When asked “what is the best music advice you have ever been given?” Steve Rice quipped, “Don’t quit your day job.” Taken in the literal sense, Rice would have coveted his caution from the wind and settled down into the normalcy of forty hours a week permanently engraved on a timecard.
Luckily, Rice’s literal sense mapped a far greater landscape of normalcy heading one of the top ranking bands in the independent music scene whose broad style and catalog is as robust as the hordes of fans that span the country and a decade.
Hatched from the Red Dirt music mecca of Stillwater, Oklahoma and adopted into the live music epicenter of Texas, No Justice has cultivated a powerful brand built on unforgettable melodies, miles of solid comprehensive songwriting, and adorned with four acclaimed record releases with combined record sales topping over 100,000 units, two #1 hits and eight Top 10 singles on the Texas Music Chart, and a demand for live performances that keep them on the road over 200 days a year.
To succeed in chartering a career with this kind of longevity today is not fundamentally based on awards or chart action or even sales stats, though No Justice has all of that and more in spades. The absolute key, the very core of any successful music career depends ultimately on the quality of the music and the continuity in which that music is produced. To put it simply, you have to create a pool of music that people want to swim in and No Justice has done just that, now five records deep.
AMERICA’S SON marks the band’s fifth record release. Newer fans that found themselves addicted to the rock infused sound of their previous 2010 release SECOND AVENUE might be caught a little off guard by this lighter fix, but long time No Justice fans will be quickly transported back to the early days and immersed in the country music sound and heartbreaking melodies that No Justice is most revered for. AMERICA’S SON is a family affair with a repeat performance from producer Dexter Green (Collective Soul) and released by Smith Music Group, longtime friends and partners who are responsible for the release of three previous records including FAR FROM EVERYTHING in 2003, NO JUSTICE in 2006 and LIVE AT BILLY BOB’S TEXAS in 2008.
Brand new songs cloaked in the gains and losses of a nomadic life are wiser for the wear here and the nuances of a greater appreciation in life do not go unnoticed. The record also features a star-studded cast both on the recordings and behind the scenes including guest vocal performances by Elizabeth Cook on “Songs On The Radio” and Rebecca Lynn Howard on the rejuvenated piano soaked “Don’t Walk Away.” Jason Isbell, previously of the Drive By Truckers, provides brilliant slide guitar and backing vocals on the record’s first single “Never Gonna Be Enough” and Texas music fans will pleasantly discover a couple of tunes co-written with Casey Donahew as well as Trent Willmon and Clint Ingersol.
By going back to their roots No Justice has taken a huge step forward much like the bravest of us who venture out of our comfort zones and then return home with a stronger sense of self having faced the new and unknown with audacity. AMERICA’S SON is all of us who laugh, cry, live and love.
