Accidents happen. However, they are not always detrimental to those involved. Such was the case when Tom Tikka and Nolen Chew Jr. of The Star Prairie Project teamed up to co-write two songs and ended up writing a whole album together. Don’t you hate it when that happens? So instead of a co-write for each of their respective musical projects, they now have a full platter of songs to release, and “Runaway Baby” is the third single from that forthcoming album.
It’s one of those songs that is automatically timeless, in that its rock-and-roll hallmarks and Americana vibes suggest it could have been written anywhere on a timeline that connects the early Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters to the likes of Tom Petty’s solo successes to, well, today.
Both Tikka and Chew are experts at this sort of thing, songs that are also a sort of musical history lesson, a condensed sonic presentation of the development of American sound. Put them together, and you get, well, this – deft, old-school, rock and roll grooves, energetic yet unfussy beats, accessible sonics, smart lyrics about that classic rock and roll pairing, cars and girls, cool middle eight changes of direction, blistering guitar breaks, and to top it off, as the song heads for the finish, and the girl is just dust on the horizonn, vocal arrangements that would have made Brian Wilson jealous.
Blimey, that’s a lot. But of course, the meticulous arrangement means that everything has room to breathe, room to be heard, room to work effectively.
These two fine songwriters are great as individuals; put them together, and there are few in today’s broad rock-Americana arena who can beat this pairing.
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