Only recently the consensus had been reached in my household that the time for a new Rocky Votolato album was long past due and a lengthy re-visitation of his solo back catalog immediately commenced at that point. Luckily for our household, the new album from Mr. Votolato is here; True Devotion comes via Barsuk Records again (his label for the last three full-lengths) with ten tracks of the singer's recognizable vocals. Votolato is nothing if not a solid songwriter and performer and the consistent quality of his music is usually a given. True Devotion begs the question then whether or not this latest effort lives up to the strength of the rest of his catalog.
The immediately striking and lush string and organ introduction to "Lucky Clover Coin" ropes me in right from the start, but make no mistake this is vintage Rocky Votolato complete with his steady vocals that are harmonized in parts to add depth to the track; still, the smattering of strings in parts of this song give it that little something extra to make it a memorable track. The vocal melody and harmony in "Fragments" is rather excellent and provides a certain highlight to True Devotion while the up tempo "Red River" comes along at just the right time to inject some more life into the music, and it is this element of the album, the sequencing of the songs, which keeps True Devotion rolling along just right the whole time. The line, "I just want to come back home to you again / 'cause I just want to be free" makes "Instrument" a must listen for me personally, as does the bright sound of Votolato's harmonica playing. My favorite song off the album might just be "Sun Devil" and its understated drums and percussion that mix extremely well with the sparse piano accompaniment and Votolato's acoustic guitar and, often times, soaring vocals.
True Devotion certainly feels and sounds like a throwback to some of the early records from Rocky's solo career where it is mostly just a guitar and him singing the songs (with the occasional flourish of a harmonica or some other instrument), but at the same time the subtle maturity of his songwriting over time shows in this batch of tracks. At times, I miss the plugged in songs that pepper the last few Votolato albums; True Devotion seems to contain a unique charm that those other albums did not have, making this kind of a "sweet" album from a man that is quickly becoming a troubadour of sorts. While it might not be the type of album that listeners will obsessively listen to at first (only to die off a bit later), True Devotion will hang around in stereos for quite a while (particularly while sitting on the front porch or back deck in the summer time).
