{"id":29360,"date":"2025-05-13T05:30:57","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T09:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29360"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T14:12:17","slug":"album-review-heavydrunk-and-watermelon-slim-bluesland-theme-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/13\/album-review-heavydrunk-and-watermelon-slim-bluesland-theme-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review: HeavyDrunk and Watermelon Slim \u2013 Bluesland Theme Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The music travels to many destinations on this 11-track, self-released album. Bluesland Theme Park<\/i> is a split set, with tracks by HeavyDrunk (born Rob Robinson) and by award-winning singer-songwriter Watermelon Slim (William P. Homans III). The styles of the two artists are quite different, and the tracks are mixed between HeavyDrunk and Slim throughout the album. Juxtaposed as they are, the songs of the two artists coexist somewhat uneasily, giving the record a character more like a radio playlist than an album-proper.<\/p>\n

Combining carnivalesque melodic licks, rock intensity and a stomping bluesy feel, \u201cBluesland Theme Park\u201d is more than a little heavy on gimmicks. But it\u2019s also an irresistible performance, one that introduces the eclectic musical worldview of HeavyDrunk. \u201cNew Wine\u201d is hypnotic and funky; it features slinky guitar work competing with a chunky horn section and a spirited female vocal chorus.<\/p>\n

\u201cChurch Bells (Little Zion)\u201d is a rousing, gospel-flavored production number. A large chorus supports Robinson while the band chugs along, offering solid support. Appealing, simple organ licks and stabs of brass punctuate the arrangement. \u201cWatermelon Girl\u201d has a Caribbean-meets-Hawaiian musical character, with slack guitar and steel drums. Even among this short set of HeavyDrunk tunes, it\u2019s an outlier. But it\u2019s a nice one.<\/p>\n

>The breezy and subtle \u201cYou Make Me Want To\u201d is a showcase for HeavyDrunk\u2019s vocal prowess. The instrumental accompaniment is low-key, laying the groundwork for the vocal but staying well out of its way. Yet again, the vocal accompaniment is a strong asset. Much heavier is \u201cBetter Worser Too,\u201d a lowdown, meanicing blues with a gravelly vocal and some big, bad horn charts. The tune even folds in a bit of the unexpected, in the form of wah-wah guitar. Fresh is a funky set closer, deftly bringing together all of the supportive ingredients that make HeavyDrunk\u2019s songs as effective as they are: those female vocals, those horns, the tight arrangements.<\/p>\n

Watermelon Slim\u2019s offerings are, by their very nature, a more rough-hewn collection. The first is a loping countrified blues, \u201cLittle Bighorn.\u201d His slide guitar work is always a treat, though Slim\u2019s distinctive vocals may not be for all tastes. An acoustic take of the same song has a different production aesthetic, giving the reading a more audio verit\u00e9 feel.<\/p>\n

\u201cSlim\u2019s Road Food & Cheap Motels\u201d is something of a rocker, with an arrangement that fits its character. Australia is a love-it-or-hate it tune: featuring only hand claps, foot stomps and Watermelon Slim\u2019s voice (and harmonica solo), the song has all the hallmarks of a field recording, albeit with studio production values. A field holler, \u201cAustralia\u201d does underscore Slim\u2019s undeniably impressive ability to sing in tune, unaccompanied.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The music travels to many destinations on this 11-track, self-released album. Bluesland Theme Park is a split set, with tracks by HeavyDrunk (born Rob Robinson) and by award-winning singer-songwriter Watermelon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29361,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,65],"tags":[5679,3715],"class_list":["post-29360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-review","tag-heavydrunk","tag-watermelon-slim","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29362,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29360\/revisions\/29362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}