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Here is what people are saying about the Salty Dogs........
4 stars -A must have for any country lovers music collection.
Quentin Foster, Roots Music Report
The dozen songs are well put together with enough diversity (reverb on "Step right up" and the acoustic based "Holding to my Lord") to keep it real interesting. Nick Devlin provides sharp guitar licks throughout.
Williams, who wrote most of the songs, is the guiding light with his vocals at the fore.
Jeffrey B. Remz, Country Standard Time
An absolute delight from start to finish. Fans of Country Music from a bygone era will definitely love this CD, and want to learn more about this talented group!
Chuck Dauphin/Music News Nashville
I really dug it. Nice sounds and songs. Reminds me (in good ways!) of The Derailers, Dwight, The Wagoneers, The Mavericks etc...
-Bill Lloyd (Foster and Lloyd)
Brad Williams has a fine voice for this material (the band aren't bad either) - whether serenading, gospelling or grieving, he always convinces.
David Cowling/Americana UK: The UK Home for Alt-Country, Americana and Alternative
Williams, in any event, writes and chooses songs well. Online I've run onto several reviews who hear Bakersfield in Autoharpoon, and I suppose it's there. But I am more struck by the easy country-soul running through this, even the Johnny Cash knock-off "When My Blood Runs Cold" -- which is a darn good Cash knock-off, by the way.
"Holding To My Lord" (a Williams co-write with, if I read the liners right, the late Roy "Papaw" Wagner) is first-rate southern gospel.
Grant Alden
No Depression/Grant's Rants
The Salty Dogs' album Autoharpoon... Mandatory purchase! A successful formula.
-Roots Time
4.5 stars out of 5 (Autoharpoon)
Ctrl.Alt.Country
From the band name and punny album title, one would be forgiven for expecting the Salty Dogs' Autoharpoon to be, say, maritime folk-punk songs from Newfoundland about the drunken adventures of whalers or something like that. In fact, the Salty Dogs are an Arkansas quartet proffering pure old-fashioned honky tonk country in the great tradition of early Ray Price and the Bakersfield posse. Singer/songwriter Brad Williams knows his two-steps and shuffles, and he and the band, especially lap steel specialist Nick Devlin, alternate between cry-in-your-beer ballads like the downright Victorian "The People Cried" and more uptempo twangers like "Starting Now," featuring a guest shot from Elvis Presley's drummer D.J. Fontana. Other highlights include a crisp, unfussy extended workout on the country blues classic "Take Time to Know Her" and the unexpected art move of the two-part closer, "Heaven's Gates/Hell's Flames." Autoharpoon is unpretentious, joyous, and as pure as mountain dew. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
The second album by Arkansas' Salty Dogs continues to emulate the "Ghost of Buck, Spirit of Dwight" sound from their first album. Brad Williams's songs are pure and honest as he effortlessly moves from country to gospel and back. The backing musicians, Bart Angel (drums), Mike Nelson (bass) and Nick Devlin (guitars and lap steel) are a terrific country band. The beauty of this album is it captures that same kind of magic Dwight Yoakam offered up 20 years ago and Owens long before him. The music is essentially rural, but not primitive. It is every man, but the folks in the big city can relate. Second time out and the Salty Dogs have again produced an excellent real country record. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (Big Bender)
You did a great job on this CD. Great singing, Great cover, Great songs, Great music, Great production! Bucky Barrett/Roy Orbison's former guitarist
Real, good country
The Salty Dogs introduce Little Rock to Bakersfield.
By Shea Stewart
Sync Weekly
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
It's hard to point the finger at who or what is responsible for country music moving from its hillbilly, outlaw past into its kitschy, diluted present. Somewhere in the heavens, Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams Sr., Bill Monroe and the Carter Family are bowing their heads in shame at the commercialized rubbish generated by Nashville today.
But from the saloon piano opening of "Pianola," off The Salty Dogs new album Autoharpoon, it's evident the Little Rock band has roundly rejected the slick fluff that passes as country music these days. One can easily picture the tottering piano introduction serving as a soundtrack to a 1920s silent movie, as our drunken hero staggers around the saloon with a final, dooming drink in hand. The preamble rambles straight into the rough and rowdy opener, "Starting Now," showcasing The Salty Dogs' successful melding of the Bakersfield sound with updated Western swing.
Since forming in 2003, though, The Salty Dogs - Brad Williams on vocals and guitars, Mike Nelson on bass, Nick Devlin on lead guitars and lap steel, and Bart Angel on drums - have proved it is not a stretch for an Arkansas band to gaze toward California for inspiration. Filled with barroom piano solos, swooning lap steel stylings, electric guitar picking and a shuffling, swinging rhythm section, Autoharpoon probably has Buck Owens searching for a dance partner for a triple step through the clouds.
The good: At the heart of great country music is the melding of the words and sound; the voice behind the poetry and the rustic yet refined music. Williams delivering lines such as "Pretty baby, don't you cry/I can't tell you the reason why/You were a bad excuse just to pass away the time" ("Starting Now") captures why country music can be both joyous and heartbreaking in one succinct verse. The stinging lyrical blow can almost be shrugged off because the music swings, but the crushing jolt of the words remains after the song fades. It is with the perfect merging of misery and jubilation - or shame and pride - where real country music succeeds, and, on Autoharpoon, The Salty Dogs discover the exact moment more often than not.
On "The People Cried," The Salty Dogs demonstrate they can mix the narrative songwriting of Bruce Springsteen over a haunting, tear-stained country song. And "Heaven's Gates/Hell's Flames Pt. 2" might be the album's best moment, a fluent country gospel hymn featuring two outstanding guitar solos that effortlessly float over the heartfelt rhythm.
The bad: The Salty Dogs do a great job of masking their influences for the most part on Autoharpoon. The problem - and it is a slight nuisance - is the band's influences leak through a little too often. For a band that has been plying its trade for only four years, it is forgivable, but as The Salty Dogs evolve the challenge will be to successfully blend its influences into a unique sound of its own ... and that doesn't mean adding synthesizers.
Must haves: "Starting Now," "The People Cried," "Why You Been Gone So Long?," "Heaven's Gates/Hell's Flames Pt. 2"
Rating (out of 5): 4
(Autoharpoon) "...a solid, twelve-song collection of honky-tonk, Western swing and Southern gospel." Arkansas Times
"The best country and western band in Arkansas..."
- Localist magazine
Little Rock's honky-tonk heroes the Salty Dogs have a new record, "Autoharpoon," and national distribution through Big Bender Records. The album, the band's third, finds it honing its Western swing/classic country sound to near perfection. Lead singer Brad Williams was born in Marked Tree, but he leads the Dogs like he's a natural heir to the Bakersfield sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Even twanged up, Williams has a clear, booming voice. He writes heartfelt songs about love and love lost, and on the band's new record, a fuzzed-out, menacing blues about walking the line between heaven and hell that country shuffles towards redemption. Expect the Dogs to pull out covers familiar and obscure, including Percy Sledge's "Take Time to Know Her" and Johnny Darrell's "Why You Been Gone So Long."
-Lindsey Miller/Arkansas Times
If you like traditional country music in the vein of George Jones & Johnny Cash.....then do whatever you need to obtain a copy of Autoharpoon...the 3rd release (2nd full release-first disc was an EP). This disc has EVERYTHING one wants from a great country album: great single: "Starting Now", a touch of Gospel: "Holding to My Lord" a dash of Johnny Cash: "When My Blood Runs Cold" and an amazing 2-part gem entitled: "Heaven's Gates/Hell's Flames, Pt. 1 & 2"....plus an great performance from ELVIS' original drummer: DJ Fontana. Country music radio ought to be ashamed of itself that it doesn't play music such as the Salty Dogs-so since you can't hear it there-BUY THIS DISC-you will NOT be disappointed!
-Robert Wagner
Arkansas Democrat/Gazette - June 10th, 2007(Excerpt)
"...the cd works because the songwriting is strong and the irony is nonexistent. When my blood runs cold takes Johnny Cash's stripped-down approach and marries it to a prisoner's lament and still seems somehow fresh. Water to wine works into a smoking guitar workout. Starting now is a honky tonk winner with a happy pulse."- Werner Trieschmann
"Starting Now is as fine an example of swinging country music as you will find this side of Bob Wills and is driven by drummer D. J. Fontana..."
"When My Blood Runs Cold is as close to Johnny Cash as I ever heard outside of Sun Studios."
-Nightflying Magazine
I might not be much on writing reviews, but I do know what I like. And I like Autoharpoon, the new release by The Salty Dogs. It's good to know that somebody in this day and age of KRPY Country can still write and perform real country music. Brad Williams wrote all but a couple of the tunes on this release and any one of them outshines anything on country radio today. You might have caught Brad and Bart on NNN a few weeks ago performing a couple of tunes for us. Pretty good, huh? I suggest you go out and get this cd. It should be available soon, if not already. You won't regret it, look for them playing around town and see them often.
-Flap from KABF 88.3 F.M./Not Necessarily Nashville
Arkansas Times Review - 5.31.2007
Fans of Dwight Yoakam listen up: There's another Dwight on the country music scene and he lives in our very own backyard. On the Salty Dogs' latest album, "Autoharpoon" (Big Bender Records), Marked Tree native Brad Williams does Dwight better than the man himself. The resemblance is perhaps most obvious on the album's second track, "Starting Now," an up-tempo song about a summer fling that's faded on which Williams' high-nasal twang two-steps across a simple melody. For that song, the Little Rock-based group sought out famed drummer D.J. Fontana, who played with Elvis Presley for a decade and a half. Williams approached Fontana via a shot-in-the-dark e-mail, asking him to play on the track. Luckily, Fontana was interested and available. Bart Angel (percussion, drums), Mike Nelson (bass) and Nick Devlin (guitar, lap steel) round out the group.
Williams wrote all but three songs on the 12-track "Autoharpoon," and in his originals, he exploits traditional country themes but does them straight-faced, somewhat surprisingly. If you're half-anticipating a tongue-in-cheek take on these honky-tonk topics (something that Colorado's Slim Cessna's Auto Club does best), you'll be disappointed. This, folks, is pure country, or pure vintage country, so much so that I can almost hear Dale Hawkins saying, "They just don't make 'em like this anymore." On "The People Cried," you'll find a man working at a paper mill trying to put food on the table and shoes on his kids' feet (wanting only "the bare necessities"). While Williams' lyrics are easy - predictable, even - they come off as honest rather than trite. On "Holding to My Lord," the prettiest song on the album, Williams moves effortlessly from country to gospel with the help of Virginia Williams (background vocals) and Steve Brauer (banjo).
The Salty Dogs, who essentially formed to win a battle-of-the-bands contest a few years back, have gone on to put out albums that have the spirit of country and the grace of Southern gospel. Here you have feel-good, down-to-earth (but not down-on-the-farm) stuff that's sure to satisfy the die-hard Dwight fans and those of us who aren't quite willing to admit that we are.
- Nicole Boddington
