Merv Pinny – Hard Road (13th Floor Album Review)
On his debut full-length album Hard Road, Merv Pinny is laying down a road map of sorts.
He charts a route well-travelled through blues-infected rock and roll interlaced with a heavy string of soul and gospel-infused material, created and crafted along the lesser-known byways and tracks of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Pinny has a loyal, if small following on these shores that’s boosted by a surprisingly large fan base overseas with far-flung listeners from Norway to Nashville, B.C. to Brazil, and Cape Town to downtown L.A.. With millions of downloads and streams, having reached the semi-finals of the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville and heading to Tamworth for the Country Music Festival next year Pinny can truly lay claim to being an international music sensation. This album is an opportunity to make that claim closer to home.
Pinny dishes up a collection of self-penned songs that display his obvious talent for a catchy, well-constructed song working subject lines from early struggles and tough times on Hard Road To Hoe and Rise On Up, battles with booze on Too Much White Too Much Red and House Of Shame, protest with My Freedom My Rights and the inevitable love songs Shake For Me, Hold Me Love Tell Me and the toe-tapping I. He also visits familiar tropes of dancing with the Devil on Bang Bang I’m Dead and even offers a song of hope and justice on Water To Wine.
With some excellent musicians in Kyle Brown on Bass, Rick Eastman and Paul Lafotanoa (also on vocals) on drums, Matt Watson on keyboard and brass, saxophone from Simon Styles, and backing vocals from Eleea Lafotanoa, Zoe Pinny, Maggie CoCo, Lucy Victory and Rose Parker, Pinny crafts recognisable blues rock by way of ZZ Top, Chris Stapleton, The Allman Brothers, The Black Crowes and many others from this genre.
This music is rooted in Americana and the American experience. And this is where I have a little bit of an issue. Pinny is from this part of the world and has an interesting story to tell.
He grew on farmland around Te Aroha, left school at 15 going on to own his own farm by 21. He went on to be a successful dairy farmer managing over 200,000 cattle on more than 30 properties. A real success story.
He’s also had mountains to climb surviving being run over by a truck as a child and breaking his spine in a motorcycle accident that left doctors fearing he’d ever be able to walk again.
The Pinny blues-rock-gospel-soul man is a great act, and deserves accolades for his voice, guitar playing and memorable tunes, but who is the man behind the melody?
A mention should be made of two tracks that stand out on this album. Little Green Men and What Are You Looking At divert from Pinny’s accomplished and conventional blues fare. A flirtation with the one-hit wonders from the likes of Rednex who contaminated the world with Cotton-Eye Joe that, I would suggest, brings a devaluation of Pinny’s brand. A loss of mana, to bring it home to these lands.
Pinny is, undoubtedly, an accomplished musician with a great, tight band, and writes some radio-worthy material. But I would like to see, and more importantly hear, something that truly reflects the life story of a man that has much to tell.
Alex Robertson
Hard Road is out now
