Home Free Dive Bar Saints.

Home Free is a group of five vocalists Austin Brown, Rob Lundquist, Adam Rupp, Tim Foust and Adam Chance. They have released five albums between 2007 and 2012 under their own Home Free label. After winning the fourth season of The Sing-off on NBC in 2013, they won $100K and got a contract with Sony. Between 2013-2017, they have released five albums for Columbia/Sony. All these five albums broke into top of the charts. As of the week of September 21, 2019, Home Free’s Dive Bar Saints debuted at number 44 on Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

Since their beginnings, they have been a prolific touring group. For a band, which started as a Cappella group and gained fame doing covers of hit songs, Dive Bar Saints seems to be the original album that will catapult them to mainstream success. Their covers were so popular that Diana Ross invited them to perform at their 75th birthday after seeing the band cover her hit song ‘Love Train.’

“I really do feel like this is a turning point for us,” says Rob Lundquist, the group’s tenor harmony singer on Home Free website. “It’s the first time where we are going to have more original content than covers. It feels great now that we’ve had the community of songwriters actually coming to us and presenting us with songs that they wanted to be on the album. But it’s coming from within, too — Tim, our bass singer, co-wrote a couple of songs, and Austin Brown, our high tenor, co-wrote a couple songs.”

Austin Brown adds by saying, “Every time we have mentioned we have an album coming out and that it’s almost all originals, people explode. Lord knows we wouldn’t have expected that, but all signs point toward it being not just what fans want, but what they crave.”

Home Free Dive Bar Saints review

Home Free is labelled as country, but it’s more than this. They have the potential to be a cross-over group. This album has a bit of pop and blues flavor. In the intro track ‘Remember This,’ Home Free reminds that memories are all we cherish. They present the case of hesitating friends and weekend office worker who are suffering from indecision and not acting to find out.

Country music is driven by vocals, storytelling and music. Home Free as a band delivers on all three fronts. ‘Leave this Town,’ is about a small town soul who’s is reluctant to leave his town that has triple digit population. He is happy with what he has and the little pleasures of the small town.

‘Dive Bar Saints,’ is the lead track that draws parallels between a bar and a church. For a group that has performed at hundreds of bars, we can see that the concept of bar as a social gathering hub means a lot for its members. The chorus sums up the song perfectly.

“It’s a place to heal and a place to hurt

After a long week of hell it’s like Sunday at church

You’ll hear dirty jokes and the gospel truth

The jukebox choir singing in the corner booth

We’re here every weekend, bring your burdens, bring your pain

Everybody’s welcome at the church of the dive bar saints

Yeah, the Dive Bar Saints“

‘Catch me if you can,’ is a fast post-breakup track that has a lover abandoning his girl friend and singing, “I’m watching you stumble/ The same line every night.” There is a subtle word-play here if we see that ‘line’ can be interpreted as cocaine line or the routine verbal excuses we hear when the other person is slacking in a relationship.

As a Cappella group, Home Free guys doesn’t use any instrumentals. The group displays their beat-boxing skills by performing ‘Lonely Girl’s World,’ with ease. The group has a magical beat-boxing skills to make the song simple and complete without the use of any instruments. ‘Love Me Like That,’ is an upbeat modern love song that stands out in the second half for its pace and energy.

Dive Bar Saints is a 12 track album with great tracks in the first half and decent tracks in the second half. As a Cappella country group, Home Free has something unique to offer and plenty of potential to beat-box and hum their way to the top of the mainstream charts, not just country charts. They have the talent, storytelling skills and soul which will appeal to people who don’t listen to country music everyday.

Musicjo.com Rating: 8/10

If you like Home Free – Dive Bar Saints review, read Latest album reviews on Musicjo:

*Support Musicjo through Patreon*

Become a Patron!

Home Free Dive Bar Saints Tracklist