Kevin William Ball – Helluva Town
Self-Released
www.lancecowanmedia.com/kevin-william-ball
10 tracks – 39 minutes
Kevin William Ball was born in California but grew up in Southwest Michigan. He has been playing in various bands since he was twelve years old and has played in various genres including rock, country, bluegrass and blues. He released his first original single in 1974. In 1989, he moved to Nashville and wrote music for other artists. His own band then called Kevin Ball and The Busters released an album in 2001. Other albums followed with his focus on the blues. However, as time passed, he says that he has moved his focus into Americana music which is also sometimes in a blues vein. He cites an interest in Guy Clark and Townes van Zandt for his current direction.
Kevin plays acoustic and electric guitar on all ten original tracks that were either written or co-written by him. He also provides the lead vocals on all tracks. Dave Coleman, who produced and engineered the album, plays lead guitar on all tracks and adds bass on four other songs. Joe Bidwell plays keyboards on seven tracks and adds backing vocals on two. Several other artists guests on various instruments and tracks.
Kevin’s deep, whiskey-soaked voice kicks off the title song as he declares Nashville is a “Helluva Town”. “It will kick you down and then turn around and pick you up again”. While specific to Nashville, he says that it could apply to just about any town. “Teardrops and Tequila Shots” sounds like something Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen might have recorded. “California Kid” seems to be autobiographical as he explains his early life learning to play on a plastic guitar and his growth as a musician. Interesting lyrics tell a solid story.
On “Hard-Headed Heart”, he wails that “I can’t count the times I let a good love go bad. I just keep losing the best thing I ever had.” He describes his heart as “stubborn as a mule and just about as smart”. “Slow Rolling” rocks out as he finds himself “on the tracks to love…I’m slow rolling but I will get there soon enough.” “Waiting On the Rain” is a deeply county song with Pete Finney’s pedal steel leading the song. He notes that “there is no mercy when it is hurting time…Here comes the blues.”
On “You Ever Get to Memphis” is another personal song written from the perspective of the times he spent in the city and was waiting for that someone special while stating that “New York City was never for me”. He says in the liner notes that the song is the story of his life. Dana Cooper plays the harmonica on this song. Next, he says he knows “this girl, such a beautiful girl / it’s a mystery to me how she makes me feel”. It’s a “Soul Thing”.
On “Mo You Know”, “you think you got her down, all figured out, got you spinning around without a doubt, but you got to pay attention, she’s an education of the heart”. Kevin attributes the last track, “Train Song (For Skip)” to a “loud-mouthed, opiniated guy who worked sound at the Radio Cafe” named Skip Litz-Scuffy. One night, when Kevin was performing at the bar, Skip yelled “Play a f…ing train song”, which is something he yelled at every performer that played there. Kevin realized that he did not have a train song, so he went home that night and wrote the song. Next time he played the Radio Cafe, he played the song following Skip’s routine demand for one. Skip loved the song so much that he placed a live recording of the song on his website. Dana Cooper again adds harmonica to the song.
Let’s call Kevin’s music country soul, with an emphasis on the country or Americana sound. Listening to the lyrics, I find myself thinking what the songs would have sounded like if sung by Waylon Jennings, not that Kevin’s voice is a gruff as Waylon’s, but simply that the style of the music on this album seems to fit songs that Waylon would sing. Kevin’s voice while deep, is still smooth and very suited to these songs.
