Review + Giveaway: Rod Melancon

Rod Melancon: My Family Name

Born and raised in Wright, Louisiana, Cajun blooded Rod Melancon has come onto the LA scene with a debut album that equally captures his troubled life as it does his family history and youth spent raising crawfish.  Like Ryan Bingham, 23 year old Melancon sings with a deep, weathered voice that suggests wisdom far beyond his years. Coming together with a group of veteran players on My Family Name, including Chad Watson, Herb Pederson and Matt Cartsonis, the telecaster driven twang sounds of the seasoned pickers captures a spirit that sounds like Waylon’s band jamming with a young  Kris Kristofferson.  Songs like “Lousiana Nights” and “South Lousian’,” tell stories of the scorching south slaving off the coast on oil rigs, as well as violence and prejudice in a redneck town. Though he has just reached adulthood, it seems Melancon has already learned from the mistakes of his musical heroes.  The title track is as a retrospective that finds Melancon heeding the warning that a life of recklessness and hard drinking, could lead to an untimely demise. The song, “Reggie,” an ode to a friend who went off to fight in the desert, proves that there is promise of social consciousness in this forthcoming generation that warrants recollections of young Dylan or Woody Guthrie.    And like Johnny Cash before him, Melancon sings one for the prisons on “Angola Blues,” a track inspired by the time his second cousin Perry served. With an album cover that features his namesake uncle as a child (who eerily died at the age of 16 in a motorcycle crash) Melancon does well in paying tribute to his family lineage, delivering music that stays true to the album’s title.

Listen to “South Louisian'” by Rod Melancon

Rod Melancon Album Release –  Free show this Sunday July 15 at the Grand Ole Echo (Echoplex in Echo Park).

For more information on Rod Melancon visit: http://www.rodmelancon.com.

Rod Melancon Giveaway:

TJ has the hook up for a free copy of Rod Melancon’s debut My Family Name (multiple winners).

Contest Rules:
To enter for your chance to win  this CD from Rod Melancon*:
1. “Like” us on facebook [Click Here]
2. Re-post/share contest on Facebook
3. Email your name with subject “Rod Melancon Giveaway” to info@turnstyledjunkpiled.com

*Winner will be selected at random. Deadline is July 21 at midnight.