Artist: Acoustic Kitty Project
Album: Saturday Night
Released: July 31, 2017
Genre: Country Rock

When Acoustic Kitty Project takes Musikfest’s Plaza Tropical stage on Monday, August 7 as part of the LVMA Musikfest Country Roots Showcase, it will have plenty of reason to celebrate. Not only will the band have an opportunity to showcase its talents to hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of new listeners, but it will do so in support of a new album that is one of the strongest and best-crafted releases of 2017 to this point.

The album, titled “Saturday Night,” ventures boldly into new territory for Acoustic Kitty Project, while remaining true to the band’s country rock roots. “Saturday Night” sets the tone with “This Boy,” a hot up-tempo anthem that provides a perfect introduction to the band and frontman Carter Lansing for the uninitiated. “Mountain Mama” and “Kind of Fool” are also fun rockers, with the later featuring a “Pandora’s Box” double entendre that is simple in its brilliance.

“Saturday Night” features plenty of more tender moments. “We Are One” is a call-and-answer duet and proclamation of love between Lansing and his wife, Rebecca Altmann, who provides vocals and percussion on much of the album. “San Francisco” gets down and bluesy, with guitarist Mike Carr playing a killer solo with extra emotion and a southern twang.

Lansing also uses “Saturday Night” to comment on issues that musicians face. In addition to the fall of industry and the plight of the working class, “Company Store” seems to drop in a message to rally against the undervaluing of artists everywhere. The title track, a roll-with-the-punches number, addresses the struggle of the local gigging musician in a more humorous light, even managing to insert a couple of “Freebird!” Easter eggs before and after a solo from Carr.

One more note for those who like their music with a story arc: the sorrow of “Well,” which laments the feeling of loving and losing, plays perfectly into the aw-shucks sincerity of “Last Good Man on Earth,” which seems to make peace with the end of the relationship featured in its predecessor.

Track listing:
This Boy
We Are One
Company Store
San Francisco
Mountain Mama
Gallows Hill
Kind of Fool
Well
Last Good Man on Earth
Saturday Night