Stan Lynch, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, long-time drummer and founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, announces today the formation of THE SPEAKER WARS. After two decades of recording and touring multiple albums with The Heartbreakers, Stan moved to the other side of the recording console and shifted his focus to production and songwriting. While writing in Nashville, a publisher introduced Stan to Texas singer-songwriter, Jon Christopher Davis, who was gathering material for a solo record on a major label. After accumulating an album’s worth of songs, Jon abandoned working on a solo record and the two decided to start a band to perform the newly created material.

Adding Jay Michael Smith on guitar, Brian Patterson on bass, Steve Ritter on percussion, and Jay Brown on keyboards, THE SPEAKER WARS was born. Being an old school rocker myself, I always take these special projects from Frontiers Music with a grain of salt, because while many of them are hits, some are also misses. For example, how can one expect a musician who had his hey-day in the 1970’s and 80’s to be able to still capture some of that songwriting magic so many years later? The musicians are all excellent, no doubt about that, but creating something that hasn’t already been done too many times before is always a challenge. Will it sound fresh? Will the songs still be catchy? Will it sound modern, or old school? Let’s get to the album and see for ourselves.

From the opening tones of the opener, “You Make Every Lie Come True,” we have a winner. It sounds to me like a Tom Petty song if he were still alive today…a natural progression of his music. “Taste of Heaven” is a gentler offering, along with some groove, and even some sultry leanings. As a vocalist, Jon has a versatile voice, a snarl when he wants it, and smooth like butter other times. “The Forgiveness Tree” is a tender offering, with piano, and Jon’s emotional vocals. For me, it speaks of two people being able to put aside their differences and whatever they did to each other in the past, and coming back together, with the promise of a new path forward. “Trader’s South” is another song that reminds me of the storytelling of Tom Petty, and there are even some trademark harmonica notes.

“Sit with My Soul” is the kind of song that sticks to your ribs and has that old school nostalgia. For me, it’s all about the vocal harmonies, which are simple, but quite effective. “I Wish You Peace” is a shorter finale, that cements the album. I gotta say, this album was a hit. Sure, it’s old school nostalgia for those of us who are old enough to remember the glory days of Rock ‘N Roll, but that doesn’t take away from its magic. As I mentioned, it sounds like a natural progression of Tom Petty’s music, may he rest in peace, and it’s obvious that he had a special relationship with Stan.