EP Review: Rod Melancon 'LA 14'

Courtesy: Mad Ink PR

Rod Melancon’s upcoming EP, LA 14, due April 22nd for Blue Élan Records is a short, dark project that puts forth a picture of South Louisiana, an area Melancon knows intimately, and the people that reside there. Produced by Brian Whelan [Dwight Yoakam’s lead guitarist] “Perry” opens the project with a pulsing, electronic, (almost ominous) percussive introduction on a driving country rock number about a misguided man lost in violence and addiction. Melancon’s strong songwriting continues through the blues and rock soaked numbers including the incredibly heartfelt “Dwayne and Me,” the story of the close bond with a second cousin and the alarming, emotional “The Lights of Carencro” which (through a combination of narrative and a metal-esque melody) tells of the tragic death of his brother in 1976.

Rounding out the collection is “A Man Like Me Shouldn’t Own A Gun” and “By Her Side.” The former is a too brief humorous honky-tonk ready tale of a trouble causing (or trouble finds him) gentleman. “As he wrote up my prescription he says boy you listen you know a man like me shouldn’t own a guy….is that really necessary?” The latter is a beautiful, haunting ballad (featuring Marty Rifkin) telling of a love that transcends even death.
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Melancon has created a reflective and powerful collection centering around life, loss and redemption with complex characters and stories with depth that stay with you long after the last note has played and last word has been sung.

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