Beau Jennings
Holy Tulsa Thunder
Murkville Music
Release Date: Jul 8, 2008

It's happened many times before. A strong front man of a band announces that he's making a solo album. Some of these times it's a permanent transition, while other times it's a necessary move for the band to continue forward. Thome Yorke did it; Stephen Malkmus did it, so why shouldn't Beau Jennings do it? The front man of the New York group indie Cheyenne, Jennings decided it was time to diverge from his group to strike out on his own solo work. The result is Holy Tulsa Thunder, an ode to his days in Oklahoma created with studio musicians with ties to Tulsa, Jennings's hometown. Holy Tulsa Thunder's story is based off of the band's days spent at the local Tulsa attraction Bell's Amusement Park, a run-down classic theme park with wooden roller coasters and cotton candy at every stand.

Each track on Holy Tulsa Thunder is short but sweet, the longest being about four minutes. This doesn't allow much time for Jennings to develop a sound of his own. The title track and first song "Holy Tulsa Thunder" sounds more like his work in Cheyenne, calling upon influences from Wilco combined with a southern flair. Most tracks don't deviate too far from the formula Jennings uses for Cheyenne, but he does add certain panache to make Holy Tulsa Thunder a bit different than Cheyenne's album The Whale. "The Opolis," a song based about a music venue in Tulsa, is a little more bluegrass than Cheyenne usually is with a nice bass beat to make those not from Oklahoma feel the energy of the local music venue.

As entertaining as Holy Tulsa Thunder is, it feels as though Jennings is taking his favorite bands and vamping off of them to create his solo album. "Eastern Clouds" sounds as though it could come right off of Wilco's Sky Blue Sky, and the following track "In My Veins Again" fits easily into Ryan Adams's Heartbreaker. Despite the musical similarities, Jennings's voice makes his sound unique enough to add variation between his work and the work of his influences. The way he sounds on "In Time for Spring" is so attractive that it's similarities to anything else are thrown out the window for Jennings's sincere words to a woman that he's lost.

Holy Tulsa Thunder is a fun album, but just can't compete to Cheyenne's The Whale. It's still worth a spin, so don't entirely dismiss it. Maybe just listen to Cheyenne before you make a purchase.