Stone Coyotes
Ride Away From The World
Red Cat Records
By William Michael Smith
 The
Stone Coyotes brand of rock has a sort of instant familiarity.
Band leader Barbara Keith has never made any secret of her preference
for raw-edged bands like Motorhead, Black Sabbath and AC/DC,
for rocking punky 80's beats and riffs, for an uncomplicated
approach to writing and a turn-it-up-and-let-it-blast approach
to playing and recording. Likewise, despite being in a hard
rocking band, she has never tried to disguise her love for old-time
country and traditional music. Not that she's of that "it's
all good" mentality.
"So much of the music I hear now seems to be trying so
hard to be smart," Keith said. "I suppose it isn't
chic these days, but we just want to have fun. I'm not saying
it should be dumb or stupid, but I don't want people to need
literature degrees or formal music background to get our music."
I don't know why I've got a monkey on my back
I say, "Come on now, cut me some slack"
Sometime I think it's just too much to bear
But then again, I'm too lazy to care
I don't know why, I don't why
I like to rock, I don't like to cry
Flying blind, I don't have a clue
I don't know why I love you but I do
"We really do make a conscious effort to keep it simple.
We want kids to get our songs, to like them. I'd never try
to be so deep that only the geniuses get it. Our band likes
to rock, and rock to me is usually simple and fun if it's good."
While lyrics like "I Don't Know Why" are certainly
straightforward, Ms. Keith is no slap and dash amateur lyricist.
With a career that goes back to the early '70s post-folk Greenwich
Village rock scene at the Café Wha (where her band occasionally
alternated nights with youngster Bruce Springsteen's fledgling
outfit) and with songs recorded by such widely disparate musical
luminaries as Hank Snow, Delaney and Bonnie, The Dillards, and
even pop superstars Barbra Streisand and Olivia Newton-John,
I suppose we can say Keith's lyrics aren't "smart"
if she insists, but there is still considerable depth.
Recorded in their Massachusetts basement studio, Ride Away
From the World actually finds Ms. Keith reaching once again
into her metaphorical bag of tricks and imagery on tracks like
mystical "Plain American Girl" and the loping, dreamy
"Any Way the Wind Blows." Her songs often involve
dreams and, like real dreams, they shouldn't make sense but they
do. Keith's lyrical dreams usually revolve around foreboding,
fear, rejection, and loss. She makes use of apparitions and
visions, and they aren't all necessarily pretty or comforting.
A conversation with a Native American woman during a dream,
"Plain American Girl" typifies one of Keith's strongest
lyrical knacks.
Indian maid why do you stand so still by the streams that
used to flow?
She said, "My gods have told me secrets you will never know"
And we ride out tonight when the moon is high
Ride away from the world
We ride off down the Mohawk Trail
I'm a plain American girl
There has often been a political undertone to some of Keith's
songs. "Slip the Shackle" is a horrible fantasy about
a man in a Texas prison scored with a metallic Black Sabbath
sound similar to her previous "Situation Out of Control,"
while "Whole Lotta Money" is Keith's heavy metal take
on corporate greed, accounting scandals, and white collar crime.
It doesn't hide much under the veil of pretense or artifice.
No, Keith gets right to the point.
We've all seen it, read about it
Beg, borrow, steal, it's all part of the American dream
Rich people, they got yachts in the harbor
Fountains on the lawn, champagne in the limousine
The album also features more piano than on any Coyote album.
"Plain American Girl" has a long, quiet piano intro
that allows the drama to build up before the band jumps in with
its usual full metal blast.
"I learned the bare essentials of piano as a kid,"
Keith says, "just enough to be dangerous. It was great
when we found this program that lets me play in middle C then
manipulate the key if I need to. With a studio in the house,
I'm able to just go down there when I feel inspired and tinker
around with something I hear in my head. I don't have to force
things to come because I'm on the clock."
The Coyotes have toured Texas extensively the past two years
and the Southern exposure is beginning to show up in some of
Keith's work. Her soul beat "Tic Toc Lounge," a tribute
to Houston's Rhythm Room (the Coyotes' Texas home away from home),
features a smooth groove that represents a nice departure from
the band's guitar snarling norm. It also highlights the smoother
side of bassist John Tibbles' melodic style. On "Pennsylvania
Coal Mine," Keith's lyric manages to project the fear the
men trapped in the Quecreek mine must have felt while she twangs
away in what is another new sound for the band.
Keith's early major label albums were more in a folk rock
vein, and she can easily fall into that presentation if the song
calls for it. She revives gentle versions of two of her most
recognized early works here, the widely known '70s anthem "Free
the People" and the highly respected and often covered "The
Bramble and The Rose."
When it comes to covering other artists, the Coyotes can get
downright playful. Their scorching version of the Black Sabbath/Ozzy
Osbourne monster hit "Paranoid" is as faithful a reproduction
as a three-piece power trio is likely to give. But the truly
fun track here is a modernized, souped-up chunky rendition of
Rick Nelson's "It's Late." Drummer Doug Tibbles was
an extra on the original Ozzie and Harriet Show, which starred
Rick Nelson, and Tibbles came to know the budding teen idol well.
"Ozzie had this great business head and was always after
Rick to mold himself, to get into that star mode, but Rick was
just as nice as he could be. He always made it a point to learn
the names of the people working in the crew and he mixed in with
everyone real well. He really just wanted to be a regular guy,
and it was like when he was around us he could be."
According to Keith, "We think Rickie would really like
our version." The band often uses the song as a concert
closer.
Next up for Keith and the Coyotes is a quieter, more organic
album that will likely be more like Keith's previous musical
incarnations. It will be interesting to see this full-on rock
band working in something akin to an Americana format. Keith
certainly has the voice and the songs for it.
* Ride Away From the Wind is available at www.stonecoyotes.com
Ms. Keith has truly had an amazing career (had Lowell George
play guitar on one of her early albums!) There is some excellent
material on Barbara Keith's early career on the NEMSBOOK site and Fuzz Acid and Flowers
Contact William Michael Smith at wms-at-rockzilla.net
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