Kyle Park - The Blue Roof Sessions (2015)

omewhere on the shores of Lake Travis, just outside of Austin, there s a house with a blue tile roof. Inside, Kyle Park and his studio band were rattling the walls with one hard-hitting, crank-it-up song after another. This time his sound -- raw, heartfelt and rooted in the honest-to-God, real country music, had a tougher edge, a beat that slammed a little harder, guitars that slashed and sliced with a more aggressive attitude. The result is a milestone in Park s catalog. For the first time, he lets his love for rootsy rock breathe through his music. Thundering drums kick off Drive You, a desperate elegy to love lost. There s a swaggering Stones quality to What Goes Around Comes Around. The power riffs, searing guitar and vocal breaks of One of These Days sprinkle dashes of Led Zeppelin, Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights and Audioslave to this Southern country/rock stew. Born and raised outside of Austin, he started playing country venues when he was just 15. Since then, his singles have regularly settled in the Texas Music Chart s Top 10, with his 2013 single The Night Is Young reaching No. 1. He has also performed in Europe, opening for artists such as George Strait, Gary Allan, Clint Black, Eli Young Band and other country headliners. In the end, Park says, Now I m more comfortable with who I am as a musician and as a fan of music. It would be easy for me to keep making the same record over and over and just have fiddle and steel -- a good, clean, nice traditional record. I m not looking for shock factor, but I am looking to stand out amongst the crowd as far as pushing boundaries.