Randy Steele: Moccasin Bender EP Review: Finely-Crafted

Flooded with banjo and violin, Randy Steele’s Moccasin Bender EP is flooded with Chattanooga flavor. However, that doesn’t mean you have to hail from the area to truly appreciate the six-pack collection of tracks.

Like many country tunes, this EP is one forged by memories. The song’s first track, “Mabbitt Springs,” tells a tale about a man making a deal with God to spare his son’s life. Even cooler, “Rummies” is inspired by the work of Ernest Hemingway, while “The Age of Ben” shares the story of a son with a heroin addiction. While all of these stories have depth and polish, it’s the musicianship behind them that makes them truly stand out.

Steele’s voice is warm and honest and combined with the banjo, violin and guitar, it’s multifaceted country/rock that gets better every time you listen. Simply put, it’s like a sandwich with some pop. There are secret ingredients here that by themselves aren’t unique, but when all combined together, they have a unique flavor that it’s hard to replicate somewhere else.

In the end, this collection of tunes is best served after a long day of work, in your car on the highway, heading home. Full of stories, ones you’ll connect to, it’s deep but far from heady and a nice blend of musicianship and charisma.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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