From the All Music Guide:
Melodic and gruff, Kevin Bowe & the Okemeh Prophets' occupies a muscular, roots rockin' midland between the Replacements and Steve Forbert. This might seem like a typical accusation — or one that borders on hyperbole — but Kevin Bowe is a top-notch tunesmith. He has placed songs on major-label efforts by artists such as Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd and was even signed as a writer by Leiber & Stoller — a duo who knows a thing or two about songwriters.
This is the kind of album that a lot of Midwestern roots rock bands have been trying to make ever since that glorious Minneapolis explosion of the mid- to late '80s, which fostered such groups as the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, and the aforementioned Replacements. A few efforts have come close to that high watermark, and this album is one of them. The opener, "Sault St. Marie," sails on the back of Bowe's hoarse pipes (which simultaneously channel Forbert and Rick Danko), big guitars, and a hook that will give you chicken skin. And that pretty much sets the tone for the album, which is full of alternately jagged and ringing guitars and Bowe's tuneful writing chops. Other highlights include "The Horrible Truth About Anne" & "Sweeter World." — Erik Hage
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