The Delevantes: Postcards From Along the Way (Capitol)
Together, Mike and Bob Delevante display one of the quirkiest harmonic convergences to pour through a Nashville microphone in a long time. Obviously influenced by the Byrds, Buddy Holly, the Louvins and the Everlys–even the Monkees–this New Jersey duo seems at times to have gone beyond country pop (this is no hat act) into something even more sugar-coated and bizarre. But that’s only because the brothers always seem to be singing about cars and hopelessly romantic situations, and their harmonies are so tight as to leave the respective Delevantes indistinguishable from each other. Given a closer listen, though, the music can be infectious–thanks especially to the fine steel guitar of John Noreen and Benmont Tench’s keyboards–and gutsier than it at first appears to be.
