City Moon - Down Our Road 
Review By: George Peden, CSO Staff Journalist
5/14/08

It would easily be ten years. It must be. Could it really be that long? Back then, I was doing a show on Melbourne (Australia) radio and a listener asked if I’d heard of City Moon. I hadn’t. Long story short, I contacted the band and a post-rushed copy of the album arrived. I remember the boys, who hail from the same place as Garth, Oklahoma, impressed me with their Way Too Hot debut.

I wrote a review piece on the album (it’s below). As is the way of these things, the music came, I wrote the piece and we both went on our way. We lost touch. But over the years, I continued to play tracks from their first album in my radio shows. I often wondered what became of the guys.

Now I know.

What a recent surprise it was to receive an e-mail from the band. They told me they were fine and had a new album out. Would I be interested in hearing it?

You bet!

Down Our Road is out now on Rockin Records. It proves that a lengthy studio sabbatical hasn’t hurt the band. Their sound is tight, their song choices of ballads and toe-tappers offers balance, and their self-penned efforts show the guys know country music.

The album fires open with a Virgil Bonham co-write, one of six on the album, the moody "Horseshoe Bend". It’s a setup cut, one leading into a well-played and well-crafted song folio that follows. Tracks like "Car Trouble", an energetic toe-tapper that offers the remembered line from the frustrated ready and waiting driver, "…when you’re ready to go, me and dog will be in the truck."

Across the album, there is homage to the band’s favored icons. "The House Is Rockin’" pumps it’s infectious riff and lyrics with all the remembered energy of the Stevie Ray Vaughan original. "Wonderful Tonight", a tune inspired by one-time wife to Eric Clapton, Patty Boyd, is a haunting memory, while the standard Johnny Cash epic "Ring of Fire" is a perfect album fit.

"God Bless John Wayne" is a timely tip to patriotism and parochial values, and the Jim P. Blair/ J.Dunham-penned "Lines On My Face" is a myopic on a loser’s lament. The tune, with it’s beer-etched pessimism, shares how the lines on our hero’s face resemble the lines on the road – long and goin’ nowhere – while he tells us his pick-up hasn’t been cleaned in years, save cleanin’ the inside spillin’ drinks while changin’ gears. Still, it doesn’t matter, as our cowboy tells, he’s no longer dating beauty queens. It’s politically incorrect, sure, but it has a familiarity some would know. "Grandma’s House" is a somber perspective from Grandma’s yard –the state of the house with it’s aged deterioration, pairs with the memories of the love and happier times now past. Listen out also "I Just Wanna Know", a tune that hits its peak with Britney Bonham’s emotive pitch on a song of family strife and struggle.

Down Our Road has whetted this reviewer’s appreciation for the guys and their music. Again. A memo to the band: Don’t take years to make the next one. Please?

And from the 10 year old review vault…

Oklahoman country band, City Moon, has watched, waited and played. They watched as same state favoured son, Garth Brooks, barnstormed the world on his recent global tour. They waited for a record deal to spell recognition for the years’ working for next- to- nothing. They’ve even played in the same beer halls as Garth did, early in his career. Brooks’ may be Standing Outside The Fire, but it’s City Moon who have become Way Too Hot.