Singer/songwriter/guitarist Gene Butler’s Not Afraid To Be Country in LA has a generous helping of 18 original songs of gritty country music.  Their “concrete Americana” or “outlaw Americana” has an urban, west coast approach but is still grounded in the genre’s southern traditions. Based in Los Angeles, Butler’s had a successful career as actor, playwright and director, but he keeps coming back to music. Born in Macon, Ga., he remembers hearing black singers in the churches. That planted the seed for him to start singing, take up guitar, buy a PA system, start a rock band, and begin writing songs. Heading to southern California in the 1980s, Butler hooked up with players like Gurf Morlix (guitar, bass, mandolin), Brantley Kearns (fiddle) and Donald Lindley (drums). Several other instrumentalists, background vocalists, and LA session players, appear on this album. Lucinda Williams sings with Butler on “God’s Fallen Star.”

Butler’s voice has a rugged character, his eclectic music conveys exuberance, and the band has rowdy, infectious energy on numbers like “Ride That Train” and “You Go On Anyway.” For flavors of rockabilly, check out “Please Send Me a Postcard” or for some toe-tapping bluegrass colorings, “Two More Shots of Doubles” and “I’m Still Under” fit the bill. Zydeco influences make “Don’t Say Don’t” another standout track. Some of Butler’s other songs that caught my attention were “A Sadness in the Wind,” “What Else Can a Good Man Do?” “From a King to a Fool,” and “Let’s Try It Again.” Despite being a country musician “In This Lonesome City” of Los Angeles, Gene Butler is on a musical adventure, pursuing dreams, and doing what he loves to do – composing and singing interesting Americana music that covers a broad spectrum of musical moods.  (Joe Ross, Roots Music Report)