As I write this I’m listening to Maybe August’s debut CD for the second time.  I don’t expect this to be the last time I listen to them.  They’re very good, meaning the songs are very good, the singing is very good, and the playing all around is very good.  And the harmonica playing on the CD is great and a lot of fun to listen to, which I like in particular.

The band reminds me of an updated Huey Lewis and the News–an R&B influenced rock band that plays great songs with power and precision, driving the big points home with strong vocals and a lot of color.  I liked Huey’s band too. 

Lead singer, harmonica player, and member of the songwriting team Roscoe Selley just sounds great to me.  His singing is a lot like Huey Lewis’s. His harmonica playing is very original, both more ambitious and more capable than Lewis’s, obviously influenced by John Popper and the blues. 

But Selley has a very melodic approach, and he gets amazing sounds out of what I assume to be a pile of effects pedals.  It’s not just on the leads, either; at the end of one song, Selley plays a big, fat, low, distorted note under the guitar that makes the whole thing sound about 3 times as big and dangerous.  When he’s not the featured soloist, he plays the same role in this band that the keyboards played in Huey Lewis’s band–making cool sounds to add depth and color to the sound of the power guitars. 

I could go on, but why bother?  Go listen to them now at http://myspace.com/maybeaugust.