Pure Grit,Soul & Rock-n-Roll.Another great album by Javi Garcia.

Javi Garcia’s new album The Great Controversy has been playing in my car, in my house and in my head every day for the last two weeks since I went and bought it at his last show at Austin’s own legendary Continental Club. That is the mark of a kickass album. Intricately curated songs are laced throughout this whole project, with no room for fluff. Primed to become one of the most influential songwriters this side of the moon; Garcia’s story telling par excellence is often compared to the great Steve Earle -with ample evidence in his craftsmanship of The Great Controversy. This is one you won’t regret fully supporting. So go get you some! -Amberly Russell, poet at AustinProsePauper.wordpress.com

Life, love and the pursuit of happiness can get pretty bloody during the journey. Javi Garcia isn’t afraid to tell such stories. “I’ve got a fire in my belly. And coal in my throat. The words that I spit. Would make most writers choke.” Javi’s latest release, The Great Controversy is his latest collection of these happy endings. Javi’s newest release The Great Controversy is act 3 to a Southern Horror. It creeps in with the familiar outro from Flood, thumping into the clapping, stomping and dirty garage guitar licks of the records first track The Sound. A song about a girl who through choices of her own isn’t the apple of her Daddy’s eye anymore. She doesn’t like to hear her fathers truth about her life choices of drug abuse and being a whore, truth hurts sometimes. Nightfall, a story of self destruction by making the same choices over and over expecting a different result.“And you fall. And you fall. Just like the last time. Your doing it again. When you crawl. When you crawl. Right back to nightfall. You just can’t win.” The title track to the record The Great Controversy, the cosmic battle between good and evil from the devils perspective with a killer honky tonk guitar lick. “You can whisper a prayer. You can shout out a hymn. But it doesn’t change the fact that your more like me than him.” Josephine is the Black Tambourine on this record. Horns, grand piano, slide guitar, shaker and more shaker. This Rolling Stones-esque track is a rock and roll jam session. “We both know baby you weren’t born to be queen. So get down honey and don’t stop until its clean. Josephine.” Savanna, a story of avenge for the rape and murder of a father’s daughter. Forgiveness from the Lord is the only refuge he seeks. Another punch you in your face, push you down, driving rhythm, To Be Free feels like a conversation with Satan about breaking free from his stranglehold. The horns, accordian and percussion in Cut Throat delivers like the theme song to a Robert Rodriguez flick. The song tells a tale of a barber or in this case barber surgeon who starts cutting the throats of his clientele with his straight razor. He ends up getting the electric chair in the end. Again, Javi and his bedtime stories. 30 Years , eventually nobody is going to give a shit about you. That is my take on it. Stick to the facts is a truth punch to the face. In a world where we are filled with lies, conspiracy and propaganda let’s try to stick to the facts. “Through spider web cracked and broken glass. I let all the world before me pass. This ruthless toothless grinning mask. Ain’t held in place with candle wax. So let’s try to stick to the facts. Try to stick to the facts. Stick to the facts.” This record sounds like Javi and the players went into a garage, shut the doors, broke the knob off, recorded this record and burnt the place to the ground. There were no survivors and no better understanding of The Great Controversy, all according to the master plan of questions without answers. Play this record loud- Hogleg

The "hype" about Javi is well-deserved. Damn great that an actual artist with substance gets some of the share of the limelight. Extremely well-crafted songs and a fiercely independent spirit and strong style to deliver the music: that qualifies as quality to me. It's what separates people like Chris Knight and Gillian Welch from all the beer pitchmen and their slick sounds, then again I guess Javi's not for everybody. Maybe some of us like to hear beer ads set to music. It's all an individual matter of taste.

I first saw Javi with one of my favorite artists, Stephanie Briggs. I was very impressed with his songwriting and vocals. I picked up his CD at the show and it is great!

Still don't understand what all the hype is about this dude... definitely a great musician with some good words but I would not say that he is revolutionizing anything by any means

Have been a fan of alt-country/roots rock since 1972. This band and cd are as good as it gets. Significant songs,solid band live, and a unique/gritty vocalist. Look forward to next project.

This is the first CD that has ever prompted me to write a review. Simply a great, great CD. Someone compared him to a mix of Bingham and DBT, which I can see. But I see more of a mix between Hubbard and Cash. But it doesn't matter. This CD is the best CD I've bought in years.

This is hands down best album of the year. The lyrics and instrumentation are incredible and i urge you all to purchase more than just one and give it to a friend. They'll thank you!

this album has forever force fed me to believe in great songwriting again! love it! and live is great too!