The Dröpkick Murphys had warned when "This Machine Still Kills Fascists" was released last year: this collection of tracks using Woody Guthrie's lyrics would be followed by a second volume. Here is the little brother entitled "Okemah Rising" (name taken from the town where Woody Guthrie was born in Oklahoma), still in acoustic mode, which is not surprising when you know that the twenty tracks composing both albums were recorded at the same time.
So there is no surprise to expect from the ten tracks offered here, as long as you are already familiar with the 2022 album. But the fan will have some pleasure to take back a dose of tracks as festive as protesting, especially since it is never a question of redundancy here but of continuity. It's still hard to resist the contagious ardor of 'Bring It Home' on which the outlaw-country singer Jaime Wyatt gives her voice, or the desperate and demanding energy of 'I Know How It Feels'. The choruses perforate the neurons and hang on to them while triggering an irresistible desire to party in a good old smoky pub by ingesting a few liters of hopped up drink with friends.
It is true that Al Bare's vocals is a bit lacking on the most melancholic passages, but Ken Casey nevertheless manages without any problem while he still has no equal to pour out his rage with an infectious good mood. Finally, it is impossible not to evoke the version of 'I'm Shipping Up To Boston' which comes to close these rejoicings: what a nice wink to offer a re-reading of this title which made the legend of the Dröpkick Murphys in 2005 whereas its lyrics were written by... Woody Guthrie!
This is a nice way to complete the circle for the Boston insurgents, by confirming the importance that the protest artist had on their career. The ambition of "Okemah Rising" remains the same as the one that animated its predecessor, but it only completes the tribute that was started last year, forming an indissociable whole with a flawless intensity. So invite your friends to remake the world while ingesting a quantity of beers at discretion, and launch this pair of discs which will inflate your morale and of which you will continue to hum the refrains and the melodies for a long time.