BY BILL SMITH
MUSIC CRITIC

Every once in a great while, I discover a band that fills my heart with over whelming happiness that I have a job where I get to share what I discovered with all you good people. Runaway Dorothy, and their album The Arc, is a perfect example of what I mean. Hailing from Brooklyn, New York, RD truthfully sounds nothing like I would expect a band from Brooklyn to sound like. I was assuming they would be a super tough, hard edge, profanity laced group of common placed, shallow three chord hacks we’ve come to expect these days from people who try to pass themselves of as musicians. Was I ever wrong! What I found was a tight knit, well produced and performed band that displayed vulnerability in their music that is seldom heard from these days.

Runaway Dorothy is an Alternative Country band, or what some may call Americana. With a sound similar to Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams, and Counting Crows, while throwing in some elements of Radiohead and U2 in for good measure. The music here is filled with lush harmonica playing, authentic country and western elements such as beautiful pedal steel, and probably the finest acoustic guitar sound captured on tape that I can remember hearing in a long, long while. Even though RD may be an independent artist, they are certainly keeping up with the majors with a steady stream of gigs all across the nation.  RD recently finished a 14 show stint in seven days, ending with twelve of these shows being held at last month South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.

Standout tracks on The Arc include “Abilene,” “Volatile,” and “Hard Way Home.” The track that strikes me as a modern Alt-Country masterpiece is “Takes A lot of Love,” this is a powerful and emotive song that cuts straight t to the heart. It’s simply beautiful with its orchestration, and harmonica playing to counterbalance that. I would highly recommend support these guys by purchasing their CD, and getting out there and seeing them next time they’re in town.

Grade: A-

bsmith@lakecounty-sentinel.com or follow us on Twitter @LCSentinelcom