Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

All 12 tracks on this 2008 album are acoustic guitar and vocal alone. As good as New York-based Jim is (and he's both a very good singer and guitarist), I couldn't help but wonder whether 'If Guitars Could Speak' would have benefitted from a full band in places, if only to provide more sonic variety. The material here is a bit blues rock and a bit country/Americana in approach, while some of his rock influences are clearly Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen. On the quieter numbers the influence is more Neil Diamond, demonstrating just how well Jim Drew can sing. Thematically it's a set of scenes of life: stories such as "This Old Guitar" about a father (presumably his), "The Lady Understands Me" and "All Your Fault" about (presumably) his wife and also includes faith-based items: the opening "Dr It Up" starts out talking about repairing/pimping cars but turns instead to patching up our lives and the way we present ourselves. These meet nicely in "Moments In Time", which speaks greatly of forgiveness. There's some nice melodies in here such as "Many Faces Of Fire", in which the guitar playing is more functional, giving space instead to the vocal. Described as "soulful acoustic rock", this is a very good album that might have found favour with Bruce Cockburn fans, though I doubt very many ever got to hear it.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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