Rice Moorehead
You Make Me Feel …“Honky soul” is a good name for what Rice Moorehead does. The South Filthy/Hickoids bassist’s solo LP siphons a bit of those bands’ fried country frazzle, but “Honky Soul,” the third track, blows open doors with sax solos and Moorehead’s smooth guitar work. Elsewhere, opener “Where I Stay” is a lustful daydream over some nasty slide guitar, and follow-up “It Don’t Matter” lays down the pick-up line. The album gets soulful assistance from Karla Manzur on “Unlearn” and “You Can See” and from Texacala Jones on window-steamer “Tex Pants.” Perhaps it’s all the ladies surrounding Moorehead, including drummer Jill Csekitz and bassist Cindy Toth, that gives You Make Me Feel … its levity. By the final title track of carnal declaration, he and Manzur propose to do it in the road, and the feminine balance saves it from being too hokey, or honky.
This article appears in May 7 • 2010.