Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill

Travis Kidd - Anytown U.S.A. URBAN TULSA - CD REVIEW Oklahoma singer / songwriter Travis Kidd performs a fairly basic style of country-drenched Americana. Acoustic guitars are set to twangy lap steel riffs and Kidd's Southern-drawl vocals. His latest release, Anytown U.S.A., is actually more of a re-release. It was recently re-mastered by Tulsa's highly-talented engineer Wayne Morgan of Glass House Studios, and to celebrate, Travis has unleashed it once more. As he notes in the press release, "It's new and improved!" That's not to say that Travis only gets excited about newness. A long history of American musical tradition can be heard on this record. Opening track "Friend" is a bluesy Southern rocker just about to leap from the stereo with an adventurous spirit of interstates and country heartaches. It sounds a little like Grand Funk Railroad's "I'm Your Captain," and climaxes with a big, ripping electric guitar solo. The title track nods its head to bluegrass shuffles, while "For the Better" is Kidd's anthemic country love song. "Mountains" opens with the line 'The wind's blowin' cold through the trees tonight,' and creates something of a Johnny Cash-like melancholy. Impressively, Kidd performed all of the instruments on this record except for the drums, which were handled by his friend Steven Boudreaux. This allowed Travis to stretch out on some of his lap steel and slide chops. You'll find plenty of slinky slide riffsand rugged electric lead lines on this disc. He's a master of country vibes and pulls off an Americana record effortlessly. –- M. G. Urban Tulsa - 5/13/2004