Morgan’s Road is a collaborative effort between members who are based in Charleston and Florence, South Carolina, and Atlanta, GA while their promoter-manager is based in San Francisco, CA. Featuring the vocals and acoustic guitar of front-man Ben Woodruff, the guitar and vocals of Cameron Allen, electric bass player Matt Chmielecki, drummer, vocalist Tyler Perry, and keyboardist, percussionist Justin Banks.
A few month back Morgan’s Road released their 15-track album “Topics of Love”. And I am totally engulfed by it. It is spectacular in every way. There is rock, funk, ballads and jam orientated songs, all blending perfectly. Cameron Allen’s guitar is lustful and emotional, sweeping across your brain with fiery solos taking you to beautiful places. Ben Woodruff is at the top of his game vocally and lyrically as well. Tyler Perry pounds the skins into every rhythm possible, while being ably assisted by Matt Chmielecki’s time-tracking, pendulum basslines. Justin Banks simply flows with keyboards and percussion instead of fighting with its technicalities.
The entire album is a masterwork but my definite highlights are “Turn Its Back on You”, “Bad Bad Man”, “Dang Diggity”, “Child”, “Sugar On Your Lips”, “Sunny Days ( On The Boulevard)”, “Give It To Me”, “Turn Me On” and “Savannah”.
A blend of everything that is the best in American rock-induced music comes together with Morgan’s Road. They’re loud, slow, fast, and at times in your face, and its one hell of a way to play rock n’ roll, but they add sweat-hot rhythm and groove to the formula, that will sear your ears with emotion, as they shell out all their creative energies on this album.
Morgan’s Road brings a lot of heart and energy to the table on “Topics of Love”. Their lyrical content is clever without being too metaphorical, and Ben Woodruff definitely doesn’t mumble his words or allow them to drown them out with the surrounding music. His vocals are bold and clear, while the phrasing is emotionally charged. Song after song Woodruff’s vocals and Cameron Allen’s guitar will blow you away within a righteous and positive vibe that most bands couldn’t convey with hand-written instructions.
The band comes blasting out of the speakers full-throttle when they kick off the album with “Stay” , making it clear that Morgan’s Road are ready to rock. The song (like the rest of the album) is catchy as hell, featuring all the trademark ingredients that make up this great Southern-Fried sound. They never let up until “Savannah”, the album’s closing track. In-between, each song is just as sonically and melodically spectacular.
“Topics of Love” is fully loaded with an edgy, epic quality, and it is exciting to hear a band harnessing their full melodic potential. All in all, this album deserves our total admiration, as Morgan’s Road show us they have a knack for writing great songs, and are capable of outshining just about everyone else in the genre, while performing them!
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