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BACKWATER TALES
Tom Coerver
indie
"Roots, Rock & Blues from Planet Louisiana" is the subtitle on this collection of blistering original works from the mind heart and soul of Tom Coerver (and his Firebird). Even though it says "Produced, Performed, Recorded, Engineered, Mastered and Massaged into existence by Tom Coerver," it does not sound anything at all like a one-man deal. This disc comprises eleven slick and hot rock 'n' roll numbers that any sane person would be hard pressed to identify as the work of one guy by himself. Okay, he had help with the harmonies from Bob Chambers on a couple cuts; it's still Tom Coerver's incredible talents hanging out there rocking on the bayou, inviting one and all to join in the dance of life. I've seen Tom play backup to a chick singer and as part of the Burton Gaar band and as a sideman and producer on an excellent John Lisi album, but I don't believe I've ever heard him rock as hard or as meaningfully as he does here on his own. This is one hell of a fine rock 'n' roll record and if you can't find it in the stores in your neighborhood, go to www.tomcoerver.com to see if you can order it online. Tell him I sent you and he'll probably charge you extra. Or come on down here to BR and hang at my house for awhile and I'll take you to see him - you won't be sorry (especially if you come during crawdad, excuse me, I mean crawfish season). Grab one o' them cold beers and you won't even notice that them crawfish ain't got fin nor scale.
By Doug Treadway, from "Nightflying" magazine in Little Rock, Arkansas. www.nightflying.com , "News of Record" section.
RHYTHM CITY REVIEWS - "Backwater Tales" - Tom Coerver
By Hoodoo Jimmy Simpson
The liner notes enclosed with Tom Coerver's new CD read, "Produced, Performed, Recorded, Engineered, Mastered and Massaged into existence by Tom Coerver".
A very ambitious undertaking, Baton Rouge's own Tom Coerver shows his variety of musical talent and production know-how on his debut solo offering, "Backwater Tales". And as if that's not enough, all music and lyrics are written by Mr. Coerver.
Eleven tracks feature the guitar, bass, drums and keyboard work of this accomplished Baton Rouge musician. The opening cut, "Dust In The River", burning with slide guitar, laments those reflective moments of love found and love lost. With a nicely driven "Allman Brothers" feel, Tom takes us through "Roll On Down The Line", "Badlands", and "All About A Dollar". Answers are sometimes hard to find, as Tom aptly points out in his moving ballad, "Take It On Faith". Tom Coerver's prowess as a pianist is highlighted on the cut "Backwater Rising", and searing political comment is found on the closing track "Stealin' With Both Hands".
As an extra added bonus, Tom has taken the time and ink to provide lyrics to his songs in the liners, and it won't be surprising to hear several of these cuts covered by others in the near future. From his days with Route 66, John Lisi, and his softer sided acoustic duets with Patty, Tom Coerver has culled a little from all his diverse experiences to share with us in his telling of "Backwater Tales".
www.rhythmcitymag.com
Review from "Club Louisianne" At http://www.louisianasmusic.com/music/Tom Coerver.htm
by Johnny Palazotta of Louisiana's Music.
Tom Coerver - Backwater Tales - "Roots, Rock & Blues from Planet Louisiana"
Baton Rouge has never been without numerous very creative musicians, artists, singers, songwriters. Tom Coerver fits the mold of "undiscovered talent." His talents are many. The guitar work on this recording is way cool. The songs are interesting, the subject matter isn't mundane. If you are looking for some different music with great guitar and southern vocal style, here you are.
REVIEW OF "BACKWATER TALES" by Tom Coerver from "Home of Rock", Germany
Some of you may remember the band CHINA SKY. Tom Coerver played in that short lived band together with Bobby Ingram (now with Molly Hatchet). Fast forward a few years to the release of his first solo album "Backwater Tales".
The back of the cover says "Roots, Rock and Blues from Planet Louisiana". Unfortunately, not many people will read it, as you can be sure this CD won't make it into the bins of German record stores. (this is a cynical remark addressing the pitiful state of the music retail business in Germany. It doesn't refer to the quality of the album. Well, in a way it does, in that it says something to the effect of: "this CD is too good for the stores". Hogy)
Trained multi-instrumentalist Tom Coerver played all instruments on this album, with occasional help of Bob Chambers on background vocals. I am typically skeptical of these kinds of One Man Shows. I've heard too many where the drums were played by a computer. But don't worry here. Every chord will make you believe you're listening to a full band. Not surprising, given the fact that Tom is an accomplished drummer. The album contains 11 very different tracks, all containing a common message: pure enjoyment of Rock & Roll.
"Dust In The River" is a beautifully groovy swamp rock number. It's a delectable mix of Creedence Clearwater Revival and John Hiatt. Besides the aforementioned excellent drumming, Tom's fat slide guitar tone and gravelly voice are especially convincing.
The southern Boogie Rock number "All About A Dollar" on the other hand sounds a lot like early Molly Hatchet. Again there is plenty of slide guitar.
Those of you who like the honest, hand-made Delta Blues of the Muddy Waters brand will be served well by "Mississippi Mud". Featured here is Tom's dynamic piano playing. Despite being limited to only the interplay between piano and voice, the song never gets boring. Hello Dan Baird! "I Got Your Number" gets down and dirty with the best of them and is certainly not aimed at the Rondo Veneziano crowd. (Rondo Veneziano was a very popular show band leader in Germany. Compare the name recognition to that of Lawrence Welk in the USA. Hogy) On "Roll On Down The Line" Tom once again pulls out all the stops. This is a catchy, classic Rock song that is very recognizable and features more prominent slide guitar.
"Badlands" turns out to be pure Southern Rock in the tradition of the Allmans and Government Mule. This killer song thrives on a great melody and thoroughly heavy guitar riffs.
In "I'll Take The Blame" Tom conjures up memories of Frankie Miller. Even his voice sounds like that of this bedrock of British Rock. It is honest, down to earth Rock with well put together piano and guitar arrangements. My God, how beautifully old fashioned this number sounds. Even Jam Rock fans will find something to like about Tom. "She's A Dancer" may not be 10 minutes long, but otherwise possesses all the qualities of a bona fide Jam Rock piece.
On the final song "Stealin' With Both Hands", Tom presents us with pure Government Mule feeling. What a heavy rocker, and what a way to end the show!
"Backwater Tales" is strong medicine for all fans of Roots, Southern, Blues, Cajun, and Boogie. All of those ingredients are expertly mixed with a healthy dose of pure Rock & Roll. Tom Coerver has delivered a great first album. This One Man Project sounds magnitudes better than much of what established rock bands deliver these days.
Sound and production are both very good.
Joachim Domrath, (Impressum, Artikelliste), 30.08.2003 - Translated from German to English by Hogy (Holger) Notzel
Fall 2003 issue of Gritz magazine ,p52 (with Del McCoury on the cover), by Michael Buffalo Smith:
Tom Coerver
Backwater Tales
Up until now, Tom Coerver’s claim to fame was as a bandmate to Molly Hatchet’s Bobby Ingram in the hard rocking group China Sky; but that was only chapter one. Tom kicks it into fifth gear on “Backwater Tales”, playing all the instruments himself, including some absolutely scorching slide guitar. His vocals fall in somewhere between Leslie West and Warren Haynes.
Boy howdy, was I not expecting the assault to my senses I received when I slid this little silver disc into my CD changer. I mean, it’s kind of like Mountain meets Molly Hatchet with some Gov’t Mule tone tossed into the mix. “Badlands” screams like a banshee, with excellent, deep, dark lyrics. As a matter of fact, Tom proves himself an all around excellent songwriter as well as multi-instrumentalist, playing the hell out of the piano on the slow blues of “Mississippi Mud”, and breaking out the funk on “She’s A Dancer”, with a kind of ZZ Top meets Little Feat vibe.
Top drawer guitar playing, a voice made for rock and roll, and excellent production all help to make “Backwater Tales” a truly powerful album.
Review by Robert Fontenot of the CD "Backwater Tales" by Tom Coerver from the April 2004 issue of Offbeat Magazine (of New Orleans):
Tom Coerver
Backwater Tales
(Groove House Records)
 As if the title weren't explicit enough, vocalist and one man band Tom Coerver subtitled this debut solo CD "Roots, Rock and Blues from Planet Louisiana." It's a fairly accurate claim-this talented guitarist has been kicking around the fringes of the Southern-rock and roots-rock scenes for the better part of two decades now. He's not tweaking his favorite genres one bit on Backwater Tales, but then, he doesn't feel they need tweaking. Aside from the screaming leads he rips out of his axe, Coerver's debut is rather unremarkable.
Then again, these are some good leads, sort of a post-Molly Hatchet version of Duane Allman's less lyrical moments. A Baton Rouge native, Coerver is definitely a believer that the South is gonna do it again-he filters his Americana through the amped-up boogie of FM's greatest hick-rock. Take, for example, "All About A Dollar," in which Tom pleads for his sweet thing to give him a free one: it sounds like a near-rewrite of the Stones' legendary "Rip This Joint," but it's also got a definite "Call Me The Breeze" feel blowing through it. And even though "Take It On Faith" reveals a little more of his hair-metal history than he might intend, it still sounds gorgeous, like an Extreme ballad up on blocks in Marshall Tucker's backyard.
Of course, all this talk of genres and influences won't mean a damn thing to this CD's target audience, and maybe that's just as well-the sheer ferocity and professionalism of his attack almost mitigates his lack of originality. And the fact that all 11 songs here are written, performed, and produced almost entirely by Coerver is impressive, no matter what swamp you yourself crawled out of. Approach Backwater Tales with appropriately diminished expectations, and it'll reward your inner redneck.
-Robert Fontenot
WATERFRONT VIEW
Tom Coerver
Inundated
 Here's Tom's sophomore effort and no jinx in sight. You may remember that we reviewed his first album here a year or so ago and had some good things to say about it. Well, prepare to hear more good things, both from me and from this new album. He wrote most of the songs here (and there are quite a few) - 17 tracks, including one medley of two songs written by Robert Lamm. He also covers a tune by Burton Garr, a well-known Baton Rouge bluesman whose band Coerver has played in off and on over the years. So the thing is, even on the covers, you're going to be hearing songs that are most likely new to you and, if you're like me, you really enjoy hearing new music. Tom has doubled back on us a bit here though, as a lot of what he does here is really roots rock (and it flat rocks too). Oh wait, look here, it says right here on the back of the album "Roots, Rock, & Blues from Planet Louisiana" - I don't know as I'd go so far as to say we're on another planet down here, but we sho' as hell ain't in the same world as most of the rest of America, I guarontee!
Tom Coerver
Waterfront View
(Independent)
Surely you remember that classic hit from the Charlie Daniels Band, "Uneasy Rider"? Well, he may not be on his way to L.A. via Omaha, but Louisiana rock-rootser Tom Coerver is that uneasy rider, a proud redneck stuck in a world that won't let him be free, a rebel in both the big and little "r" sense of the word. Well, not quite every sense: this isn't the late summer of 1973, and music has moved on. But don't tell that to Tom, who seems quite happy to be stuck here, musically and lyrically, in a place where "they beat you in the head 'till you can't feel a thing" and you can see "guitar heroes stumblin' down the twelve steps" and a girl can look like "a sniper in the face of hope." Somewhere, there's a truly original songwriter struggling to get out of this man. And, frankly, a lot of what he does is about the struggle anyway.
Until then, Waterfront View still offers plenty for the Southern-rock fan; in fact, it's one of the best rock albums to come out of the Sportsman's Paradise this year. The one-two opening punch of "Down South Mama" and "Hear That Train" functions like an amped-up boogie generator; Coerver produced and recorded everything here himself, and the resultant sound hits like a brick to the face. If you're the kind of person still pissed off that ZZ Top started using synthesizers, this is the CD for you to annoy the cops with.
Best of all, nitpicks about originality fall away when you hear Tom's guitar chops-locals may not be that impressed by someone who can cover Howlin' Wolf or Burton Gaar or Neil Young (proving a Southern man does need him around, at least some of the time), but how many guitarists can combine Chicago's "Sing A Mean Tune, Kid" and "A Hit By Varese" in a medley, suck out all the jazz and prog influences, replicate the solos, and make it stick? Watch him folks, for he's a fairly dangerous man.
-Robert Fontenot
Review
"Waterfront View" - Tom Coerver (IM1002)
Wow! Having opened the package from FedEx and put it into my CD player I was amazed at what a great album this is.
Who is Tom Coerver? Well, Tom is a native of Baton Rouge, a fact which becomes obvious in his marvellously swampy slide playing which absolutely drips from the CD. Tom spent many years gigging around the circuit before coming to attention when he played with China Sky, which also included current Molly Hatchet guitarist Bobby Ingram
Anyway - the music....I popped this into my cd player, perhaps expecting to hear a Molly Hatchet style Southern Rock album. What I got was not like that, but included many styles and textures which certainly kept my interest in the album alive from beginning to end.
The album roars into life with three out and out rockers - "Down South Mama", "Hear that Train" and "Whatever it Takes" - you can see a very distinct Allman Brothers influence obviously pervades Tom's approach to his music and the great thing is that he obviously has the chops to do it justice. Perhaps less obvious, but something which struck me on occasion was a similarity to that Billy Gibbons style of playing - perhaps something Tom picked up during his time living in Houston, Texas - home of the Rev Billy.
The album settles down into a back-porch feel with a really nice, lowdown version of the Howlin Wolf blues classic "Sittin on Top of the World" with Tom crooning a la Gregg Allman
Just when you expect a return to fiery swamp-rock, Tom takes the album off in an unexpected direction with the marvellously latin tinged "Spanish Town" followed up by a beautifully mellow instrumental called "Decisions"
The album continues to offer interesting music in the form of "So Much for That" and "Keeping the Faith" until Tom decides its time to crank that Gibson Firebird up again on "Parade of Lost Souls" - a song I'm sure that must go over really well as a live "sing-a-long"
The next few numbers really bring Toms great slide playing to the fore, culminating with probably the most Allmanesque song on the album "One Hundred Pounds of Trouble". complete with swirling Hammond organ in the the background, and Tom firing off quick fire slide playing at every opportunity.
Follow all this great music with the strutting "Can't Stay Away from You" and a really well-executed cover of Neil Youngs "Don't Let it Bring You Down"
Ready to put the album away yet?? DON'T !! Its certainly not over yet, as Tom gets a slow groove going on "Can't Feel A Thing", before firing his album off to an incendiary conclusion with "Sing a mean tune kid / A Hit by Varese", before running a storming album out with the rollicking "Give it Some Time
Holy Taters!! - what a great great record, and one you really ought to get yourself. As a taster, Tom has provided me with a really fabulous version his band did of "Dreams I'll Never See" (the Molly Hatchet version) - no less a man than Riff West (Molly Hatchet bassist from 1981 - 1990) emailed Tom personally on a great version of a great song - if you would like a copy of it on mp3 as a taster, email me and I'll be happy to provide....but do your and your Cd collection a big favour - get out and buy a copy of Waterfront View"
-Kieran Keegan, April 2005
Review of “Waterfront View” by Michael Buffalo Smith from Gritz Magazine
Winter ’05 issue with ZZ Top on the cover, p.37:
Here’s proof once again that DIY and indie artists, nine times out of ten, are making better music than anything you will find on the major labels. On this, his second outing, Louisiana man Tom Coerver kicks it up even more, turning out a blistering guitar driven record filled with smart lyrical content and powerful blues rock guitar.
Most of the songs were written by Coerver, who also plays most of the instruments. Not since the days of John Fogerty’s Blue Ridge Rangers has a single musician brought it all together so well. Coerver at times sounds like a ‘70’s classic rocker, sometimes like ZZ Top, and at others his music slides into a kind of Gov’t Mule groove.
There is a sweet, Dobro fueled cover of the classic “Sittin’ On Top of The World”, and then Tom throws down on some Spanish guitar on “Spanish Town”. Coerver isn’t afraid to share his innermost opinions either, like the music industry diatribe “Parade of Lost Souls”. Pretty cool.
With Waterfront View, Tom Coerver shows that he has what it takes to consistently put out good records, filled with originality and fresh, Southern grown rock and roll.
- Michael Buffalo Smith
Review of “Waterfront View” – by Fred Schmidtlein of ‘Home of Rock Magazine’, (Impressum, Artikelliste), 05.04.2005 - http://www.home-of-rock.de/
Translated from German to English by Holger Notzel)
Mr. Coerver, why is your new album called “Waterfront View”, why are there 17 songs on it, why are you playing almost all of the instruments on it yourself, why does your guitar sound so damn good, why is your singing so great, and why, for God’s sake, don’t you grab a few competent musicians and fly to Europe to play the clubs here until we get a waterfront view before our eyes?
Tom Coerver hails from Baton Rouge and he is a musician to the bone. In the 1980s he was in the band China Sky together with current Molly Hatchet frontman Bobby Ingram. Tom runs his own recording studio and plays multiple instruments. He has a profound knowledge of all things musical as well as a wonderful sense of humor. He caught my colleague Joachim Domrath’s attention in 2003 with his solo debut “Backwater Tales” and we fell in love with Tom and his music. His newly released second album “Waterfront View” is cut from the same cloth as his debut. Visual similarities between the two CDs are not accidental, but this new one is even a touch better than “Backwater Tales”.
Tom doesn’t accept any limitations, he only does what he wants and is able to do. With this attitude, he may not always appeal to narrow minded conservative circles. A bit of eclectic tolerance is definitely required to enjoy “Waterfront View”, because the view isn’t one of dull roots rock. But then, what is roots rock? Is it Southern Rock? Is it Classic Rock? Or does the term only apply to Neil Young and his followers? Can the occasional jazzy note be added? Is Tom allowed to resort to finger exercises a la Steve Morse?
Fans of Neil Young can rest easy knowing that Tom Coerver is covering his Don’t Let It Bring You Down in all of its classic beauty. It’s worth mentioning that Tom’s guitar playing cannot be compared to Young’s as he doesn’t play as many strange notes.
What needs to happen for a simple Blues song to excite today’s listeners? The emotion has to be genuine, that’s what! The dramatic experience of Can’t Feel A Thing can only reach the audience through the Blues, nothing else will do. By the way, Coerver refers to TV as “idiot box”, and right he is.
Tom obviously studied Johnny Winter, but his creative expression goes far beyond where Winter ever dared to go. There is no clinging to tired old patterns, no mere adaptation of old solos. Instead we hear a friendly embrace of great sounds and writing styles updated for 2005. This can be heard for example in the last two songs – “Chicago Medley” and “Give It Some Time” as well as the blues groove of Can’t Stay Away From You.
Most of the time, the music just rocks in a straightforward and refreshing way without being pretentious. With a keen sense of taste, even the simplest of rock songs are enhanced by the use of a Hammond organ, for example. Thankfully it is never overdone as it so often is with one man solo projects. Instead everything beyond the basic instrumentation of guitar, bass, drums, and vocals is used to enhance the songs rather than becoming a means of ego gratification. It is plenty obvious just what a technically accomplished musician Coerver really is, anyway.
When you’re looking at 17 songs and a total running time of 75 minutes, you can’t avoid the fact that not every song is going to equally appeal to every consumer.
Unlike many such albums, however, there are no fillers on “Waterfront View”. The entire work is an expression of the enormous creativity of a musician who carefully crafted and recorded his ideas - with excellent sound quality, I might add.
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