This weird name - for us non-Americans - belongs to a Kip Winger (WINGER, Alice Cooper) side project dating back 40(!) years ago. Having in mind Kip was born in 1961 (source: Wikipedia.org) it seems BLACKWOOD CREEK was formed when Kip was eight years old. Woah, it's a long way to the top...
Kip with his older brother Nate and neighbour old friend Pete Fletcher carried BLACKWOOD CREEK for a decade, as stated in the label's Press release. WINGER mainman's career - moved over to New York afterwards - is more or less known to fans of the band while everything popular featuring the remaining duo's next steps sums it up to the involvement of TOOL drummer Danny Carey in the Fletscher-formed underground Hollywood Rock heroes PIGMY LOVE CIRCUS outfit. Now, many years after the band's initial will to rock the world, the trio decides to reform and (re)record material from those early days.
Eleven songs give you a split image of assumptions. First, the original melodies lay on the guitar-groovy-driven American Rock of bands like MOUNTAIN, (early) R.E.O. SPEEDWAGON, BLACK OAK ARKANSAS or LYNYRD SKYNYRD and LED ZEPPELIN, with a thick slice of KISS or AEROSMITH and a primitive AOR vibe (remember it's the 70s we're talking about). Yet, with the renditions being made the last couple of years, truth is you can only smell the old days in the songs' melodies, since the sound/production/mix do bring on things many fans have seen Kip including in solo or WINGER's most recent works.
The good thing is BLACKWOOD CREEK's music is - in general - not too similar to Kip's works the last two decades, hence it's a good idea these songs are brought to attention not omitting the fact most of them are really good tracks anyway (rockers, bluesbreakers, southern stars etc). For the dynamic hardrocker's appetite, on the other hand, I think this album is kinda pale/retro. To match it to Kip Winger's evolutionary career I think is the best aspect in order to spend good time with Blackwood Creek's 70s American Rock reminiscence.