After some time bouncing around Northern California and Southern Oregon with a series of bands and a series of non-musical projects, guitarist Patrick Flynn settled down to start Silverado Records, an indie jazz/blues sort of joint. His third solo album, Good News, covers a fair amount of ground stylistically, but his specialty is in straightforward blues. The title track shows off a simplistic, but enjoyable little romp through the blues. This is country fair fare -- fun, boogying, and at least a little broad. As the album moves on, we get a slightly more rock-tinged piece with "Money Don't Matter" (which also includes an excellent cameo from Charlie Musselwhite), an overdramatic piano number à la Elton John (but without John's musical gravitas) in "Maybe You're the Dream," and a flute-and-organ fantasy that just might be built over the top of the Miracles' "Love Machine" in "Take the Spirit and Run." The album bounces around here and there, trying to show off the breadth of Flynn's capabilities in songwriting. At the same time, however, it comes off as rather uneven -- there are a number of off-moments, a lot of good moments, but seemingly no really great moments. Flynn has a fair ear for music, and appears to have some notable chops here. With a couple of additional albums scheduled for release within the next year, let's hope that the sound evens out a bit and focuses in on Flynn's real strengths.
© Adam Greenberg /TiVo