Ralston Bowles

02.13.2008 -- Review by: Don Zelazny

The 10 songs on the disc range from solo vocals to bluesy rockers. One thing is consistent throughout; the songs make you think. The track “You Already Knew That” (which likely inspired the CD title) is a great piece of songwriting. There’s been a wreck on his relationship highway:

Better call the wrecker darlin, there’s been an accident
Are things that we were saying the things we really meant?
The brakes were hit but too late, we felt the full impact
I’ll admit it’s not my first mistake, but you already knew that..

This is followed by the beautiful tune “What About Me,” a soft introspective tune that is wonderful in it’s simplicity, and asks some of the questions we have all asked ourselves at some time:
What about me- will I ever know romance
What about me- should I just take a chance
What about me- will I ever know a kiss
What about me- I’m really quite new at this

Not to be lulled to sleep, the next tune is a rocker, “Everybody But You,” which seems to answer some of the questions about romance in the previous song.

everybody but you, everyone but you
nobody ever treated me the way you do
please tell me what did you find
that made you want to treat me so kind?
everybody wants something from me but you

On “James Dean” Ralston shows his rock and blues side and speaks to the strange desire some of us men have to go out with a bang, not a whimper. These are well crafted and thought out tunes, the kind that make you remove the liner notes to check the lyrics to make sure you’re getting the “whole serving” of the tunes. When I am forced to do this, I know I’m listening to a good song, not merely good music with words. Oh, the music is just fine too. “Grace” leans more toward alt-country, with mandolin and harmonica prominent. “One More Holiday” and “Draper,” which close out the CD are both nice acoustic tunes with no fluff. “Draper” gives us my favorite line on the CD, “I believe that life is more than rehearsing how to die.” Ralston Bowles obviously does not want to just sit and watch the world go by, he wants to be a part of it. He spends some of his time mentoring young singer-songwriters in Michigan. I hope they’re paying attention so I can hopefully add some more reviews from Michigan artists in the future!

Don Zelazny is a music lover who plays dentist by day. He ‘listens’ with his two young children, and wife Michelle in Michigan.