Description:
Bicentennial Drug Lord – You Are Never Alone (2025)
Review:
Burning bright and turning to ashes just in time to join the 27 Club is liable to cement your legacy forever, or at least for a while. Chances are, though, that that’s not the path any particular musician is on (and all the better for them, however appealing it might seem on a Sunday night when the alarm awaits maliciously, ready to inaugurate another week of mundane work). And so, time flies, here comes middle age and its new perspectives. Bicentennial Drug Lord has put together an album that revolves around this less-sung-about period, and it’s a feel-good, alternatingly touching and funny tribute to all those rockers who survived the turbulent youth exalted in the annals of music history. Bicentennial Drug Lord is made up of long-time friends John Daniels, Rick Donner, and Alan Weatherhead, all three of whom serve as songwriters, passing around the microphone from song to song. The fact that their voices are not too dissimilar results in a fun, collaborative effort that thankfully doesn’t feel like a juggling act. They are also joined by Kevin Lumley on drums and Libby Rodenbough on fiddle and additional vocals (see track seven, ‘Rock Bottom’, a duet about doomed love with a twist). There are several recurring themes in “You Are Never Alone”, interlinked by the vital changes explored throughout. Trouble in more established relationships, the increasingly frequent deaths of friends and acquaintances, the rescue of animals (who can even think about kids in this economy?), and regrets for both mistakes and failed expectations all play a big part in the album. ‘Iggy Pop’ stands out in the tracklist as the catchy lead single, capturing the spirit of the album with a joy that’s grounded and speaks to many.
…“You Are Never Alone” is a comforting album that keeps up a playful tone and is likely to lift your spirits, that is, as long as the problems portrayed in the song don’t hit too close to home. There’s a special talent for picking up on mundane details and painting a painfully real picture through the filter of rock and roll. — americanaUK
Track List:
01 - This Pabst Blue Ribbon
02 - Caught Wishing
03 - The Ballad of Snooki the Pit
04 - Iggy Pop
05 - Like an Accident
06 - Daylight Through Your Eyes
07 - Rock Bottom
08 - Before the Icicles and Frost
09 - Awake Awake
10 - The Gates of Headley Grange
Media Report:
Genre: alt-country, indie-rock
Origin: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA 
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.3.0 (UTC 2013-05-26)
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