Ben Miller Band, Choke Cherry Tree
Label: New-West Records
Reviewed by: Kim Walter, August 2018

Once again, I find myself amazed amazed at the creative and collaborative spirit of this band and their ability to fuse folk, blues, BG, and country into what is now called “mudstomp”, formerly “ozark stomp”, which actually captures the sound better for me, Each song is unique and entertaining, and the resulting album is one you can listen to completely without getting bored. The bassist plays a homemade one string washtub bass. And one of the instrumentalists is an electric cactus player. Yes, Rachel plays a PLANT! Best for me were 1,2,5,6,8,11. (#1 and #8 have an FCC, but it’s only one word each and could easily be silenced)

Slow * - **FCC** Slow, Gentle, really nice country rock
Med ** - A little funk vibe mixed with a bluesy rock
Med - More industrial political sound
Slow/Med - Very industrial heavy, drums + guitar, repetitive lyrics, song easy to sing along to
Slow/Med * - Self described as “Ozark stomp”
Slow * - Gentle, deep ballad with string accents
Med - Interesting, unique song, female vocalist by guitarist Rachel Electric
Med * - **FCC** Awesome funky rock with one bad word
Med - Fun, playful violin accented country rock
Slow - Mellow, gentle, even mournful song
Slow/Med * - Sad, orchestral opening, evolves into interesting mix of styles