Review- Tony Logue: Dark Horse
“Southern Rock n Roll” is the ready answer from Tony Logue when asked what kind of music he plays. He lays it out plainly in the lyrics to “Grindstone” from his new album Dark Horse released on February 21st; “Wood on steel and blood on bone/A black .45 and a stale microphone/The swampland boogies and the Heartland rocks/While the boys in the band are tickin’ like a clock/Southern Rock and Roll.” His band is named The 184 after the local Plumbers & Steamfitters Union in Paducah, Kentucky. It’s a nod both to the hard-working attitude of the group and to the years Logue spent on the job as a card-carrying member of that organization. It’s that same grind-it-out mentality still driving Tony every day. Dark Horse will be his third full length release since Jericho debuted in 2022 then followed with The Crumbs the next year each featuring a set of originals told from a blue-collar perspective.
Of the dozen tracks that comprise Dark Horse, nearly half have been a steady presence on live show setlists for the better part of a year including the first single, “Cinnamon Blonde.” Fellow West Kentuckian Chris Knight has been a major influence on Tony’s songwriting, and it shows in this mountain tale name-dropping Bryson City, the Paint Rock River, and High Top Mountain, as well as Alabama and Tennessee. Ultimately, it’s a tragic love song: “I smell her on the air and I hear her sweet voice calling me/Her cinnamon blonde hair, She’s on my mind tonight, Lord she’s on my mind tonight.”
Most of the big noise in Roots music from Kentucky has always come out of the mountains in the east but the western part of the state is beginning to be heard, The Josephines from Bowling Green, Grayson Jenkins from Muhlenberg County, and Kelsey Waldon from Monkey’s Eyebrow come to mind, following the path blazed by Knight. Working from a base in Paducah gives Logue access to many Midwest cities not readily available to many musicians in the deeper South and that seems to give The 184 a bit of a Rust Belt edge. The trio that shares the stage with Logue each night is grounded by the steady and innovative drummer Jason Munday, the rollicking bass of Kyle Robertson, and the lead guitar of James Lindsey that can sing or sting when necessary.
In addition to “Grindstone” and “Cinnamon Blonde” there are several tracks that fall easily into the Southern Rock file including “The Dawn,” “Comin’ Home,” and “Keeps Me Sane.” The songs that a lot of people have a hard time defining are some of Logue’s best. I call them “Heartland Rock”: those mid-tempo almost-acoustic rock songs that could be country with another band but have a good story-lyric and always a killer guitar solo. “Yellow Rose” is a good example with a song about a stripper and a plot twist. “Savanna” and “Honey Suckles” also can be grouped here with the latter sounding at home on any Red Dirt playlist. “Hammer” is the closest thing to Country that Logue does and as much of a good gospel song as anything which brings Dark Horse to its bare soul. “Thorns” explores our individual demons and how each person has their own, but it’s with “So Help Me God” that Logue opens wide his anxiety about mental health. The song is so raw with emotion that it’s almost uncomfortable to hear. That song performed live in any setting would be difficult.
Tracks become album titles because they represent something special for the artist. “Dark Horse” is clearly Tony Logue’s manifesto with lyrics, “I’ll be the first one there, I’ll be the last to leave/Hustle and grind and work/Mr. that’s my creed/They wanna hold me down and keep me in my place/They all think that I ain’t got what it takes/I’m the Dark Horse they don’t see/Dark Horse, put your money on me/Dark Horse, get a look at this face/Dark Horse, you’ll know my name.” This is Tony Logue betting it all on himself. His last two records were him finding his way with flashes of brilliance, and now with Dark Horse, Logue has a clear direction, an individual sound, and a band of brothers. That sounds like a winner.
Find out more about Tony at the links below:
