nichols), Jordan and Johnny are very talented artists in their own right. But when put together they’re simply unforgettable. More than 200,000 miles in a beat-up van has introduced their music to fans across the country and now its time to take the next step. But even though they’re out of the van, into a bus and working on their debut release, some things will never change. “At the end of the day, you can impress your peers in Nashville with the songs you wrote, but can you go out and entertain the guy who just worked 9 to 5 and really doesn’t even want to be there, but his wife dragged him out?” Jordan asks. “That’s the big picture.”