The Teskey Brothers: Live at The Forum

The Wilson Picket soul and vibe from this music makes me stare, smile, and consistently tap the beat out. Then add Josh Teskey’s vocals. Josh has the voice that makes me hate puppies. That sounds terrible, but it’s just purely out of jealousy. That effortless, deep, raspy, gravel is nothing you can learn. You either have it or you don’t and I don’t and it makes me mad. But, it also hits me so squarely in the plums that hate quickly turns into admiration.

The whole album is recorded life using tape to tape reels. These guys are old souls in everything they do. I love there explanation for why they do it. It’s simple. Trust me I can relate to simple. They also accredit the decision to use analog recording because of how dedicated you have to be to it. There is no quick fix or 1,00 takes. And boy does that honest approach come through in the sound. Surely the genre helps, but you can feel each song as much as you can hear it. Josh gives them the hallmark sound, but the slow hand by brother Sam is so soft and sweet on the in-betweens it reaches out and nearly holds your hand.

I also thinks it helps that they are Australian which is just default cool.

The hits on this album are “I Get Up” “Crying Shame” “So Caught up” “Pain and Misery” and “Hold Me” which have all seen radio time. The also land a nice cover of Jealous Guy by John Lennon.

“Louisa” stands out for me too. It’s a 9 minute rendition that steers away from the love and pain relationship kind of tunes and adds a fun New Orleans, bluesy, big swing kid of vibe featuring Josh on the mouth organ.

The “Hold Me” closer has quickly become one of my favorites. I’m a sucker for harmony so when you get the entire auditorium singing the whole song acapella with you is going to stick with me.

Oh and here’s a quick little cover