Critical Reaction

"On his fifth release, Austinite LaFave writes about failed love, regret, and disappointment
with uncommon grace and a Texas-size heart.

Alanna Nash - Entertainment Weekly - March 7, 1997

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"I'm no longer so naive about the record business that I don't
understand why someone this fabulous doesn't sell millions of albums while
mainstream mediocrities do. It still cheeses me off, though.
Amid the morass of popular music,
Jimmy LaFave stands out like a pint of Guinness
in a bar full of Miller Lites.

And he just keeps getting better.

No one in rock 'n' roll sings with more passion and grit than this guy,
and when LaFave wraps that amazing honey-whiskey voice around a ballad it
can send chills down your spine. ``Road Novel'' features several songs that
will do just that, an assortment of barn-burners and the sort of surging
anthems that Bruce Springsteen once performed.

If your definition of soul is broad enough to include an Oklahoma
native whose songs have a little twang and red dirt in them, then you'll
probably include LaFave among your favorite soul singers."

Eric Fidler - Associated Press

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"Road Novel is prime Jimmy LaFave.

Anyone familiar with his work knows that he mixes hot roadhouse rock with
those incredible ballads, making nods to Dylan alongthe line both through covers of
Dylan songs (here it's "Buckets of Rain") and his own Dylan-like song constructions.
In comparisonto previous LaFave albums, this one is simply more self-assured
and full in it's execution. The rockers rock with even more intensity,the ballads
have instrumental tracks which fit them even better, and the overall sound
is more focused and complete.

LaFave sings perfectly, but that's something he has always done. Consequently,
those familiar with Jimmy LaFave won't be surprisedwith the perfect way he delivers
the soul ballad, "Heart of a Woman," while those new to him will just sit back and hold
their breaths a little longer just like I did the first time I heard him sing.

As for the songs, they are rock solid... That's the other thing Jimmy LaFave does,
and I often get so locked up in his vocal work thatI forget to see that the songs
themselves are wonderful concoctions, true to every rock, country, and
soul standard ever set. Lyrically,LaFave is mature, concise,
and most of all sincere.

Martin Fullington
Music Reviews Quarterly

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"LaFave is back in full rock & roll force.... in absolutely top vocal form....

In addition to Night Triber Rick Poss, this time he coppers his bets by farming
out the lead guitar work on 11 of 16 tracks toMitch Watkins, David Murray,
Brent Wilson, Danny Barnes and Kim Platko, while Stewart Cochran has developed
remarkably on pianoand organ since "Buffalo."

Between them, and underpinned by the solid rhythm section of Randy Glines bass
and Eric Hansen drums, they provide LaFave with and almost perfect version of the full,
surging wave of sound on which he rides so well..."

John Conquest
3rd Coast Music
(formerly Music City Texas)

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"This is a flat-out brilliant record-

- a quantum leap forward for LaFave who, over the course of several previous records,
has seemed on the verge of such greatness....

LaFave has developed a songwriting voice to match his singing voice,
which long has been one of the greatest in rock. As always,LaFave wears his
heart on his sleeve, and his utter sincerity drives these 15 songs home...

Road Novel is an apt title. This is one cool drive."

***** 5 STARS *****

Daniel R. Moser
Lincoln Journal Star

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And a couple of noted Italian writers join in the praise:


To be certain, Road Novel is definitely the best album put out to date
by La Fave and Night Tribe, his band that, after many variations, has finally
settled into a maturity and compactness of sound for which La Fave seems to have
been searching for a long time. From the beginning attack of "You'll Never Know",
interspersing guitars with piano, and organ in relief, his intentions are clear. A tight
and lush cut that opens the album and sets the pace like never before. Particularly with the gifted
Stewart Cochran, a keyboard player who ultimately seems capable of handling the decisive
sound for which the band has been striving.

..... all are imbued with the best of blues, rock n' roll, folk and country. The genres emerge here and there,
twine together creating new connections, and giving us an album that is enjoyable from the beginning
to the end. A feat that occurs less and less these days.

- Alessandro Maggiori in Buscadero

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In his majestic ballads, as in his pounding rock songs, we find the nostalgia for
the romantic heroes of American legend. The people who long for the values and codes of yesterday,
yet find them missing in the present, and see no sign of them in the future. Listen again to the love
songs and the songs of the road that describe heartache, broken promises, and a restlessness
of spirit. Jimmy expresses anxieties, hopes and the desires of a generation turning to decline
without a valid contribution to make, with a rare grasp of lyrics, music and interpretation.
Jimmy has confirmed his status
not only as a charismatic performer but as a writer, as well.

Reading and re-reading this "Road Novel", we can discover some missing part of ourselves.
One of the mostbeautiful voices in the rock scene today has written these songs, sung with
such an expressive instrument that the listener is able to perceive every nuance, every shading.
Follow him with your eyes closed, and after he has opened your mind, let him also open your heart.
Then you can truly share in Jimmy's road-love songs.

- Franco Ratti