Roots rock band have to mean it or things will apart pretty damn quickly. But when it's done right, it can be great and heartfelt. Canadian quartet The Stephen Stanley Band are pushing all the right buttons on their new album Jimmy & the Moon, with rollicking songs about legendary coffee house (Under the Mynah Bird - this should ring a bell for Neil Young and Rick James fans) and an inebriated stranger raving about Earth's companion in the title track.
The core quartet called in a few favours to fill out the sound and lend a hand with the vocals. Birthday Clown is turned into a sad but hilarious send-off song and Next To me sonds decidedly Iirish with call-and-response vocals about making amends and settling the score. Jimmy & the Moon is a worthy addition to the stack of albums marked "road trip music". Upbeat, funny, sad and with enough layers and lyrical twists to press repeat. Producer Hugh Christopher Brown made sure it all sounds energetic and close to what they sound like on stage.
The Stephen Stanley Band:
Stephen Stanley: vocals, 6 & 12 string electric & acoustic guitars
Chris Bennett: electric & acoustic guitars, coral electric sitar, baritone guitar, vocals
Gregor Beresford: drums, percussion, vocals
Chris Rellinger: bass
Guest musicians:
Hugh Christopher Brown: Hammond B3, piano, keyboards, sousaphone, trombone, vocals
Hadley McCall Thackston: vocals
Kate Fenner: vocals
David Corley: vocals
Sarah McDermott: vocals
Justin Bird: vocals
Pete Bowers: percussion
Burke Carroll: pedal steel
Jane Scarpantoni: cello
Gerard Moloney: accordion
Michael Martin: low flute, Uilleann Pipes
Tara Walker-Fischer: timpanic tomdrum
Jimmy & the Moon is released thru Wolfe Island Records (vinyl, CD). Digital from the band's website.
Tracks:- Talkin' Bout It
- The Troubadour's Song
- Jimmy & the Moon
- Under the Mynah Bird
- 40 Endings
- Things I Wish I'd Never Seen
- Melinda
- Next to Me
- Birthday Clown
- By Her Side
- California
- 03/03 Toronto, Ontario @ Dora Keogh’s
- 03/22 Huntsville, Ontario @ Hunter’s Bay Radio
- 03/25 Etobicoke, Ontario @ Village Vinyl Music Emporium
- 03/31 Toronto, Ontario @ Dora Keogh’s
- 04/14 Toronto, Ontario @ Sauce on the Danforth
- 04/27 Toronto, Ontario @ Dora Keogh’s
- 06/09 Toronto, Ontario @ Sauce on the Danforth
- 06/15 Wolfe Island, Ontario @ Wolfe Island Garden Party
- 06/16 Wolfe Island, Ontario @ Wolfe Island Garden Party
- 07/13 Oberhausen, Germany @ Static Roots Festival
- 07/14 Oberhausen, Germany @ Static Roots Festival