Miles From Home CD review on about.com

Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers – Miles From Home – Dionysus
From Kathy Coleman, for About.com

Miles From Home Bottom Line:
There’s a single truism out there in the little honky-tonks & barrooms, & that’s there’s some mighty fine music being made that really isn’t being heard by all that many people. It’s music that’s been stuck with a couple dozen old and new genre names: Americana, alt-country, honky-tonk, rockabilly, Western swing, etc., etc.; but what it all boils down to is actual country music. So choose whatever you want from the list above – and listen to Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers.

About Rube Dee and the Snakehandlers:
Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers hail from Seattle, who gave us the alternative rock movement of the early 90’s; now, it seems, they also produce country music that makes no excuses, just draws from early tradition and mixes and mingles it with the developments that country made over the decades (from Memphis rockabilly to Bakersfield honky-tonk). They rock, they swing, and they just flat-out entertain; it’s pretty clear from this disc that this group must knock ‘em dead in their live shows (as a quick check of their online reviews shows), and like a lot of great live bands, their studio recordings don’t capture all of that energy and sparkle. Still, there’s enough great stuff here that you might not miss the dance floor, the dim lights, and thick smoke. You’ve got the loud, loud music, after all.

This is Ruby Dee’s second full-length CD (fourth overall), and it’s loaded with terrific sounds, from outstanding originals “Since You Went Away” and “Don’t Need A Man” to a pretty rip-roaring cover of Hank Williams’ “Settin’ The Woods On Fire.” Ruby Dee is a sure-fire excellent lyricist, and her words fit like a glove to music written and played by her Snakehandlers, or Jorge Harada. The Snakehandlers are Ruby Dee and Jorge, Sean Hudson, Kipp Crawford, and Bob Knetzger; they’re joined by Liz Smith, Pete Smith, and Lewis Warren, ripping it up on guitars, bass, pedal steel, and drums.

Miles From Home – The Songs:
The original songs on Miles From Home speak in a crystalline manner about love and longing, loss and memory; for all the upbeat melodies, some of the lyrics are crushingly emotional. “The musty smell of things undiscovered, back when you and I were so much younger; Do you remember when we had time on our hands?”

Now there’s poetry in this country, in its rambling roads and words, in the voices of the simple people, in the white cross of Willie Hatcher the thirds. Now Willie drove down 40 about Memphis, Tennessee, but Willie drove a mite too fast, with a mite too much to drink. “I’ve been standing in the shadows waiting for my life to start, holding onto my withering heart, I’ve been standing in the shadows next to you. I’ve been hoping and a praying ’bout crossing over that great divide that’s keeping me wrapped up inside. I’ve been hoping and a praying to get over you.” There is so much to listen to, you might find yourself stopping the dance and just tilting your head to catch those lyrics, those surprising, astounding, interesting lyrics. Ruby Dee is a prize.

Release Date: June 24, 2008 – Dionysus

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