The John Butler Trio | Sunrise Over Sea
a radio bobo-k music review

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'Sunrise Over Sea' is the American debut of Australia's The John Butler Trio. The group is one of Australia's most successful indie artists--this CD debuted at #1 in Australia where it's been certified four times platinum.

Despite comparisons to the Dave Matthews Band (only if the DMB had soul), The John Butler Trio is more reminiscent of Eagle Eye Cherry. The music is a delightful fuse of styles with the underlying ease of a stroll on a lazy summer's day highlighted by a slide guitar.

Butler is more than a virtuoso on the guitar, he's also a writer of damned catchy songs. "Treat Yo Mama" -- not an ode to the fifth Commandment, but rather a call to look out for Mother Earth -- just rocks. The almost Oasis-like opening of "What You Want" (complete with real stringed instruments) swells into a beautiful song about the hardships of maintaining a long distance relationship. The very next song "Damned to Hell" is a bluegrass ditty about big corporations that pollute our world. Admittedly the cd is a strange combination, but somehow the mélange of styles works.

The lead single, "Zebra" is as Butler describes, "a song about not being pigenonholed." Don't let the groove fool you, the lyrics are as deep as Australian Outback: "I could be rich like a wandering Gypsy/I could be poor like a fat wallet lost./I could be first or I could come last/It's not who breaks the ribbon/It's how you get across."

Butler not only recycles and reinvents musical genres on his CD, all the while singing about Mother Earth, he practices what he preaches….all of his posters and CDs are printed on recyclable product. Discover 'Sunrise Over Sea,' and enjoy. Buy it

Track listing:
1. Treat Yo Mama
2. Peaches & Cream
3. Company Sin
4. Betterman
5. What You Want
6. Damned to Hell
7. Hello
8. Bound to Ramble
9. Seeing Angels
10. There'll Come a Time
11. Zebra
12. Mist
13. Oldman
14. Sometimes