Curtis People’s is a quickly rising singer/songwriter sensation with a healthy rock and roll twist. This self-titled album is his debut and comes on the heels of tours with Tyler Hilton, Hanosn, and Josh Kelley, among others. He also appeared on Ryan Cabrera’s SCORE, a songwriting competition that aired on MTV.
You can easily sum Curtis People’s album up with one word. Diversity. Normally I would see that as an extremely unfortunate thing because for most artists that would be the musical equivalent of a trainwreck, for People’s though it’s an incredible strength. The fact is, he’s pretty darn good at just about anything that he can tinge with jangly pop. The opening trio of tunes is easily the best example of this. “Back Where I Started” opens with a Southern-fried guitar riff that immediately brings Tom Petty to mind until People’s starts singing and you recognize that this is going to be more pop-oriented than Mr. Petty’s work. The modern rock flare of “Holding me Down” hits next, sounding modern and relevant and just a little biting, offering that People’s may not be best classified as a simple singer/songwriter. He quickly follows that up with the album’s highlight, the funky, Jason Mraz-ish “Tell I’m Wrong.” And then comes the obligatory ballad “All I Want,” sounding like it could be playing the background of any number of current television dramas. While it’s not particularly my thing, it is solid and round out the first half of the album as if it were set up to be contained on a cassette tape.
The album goes on in much the same fashion for the second half, tossing and turning throughout a variety of genres and doing them all extremely well. The draw here though is People’s voice. As someone that doesn’t usually enjoy male singer/songwriters, or vocalists for that matter, I was pleasantly surprise to hear a commanding voice, one that forces you to pay attention in much the same way as Johnny Cash or Bono does, without sending like either. People’s has a unique style that I’m sold on. I highly recommend this album if you like the current modern rock or pop-tinged singer/songwriter scenes because People’s has the potential to transcend, and thus outlast, the trend.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
