The Cadillac Junkies are well on their way down the road of rock n roll country stardom. Do they call it alt-country anymore? Turning Heads and perking ears at every stop as they roll down the highway cut out by their predecessors. The Cadillac Junkies are cruising at top speeds.
Front Woman Shalisa Liesch and drummer Dennis Boisvert are at the heart of the Cadillac Junkies sound. On their 2017 “Drinking Down Dinner” album the love for the country sound that drops comfortably over the rock n roll base is always first and foremost. In fact, the track ‘Country Love’ tells the literal story of Shalisa’s conversion from punk rocker to country chanteuse. Shades of Miranda Lambert sneak out throughout “Drinking Down Dinner’s” eleven songs. Not only does Shalisa have the same delicious quality to her vocal range and cadences, there is a kinship in lyrical quality. These are fantastic examinations of where love comes from, how relationships change and what we all do to manage throughout the bumps, brushes and beauty of it all.
All that pain and desire over our lifelong exploration of love fills the albums title track to the brim. On ‘Drinking Down Dinner’ we meet an old man who is well beyond his own journey to and from joy. He has decided to love the bottle now that he’s lost everything else. It’s not an unfamiliar story in music but it makes for a stand out pop-country classic yet again. There’s no doubting how Cadillac Junkies came out with top prize at ‘Jim Beam Make History Talent Search’ while listening to ‘Living in the Moment’. This is their anthem. “Living in the moment we give it all”. The band gives it all and more so. “It feels Good”. This one is going to seep inside and stay there. The slick lyrics are only matched by the plucky banjo mixed in for good measure. You may want to hit repeat after you first listen. Living in the Moment will make your day, or at the very least, the moment.
A little sex appeal never hurt a band or its draw. Cadillac Junkies have a certain sandpaper in their sound. The tenacity of the sound married with singer Shalisa’s voice makes for a raw, sweaty, lusty trajectory. The passion heard in ‘Never Come Around’ is enough to melt the snow and cancel out the cold Edmonton weather.
Beyond the sex appeal, jumping twang, party rhythm and genre bending stomp that is ‘Drinking Down Dinner’, Cadillac Junkies bring a warmth to the country milieu that is often missing from these albums. There’s a sense of closeness among the band and the music. A familiar band is not something that can be manufactured. Cadillac Junkies are the sound of old lovers made new again.
-- Val Christopher
Listen Now
On Capital City Records!
Listen Now
On Capital City Records!