Soledad Brothers
The Hardest Walk

Alive 2006


Youth-fronted garage blues broke out like an HPV on the music industry when the White Stripes issued White Blood Cells. There’s no insta-cure for greasy-haired bands named after imaginary auto parts and presumably from Motor City. They might fall off from view gradually like the Von Bondies, but if you like rock music, you’ll have to live with a gang of them.  

The Soledad Brothers exceedingly realize hype is a silly thing. They were too unpolished when the press rode their drool onto the Whites’ charisma, but The Hardest Walk is the reason why Detroit’s sound snapped at you in the first place. 

Take this lyric: “But the fear felt like a mother’s tears on that goddamn day…/ Soldiers on the way / But the way was wrong and we sing our song through the driving rain…/ Hey you’re mean ol’ Toledo.”   

This isn’t a political record, but the band naively captures a generation’s pent-up aggression with a knife in their teeth. Music is the medium to vent resentment, and often, those who connect the dots are the ones who never get the spotlight. 

-Zach Stephenson