Preacher Stone – Preacher Stone

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Unsigned newcomers Preacher Stone, who completed this record after just a year together, have delivered a debut album which sounds like a relaxed Molly Hatchet or Lynyrd Skynyrd, with the perfect voice in Ronnie Riddle. This is predominantly Southern rock with plenty of early ZZ Top blues, great lead guitar and chilled out grooves from start to finish with concert-ready choruses. Opener Not Today is the perfect example of their sound. But it’s not all swampy grooves; there’re some grittier riffs and Zakk Wylde squeals to change things up a bit on the likes of Tractor Pull with a chunkier Alice In Chains riff, and on Mother To Bed with a riff straight from Wylde’s Pride & Glory outfit. Livin’ Proof is pure blues in the vein of Joe Bonamassa and Aynsley Lister, with an obviously more southern lilt, and Homegrown Hoedown is exactly what the title suggests it should be. Ordinarily as a Southern rock band releasing a new album in the same year as Lynyrd Skynyrd, probably still the undisputed legends of the genre, would be ill-advised, but as good as God & Guns is, Preacher Stone is better, and easily the best Southern rock record of 2009.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Quick.Play Reviews, Rock, Southern, Preacher Stone