Music
Dream Big - Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband
Capitol Nashville Records
September 7, 2005
I wasn't in the mood to listen to another CD from some new band that I've never heard of before and try and find something good out of it. I had some work to do on the computer and figured I'd pop it in and listen to it as some background music.

An hour later my foot was sore from tapping to the rhythms coming out of my speakers. This is one of those CD's that you're going to put in and be in a good mood after your done listening to it. Since that first listen, I've had it in my car for a week now and haven't got sick of it yet. It's definitely the kind of music you're never going to put in at some rave or the next time you and your girl want to do some horizontal wrestling, but driving around in the car or doing work in the garage and this is what you want to listen to.

Very refreshing to hear some banjo and a fiddle mixed in with some country/ bluegrass/ rock-n-roll. I'm cant figure out what category to label this music in and I'm not sure what genre you would consider it? Maybe a little Big & Rich meets Jason Mraz , with a touch of hip-hop and salsa. Not your old-school banjo picking country music that comes to mind when you think of Nashville . This is new and very well put together. Once I found out that they write all of their own music and play all their own instruments, I had much more respect for the band.

If you want to hear something different than what every other band is doing, get this new debut and check it out. It's great to hear some new sounds in this day and age of sampling and copying off of the last big thing.

Scott Garner

Got something to say about this article? Email us at info@smalltownlowdown.com