Sony tapped longtime Dwight Yoakam producer Pete Anderson to helm Tommy Conwell and the Young Rumblers' sophomore LP Guitar Trouble, outsourcing the majority of songwriting duties as well. The end result is a corporate roots rock record with none of the cheeky bar band charm of Conwell's debut effort, Rumble, spelling the swift end of the group's major-label tenure.
The album seems slapped together from spare parts; the youthful nihilism of Conwell's self-penned "I'm Seventeen" is completely at odds with Anderson's slick adult alternative production, which adds Bruce Hornsby's elegant piano to further distort the song's intent, while entries like "Rock with You" and the title cut are distressingly mundane, scrubbed clean of all their grit and passion.
Guitar Trouble is frustrating proof that not only can you take the band out the bar, but you can take the bar out of the band as well.
~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
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