Great Peacock: Making Ghosts

Great Peacock
Making Ghosts
(This Is American Music)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The songs from Great Peacock’s stirring debut might be built around the acoustic guitars and harmony vocals of co-founders Andrew Nelson and Blount Floyd, but they don’t make folk or country music. Still, just because the duo dialed down the volume from the rock bands they both toured in previously, doesn’t mean the tunes on this impressive first release don’t aim for the back rows.

Tracks like the widescreen “Take Me to the Mountain” with its insistent fiddle solo are as anthemic as anything by U2, if more roots oriented. The same holds for the lovely ballad “Tennessee” that preceded this album’s release. It’s shot through with sublime pedal steel, tough electric guitar and laconic vocals, falling somewhere between the softer side of Buffalo Springfield and the country pop leanings of the early Eagles and later Jayhawks. While their harmonies don’t approach those of these classic bands, there is a sure sense of joy and synergy to this music that feels genuine and unforced.  

Aided by producer/multi-instrumentalist Dan Fernandez, songs such as the wistful, wind-swept “Gulf Dreams” are perfect for a bright spring day soundtrack as they float and weave with just enough edge to keep them on the rougher side of the dusky road this band calls home. Ditto for the self-explanatory “Summer Song” that shifts from light and easy to a slower, more somber crawl. 

The twosome claims they want to create music that can be enjoyed by a larger audience rather than the edgier rock of their separate pasts. Mission accomplished then in the sweet, relaxed rolling “Broken Hearted Fool” that recalls the best aspects of Loggins & Messina and later era Poco at their most reflective. 

Unlike most first offerings, the flamboyantly named Great Peacock arrives fully formed with a clear direction. They borrow from the twangy melodies infused in 60s/70s LA rock without sounding either overly traditionalist or retro. Rather, theirs is a fresh, clean and tuneful direction that is commercial yet retains requisite raw energy and inspiration to appeal to the more discerning listeners unconcerned with the slicker aspects of cookie cutter country radio.