The Bloody Nerve’s big new wall of sound

Hot on the heels of their debut EP, ‘Red’, Nashville’s hottest rock vocal duo, with a little help from their talented friends*, have released their follow-up three-tracker, ‘Blue’, which I’ve been invited to review. Due to my geographical circumstance during the cold UK winter, I can only to listen to music on my laptop, so on I went, duly linking to:

http://thebloodynerve.bandcamp.com/

First, let me say that The Bloody Nerve have genetic 

rock and blues connections, with the Bloody

component of The Bloody Nerve, Stacey Blood, hailing from Texas, birthplace of the origin of rock & roll (in the 1880s no less), as my next book ‘How Rock & Roll Evolved’ will testify. His partner, Laurie Ann Layne, comes from New York, where the first recorded blues in history was recorded exactly 100 years ago, as I'm never tired of pointing out.

If like me, you’re listening to The Bloody Nerve through your computer, plug in your head phones immediately. I’ve just put on mine and was hit with such a wall of sound I thought Phil Spector must be producing again.

The new EP’s first track ‘Changin’ Mind’ is a slow, drawling, bluesy soul ballad, with some pretty decent hooks, produced by Nashville’s own David Norris. That’s if a vocalist with the power of Stacey Blood can drawl, and blues and soul can live together in the same song. Actually, The Bloody Nerve show that they can.

‘Changin’ Mind’ and track two ‘Strange’ were both written, produced and sung by Stacey Blood while track three is a nod to Nashville and country rock with Laurie Ann Layne’s powerful rendition of the old Gram Parsons/Chris Etheridge classic, ‘She’.

I keep saying power and powerful but that really is the essence of The Bloody Nerve; two exceptionally powerful voices, one male, one female, backed by a band as tight as the proverbial nun’s lady bits. The depth and power in these guy’s voices virtually classify their sound as power rock. If you like guitar bands with powerhouse vocals then The Bloody Nerve are for you.

 *Stacey Blood, vocals/guitars and Laurie Ann Layne, vocals, are joined in The Bloody Nerve by Terry Bayless, keyboards; Bobby Blood, bass guitar / trumpet; Peter Wolf, drums. Featured on Changin' Mind are Buddy Hyatt, keyboards; Danny Parks, electric guitars; Bobby Terry, acoustic guitars; Wayne Killius, drums.