Lately, it’s starting to feel classic rock is making a comeback, at least in my music world. I first noticed the trend in 2017 when I listened to Michigan rockers Greta Van Fleet. Last year, one of my favorite new records was California Dreamin’, the first full-length studio release by Dirty Honey. In February this year, another band called Goodbye June released their latest excellent album See Where the Night Goes. And now there’s Fortune Child and their impressive debut Close to the Sun.
I first came across the four-piece from Jacksonville, Fla. in February, after they had issued their latest single Tie the Line from the then-forthcoming album. Close to the Sun was since released on March 1. How I missed it at the time remains a bit of a mystery. Fortunately, my latest Sunday Six installment, which included a tune from Goodbye June, reminded me of Fortune Child.
From their website:
Deprive a person of something, and they will surely go out and find it. In an age where Rock N’ Roll has fallen by the wayside, few have heeded the call to preserve its integrity and importance in most of the music we hear today. It’s time to put the question to rest: Rock N’ Roll is here to stay, and Fortune Child will be commanding the ship.
Founded in Jacksonville, Florida in 2021, it is no secret that these lovers of good ol’ fashioned Rock were inspired by the likes of Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Alice in Chains, The Black Crowes and so many more. The four-piece band plans to take the Rock N’ Roll scene by storm, and to remind the people of what truly matters: the music itself.
The band (Christian Powers/ vocals, Buddy Crump/ lead guitar, Melanie Jo/ drums, and Jon Ward/bass) has quickly garnered significant support from the Southeast US Rock N’ Roll scene opening for national touring acts such as Blacktop Mojo and will continue to do so as they leave crowds wanting more and more after each show. It’s loud, it’s dirty, and it’s down-right badass…For 2022, the band has partnered with legendary rock producer Kevin Elson of Journey, Mr. Big, Europe, and Lynyrd Skynyrd to produce their full length debut album “Close to the Sun”…
Let’s take a closer look at some of the goodies. Here’s the opener The Way, which pretty much sets the tone for the album. Like all other tunes except for the last track, it’s credited to the entire band. Hearing a group embracing 70s style classic rock makes me happy. I find it even more remarkable when it’s a new band. Perhaps, there’s still some life left in rock after all!
Here’s Don’t Shoot Me Down and the official video, another great rocker! These guys are having fun and they’re kicking butt – love it! It’s also cool to see a female rock drummer. While being a bit more common nowadays, it still is something you don’t encounter every day.
Next up is the title track. Perhaps the one thing I will say is there isn’t much variety in the band’s tunes. But since I dig their sound, it’s a minor wrinkle in my book.
The last track I’d like to highlight is the closer Conscious. Its acoustic sound and slower tempo provide a nice contrast to the other songs. It’s also the album’s sole tune credited to Powers and Crump only. I think Closer to the Sun would have benefitted from another song like Conscious to mix things up a little more.
Following is a Spotify link to the entire album:
Fortune Child are off to a great start. I certainly look forward to hearing more from them.
Sources: Fortune Child website; Fortune Child Facebook page; YouTube; Spotify
Christian's Music Musings 
I like how they swing a bit – I find a lot of modern rock music a bit stiff, but they’re more like 1970s southern rock.
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I listened to this today and work interrupted me…the nerve of them! lol… I agree with Graham…it does have a swing to it.
They are a throwback band and they do it the right way.
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As a “classic rock guy”, it makes me happy to see a contemporary band embrace that sound. And with other contemporary classic rock style bands like Dirty Honey, Goodbye June and Greta Van Fleet, Fortune Child doesn’t look like a one-off. That being said, I’m under no illusion the ’70s classic rock era isn’t coming back, but it’s still nice to be reminded about it.
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It does show it’s promise for that rock to continue. NOW….just to get it on mainstream radio! Why is it so hard? Why shouldn’t it come back though? Bands like that have big followings…look at Foo Fighters…so rock can survive….if a record company would just push them….I know I’m being optimistic…I can’t help it.
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I like your optimism, Max!
One beautiful thing about music is that once it’s released, it’s here to stay. So even if there weren’t bands like Fortune Child, we’d still have all that great classic rock that came out in the ’70s!
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I would never say die…because who would have thought country music would be as popular as it is…maybe it will go in cycles. Bailey’s friends like that kind of music so it’s not like it would be unheard of.
Oh yea…I’m glad we have that to fall back on!
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They’re pretty good!
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This sounds worthy of a car spin. The problem, of course, with any possible return of classic rock is less whether there are bands to perform and record it and more the distribution. Back in the day when classic rock was being “invented,” there were great radio stations that everybody listened to. Here in Boston, we had not only the mighty WBCN but also WFNX (alternative) and several other stations. These stations broke bands. Stine and Elvis Costello both gave the local scene here credit when I saw them. A U2 bio was written by a ‘BCN DJ. Etc.
Those stations are GONE! The classic rock stations (two of them) now go back to the Nineties and play zero new material. One plays mostly hard rock. And yeah, we can hear this stuff on satellite. But if you and I have satellite, are we necessarily listening to the same station? Add to that the fact that bands don’t tour quite like they used to and that while vinyl is out there, many people today just stream. So I guess the whole infrastructure that supported classic rock is gone. Add to that that fact that a lot of kids today couldn’t possibly care less about it and well, here we are.
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