Today's Country

It isn’t uncommon for someone to cross genres and take a stab at a country album, some with a huge amount of success and others without much if any at all. However, I can’t recall a time that a Broadway sensation has done it until now. Although Harley Jay has a musical background in that he attended the Berklee School of Music, his prominent stage background comes from his popular role as Mark Cohen in RENT, which he perfected on the national tour, and then continued on the famed Broadway stage. Though he has a Broadway album to his credit, Without Wax is his first stab at original music with a bit of a country backbone. He defines it best when he calls his music “city country,” as this isn’t your grandma and grandpa’s country, but there are some defining elements of the modern country style spread throughout the album. His combination of loud rockin’ electric guitar on tracks like “Do You Want Me Or Not,” and “Stuff Packed In” combined with the driving pop sounds you’ll find on cuts like “Without You Tonight,” beg to be compared to the rockers of the country scene out there today like Keith Urban. However, as these songs display a country vibe, Harley Jay is a rocker as well with a foot on the classic rock sounds of bands like Blue Oyster Cult as he instantly shows you as the album opener “And She Said” kicks in. Though this album is more of a labor of love in that there isn’t one overall theme or feel to it, that doesn’t mean it should be dismissed. This is an album that is perfectly suited for those fans of the classic rock and modern country sounds as this encompasses both genres and gives you a healthy combination without ever blurring the genre lines one way or the other.