2007 was quite a successful year for the gritty New Jersey band The Roadside Graves. They released the stellar No One Will Know Where You’ve Been - a spirited take on alternative country-rock that takes inspiration from Springsteen, The Band, and The Stones - on Kill Buffalo Records. The album garnered favorable attention from dozens of blogs (including this one - in my top 15 last year), as well as from both Stereogum and Pitchfork. Any regular reader of Pitchfork knows that roots rock is not usually their genre of choice, but No One Will Know Where You’ve Been did very well for itself, scoring quite a bit higher than Sky Blue Sky and nearly equaling the scores of Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams’ most recent efforts combined. The attention was well deserved for these guys - truly one of the country’s finest acts working in the Americana genre.2008 finds the band looking for a new home, as they have been shopping a set of newly recorded demos around to various labels. Lead singer John Gleason informed us last December that the working title for the new record is My Son’s Home and, from the sound of these 6 tracks, will once again feature the Graves stirring blend of rock ‘n roll, country, folk, blues, and poignant, afflicted storytelling. “Ruby” has been circulating since being featured on Stereogum a few weeks ago - it’s a stomping barroom folk sing- along and easily among the band’s most memorable songs. The working title track, “My Son’s Home”, shows the quieter side of the band, as Gleason turns in a terrific vocal over rolling, circular acoustic guitars. Another new track, “Far And Wide”, was recently featured over at An Aquarium Drunkard and is streaming at their myspace. The band is looking to hook up with a new label and record another batch of songs to augment these - look for a release either later this year or early next. Can’t wait.
MP3 :: Ruby
MP3 :: My Son’s Home
(demos from My Son’s Home. Info here, eventually)
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And while we’re at it, here’s a solid little Roadside Graves rarity from an unreleased compilation which, if nothing else, has the strangest name you’ll see all day.
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