Boochie Shepherd

Boochie Shepherd
Vertical
Fat Kid Records

There seems to be a secret nugget of a band lurking in north Alabama going by the name of Boochie Shepherd and hailing from Decatur.

If there is a reason for their relative anonymity in the wider realms of contemporary Christian music, it could have something to do with their hard-to-market proficiency in a wide range of styles and what appears to be an unpretentious emphasis on merely enjoying the Lord in song instead of selling records.

"Vertical," their sophomore release, is as sonically eclectic as the name "Boochie Shepherd" might indicate. It bucks the current rock trend of syrupy, scream-stitched pop-punk with a much more classic, yet still original, rock ‘n’ roll approach. It’s something that could have been heard in the mid-1990s.

In fact, their more aggressive tracks sound very much like early Audio Adrenaline.

This is good album by a talented group that could do some interesting things in today’s Christian music scene — namely be themselves.