Athens' Tishamingo releases album

Listening to Athens-based band Tishamingo's latest album, The Point is like a history lesson in southern rock. They have certainly done their homework, touring extensively both in the states and in Europe. They even appeared on the Gimme Three Days cruise show alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd.

From the moment you hear the first song, you know you have found something special. The driving guitars that tear open the album make it clear this is a rock record, and the bluesy vocals and poetic lyrics have a certain Gregg Allman feel to them.

But if all the band could do is play a grinding guitar riff, you could not really call them a southern rock band. The next song, "Are We Rollin?", makes it clear that they are, in fact, a true southern rock band. The track has a great funky guitar groove reminiscent of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Steps" along with the requisite guitar solo that anything compared to a Skynyrd tune should have.

The band channeled Joe Walsh, both in guitar and vocally, on "Chest Fever", a cover of a song done by The Band on Music from Big Pink. Tishamingo ventures into country rock on a couple of tracks, like the steel guitar-heavy "Travel On." The song is anchored by a pounding bass drum on every beat and makes an amazing driving song.

But, all this aside, everyone knows that you cannot really be a southern rock group without a trademark epic jam song. The Marshall Tucker Band had "Can't You See," The Allman Brothers had "Ramblin' Man" and Skynyrd had "Free Bird". Now Tishamingo has "Tennessee Mountain Angel," a beautiful, slow-opening ballad that's carried by the chorus. About halfway through the seven minute track the song picks up in true southern rock form and busts out in a killer guitar solo.

The Point is a great album, but it is not going to win any fans for the genre. Though Tishamingo is good, maybe even great, they fail to compare with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers or the Marshall Tucker Band. Still, those bands have long been gone, at least in their original forms, and Tishamingo is here, recording new music. The band is a lot like eating at Taco Bell-sure, they may have discontinued the Chicken Enchilada Grilled Stuft Burrito, the best thing on the menu, but, they still have the Double Decker Taco and the Cheesy Gordita Crunch, so it is still worth going. If you're dying for some new southern rock, like most of the genre's fans probably are, pick this up.