Steve Gilmore Reviews: Gary Bigelow - Revelations

Hear The Track Here

Artist: Gary Bigelow
Title: Revelations

Sliding in just under the wire this month is Gary Bigelow, a new name to me. So, let's find out together....

A life long resident of Fall River Massachusetts, Gary has been an active participant in the Southeastern Massachusetts Performing Arts Community for well over 30 years he says on his Soundclick page, which tells us in no uncertain terms that he is an old fart. See, being an old fart myself entitles me to be old and cranky and call other folks old farts in much the same ways as African Americans can call each other n..n...n..n.. Nope, it's no use, the wear filters are just to strong for me the say n....n.....n....n...THAT word. Whereas I can old fart, old fart, old fart until I am blue in the face and nothing will happen. Discrimination, surely...

OK, enough of the comedy, let's get serious...

As a young man, I was interested in just about everything up to and including Bible Study. I know quite a bit then about the writings of John on Patmos, and that helped me - I believe - to live under the shadow of nuclear war. What a lot of young people don't understand today is just how terrifying it was to grow up thinking that your little butt could get blown away at any second. Thank the Lord that Gary's makes it a lighter subject than I have just done :D It's indisputedly acoustic folk with a touch of the John Denver about it that may well put some people off. Personally, I found much to like about this simple, uplifting track despite my own dislike for the genre. What makes it for me, ya see, is the structure of the track and - much more importantly - the feel.

Gary has an easy on the ear picking style that underpins his surprisingly raspy style of vocal delivery. It's arrangement isn't going to set anyone alight - it's a bit too standardised for that - but it does make for an exceedingly pleasant listen. No good of course if all you want to do is blow your ears off with beats, but not everyone in the world wants to do that, despite all indications to the contrary. I'd say, going by this track, Gary Bigelow has all the necessary ingredients to carve himself out a very comfortable niche on Soundclick and has already gone some way to making some good friends. All I need now is to hear the track that he surely MUST be capable of....

Excellent folk rock, with a voice to match.