Rockwood

Description

Rockwood is the sole album by the American folk-rock duo Nelson & York (Randy York and Brad Nelson), released on Dharma Records in 1974. The album was recorded by Jimi Young at LSI Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee; May 16 and 17, 1974, with Randy Matthews producing. All songs written by Randy York.

Randy Matthews produced this duo’s custom project featuring Randy York on lead vocals and acoustic guitar and Brad Nelson on electric, bottleneck, and acoustic guitars. Add some additional folks on piano, bass, drums and the end result is good unrefined acoustic/electric rural rock with a slight Southern bent. Here’s an odd one: a honky-tonk rocker called «Wallace» recounting the George Wallace assassination attempt. A twinge of Allman Brothers Southern rock in «Taste And See». Other titles include «This World Has Got To Change», «Tabitha», «Stop Him!?» and «They That Wait Upon The Lord». Some parts remind me of Ron Moore, others of Dave Mattson’s Lead Me Home. York also has a couple fine solo LPs. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

This album was “secretly” released about a year ago, and it’s a shame more people haven’t heard it. Randy York composed, wrote and sang all of the songs, and Brad Nelson provided the bulk of the guitar work (bottleneck, acoustic, electric, and bass). The combination of these two along with Randy Matthews and a half dozen other Nashville artists results in a mixture of folk and pop-rock – hence, the name ‘Rockwood’.

Each song on the album displays a different message – sometimes evangelism, or social protest, or romance, or sometimes exhortation to Christians. For instance, «Taste and See» … (that the Lord is good) displays the joy of this discovery with a bouncy bass line and bubbling flute. «People» expresses love in a rich warm tone towards people in general, a particular girl, and Jesus. «Tabitha» reminds us of God’s power through prayer … over death in this case, and flows nicely. «This World Has Got To Change» speaks of our personal responsibility to society through Jesus.

The two songs that particularly stand out on ‘Rockwood’ for their fine combination of music and lyrics are «Wallace», a very bitter and doubtful comment on society concerning politics and assasination attempts, done in the «Bad LeRoy Brown» style of Jim Croce; and «They That Wait Upon The Lord» featuring free and easy, down home words of praise and testimony encased in a tune which you often find humming to yourself.

As far as production goes, the voices come across quite well, but, as is the case with many Christian recordings, the background rhythm and instrumental breaks seem shallow. Hopefully this will improve to match the potential of Nelson and York’s songs on any future albums. (album available through Rockwood, P.O. Box 1613, Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL 60187) [Mark Hollingsworth, Harmony, Vol. 1, No. 6, March/April 1976]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “This World Has Got To Change”
A2. “Of You”
A3. “Taste and See”
A4. “Tabitha”
A5. “Wallace”

Side Two
B1. “Stop Him!?”
B2. “People”
B3. “They That Wait Upon The Lord”
B4. “Off The Wall”