"Themes From A Rainy Decade" CD Review

November, 2004

Richard Bennett

Themes from a Rainy Decade

Moderne Shellac

Session guitarist and producer Richard Bennett has worked with many greats, including Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, the Everly Brothers, Ringo Starr, Steve Earle, Marty Stuart, Mark Knopfler, and Billy Joel. After years of playing a supportive role, Bennett has finally stepped into the spotlight with a solo album, and it's a moody masterpiece. Imagine the intersection point of Hank Marvin's keening Strat in the Shadows' "Apache," Vinnie Bell's throbbing baritone in Angelo Badalamenti's Twin Peaks Theme, and the lonesome, reverb-drenched electric in Ennio Morricone's theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Springing from this crossroad of cosmic twang, the 12 instrumental originals on Themes from a Rainy Decade sound like music from another era. Bennett's tones glint like molten silver, his attack is unerring, his vision is relentlessly melodic, and the band's accompaniment is appropriately retro. Many pickers visit the world of surf-meets-chaparral, but it's obviously Bennett's home.

-- Andy Ellis