There’s something immediately likeable about the way Joseph Turner & The Dudes of Hazard approach resilience on ‘Backbone’. Instead of turning perseverance into a grand, earnest declaration, the track gets its hands dirty, building its message around stomping feet, acoustic guitars, gang vocals and the very literal sound of a shovel hitting the ground.
Right from the start, ‘Backbone’ feels like something assembled in a room full of people willing to make noise with whatever happens to be within reach. Handclaps, foot stomps and shovel percussion lock into the groove, while harmonica and acoustic guitar push the arrangement further into dusty Americana territory.
There are shades of Colter Wall in the earthy delivery, but the frontman keeps things loose enough for the track to avoid becoming overly reverential towards its influences. As it plays, ‘Backbone’ understands that determination can be messy, stubborn and occasionally ridiculous, and that attitude makes the underlying optimism considerably more convincing.
As a rotating group of collaborators rather than a rigid band setup, there’s a communal looseness to the performance, especially when the gang vocals arrive. By the final double-time stomp-and-clap section, the track has moved from perseverance into something closer to a celebration.
Joseph Turner’s songwriting also keeps the central idea refreshingly straightforward. Life becomes a process of digging through whatever lands in front of you, finding enough energy to continue and refusing to stay down for long. It’s hardly a new philosophy, but ‘Backbone’ gives it enough personality to make it feel worth hearing again.
Raw, playful and packed with rootsy momentum, ‘Backbone’ is a strong evolution of Joseph Turner & The Dudes of Hazard. More importantly, it sounds like everyone involved had a genuinely good time making it, and that enthusiasm carries straight through the speakers.
