With his first single “Countrified” currently rising up the charts, St. Louis native Ken Domash has put together a new album. The album, also called Countrified features eleven other tracks that run the gamut from Collin Raye –like up-tempos to touching ballads like the song that he says started it all, the album closing “Thank You.”  This is an album that surprised me because if you judge it based on the album cover, it looks slightly ‘amateurish but getting past the artwork of the album I hear a record that mines the exact territory of country music that I’ve long suspected could really hit with 90s alt-rock fans as Domash’s vocal phrasing at time recalls artists like Collective Soul and Live while the melodies move between southern rock textures and mainstream country music.

The record kicks off with that first single and while it’s a muscular track with harder rock riffs backing up Ken Domash’s vocal, the lyrics actually help keep the single from feeling like the plethora of other tracks coming out with similar themes.  It’s an impressive introduction to Domash and the production from David Bechtel rivals the production of any major label production, a theme that happens over the course of Countrified, including the extremely catchy “Ding Dang Darn It,” a song with so much personality that it virtually leaps through the speakers.  That one’s gotta be a crowd pleaser live, something that can be said about the progressively melodic “I’ve been There.” 

With a gorgeous mandolin and steel guitar intro backing up Ken, he sings a romantic lyric that never feels clichéd or over done, something that really is becoming a trend with this record.  There quite a few ‘barn-burnin’ up-tempo tracks like the hard country rock of “It Doesn’t Matter” is quite simply one of the ‘hardest’ rockin’ songs that I’ve ever heard on a country album and somehow the steel pedal guitar (played electrified) really works with the song.  It’s the kind of song that will really appeal to men and bring them into a format that is so often associated with female fans.   The songs like the powerful ballad “Push Me” feels like a country Staind song and it’s something that many people in desperate situations will really relate to.  “Thank You” may have a generic title but with strong southern rock melodies and a vocal that supplely singing the lyric.  It could be a song about God or more likely it’s a song about a relationship with a parent or other loved one.  It’s also a perfect song to finish the record with.

Countrified is an album that surprised me and with the strong production from David Bechtel and the great engineering and mixing job by Colin Heldt, the album really shines.  In fact, the ‘worst’ thing about the record may just be the cover art, the thing that had me putting off listening to the record.  I am so glad I gave it a shot because it’s truly one of the freshest albums, indie or otherwise, that I’ve heard in the last few months.  Anyone who likes to discover new artists and genuinely wants to hear something different from the typical Nashville-produced album should give this record a chance.

You can support Ken Domash by purchasing this album at Amazon | eMusic | iTunes.