Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters New Album Out June 9, UK Tour Announced

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters New Album Out June 9
The album is now on pre-sale →  https://clg.lnk.to/Lj4Wo

ASHEVILLE, NC –“We’re switching things up a little. After four albums I’ve decided to step out and start using my own name. It’s something that a lot of people have encouraged me to do over the years, and I guess that 2017 just felt right.” That name, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, is also the title of the band’s new album, which will be released by Organic Records June 9, 2017. “We’re keeping The Honeycutters too because we don’t want to confuse people… really, we’ve always been Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters. I think I’ve just gotten to a place where I feel comfortable enough to be in the spotlight.”

“Amanda is so good it’s ridiculous. I don’t even know what words to use. Her singing, songwriting and presence is unmatched in Americana, Country, Pop… Simply breathtaking,” said Saul Davis: producer (Percy Sledge), manager (Gene Clark, Carla Olson, Phil Seymour).

Lyrically driven, the songs on Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters blend the band’s old-school country roots attitude with their shared influences of rock and folk. Amanda says of the album, “I think it’s just about life and all that that entails. Including but not limited to death, strangers, birthdays, money, leaving, arriving, seasons, corruption, and love.”

Performing along with Platt, The Honeycutters are Matt Smith on pedal steel and Stratocaster, Rick Cooper on bass, Josh Milligan on drums and harmony vocals, and Evan Martin on keys and Telecaster.

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters is the group’s third release on Organic Records, and fifth album. Assembling the same the same team as 2016’s On The Ropes, Balsam Range’s Tim Surrett steps in for the second time to co-produce this album along with Amanda. Its thirteen tracks were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Scott Barnett at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC near the band’s hometown of Asheville, NC.

There is an empathetic and charming wit ingrained in Amanda’s songwriting. She has a knack for accessing a deep well of emotion and applying it to her story-telling, whether she is writing from her own experiences or immersing herself into the melody of emotions in another person’s life.

“Amanda Platt writes songs on par with Lucinda, Isbell, Lauderdale, Hank Sr. In my opinion, anyway.” said, WNCW’s Music Director Martin Anderson to No Depression.

In the lead off track, “Birthday Song,” Amanda writes with a gentle optimism, “Every time it gets colder I get another year older… I start looking for lines in the bathroom mirror… but when I lay down at night I swear I must have done something right… cause I’m still so damn glad to be here… I’ve been trying to love the questions, and keep on guessing.” Written just before her 30th birthday, Platt calls the song, “a summation of everything I learned in that decade.”

There is an easygoing warmth to the album, enhanced by the its refined arrangement and production; from the upbeat “Diamond in the Rough” to the poetic and observational “Eden” to the very personal, yet universal, “Brand New Start” to “Late Summer’s Child” (an ode to her favorite season) and “Rare Thing” (a song commissioned from Platt from a fan as a love song to his wife that ended up being included on the album. “Your mama said that it would never last… but these years go by so fast… and you’re the song I’m humming to myself as I’m counting the miles… you’re such a rare thing.”) One can feel it even in songs with a more solemn concept behind them like, like “Long Ride,” which speaks of living in the moment in the face of mortality.

Platt wrote “Learning How To Love Him” after hearing an acquaintance of hers talk about learning that her husband of 40+ years was terminally ill. She says, “What really struck me was how she described the tenderness that the news brought back to their relationship.” Amanda sings, “’I woke last night and I felt so afraid, I turned on the light and shook him awake and we stared at the ceiling, listening to the sink drip… I spent my whole life learning how to love him and I never loved him more than I do today.”

The successes of On The Ropes [2016] and Me Oh My [2015] have propelled Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters onto the national scene and they have been featured on NPR’s World Cafe’s Sense of Place, NPR’s Mountain Stage, Nashville’s Music City Roots, and Folk Alley and they have performed at AmericanaFest, MerleFest, and IBMA. On The Ropes debuted at #39 on iTunes Top 40 Country Chart on release day and landed on a plethora of year end lists including placing #35 on the Top 100 Albums played on Americana Radio in 2016 and landing at #1 on Western North Carolina’s WNCW Radio’s Year End Listeners Poll of Top Albums of 2016!

On The Ropes hit #11 on the EuroAmericana Chart and The UK’s Julian Piper with Acoustic Magazine says, “Amanda Platt has one of those gorgeous heartache-drenched voices that brings to mind Loretta Lynn or Sheryl Crow.”

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters plan to tour extensively in US this year and will travel to Europe for the first time in the summer. They are excited to release Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters to the world this spring!

Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters on Tour
5/6 Sat – Green River Adventures – Saluda, NC
5/19 Fri – Birdfest – Pinewood, SC
5/20 Sat – Sunset Fest – Dandridge, TN
6/2 Fri – The Neighborhood Theater – Charlotte, NC ^ w/ Town Mountain
6/9-10 Fri-Sat – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
6/17 Sat – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI
6/21 Wed – Abilene Bar and Lounge – Rochester, NY
6/22 Thu – Sportsmen’s Tavern – Buffalo, NY
6/23 Fri – Cathedral Café – Fayetteville, WV
7/14 Fri – Variety Playhouse – Atlanta, GA * w/ Amy Ray Band (of The Indigo Girls)
7/19 Wed – Taos Mesa Brewing – El Prado, NM
7/21 Fri – Telluride Americana Music Fest & Songwriter Showcase at Sheridan Opera House – Telluride, CO
7/22-23 Sat-Sun – Mountain Rails Live – Alamosa, CO

UK DATES
8/4 Fri – Plough Arts Centre – Great Torrington
8/5 Sat – Tumbleweed at Seven Arts – Leeds
8/6 Sun – Saltburn Arts – Saltburn-by-the-Sea
8/8 Tue – Performing Arts Centre – Kilbarchan
8/9 Wed – Private function – Edinburgh
8/10 Thu – Fringe by The Sea – North Berwick
8/11 Fri – Eastgate Theatre – Peebles
8/12 Sat – Jumpin Hot Country Cantina at Acklington Village Hall – Acklington, Northumberland
8/13 Sun – Woodend Gallery – Scarborough
8/16 Wed – Green Note – London
8/17 Thu -Union Music Store at Con Club – Lewes
8/18 Fri – Square & Compass – Worth Matravers
8/19 Sat – Town Hall Live @ Kirton in Lindesy – Lincs
8/20 Sun – American Museum – Bath (afternoon)
More USA dates TBA!

Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters Track Listing
1. Birthday Song 4:15
2. Long Ride 3:47
3. What We’ve Got 4:46
4. Diamond In The Rough 4:37
5. Eden 5:33
6. The Guitar Case 4:18
7. Learning How To Love Him 4:17
8. Brand New Start 3:14
9. Late Summer’s Child 3:57
10. The Good Guys (Dick Tracy) 4:38
11. Rare Thing 4:43
12. The Things We Call Home 2:39
13. The Road 2:40

More information at www.TheHoneycutters.com, www.facebook.com/Honeycutters, and www.twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

 

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Celebrating Their Billboard Bluegrass Chart Debut at #4, Town Mountain is Offering Fans a FREE Download of “Wildbird”

Town Mountain’s Southern Crescent Debuts at #4
on Billboard Bluegrass Chart!

Raw, soulful, and with plenty of swagger, Town Mountain, based in Asheville, NC, released their 5th studio album Southern Crescent on April 1, 2016 on LoHi Records. Produced and engineered by GRAMMY winner Dirk Powell, the album was recorded in Powell’s studio The Cypress House in Breaux Bridge, LA.

To Celebrate, They Are Offering Fans a FREE Download of “Wildbird”

“The record features an expected dose of fast string picking, including the opening fiddle workout ‘St. Augustine,’ but as it unfolds it becomes a well-rounded effort full of front-porch song craft that touches on various shades of roots music…” writes Blue Ridge Outdoors. “The standout, though, is ‘Wildbird,’ [penned by Barker] a classic highway song about curing a restless mind with road miles; perfect for a bluegrass band that sounds pretty comfortable getting outside of its comfort zone.”

“Southern Crescent is a near-perfect balance of tradition and young, raw energy… “ writes Bluegrass Today. “They’ll hear a hundred years of southern musical culture bubbling up and finding a common point where North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana meet as old friends. Town Mountain’s style and sonic footprint comes from a foundation of rhythm and groove that comes not from just loving the music (that’s too easy) but from living the music.”

Town Mountain is Robert Greer on vocals and guitar, Jesse Langlais on banjo and vocals, Bobby Britt on fiddle, Phil Barker on mandolin and vocals, and Nick DiSebastian on bass (Adam Chaffins plays bass in the touring outfit.)

Get the album at iTunes → http://apple.co/1QW52ZJ
Limited edition signed CD bundles directly from the web store → www.townmountain.net/shop

For more information, please visit TownMountain.net, facebook.com/TownMountain, twitter.com/TownMountain, and instagram.com/townmountainbluegrass.

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Town Mountain’s ‘Southern Crescent’ OUT TODAY on LoHi Records – Soulful with Swagger

Town Mountain’s ‘Southern Crescent’ OUT TODAY on LoHi Records

Available April 1, 2016 on iTunes → http://apple.co/1QW52ZJ
Limited edition signed CD bundles directly from the web store → www.townmountain.net/shop

ASHEVILLE, NC — Raw, soulful, and with plenty of swagger, Town Mountain, based in Asheville, NC, releases their 5th studio album Southern Crescent on April 1, 2016 through LoHi Records. Produced and engineered by GRAMMY winner Dirk Powell, the album was recorded in Powell’s studio The Cypress House in Breaux Bridge, LA. It was mixed by Mixed by Scott Vestal at Digital Underground in Greenbrier, TN.

Town Mountain. Photo by Sandlin Gaither.

With an insatiable musical hunger, the members of Town Mountain (Robert Greer on vocals and guitar, Jesse Langlais on banjo and vocals, Bobby Britt on fiddle, Phil Barker on mandolin and vocals, and Nick DiSebastian on bass) made their way to the little south-central Louisiana town of Breaux Bridge, where they recorded their most cohesive, most satisfying album to date. Adam Chaffins* plays bass in the touring outfit.

Southern Crescent was recorded in a decidedly old-school way, live, with minimal fixes and overdubs, with all the musicians in the same room and no noise-reducing baffling between them. Each of Town Mountain’s members contributed songs to Southern Crescent, with Barker, Langlais and Greer the chief writers in the band.

From the boogie-woogie piano of Jerry Lee Lewis that inspired the delightful (and danceable) “Coming Back to You,” to Greer’s cleverly penned and fast-paced “Tick on a Dog,” which offers a taste of another major bluegrass influence, Jimmy Martin, Southern Crescent is tailor-made to keep live audiences on their feet, but it’ll also keep those who think they can easily peg Town Mountain on their toes.

That variety is indeed part of what drives Southern Crescent, which opens with Britt’s delightfully dizzying fiddle work on “St. Augustine,” and showcases Greer’s hard-country vocals on “House With No Windows” and on the freewheeling composition “Ain’t Gonna Worry Me,” (penned by Barker). The group members’ palpable chemistry (and individual artistry) are displayed throughout such instantly memorable tracks as “Wildbird,” (Barker) and “I Miss the Night,” which Langlais penned (with Mark Bumgarner) after experiencing 22 hours of daylight during Alaska’s summer solstice.

The new album is being released on LoHi Records. Based in Greensboro, N.C., the label is a partnership formed by entrepreneur and marketing veteran Jim Brooks with singer/songwriter and record producer Todd Snider, record producer Tim Carbone (who also plays fiddle in newgrass band Railroad Earth) and Chad Staehly from Gold Mountain Entertainment in Nashville.

Go Behind The Scenes with Town Mountain In “The Making of Southern Crescent” → https://youtu.be/VZD7avVtI4U

Listen to the world premier of “Comin’ Back to You” at The Bluegrass Situation → www.thebluegrasssituation.com/read/listen-town-mountain-comin-back-you

What Folks Are Saying about Town Mountain and Southern Crescent:

“Produced by Dirk Powell, Southern Crescent is hard-charging, grits-and-gravy authentic, the kind of emotions on the strings of Bill Monroe and Flatts and Scruggs pioneered more than 60 years ago. But Town Mountain is no copy band. With Songs written by each band member, and instrumental and vocal originality, Town Mountain honors the Ancients while bringing a collective and generational identity to their art.” —Raleigh News & Observer, Jack Bernhardt

“Southern Crescent reflects the band’s loose, dance-able music, more reflective of their festival and club sets that a staid performing arts center straight-bluegrass set. I’m not sure if the Southern Crescent still runs from Atlanta to Boston like my relatives talked about taking to go ‘visit culture’ in the Northeast, but I’m fairly sure it still runs down to New Orleans, where a more exhilarating culture has endured — an apt analogy for this album.” –Listen to this podcast interview with Town Mountain about Southern Crescent on Country Fried Rock with Sloane Spencer → http://countryfriedrock.org/town-mountain-1606/#.Vv09AnBKhaU

“On Southern Crescent, there’s little fuss and pretension, as each track has a lived-in and live feel, with the band members coalescing around the song in an almost preordained way. There is as much outlaw country and Western swing to these songs as bluegrass, despite the instrumentation. As traditional and even-keeled as Town Mountain is, no other band sounds quite the same.” —Mountain Xpress, Kyle Petersen

“I have seen this band many times, and while there are a couple of bigger names out there, this Asheville group is the most exciting bluegrass band to come along in a long time” –-No Depression, Amos Perrine

“Southern Crescent is a near-perfect balance of tradition and young, raw energy… They’ll hear a hundred years of southern musical culture bubbling up and finding a common point where North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana meet as old friends. Town Mountain’s style and sonic footprint comes from a foundation of rhythm and groove that comes not from just loving the music (that’s too easy) but from living the music.” —Stream to the Premier of the song “Wildbird” at Bluegrass Today, Brian Swenk

“The record features an expected dose of fast string picking, including the opening fiddle workout ‘St. Augustine,’ but as it unfolds it becomes a well-rounded effort full of front-porch song craft that touches on various shades of roots music. ‘Leroy’s Reel’ has a distinctly Cajun flavor, while ‘Comin’ Back to You’ is a rockabilly dance tune propelled by some boogie-woogie piano.”  —Blue Ridge Outdoors, Jedd Ferris

“By the time they arrive at ‘Whiskey With Tears,’ one is ready to recommend them to country radio not because they sound like they belong there, but because you wish radio sounded like Town Mountain.”–Fervor Coulee, Donald Teplyske

“From the fiddle filled, energetic instrumental opener, ‘St. Augustine’ to the carefree ‘Ain’t Gonna Worry Me’ bluegrass sensibilities merge with roots, rock and country in melodies that will not only make you sit up and listen – they’ll have you getting up and moving as well.” —The Daily Country, Tara Joan

“There are a lot of bluegrass and country bands out there but only a few really have the ability to pull off what Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice pulled off… Town Mountain, a band out of Asheville NC, does though and they prove it song after song. A bit more country here and a bit more bluegrass there makes the music as roots as you can get.” –-Frank Gutch Jr., Bob Segarini Blog

Town Mountain’s Southern Crescent Tour 2016:
4/1 Fri – The Grey Eagle – Asheville, NC
4/2 Sat – Newgrass Brewing Company – Shelby, NC
4/5 Tue – Hampton Taphouse – Hampton, VA
4/6 Wed – Gypsy Sally’s – Washington, DC
4/7 Thu – Lizard Lounge – Cambridge, MA
4/8 Fri – Hill Country BBQ – New York, NY
4/9 Sat – The Hobo Stage – Fredon, NJ
4/10 Sun – Tin Angel – Philadelphia, PA
4/12 Tue – Haymarket Whiskey Bar – Louisville, KY
4/13 Wed – Cosmic Charlie’s – Lexington, KY
4/14 Thu – The Station Inn – Nashville, TN
4/15 Fri – Barley’s – Knoxville, TN
4/16 Sat – Waverly “Old 280” Boogie – Waverly, AL
4/17 Sun – Zydeco – Birmingham, AL
4/28 Thu – Independent Ale House – Greenville, SC
4/30 Sat – UNC – Chapel Hill, NC
5/13 Fri – KSUT Concert Series @ Henry Strater Theatre – Durango, CO
5/14 Sat – Denver Beer Co.’s Sundrenched Music Festival – Denver, CO
5/14 Sat – Ophelia’s Electric Soapbox – Denver, CO (After party with Hot Buttered Run)
5/21 Sat – The Pour House – Charleston, SC (with Peter Rowan)
5/22 Sun – Lincoln Theatre – Raleigh, NC (supporting Hard Working Americans)
5/24 Tue – The Orange Peel – Asheville, NC (supporting Hard Working Americans)
5/25 Wed – Minglewood Hall – Memphis, TN (supporting Hard Working Americans)
5/27 Fri – White Squirrel Festival – Brevard, NC
5/28 Sat – Rooster Walk – Martinsville, VA
6/1 Wed – Music City Roots – Nashville, TN
6/3 Fri – Bailey Park – Winston-Salem, NC
6/5 Sun – Nelsonville Music Festival
6/11 Sat – Festival of the Bluegrass – Lexington, KY
6/16 Thu – Back Porch Music Series – Durham, NC
6/23 Thu – Rudyfest 16 – Grayson, KY
6/24 Fri – ROMP Fest – Owensboro, KY
7/23 Sat – Homegrown Music Festival – Ozark, AR
8/5 Sat – Pickathon – Happy Valley, OR

For more information, please visit TownMountain.net, facebook.com/TownMountain, twitter.com/TownMountain, and instagram.com/townmountainbluegrass.

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The Honeycutters Poised to Release 4th Studio Album, On The Ropes, May 20th on Organic Records

The Honeycutters, an Asheville-based American Country Roots Band,
Release 4th Studio Album, On The Ropes,
May 20, 2016 on Organic Records

A Special Vinyl Edition On The Ropes Featured as a National Release
for Record Store Week in partnership with Select-O-Hits
on ‘Vinyl Tuesday’ April 12th

Pre-order starting April 1st at iTunes
Get the vinyl at Tower Records, Select-O-Hits, and Amazon

Tune into NPR’s World Cafe Thursday, March 31st to hear The Honeycutters → www.worldcafe.npr.org

ASHEVILLE, NC — The Honeycutters have a voice you can’t ignore; a voice of persistence, of struggle and of hope, a voice that leads the new music movement erupting out of Asheville, NC. Poised to release their 4th studio album On The Ropes May 20, 2016 on Organic Records, Nashville’s Music City Roots’ Craig Havighurst says principal songwriter and frontwoman, Amanda Anne Platt “has a voice that’s complex, sweet and aching. Even more potently, she writes songs that folks are citing as up there with the best of the field, such as Mary Gauthier and Lucinda Williams.” Along with Platt, The Honeycutters are Rick Cooper (electric and upright bass), Josh Milligan (drums and vocal harmonies), Matt Smith (pedal steel and electric guitar), and Tal Taylor (mandolin). On The Ropes was produced by Amanda Anne Platt and Tim Surrett and engineered and mastered by Van Atkins at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC.

“Fitting in at country honky-tonks and hard-scrabble bars alike, the Honeycutters have built a reputation for high energy shows coupled with tight harmonies and wistfully delicate lyrics of longing, heartbreak, and the American experience,” writes Alan Cackett (UK).

In On The Ropes Platt continues to bring songs of heartache, yearning, and comebacks using phrases so relatable you wish you had thought of them yourself, ”Love ain’t ever black and white, it’s pink and gray and blue besides” (“Blue Besides”).

Platt’s writing is always personal. The title track, “On The Ropes,” is a rally song about coming back from hard knocks. “When I’m down for the count there’s a voice I can’t ignore,” like a continuous conversation with herself, pushing her along and encouraging her to make “something out of nothing.”

In a recent interview with David Dye of the World Cafe, Dye pointed out Platt’s string of songs with ‘love gone wrong’ themes. Her response, “Doesn’t everyone have stories of love gone wrong?” Part of Amanda’s significance as a songwriter lies in her ability to write everybody’s story and allow each listener to feel it’s theirs alone. She shares songs of love and loss, songs of struggles and fears; in “The Only Eyes” Amanda writes, “If there were an easier road that wasn’t so crooked, Honey, I hope you know I would have took it.” NPR’s World Cafe, produced by XPN in Philadelphia, brought the show to Asheville’s The Grey Eagle this February for a sold out evening of entertainment including The Honeycutters in their “Sense of Place” series. The airdate for The Honeycutters’ World Cafe segment is Thursday, March 31st during the first hour of the show.

The Honeycutters. Photo by Leah Beilhart

The power of Amanda’s songwriting requires musicianship with the kind of edginess needed to match it, to cohesively surround the lyrics in just the right skin while still shining in their individual performances.

Alternating between upright and, new to this album, electric bass, Rick Cooper accentuates the band’s delve deeper into a rock sound blending with their old-school country roots attitude. Along with drummer Josh Milligan the two create a powerful pocket and groove that locks the album together, with Milligan’s vocal harmonies complementing and enhancing Platt’s lead. The pedal steel work of Matt Smith brings unexpected rock licks on an instrument traditionally reserved for a classic country sound in tracks like “Blue Besides” and “Only Eyes”. Smith also shows his prowess on electric guitar with rock, and R&B flavored runs and solos like in “Golden Child”. Tal Taylor’s mandolin cuts through with bitey, bluesy notes and fierce tremolo that pushes the instrument beyond its obvious folk appeal.

On The Ropes has thirteen tracks of all original material with the exception of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” a song Amanda has been playing since before she moved to Asheville. She says, “We’ve had a number of people ask us to record our version, so here ’tis.”  Special guests on the album include Amanda’s father Mark Platt on harmonica, Jeff Collins on piano, and Jason Webb on Hammond B-3 Organ. “The Handbook” features the lovely ladies of Sweet Claudette on vocals: Dulci Ellenberger, Melissa Hyman, and Amber L. Sims.

A special vinyl edition of On the Ropes will be released April 12, 2016 on Vinyl Tuesday, as a featured national release for Record Store Week. This will include a double album released through Organic Records®’ national distribution partner Select-O-Hits. This vinyl album will be made available to independent record stores throughout the country in time for Record Store Day on April 16th. Vinyl Mastering by Scott Barnett at Crossroads Studios / Arden, NC and Jeff Powell at Take Out Vinyl, Memphis, TN.

On The Ropes builds on the critical success of The Honeycutters breakout album Me Oh My [Organic Records 2015], which appeared on over twenty “2015 Year End Lists” including nods from No Depression, “It’s the type of country music you’d play on the jukebox and take a spin on a red dirt floor” and Cleveland Scene, “an upbeat symphony of regret, redemption and resurgence.” The album was voted #3 on WNCW’s Top 100 Listeners Poll (Under Jason Isbell and Alabama Shakes), listed in NPR’s Folk Alley’s Top 50, and was one of KBCS’s “Most Played Albums of 2015.”

In their “50 Essential Albums for 2015” list, Saving Country Music writes, “Me Oh My is the 14-song testament that you sense could be the centerpiece of her career when it’s all said and done… This is a band, an album, and a songwriter that both the Americana and country world should pay greater attention to.” Me Oh My launched The Honeycutters onto the national stage, bringing along an army of fans with them. Don’t blink now, they’re coming back for more.

It has been said that overnight success is a result of long time dedication and hard work. Amanda writes, in “Golden Child,” her love letter to the music industry, “Now I don’t mind if it takes a little time, when it comes to waiting I’ve been practicing for years.”

On The Ropes – Track Listing
1. On the Ropes
2. Blue Besides
3. Golden Child
4. The Handbook
5. The Only Eyes
6. Back Row
7. Useless Memories
8. Piece of Heaven
9. Let’s Get Drunk
10. 500 Pieces
11. Ache
12. Hallelujah
13. Barmaid’s Blues

Stay tuned to www.TheHoneycutters.com for tour dates and more news about their upcoming Spring 2016 album release on Organic Records!

For news from the road, please visit www.facebook.com/Honeycutters and twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

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An Evening with Grits & Soul at Isis Upstairs Lounge on Wed, Aug 12th

Grits & Soul. Photo by Jenny Baumert.

An Evening with Grits & Soul at Isis Upstairs Lounge on Wed 8/12
$5, 5pm Door/ 7pm Show
General Admission Seated Lounge Show :: Limited Tables Available with Dinner Reservation
Seating without dinner reservation will be first come first serve
Call 828-575-2737 dinner reservations
http://isisasheville.com

At the heart of Grits & Soul are song-crafters Anna Kline and John Looney. Based in Asheville, North Carolina, they take the influences of mountain bluegrass and classic country and fuse it with those of Mississippi soul and blues.

On the heels of their 2013 MerleFest IBMA showcase and the release of their debut album, Flood Waters, the duo continues to attract the attention of audiences throughout the Southeast. Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine gave the team a glowing review, calling Flood Waters “intriguing and enveloping.” The recording highlights the collaboration of a gifted lyricist with a talented arranger, with a shared sensibility of stirring melodies and powerful story lines.

Since the release of Flood Waters, they received coveted invitations to perform at Merlefest, Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion, Albino Skunk Festival, and Suwannee Springfest, amongst others and recently opened for Jim Lauderdale at the Ingles 4th of July celebration downtown Asheville. Notable upcoming appearances include Magnolia Fest 2015 and Country Festival in Sint-Truiden, Belgium.

Grits & Soul are a memorable musical team with their voices blending together in seamless harmony. Their collaboration forges a powerful connection between hard-driving bluegrass, barroom honky tonk, Celtic, Southern gospel, and slow-burning blues. Working together for over four years now, they continue to hone their sound and songs onstage together, logging thousands of highway miles and hundreds of performances.

Anna’s powerhouse voice is “mesmerizing — growling, slurring, soaring, swooping, note-bending, word-bending…they’re all a part of her power-packed technique,” says Bluegrass Unlimited. John, who grew up in Mt. Sterling, KY, is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, setting the tone onstage with his interpretation of classic melodies, while his skills as arranger shine through their original material.

They are currently working on new material for a 2016 album release. For more information and further tour dates, please visit www.gritsandsoul.com, twitter.com/gritsandsoul, and facebook.com/gritsandsoulband.

The entire Flood Waters album can be heard at http://www.soundcloud.com/gritsandsoul/sets/flood-waters

It can also be found on Spotify and iTunes.

Watch Grits & Soul Live at The Grey Eagle in Asheville → www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi_EApz42Rs

The Grits & Soul Live at Our State Magazine → http://www.ourstate.com/grits-soul-live

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The Honeycutters Announce ‘Me Oh My’ 2015 Summer Tour

The Honeycutters Announce ‘Me Oh My’ 2015 Summer Tour

Asheville-based American Country Roots Band, The Honeycutters,
Released 3rd Studio Album, Me Oh My, With Organic Records

“…Platt’s songwriting could be placed in the exceptional category, at least from the evidence Me Oh My presents in her favor. It’s not just the sorrow and sincerity, it’s the insight and  the resonance. Songs like ‘All You Ever’ and ‘Not That Simple’ exemplify this top shelf quality to her music, while the mood of Me Oh My very much takes on the perspective of a young woman moving ever so closer to middle age, and mindful of not just the changes in herself, but in the world as it reflects back on her.”
—Saving Country Music

ASHEVILLE, NC — The Honeycutters, an Asheville, NC-based original country roots band, released their third studio album, Me Oh My, on April 21, 2015 with Organic Records® and is thrilled to announce their 2015 summer tour.

They kick off the tour in the south and have an appearance on WDVX’s Tennessee Shines in Knoxville on July 1st airing worldwide at 7pm CT at WDVX.com, followed by a show on the 3rd at the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC with Greensky Bluegrass. They travel west for a several shows with stops in Kansas City, Colorado’s Front Range, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Kansas and Arkansas. After a short break, picking back up again for further shows in the southern region including a performance at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN in mid August.

Fueled by the powerful songwriting and vocals of founder Amanda Anne Platt, Me Oh My moves her into the spotlight as producer, band leader, and principal creative force behind the band. With songs that are honest and relatable, part chagrin and part hope, Platt’s voice carries a timeless appeal.

Along with Amanda Platt, The Honeycutters include Tal Taylor on mandolin, Rick Cooper on bass, Josh Milligan on drums, and Matt Smith rounds out the band on pedal steel, electric guitar, and dobro to create a sound that carries just as well across the bar room as in a church or a theater. Platt’s songs are shaped by a raw honesty that comes straight from the heart and emits a sort of melancholy happiness.

The Honeycutters on Tour with Me Oh My
6/26 Fri – Transylvania County Library – Brevard, NC
7/1 Wed – WDVX’s Tennessee Shines @ Boyd’s Jig and Reel – Knoxville, TN
7/3 Fri – US National Whitewater Center – Charlotte, NC &
7/9 Thu – Knuckleheads Saloon – Kansas City, MO
7/10 Fri – Tuft Theatre – Denver, CO
7/11 Sat – Peak Performances @ Copper Mountain Resort – Copper Mountain, CO
7/12  Sun – Woody Creek Community Center – Woody Creek, CO
7/14 Tue – Low Spirits Bar & Stage – Albuquerque, NM
7/15 Wed – The Blue Door – Oklahoma City, OK
7/16 Thu – George’s Majestic Lounge – Fayetteville, AR
7/17 Fri – Lakewood House Concerts – Pittsburg, KS
7/18 Sat – Stickyz Rock’N’Roll Chicken Shack – Little Rock, AR < 7/24 Fri – Conundrum Music Hall – West Columbia, SC 7/25 Sat – The Pour House – Charleston, SC >
8/9 Sun – Birthplace of Country Music Museum – Bristol, TN
8/14 Fri – The Crown at the Carolina Theatre – Greensboro, NC
8/21 Fri – Summer Tracks Rogers Park Amphitheater – Tryon, NC
8/22 Sat- Cataloochee Ranch – Maggie Valley, NC
10/1 Thu – The Albino Skunk Festival – Greer, SC
12/4 Fri – Manhattan Arts Center – Manhattan, KS
12/5 Sat – The Stage at KDHX – St Louis, MO

& w/ Greensky Bluegrass
< w/ Mountain Sprout > w/ The High Divers and Avi Jacob

For more information about The Honeycutters and further tour dates to be announced, please visit: www.thehoneycutters.com. For news from the road, please visit www.facebook.com/Honeycutters and twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

What Folks Are Saying about Me Oh My:

“Vocalist Amanda Platt has a voice that’s complex, sweet and aching. Even more potently, she writes songs that folks are citing as up there with the best of the field, such as Mary Gauthier and Lucinda Williams.” —Craig Havighurst, Music City Roots

“There are a lot of worthy and compelling Americana singer-songsters and bands out there right now, it’s a rich landscape. But The Honeycutters, fronted by Amanda Platt is surely a wonder to behold. The band just sounds so darn good and makes a style of country music that always makes me feel good, even when it’s so melancholy. I think Amanda has something to teach us about the economy of words, the magic of a good melody and the satisfaction of an aching and honest vocal.” —Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls

“With singer/songwriter — and, now, producer — Amanda Anne Platt at the helm, the group puts their own spin on an old form. Sure, there’s a timeless quality to honest songs done up by a bunch of great players… there’s also a freshness to it.” —Folk Alley First Listen, Kelly McCartney

“It’s easy to think of Mags Bennett, the character played by Margo Martindale on TV’s Justified, when listening to Amanda Anne Platt front North Carolina quartet the Honeycutters. Steadfast, independent and all woman…” –-Pop Matters, Eric Risch

“Me Oh My, an extremely balanced album in terms of tempo and theme, merges Americana, roots, country and even honky tonk into a delightfully unique combination. It’s a highly recommended, refreshing and enjoyable listen from the first track to the last.” —The Daily Country, Tara Joan

“Me Oh My… is a like a time machine on a shiny disc; classic, old-timey country and folk tunes with catchy melodies and lyrics that drip in poetry.”  ––That Music Mag, Jane Roser

“Platt’s rootsy sense of melody and strong lyrical instincts are heard throughout Me Oh My, with the inviting southern swing of ‘Jukebox’ and the ballad title track serving as particular stand-outs.” —Alex Biese, Asbury Park Press

 

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The Honeycutters Announce Tour Dates, New Album ‘Me Oh My’ Out April 21 via Organic Records

The Honeycutters. Photo by Sandlin Gaither

Asheville-based American Country Roots Band, The Honeycutters,
Set to Release 3rd Studio Album, Me Oh My, on Tue, April 21, 2015 With Organic Record Company

“… just superb, with a sweet toned and melodious aura… Today’s Smoky Mountain area modern folk thing does have a certain vibe, and these guys are among its finest purveyors.” –Music City Roots’ Craig Havighurst

“Their music embodies a very catchy, accessible, optimistic sort of spirit so frequently lacking in folk circles (where brooding, hyper-analytical music reigns supreme). What’s more, like Carolina Story, they’re a great band replete with tasty harmonies.” –Folk Music About.com’s Kim Ruehl

Announcing Spring and Summer Tour
Throughout the Southeast and Into the Northeast

The Honeycutters, an Asheville, NC-based original country roots band, is set to release their third studio album, Me Oh My, on April 21, 2015 with Organic Records®. Fueled by the powerful songwriting and vocals of founder Amanda Platt, Me Oh My moves her into the spotlight as producer, band leader, and principal creative force behind the band. With songs that are honest and relatable, part chagrin and part hope, Platt’s voice carries a timeless appeal. Pre-sales for the album have launched on iTunes and include four immediate tracks to download off the fourteen track release. They have announced tour dates throughout the southeast and into the northeast this spring and summer; more dates will be announced.

Led by songwriter Amanda Anne Platt, The Honeycutters include Tal Taylor on mandolin, Rick Cooper on bass, Josh Milligan on drums, and Matt Smith rounds out the band on pedal steel, electric guitar, and dobro to create a sound that carries just as well across the bar room as in a church or a theater. Platt’s songs are shaped by a raw honesty that comes straight from the heart and emits a sort of melancholy happiness.

Me Oh My is threaded with themes of love, loss, acceptance and regrowth. It kicks off with an engaging southern swingin’ song, “Jukebox,” that is about taking life one day at a time and not taking yourself too seriously saying “it’s only a song, so for heaven’s sake won’t you sing along?” The title cut is an inspirational anthem about the state of the modern woman, stating, “Some girls marry and some girls wait.” Me Oh My brings more of what fans love about The Honeycutters, honestly written songs sung in Platt’s authentic voice. The up-tempo, beer-raising, danceable “Ain’t It The Truth” is one that will fuel audiences at live shows while melancholy ballads like “Texas ’81” balance the album both in meter and mood. The upbeat “I’ll Be Lovin’ You” as a whole speaks to holding someone up until they are strong enough to stand on their own. Me Oh My delves deeper into the darker realms of love with “Little Bird” which gained Platt notoriety as it was chosen as a finalist at MerleFest’s prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest (2011).

Platt self produced the album along with the help of engineer and assistant producer Jon Ashley. The album was recorded in Echo Mountain Recording Studio and Mixtown Studio in Asheville, NC and it was mixed and mastered just down the road at Crossroads Studios in Arden, NC.

“The new album is the one I’m most proud of to date.” Platt says, “I took much more of a driver’s seat in it’s making, and the process has forced me to do a lot of growing up… I feel like I’ve really found my voice. I’m very excited about the line up of the band, and the songwriting includes some of my very favorites.”

The Honeycutters on Tour
4/2 Thu – Robert Ferst Theatre Amphitheatre – Atlanta, GA
4/3 Fri – Mars Theatre – Springfield, GA
4/17 Fri – Isis Music Hall – Asheville, NC
4/18 Sat – Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival – Silk Hope, NC
4/22 Wed – Music City Roots – Nashville, TN
4/24 Fri – MerleFest – Wilkesboro, NC
5/2 Sat – Sylvia Theater – York, SC
5/3 Sun – Eddie’s Attic – Decatur, GA
5/8 Fri – The Willow Tree – Johnson City, TN
5/9 Sat – Barley’s – Knoxville TN
5/14 Thu – The Double Door Inn – Charlotte, NC
5/15 Fri – Bourgie Nights – Wilmington, NC >
6/4 Thu – The ArtsCenter – Carrboro, NC
6/5 Fri – Sails Music Series – Hickory, NC
6/17 Sun – 10th Ave Burrito Co. – Belmar, NJ
6/18 – Thu – Rockwood Music Hall 2 – New York, NY *
6/20 Sat – Rochester International Jazz Festival – Rochester, NY
6/21 Sun – Mechanic Street House – Cleveland, OH
8/21 Fri – Summer Tracks Rogers Park Amphitheater – Tryon, NC
8/22 Sat- Cataloochee Ranch – Maggie Valley, NC

> w/ Massive Grass
* w/ The Hillbenders

For more information about The Honeycutters and further tour dates, please visit: www.thehoneycutters.com. For news from the road, please visit www.facebook.com/Honeycutters and twitter.com/thehoneycutters.

 

 

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New Truth & Salvage Co. Single “Black Ribbon Highway” – Available Now – A Family Affair Celebrating Trails Blazed Both Past and Present

New Truth & Salvage Co. Single “Black Ribbon Highway” Available Now!
A Family Affair Celebrating Trails Blazed Both Past and Present

“Black Ribbon Highway” is now available for purchase at iTunes, Amazon & CD Baby.
Also streaming on Spotify

CMT Edge streaming premiere and review of “Black Ribbon Highway”: www.cmtedge.com/2014/11/25/truth-salvage-co-retrace-the-black-ribbon-highway

Topped The Alternate Root’s Top Ten Songs of the Week for Sat, Nov. 28th

 Truth & Salvage Co.’s new single “Black Ribbon Highway” officially hit the streets today, Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Co-written by guitarist/vocalist Scott Kinnebrew and his father Dr. Michael Kinnebrew last year, the song was inspired by the elder Kinnebrew’s adventures growing up in the Southwest. His time as a youth in the Fifties was split between oil prospecting with his “wildcatter” father across East Texas and being “schooled on the hard-working ranch of a crusty, homesteading, cowboy uncle,” as he describes it, on the plains of eastern New Mexico at the Reversed LK Bar Ranch.

In the non-summer months, Dr. Kinnebrew drove all around the mammoth state of Texas with his “total rambler” of a father on never-ending backcountry pursuits of land leases that might or might not produce oil. Most often not. The summers at his uncle’s ranch, therefore, made up Michael’s favorite memories; he could spend his days playing, riding horses and simply being a kid instead of driving with his dad all around Texas sniffing out crude.

The highway sung about in the song is Texas Highway 84, once a trail that made up an early part of the storied Route 66. It was the road Michael rode every summer to get to the Reversed LK. He writes in the lyrics to “Black Ribbon Highway,” “You’re the trail that carried this boy through his life.”

“The circumstances of this song are so unique and tied to family that the band felt we’d best serve the song by offering it as a single now, during the holidays, rather than holding it until another record was ready,” says Scott Kinnebrew. The song is meant to “keep the fire burning with our fans while we’re off the road,” he continues, and in a small way to welcome to the world T&SCo’s first “band baby,” Smitty’s daughter with his wife Monti, Charlie Marie. The track is their first independent release since parting ways with the record label and management they’d been with since their 2008 inception. Plans to write, record and resume touring are set for the spring of 2015.

Scott describes his dad and co-writer as “a new old-timer who recently has been taking to songwriting and guitar-fixing.” A highly accomplished oral surgeon who specialized in repairing cleft palates, Dr. Kinnebrew “just decided he wanted to learn how to fix old jacked-up guitars, so he taught himself and he’s really good at it,” says the younger Kinnebrew. “He had the lyrics to what became ‘Black Ribbon Highway’ when I visited home last. Then we just sat down together with guitars and carved out the music and the melody.”

Scott had forgotten about the song after a few months, but his dad kept on him about how great it would be if Truth & Salvage recorded it. Scott says, “I kept blowing the idea off, but finally I sat down to listen to the voice memo we made and was surprised by how cool the song turned out. I recorded a demo and sent it to the band and asked them if we could schedule a day off during a run last summer to get into a studio and track it. They love my dad, and they really loved the tune and said ‘Hell yes!’”

Michael met up with Truth & Salvage Co. for two days at Electric Thunder Studio in the heart of Nashville’s “studio city” neighborhood, Berry Hill. ET’s Geoff Piller engineered and provided invaluable insight, while Scott Kinnebrew took his first-ever turn at producing. They spent a short time running over the tune and finalizing the arrangement, and then just dug in and went at it.

“All the parts everybody ended up bringing to the table were perfect,” Scott reflects, “and my dad was a kid in a candy store, never having recorded in a studio before. His energy brought something real special to the table. His harmonica playing set the whole tone for the session! We had a blast recording with him.”

Having toured extensively behind last year’s well-received, self-produced album Pick Me Up, Truth & Salvage Co.’s members find themselves “experiencing an enjoyable diaspora,” says Scott Kinnebrew, with drummer/vocalist Bill “Smitty” Smith taking time off in Lafayette, Louisiana, pianist/vocalist Walker Young living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, organist and keys player Adam Grace living in Tupelo, Mississippi, guitarist/vocalist Tim Jones and bassist Dean Moore holding down base camp in Nashville, and Kinnebrew hanging tough in the underbelly of Hollywood, where the band spent their initial phase. Coming together to produce “Black Ribbon Highway” for this interim period, however, was all it took to have the band itching to return to the studio next spring to record album No. 3.

“Black Ribbon Highway” is now available on CD Baby (http://bit.ly/1pOF2nC), iTunes (http://bit.ly/1zLXq0y), and Amazon (http://amzn.to/1yJ4vAH). It can also be streamed at Spotify (http://bit.ly/1AcYKKA.)

For more information and to stay up to date with Truth & Salvage Co., please visit www.truthandsalvageco.com, www.facebook.com/truthandsalvageco, www.twitter.com/truthandsalvage and www.youtube.com/user/truthandsalvageco.

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The Honeycutters Sign with Organic Records; New Album Slated for Spring 2015

The Honeycutters Sign with Organic Records Front to back & left to right: Ty Gilpin (Organic Records), Amanada Anne Platt, Erin Scholze (Dreamspider Publicity), Tal Taylor, Josh Milligan, Rick Cooper, Matt Smith

The Honeycutters Sign with Organic Records
New Album Slated for Spring 2015
www.thehoneycutters.com

The Honeycutters, an Asheville, NC based original country roots band, has signed an exclusive recording contract with Organic Records®. The band led a successful Kickstarter campaign raising $31,317 to help fund their third studio album. They have laid down the tracks in Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville and are mastering it over at Crossroads Studios in Arden. The album is slated for release in the spring of 2015.

Led by songwriter Amanda Anne Platt, The Honeycutters include Tal Taylor on mandolin, Rick Cooper on bass, Josh Milligan on drums, and Matt Smith rounding out Platt’s songs on pedal steel, electric guitar, and dobro to create a sound that carries just as well across the bar room as in a church or a theater. Platt’s songs are shaped by a raw honesty that comes straight from the heart and emits a sort of melancholy happiness.

“We’re very excited to be joining the Organic family!” says Platt. “We’ve been considering going with a label to help us grow, and it feels right to team up with one that is based in Asheville. Keepin’ it local. We want to keep the music coming, and believe the Organic folks are just the guys to help us do that.”

“The Honeycutters fit perfectly with Organic, where we love to support and promote great original music,” said Organic Records Marketing Director Ty Gilpin. “They are super talented players and Amanda is a songwriting and singing tour de force. They are hard-working, dedicated to the music and great people to boot!”

The band is frequently mentioned along with the movement to “Take country music back to it’s roots.” The Honeycutters are just doing what they know how to do: making music that feels as good to hear as it does to play.

“The new album is the one I’m most proud of to date.” Platt goes on to say, “I took much more of a driver’s seat in it’s making, and the process has forced me to do a lot of growing up… I feel like I’ve really found my voice. I’m very excited about the line up of the band, and the songwriting includes some of my very favorites.”

The soon-to-be-titled release is slated to drop in April with an album release party in Asheville along with a release tour to be announced. They are also scheduled to appear at MerleFest that same month.

The Honeycutters formed in 2007 in Asheville, the town they still call home, and had quick success with their first release Irene (2009). That release and their sophomore effort When Bitter Met Sweet (2012) grew their audience to help expand their tours to include notable appearances at MerleFest, Suwannee Springfest, Strawberry Music Festival, Vancouver Island Music Fest, Vancouver Folk Music Festival, Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival, Falcon Ridge Folk Fest and the Nelsonville Music Festival. They have also performed alongside esteemed musicians Guy Clark, Tony Rice, The Seldom Scene, Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Amy Ray, Donna The Buffalo, Jill Andrews, and The Steep Canyon Rangers.

Amanda Anne Platt has been hailed as “easily one of the best songwriters coming out of WNC these days” by WNCW programming director Martin Anderson, who goes on to state, “and she really needs to be discovered by the national Americana world.” In both her simple composition and honest delivery it’s easy to hear the influence of country legends such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, or Loretta Lynn, and with this Miss Platt credits growing up listening to her Father’s extensive record collection every Saturday morning. Despite her love for classic country, she cites Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty as major influences and her songwriting carries a wit and an edge that plants her firmly in her generation.

For a sampling of The Honeycutters’ previous releases and some live mixes, visit: http://noisetrade.com/thehoneycutters/noisetrade-mixtape.

For more information about the Honeycutters and their tour dates, please visit: www.thehoneycutters.com.

 

The Good Word About The Honeycutters:

“I recommend the Honeycutters not only because they’re some of the best my hometown of Asheville, NC, has to offer. Their music embodies a very catchy, accessible, optimistic sort of spirit so frequently lacking in folk circles (where brooding, hyper-analytical music reigns supreme). What’s more, like Carolina Story, they’re a great band replete with tasty harmonies.”
—Kim Ruehl, Folk Music About.com

“They’ve got a sound as classic as grits… I thought of those country songs that play on those diner jukeboxes you see in movies.”
—Charlotte’s Creative Loafing

“… just superb, with a sweet toned and melodious aura that put me in mind of the erstwhile everybodyfields. Today’s Smoky Mountain area modern folk thing does have a certain vibe, and these guys are among its finest purveyors. Happily, after three floaty and beautiful songs the band shifted into a hard Memphis vibe with ‘Fancy Car.’ It was a car song disguised as a train song, with a rolling rock beat.. Great stuff.” —Craig Havighurst, Senior Producer, Music City Roots

***************************************************

Label: Ty Gilpin, Senior Director of Marketing for Organic Records ty.gilpin@crossroadsmusic.com
Booking: John Everhart, KCA Artists john@keithcase.com
Publicity: Erin Scholze, Dreamspider Publicity dreamspider@gmail.com

Organic Records® is an eclectic home for a variety of artists that are singularly unique and defy categorization. In a time when music is becoming less defined by genre, Organic artists are developing their own  musical identity outside the confines of traditional classifications. Organic Records® is their natural habitat. Organic Records® is a division of Crossroads® Entertainment & Marketing and is located in Arden, North Carolina. More information can be found at www.organic-records.com.

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New Truth & Salvage Co. Single “Black Ribbon Highway” A Family Affair Celebrating Trails Blazed Both Past and Present

New Truth & Salvage Co. Single “Black Ribbon Highway”
A Family Affair Celebrating Trails Blazed Both Past and Present

First fully independent release from roots rock band with Black Crowes ties; inspired by the history and vast terrain of eastern New Mexico, where T&SCo guitarist’s father (who co-writes) grew up a wildcatter’s son and a “crusty” rancher’s nephew

Truth & Salvage Co. is set to release a new single called “Black Ribbon Highway” on Tuesday, December 2, 2014. Co-written by guitarist/vocalist Scott Kinnebrew and his father Michael Kinnebrew last year, the song was inspired by the elder Kinnebrew’s adventures as a youth splitting time between oil prospecting with his “wildcatter” father across East Texas and being “schooled on the hard-working ranch of a crusty, homesteading, cowboy uncle,” as he describes it, on the plains of eastern New Mexico.

This will be T&SCo’s first release after parting ways with the record label and management they’d been with since their 2008 inception. “It was great working with Pete [Angelus, of Angelus Entertainment],” says Scott Kinnebrew, “he introduced us to the Black Crowes and to Megaforce Records and we had a wild and fun ride with them.” However, after two albums and an EP (including their self-titled debut produced by the Crowes’ Chris Robinson) and five years of steady road work with the Crowes, the Avett Brothers and many others, the band needed to hit the reset button and take a breather.

Now, having toured extensively behind last year’s well-received, self-produced album, Pick Me Up, the band members find themselves “experiencing an enjoyable diaspora,” says Kinnebrew, with drummer/vocalist Bill “Smitty” Smith taking time off in Lafayette, Louisiana, pianist/vocalist Walker Young living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, organist and keys player Adam Grace living in Tupelo, Mississippi, guitarist/vocalist Tim Jones and bassist Dean Moore holding down base camp in Nashville, and Kinnebrew hanging tough in the underbelly of Hollywood, where the band spent their initial phase.

Plans to write, record and resume touring are set for the spring of 2015. In the meantime, the release of “Black Ribbon Highway” is meant to “keep the fire burning with our fans while we’re off the road,” Kinnebrew says, and in a small way to welcome to the world T&SCo’s first “band baby,” Smitty’s daughter with his wife Monti, Charlie Marie.

Says Kinnebrew, “The circumstances of this song are so unique and tied to family that the band felt we’d best serve the song by offering it as a single now, during the holidays, rather than holding the song until another record was ready.”

“Black Ribbon Highway”
— The Backstory

Michael Kinnebrew’s summer months as a pre-teen in the Fifties were spent with his uncle at the Reversed LK Bar ranch in eastern New Mexico. In the non-summer months he’d drive with his dad all around the mammoth state of Texas prospecting for oil. Michael’s father was a “wildcatter,” a “total rambler” who would take young Michael on never-ending backcountry pursuits of land leases that might or might not produce oil. Most often not.

Which meant that those summers at his uncle’s ranch made up Michael’s favorite memories; he could spend his days playing, being a kid and riding horses instead of driving with his dad all around Texas sniffing out oil. The highway sung about in the song is Texas Highway 84, once a trail that made up an early part of the storied Route 66. It was the road Michael rode every summer to get to the Reversed LK. He writes in the lyrics to “Black Ribbon Highway,” “You’re the trail that carried this boy through his life.”

The Writing and Recording of “Black Ribbon Highway”

Scott describes his dad and co-writer as “a new old-timer who recently has been taking to songwriting and guitar-fixing.” A highly accomplished oral surgeon who specialized in repairing cleft palates, Dr. Kinnebrew “just decided he wanted to learn how to fix old jacked-up guitars, so he taught himself and he’s really good at it,” says the younger Kinnebrew. “He had the lyrics to what became ‘Black Ribbon Highway’ when I visited home last. Then we just sat down together with guitars and carved out the music and the melody.”

Scott had forgotten about the song after a few months, but his dad kept on him about how great it would be if Truth & Salvage recorded it. Scott says, “I kept blowing the idea off, but finally I sat down to listen to the voice memo we made and was surprised by how cool the song turned out. I recorded a demo and sent it to the band and asked them if we could schedule a day off during a run last summer to get into a studio and track it. They love my dad, and they really loved the tune and said ‘Hell yes!’”

Michael met up with Truth & Salvage Co. for two days at Electric Thunder Studio in the heart of Nashville’s “studio city” neighborhood, Berry Hill. ET’s Geoff Piller engineered and provided invaluable insight, while Scott Kinnebrew took his first-ever turn at producing. They spent a short time running over the tune and finalizing the arrangement, and then just dug in and went at it.

“All the parts everybody ended up bringing to the table were perfect,” Scott reflects, “and my dad was a kid in a candy store, never having recorded in a studio before. His energy brought something real special to the table. His harmonica playing set the whole tone for the session! We had a blast recording with him.”

For more information and to stay up to date with Truth & Salvage Co., please visit www.truthandsalvageco.com, www.facebook.com/truthandsalvageco, www.twitter.com/truthandsalvage, www.youtube.com/user/truthandsalvageco.

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