Houston Bernard’s Ditch This Town meshes a slightly modern country sound with something approaching rock music. He reaches into the heart of country, pulls out the emotive grist, then marries the whole thing to the power of rock and roll.
Title Track “Ditch This Town” gets it edge from perky organ and a swtichy rhythm guitar. Yet, Bernard’s smooth, traveling vocal keeps it in a country feel. Bernard makes this song feel home like country while articulating its sense of departure and a longing to move on to greener pastures.
A rambling banjo line injects a rustic vibe throughout “Pretend.” That vibe lets Bernard build his emotive grist. His chirpy, amicable vocal, a lead guitar that purrs like a cat, and his rhythm section amble on like that banjo and one can feel the huge sense of movement it allows.
Going down tempo, Bernard and his crew press out “Darkest Water,” a quiet, somewhat eerie, contemplative song. Bernard’s voice, more empowered in the more open space, lights the way like a torch and draws the ear in closer. His chorus is irresistibly tasteful, tugging the ear with its plaintive expression. He also has an electric guitar echoing the sentiment in the wide backdrop, a wise inclusion to this confection.
“Ain’t No Friend” gets a motivational beat from its persistent rhythm section. Over that alluring groove, Bernard lays out his smooth, mid-tempo vocal. His voice pulls one in with its solid presence, a magnet for listeners. He has his support band laying out an organ swirl, a twisty, fuzzy guitar line, and his voice gracing the spaces in between. It all comes together in one catchy, fun kiss off to a fake friend.
“In My Blood” finds Bernard unveiling his sensitive family history, an uncle dying from Dust Bowl Flu in Oklahoma, his father fighting in Vietnam, and an uncle who took him in meanwhile. Bernard sends his wide vocal out over a gentle accompaniment of sensitive guitar, understated organ, and a take its sweet time rhythm section. It’s a fantastic contrast between powerful voice and its softer underpinnings.
A slappy guitar chord progression ushers us in to “Ain’t Like Me,” a love song about how our favorite emotion has changed someone. Bernard’s song takes on the changes of love, and he puts it across with a steady sense of purpose, believable without being sappy sweet. Its earnestness is the soul of this song, and the way Bernard brings it forth that makes it such winsome song.
The tender “All We Are Is Memories” builds itself upon a gentle electric guitar melody, its crisp phrasing keeps this one in a heartfelt place. Bernard wraps his smooth, warm timbre around it, making for a sensitive song that glides by as pleasantly as a big cloud on a warm summer breeze. One can’t help but be moved along with it.
“Carry That Torch” blows in the breezy wind of its low key, emotive lead guitar line. Over the brittle tenderness Bernard’s handsomely gritty voice moves considerately through a painterly description of life and love. With each emphatic oomph of vocal projection, the contrast with his understated accompaniment lets each impress in its own right. This one just makes you want to sing along to this piece of prettiness.
At certain points in this album Bernard combines instruments and elements to arrive at substantially attractive sounds. “Wild Desire” weaves electric and acoustic guitar lines to create a rustic feeling. Its springing motion provides a perfect platform for Bernard’s wide, sunny vocal to bounce off of, sailing off with an emotional exuberance, especially during his anthem-like chorus.
A peppy country-rock song, “Come Undone” gets a thick guitar mesh, sweet lines moving smoothly together. Once they have our attention, Bernard croons in an equally smooth vocal. It’s in the way Bernard’s voice seems to swoop into each verse and chorus from a higher perch that gives this tune a fine sense of motion. We know Bernard is taking us somewhere. Well placed drum fills keep the action going as a swirling organ greases the wheels.
Bernard closes out strong with “Broken,” an emotionally honest song marked by his mightiest vocal projection and by an upward swoop of momentum from his accompaniment. His voice erupts into an arcing chorus, a hooky moment to an already alluring piece. Bernard details the lives of broken people as his voice becomes more empowered and his backing band make the song ever wider.
Houston Bernard has accomplished two things on Ditch This Town. He’s created an album as good as anything on country and western radio and satellite stations in the United States. Bernard also puts enough muscle into the support band to pull in many fans of the rock genre. If his Ditch This Town album can somehow reach the ears of big radio, there maybe a New Englander among the stars.
