Boston based The Brightwings are made up of 3 singer/songwriters with an emphasis on three-part harmony vocals where the influences are The Eagles, Tom Petty and Crosby,Stills,Nash & Young. Matt Rafal, Dave Dombroski and Dan Holden were all members of the alternative rock act Missing Joe that licensed music to "Dawson creek" and several MTV shows. When the trio decided to take their music in a different direction, they added drummer Jayme Tardiff and The Brightwings were born. Their 8 track debut EP "Stay" is a well crafted record of midwestern rock with a country flavor, their sound will appeal to fans of Venice, The Storys and Don Henley. Dave Lamoureax of Augustana played keyboards on "Can?t stand me" which is one of the more rocking tracks. I think their mix of midwest rock and country is perfectly balanced and the harmony vocals are as professional as anything done by The Eagles. These 29 minutes contains several midtempo tracks where the highlights are the 2 opening tracks "All I need" and "Many miles" plus a real nice cover of Dave Loggins 1974 hit "Please come to Boston" (he?s the cousin to Kenny Loggins). This is good stuff!
P?R?S OPINION:
**** (four shining stars)
I came home the other day and there was an envelope waiting for me with a CD with this band. I?ve never heard of them before and it took me a week or so before I played the album for the first time, and then I sat down in my office in front of the computer one evening and put the CD into the player - and - holy freekin macaronis! - out came perfect modern midwest rock in the same genre as Better Than Ezra, Gin Blossoms, Stephen Kellog, The Thorns and Pat McGee Band!! Was I surprised or was I surprised! The album have been a constant friend ever since and this album (it?s just 8 songs though) is MORE than a must if you enjoy the names you just read about. These guys are playing in the same division and I can just stand up and bow and say - welcome to the club.
John Mellencamp was never comfortable with the fact that he had changed his name to the stage name ´Johnny Cougar´. However, his success made it difficult to change back, so in the 80s he became the hybrid John Cougar Mellencamp.
