Bouncing Back With Creed Bratton

Bruce Von Stiers

Creed Bratton is an actor whose character on the comedy The Office is also named Creed Bratton. But Creed isn’t just an actor. He is also a musician and vocalist. His musical roots go way back to the ‘60’s with the band The Grass Roots.

Over the years Bratton has worked with various bands and did his own solo thing. He has recorded several solo albums. His latest effort is an album called Bounce Back. It features Bratton and his backing band The 3DVB’s.

The members of the band are Greg Liesz, Davey Jackson, Ed Helms, Dean Parks, Val McCallum, Brian McCloud, Dillon O’ Brian, Billie, Dave Way and Dave Schwartz. There is also Tara Holloway. Liesz has played with the likes of Cheryl Crow and Wilco. Schwartz has recorded and toured with Eric Johnson. O’Brian has recorded with too many big names to list here. And vocalist Holloway, a Canadian import, was with Bratton at SXSW and has a critically acclaimed solo album. You might say that Bratton has stacked the deck with some immense talent.

The album was produced by Dave Way.

To fit the music on the album into one exact category would be hard to do. There are elements of classic pop, but there are also bits and pieces of alt folk rock and a touch of the blues.

The first song on the album is kind of fun in an alt folk rock fashion. The title of the song is Sure Sounds Good.

Rubber Tree has a very mellow and fluid Bob Dylan styling.

Let’s Get Lost is a mixture of mellow blues and alt folk rock. Holloway has some terrific backing vocals to Bratton’s mellow lead vocals. I’d have to say that this is my favorite song on the album. Not only are the vocals great, the music is very, very good.

Love Me Like You Dance has a touch of Country. That is, Charlie Daniels by the way of Jimmy Buffett.

Change The Channel is a rocker that harks back to the ‘60’s styling of bands like The Doors.

Things slow back down with a song called Then I Think of You. Mellow vocals are in front of guitar work that reminded me of Steely Dan’s Dirty Work.

Drivin’ The Drags is kind of fun and has a Bayou Blues lilt to it.

Original White Hat Guy moves back to the alt folk mode. Matters Like This is a mellower, aching type of song.

Cotton Candy Time is my second favorite song on the album. It has cool bluesy rock background music and smooth vocals.

The album closes with a pure Country sounding tune called My Heart’s An Open Book.

Creed Bratton is a pretty decent actor. And when you listen to Bounce Back you’ll find that he’s a pretty decent musical artist too. The album has fun songs with several different musical styling thrown into the mix. And with top notch talent backing him, Creed Bratton should have a hit album on his hands.

Bounce Back is on sale now.

Check out the official Creed Bratton web site to learn more. That site is www.creedbratton.com.

Back