sallyWritten by James Killen

A lot of Stone Coyote fans have been waiting patiently for three years for the next studio release. Well, they’ve got it! It has the rock tributes, the Barbara Keith lyrics, the covers of old rock and roll heroes and Doug Tibbles, Jr. added to the trio on lead guitar.

The disc kicks off with a heavy rocking beat on the title track about a rocking older vagrant woman, a recurring image in Ms. Keith’s lyrical repertoire. The rocking continues with “Walking on a High Wire”, which flows into “The Ballad of Boonville Bridge” about a young girl done wrong by a reckless young man (another recurring theme of Barbara’s), this time featuring a rocking lead guitar.

The first of four covers on the record is a rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Most of the Time” with Barbara on her piano and singing in a manner of someone sadly accepting their fate. The Coyotes follow Dylan with a rock and roll tribute to the guys in the background called “Rhythm Guitar”.

The band rifled through the album archive to redo a number from one of Robert Plant’s solo efforts, called “Burning Down One Side” featuring some simple distortion techniques on the rocking blues tune. Staying in the blues mode, Ms. Keith summons her best John Lee Hooker impression for “Here Comes the Hurricane” mentioning Texas coastline cities, sure to get the attention of the Massachusetts band’s large Texas fan base.

stonecoyotesAC/DC is next on the list for classic rock covers with a rocking version of “Up to my Neck in You”. The heavy rock continues with “The Lion’s Den”, followed by “It Kept Me Up All Night” that features a rhythm guitar line that Keith Richards would be proud to lay claim to.

“C’est la Vie” is a Dylanesque roots folk song about ennui and feeling alone amongst the bustle of the city of Paris. It’s back to rocking with “The Beat of my Drum” built around a drum/guitar core, which is followed by a cover of the Stones’ “One Hit to the Body”. Barbara saved her best lyrical piece for last on “It Moves You Again” about a song dragging up memories of a lost love.

“Sally in the Doorway” is an album of simple production and straight ahead rock and roll. There are no effects that you couldn’t reproduce on stage and the songwriting is Barbara Keith in her element. The music is fun and comes across as a well-honed garage band, proving once again that the family that rocks together, stays together.