MUSIC REVIEW OF THE DAY: RICK FINES - DRIVING HOME

How come when I hear Rick's music, I always think, "Oh, that's some fine stuff...".  Oh, right.  Anyway, it's an apt way to describe his soulful and easy-going roots and blues, built on relaxed grooves and thoughtful writing.  The title cut puts us in that place where we're taking in the sights but thinking hard about who and what we'll find when we arrive, taking the long scenic route for a little more thinking time.

Fines and the crack group are pretty adaptable throughout.  This One Day has a New Orleans feel, while Ridin' The Rails gets funky and Little Feat-friendly with lots of his slide guitar lines.  Why Do We Treat Love Like That? moves into the roots category, a strong duet with Grainne Ryan, complete with some Spaghetti Western guitar.  With that one a success, Fines stays on the singer-songwriter side for the emotional When The Rain Ends, another thinking and driving song, searching for that love, and another class job with the lyrics and the slide.  He's just enough in the John Hiatt school to please Hiatt fans but not enough to say he's copying anything.  These are fresh and personal lyrics.

Long Gone is a good kicker, the drums, sax and piano all getting a chance to pound, a high-energy change of pace midway.  Things get spooky on Hounds Howling Up On The Hill, a musical equivalent of a Poe story.  Then it's back to the smoother blues, Make The Change bringing back the groove, while The Sun Is Bright proves a fun closer with its casual reggae feel.  But I'll go back to the lyrics one last time, on the penultimate number, The Winds Of Time.  "The air is rich with the scent of last year's leaves where they fell," he tells us, evoking the end of winter, "and the snow still remains on the north side of the trees."  There's a Canadian songwriter at work, let me tell ya.  That's some fine stuff.