Not many albums come as eclectic as It’s About Time. The engine behind the project, John McTigue III, is a Berklee-trained Nashville drummer who loves country but can’t be contained. Opening with a turbo-charged rockabilly rendition of “Deep Ellum Blues” (Jerry Lee Lewis once recorded that number), It’s About Time dives into an original, “Stockholm,” an instrumental echoing Neil Young in a spacey mood.
And moods and tempos keep shifting. “Keeping Time” is slow-grinding hard rock; “Soul Shepherd” is frenzied fusion; “Store Bought Liquor” is yodeling country; and “Starbuck (Buckaroo)” is a country instrumental cast in a minor key. And then the album goes prog with “Lucent Lux Vestra.” Afterward, McTigue transforms Chopin’s Etude No. 4 into after-hours jazz and ends the album with an original string quartet.
That McTigue handles his sticks with aplomb and power is no surprise. What’s startling is his ability to hold his own so expressively across so many and different genres.
