John Lefebvre is retired lawyer turned musician. I have a met few of those over the years. They get to the point where the system and law takes its toll and then the career is over. Lefebvre finally got in the position where he was comfortable enough to make the change and be able to survive at the same time.
He put together some well written lyrics and gathered some of the best musicians on the planet to help perform the tracks. The CD Pslangs has seven tracks and a DVD with videos and an interview with John regarding how he got to where he is today and why music was the road to take. Lefebvre explains that using music as his voice pulled everything out of his soul and he did not have to worry about what was said and how, it all just flowed along with music.
Along with Lefebvre playing acoustic and electric guitar, piano and providing the vocals, he has a host of well known players aboard to make this a marvelous session. Al Kooper (organ, electric guitar), Jim Keltner (drums), Greg Leisz (electric slide, lap steel, pedal steel guitars), Hutch Hutchinson (electric and double bass), Matt Rollins (piano, Wurlitzer, B3), Mac McAnally (acoustic guitar), Rosemary Butler (vocals) and Patrick Warren (guitars, chamberlain, piano, vocals).
Lefebvre sounds similar to Dylan with his tone and vocal delivery but has enough of his own signature sound to separate him from being lumped into a Dylan rip off category. In addition to that the music while not unique stands up very well with a wealth of sounds from the foundations of country, rock, and a dash of the blues to provide a nice place for the vocalist to lay down his lyrics and push them out enough so the listener gets the message he is delivering.
I enjoyed the candor in the lyrics presented on this CD and the musicianship is exceptional. The best track, and one that would serve as a great single, is "Wounded Knee”. The track encapsulates the overall sound and atmosphere of the album in a nutshell.
Make sure you visit Lefebvre’s website, he offers quite a rich media experience including a jukebox with 29 tracks for free download! I got a taste with seven of those tracks on this CD and it was good enough to get me to go listen to some more on his website. This is one of the best artist websites I have seen in a long time, very unique and the presentation is brilliant. I have to say for a guy that is just starting out his music career John Lefebvre is sure doing all the right things to carve himself a nice niche and one everyone will remember.
Keith “MuzikMan” Hannaleck
September 3, 2009