- Backroads is the ninth album released by Lloyd Spiegel. Generally known for acoustic blues music, Backroads is more guttural blues and an honest raw account of his life. Spiegel has made a shift back to electric guitar which he has not done since being a teenager and I can tell he's had a lot of fun playing with the sound. Lloyd worked with Cole Clark Guitars creating a new design specifically for this recording that will allow and enhance his own style.
Backwards needs to be recognised as a stand alone album, quite distinct from previous work.
Although Spiegel did not set out for this release to be ‘different’ in a particular way -letting the writing flow and having other musicians and engineers being involved help to steer the direction of the final production- the final result is that he's almost reinvented his sound and it is a must to listen through and understand what that means. It's what I would call true blues or to hear Spiegel tell it, Gut Bucket Roots.
The Kick Around is the first song written for the album, it's also the lead track and at two minutes, it's definitely the shortest, but it really sets the tone for the whole album. Spiegel had been sitting on the riff of The Kick Around for years and one night while at the Poke A Dot Lounge, a bar in Kansas City, where Spiegel played as a nineteen year old, a friend said “‘Remember those nights when we didn’t have to go back to families and we could just kick around’?” that was all the inspiration he needed.
It's slightly surprising that one of the best cuts on the album is an obvious exceptions to the ‘true blues’ sound and that is the second track Betcha Bottom Dollar. This being very much a swing thing, the change in tack really jolts you into consciously listening to the record. Lisa Baird on backing vocals and trombone really adds a thing or two; Spiegel specifically wrote this song with Baird in mind, as though he was just looking for an excuse to get her on here and it's easy to understand why.
As generally cohesive as Backroads sounds, it's interesting how much it has evolved getting here. Initially, while being recorded it was an instrumental and Spiegel added the lyrics in the studio. For weeks he would drive around, rewriting the words, listening humming and singing along to the recordings, before heading back into the studio and re-recording most of the tracks as the lyrics developed further. The end result is something much higher energy, with a really personal punch.
Backroads is a personal record: it's about being a musician but much more about being a human. At thirty-nine Spiegel might feels he is “too young to be reflecting;” and yet! He's packed so much music into that time: a blues guitarist since the age of seven with every second thereafter packed with music. Maybe because he writes the blues he doesn't need to do any more reflection on it, but I commend you to listen Backroads and reflect in the way only true blues can make you.
- Caitlin Selder.