Chucky Trading Co.
Your Freedom
Chucky Trading Co. is a music collaboration among friends who have a passion for folk, country, rock, pop music. It’s centered around the writings of C S Taber from Manhattan, Kansas. If you do some research, he’s got a pretty inspiring story and is proving that great music doesn’t just come from the younger generation. Here’s our review of “Your Freedom.”
Track starts with a solid 12-string tone and riff that immediately gets us thinking of Laurel Canyon, the Byrds and Dan Peek of America. It’s a waltz feel with a minimalist approach in the first verse - just guitar, bass and vocals. With the chorus, the drums drop in and the spectrum opens up. The hook and melody are quite strong - it’s a compelling line sung with a confident voice. Second verse follows the proper set-up of build and structure and C S displays a tenderness in his voice in one ascending line that isn’t heard in another part of the track. After the second verse and pre-chorus we get a quick 4 bar set up from some tasty, twisted blues riffs. We dig that - we love it when songs don’t follow today’s ridiculous format of ABABCA and try to cram everything into 3 minutes. If there’s room for an extra part - provided that it doesn’t make the song boastful - we support it, so to hear a little treat like that before the second chorus is a welcome gift in the midst of today’s highly commoditized songs.
The solo section starts off with an 8 bar acoustic solo, then an 8 bar electric section that’s picked, twisted and nasty, and finally a brilliant slide solo that is the highlight of the track. Reminds us of Derek Trucks! It would be great to see this live - it gives us visions of the classic Eagles line up with Walsh, Felder and Frey up front, burning down arena’s in the 70’s. After that it’s back to a third verse before the final chorus, at full tilt, brings us to a close. This is 4:22 of an Americana style that has almost faded away - think Dan Fogelberg and Poco - thankfully there’s artists like the Chuck Trading Co. keeping it alive.
Lyrically it’s quite interesting. The hook, “your freedom, will not, save you today,” makes us go back and listen to this a few times to figure out just what is being proposed. What does he mean by “I’m counting the days in your heart beat” and “I’m living the nights in your mind;” from what perspective is he speaking? When he says “you can’t escape from your freedom, you can’t give me what is mine,” is he playing the role of God, Satan or the Grim Reaper? What’s the thought process behind “You’ll never escape, our stars won’t align?” Is it political? It’s vague enough to let the listener interpret it for themselves and attach they’re own meaning, which is an interesting method when paired with this instrumentation. That lyrical style is reminiscent with the 60’s psychedelia, whereas much of the Americana music of the 70’s was more literal, with fewer metaphors and allegories.
Cool track, glad we came across it! Make sure you scroll down to catch the rest of their music and browse through their socials. This would definitely be a fun project to see live - maybe we’ll have to go to Manhattan again, soon. Manhattan, Kansas, that is.