Pawnshop Roses are toting around an innocuous sound that will be a welcome thing for the bar crowd. I can see a good sized crowd waving their Budweiser to these jams. Band has two albums out on iTunes—2008’s Versions and 2007’s Let It Roll. Fan comments have done the obvious comparisons to The Black Crowes (BTW, I think Chris Robinson’s apex was Kate Hudson. Still cannot believe he was married to that chick). The Roses consider themselves Americana, and that’s pretty right on… I think they sound like a Grateful Dead album cover. Just pure U.S.A. druggy-sounding rock with some Kentucky thrown in for good measure. Some nice driving tunes. Very road trippish.

Also, I think they are skillful copycats. The opener of “Holding Out” sounds way too much like “Rebel Rebel,” but if you’re gonna rip off anyone, it should be Bowie. I heard it and was like, Yeah! A cover of Bowie! But was pleasantly surprised when whichever Rose croons like Caleb Followill started singing. Ah, Caleb Followill. That is some of Kentucky’s finest right there. Kings of Leon sounds American to me, like quintessentially American. Or any singer with a crackle in his timbre. Why these guys’ voices, which sound like they are emerging from a Field of Dreams/field of corn or weeds or whatever, sounds American makes no sense to me. The statement doesn’t make much sense, either, but it is still true.

The overall sound isn’t rollicking, per se, but it is blandly enjoyable in a raise-your-beer-and-sing kind of way. Like a Bruce Springsteen Ford commercial.

Friday, June 11, 2010, 9 p.m.
Pawnshop Roses w/ IKE, The MLMs, & Todd Bailey
The Grape Room, 105 Grape Street Manayunk, PA 19127
Tickets at the Door