Flint Westrock-Wake Me Up With Kissin

Artist: Flint Westrock
Title: Wake Me Up With Kissin
Genre: Country-Folk-Blues
Label: LeRoi Records

Meet Flint Westrock, no, he is not a character from the 60s cartoon the Flintstones, he is a simple man that has done everything from being a truck driver to a lawyer and several other positions in between. Because he grew up in a military family and had exposure to much more than your everyday kid growing up in the U.S., he found many different interests during the course of life. Traveling and music can round out a person and it served Flint well.

Women and men alike will find common ground with Wake Me Up With Kissin. The CD has thirteen tracks; all love songs with different slants, written from his heart to his soul mate. It certainly looks like Flint will be playing cupid this year with this warm and good feeling group of songs.

Westrock is no Sinatra but he knows how to tie his emotions and feelings into a song. He has some fine musicians help his average vocals become one-step better than they ever could be. The feeling I get listening to this is that the singer is doing this for the pure joy of it all, he does not want a lot of attention or to be a star, that is not why he recorded this album. Westrock is a regular guy that loves his life and wants everyone to know it.

The lead off track is "It's Just a Dull Ache," its the perfect country song and I would not be surprised if Nashville grabs a hold of this one and you see someone like Tim McGraw or one of those big time mainstream country stars singing it. The humor in his music is what makes it so enjoyable, it is easy to forget that you are not listening to golden vocals and just enjoy everything the man is giving you, whether it’s "Vegetables of Love" or if he starts crooning to his mate "Nudity Becomes You." I do not think music could get any more down to earth and real. The harmonica gives a few of these songs a solid country-blues feel, and I like that.

This is definitely the kind of album that will grow on you…I will promise you that. Even the songs like "Piggly Wiggly" and "Love Snack," as silly as they are, start sounding good after the second time around. Check out this album, it is a lot of fun and it has some good time music to boot.

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck-http://www.muzikreviews.com

February 21, 2006

01. It's Just a Dull Ache (2:00)
02. Wake Me Up With Kissin (2:43)
03. Oh To Go Where You Go (1:54)
04. Always Satisfied (4:32)
05. Love Snack (2:47)
06. When the Water Turns Blue (2:47)
07. Piggly Wiggly (4:00)
08. Follow That Rainbow Above (3:26)
09. Kissin You (2:29)
10. Vegetables of Love (2:03)
11. Nudity Becomes You (2:11)
12. Big River (3:00)
13. There's a Hurricane in My Heart (2:48)

Rating-7.5/10

Credits:

Flint Westrock-vocals, guitar on "Big River"
Mitch Kashmar-chromatic harmonica, harmonica, background vocals
Jimmy "No Jive" Calire-piano, organ
Torrid Bill Flores-guitars, dobro, pedal steel guitar
Steve "Fat" Nelson-upright and electric bass
Tom "Smokestack" Lackner-drums and percussion