Review: Rebecca Stephens - "The Fight"
I was lucky enough to be able to hear the tracks from a new album by Rebecca Stephens, a young artist out of Ontario. It's always a great opportunity to be able to to provide feedback for up and coming artists, and to the general public on what to expect.
First off let me explain what I do when reviewing. Artists generally lay out the album as they would like you to listen to it. I tend to break that trend and listen to the album by hitting play on any song on the album. One it lets me hear the songs individually and 2 it's what the general public does. Now don't get me wrong I know that the album layout is important and in this case there is a rhyme and reason for the layout. SO let's get on with the review......
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| Album Cover and music for "the Fight" and Rebecca Stephens are Trademarked and Copyrighted by Rebecca Stephens Music/idreAM, Creative group |
First and foremost my overall opinion............ WELCOME back to Country Music as it was meant to be. We have seen a trend over the last couple of years for the introduction of BRO Country and Rap Country Music to Mainstream Country Stations. If that's what your looking for ...... you are not going to find it here. "The Fight" by Rebecca Stephens is not going to fit in that category. It does however fit in to the Country Music genre that tells a story. Providing the words and a simple country style, Rebecca takes her story from a very personal point of view throughout the whole album with personal touches of the intro to the album "Awake" a short swatch in the morning of waking up and leading into the first song on the album. Not to be confused it is an intro in the style as you would have heard on a Pink Floyd or Led Zepplin to lead in to the album. In this Case almost telling you to wake and hear the real music.
The Intro "Awake" leads perfectly into the third song I listened and second track on the album to "Ol Small Town", having a little influence from another Ontario Girl "Shania Twain", Rebecca adds her own influence to the song and gives a flair to it that is truly her own. Rebecca takes you on a tour of how she sees the world.
Moving into the 3rd track, the radio is still slightly apparent but a shift in the tone and sound leads you to the real sound and story of Rebecca Stephens, who although you hear some of those artists that are definitely an influence on her, has a distinct sound that is real Country. That Story telling kind of Country, and "Till the End" is a love story that leads you through the story of her album.
"Let Love Slide" is definitely one of those songs that will put Rebecca on the map. Bringing her sound to mainstream country stations, and put her in the hunt for an CMAO award, when it hits.
"The Fight" like 'Awake' takes you from one phase of the Album to the next, and is a showcase of the guitar skills of Rebecca, in a similar fashion to that of Lyndsey Ell.
The Album "The Fight" is the story of life and how you need to keep moving forward and take chances. Some may say it is a folksy blues album I would say that you really can hear the country.
The song "My Simple Man" is very country but has that touch of folksy rhythms and vocal runs that showcase the abilities of Rebecca Stephens.
The channel switches to the next song and "Sweet Like Honey" is a rustic rough and tumble country toon something like you would expect from Carrie Underwood or Shania Twain, but you can hear the Guitar rifts of Johnny Cash and all the great artists from the history of Country music. I can see Rebecca swinging baseball bats and breaking things in the video for this one a great tune for Country Radio.
As the last song on the album starts you can see that it is about to end although you have travelled the road that Rebecca leads you on. "& Nobody Knows" finishes the story but like any good story leaves you wanting more and waiting for the next season to see what happens next.
The album is available on Rebecca Stephens Music it is definitely one to add to your playlist the whole album is worthy of it. But listen to the words the heart and the soul of Rebecca Stephens as she lays it all out there for the world to hear.
This one gets 4 guitars out of 5
Until the next string breaks.....
