Notes
"One of the hardest-working, most bone-shaking, original bands on the American roots music circuit." - Jeff Biggers, The Huntington Post If your last album had critics describing your group as "The Last Waltz come back to life as one unified band" (Mike Breen, CityBeat) and calling the album "a master class in Americana" (David Kronke, L.A. Critic) and "an album that exhibits how great American roots music can be" (Donny Kutzbach, ArtVoice), what do you do for an encore? If you're Cincinnati's roots/Americana powerhouse Magnolia Mountain, the answer is simple. You write even better songs. You bring even better players and singers on board. You release an album that raises the bar even higher. You release an album like 'Town and Country'. As the title suggests, 'Town and Country' showcases Magnolia Mountain's deft mastery of American musical styles and casts that stylistic net wider than ever before. From the opening old-timey Appalachian vibe of "Black Mollie", through the bittersweet Americana lament "One Waking Moment", the Dwight Yoakam-style swagger of "Baby, Let's Pretend", the driving hard rock of "Set on Fire", to the Stax/Volt R&B-infused workout "Rainmaker", 'Town and Country' bolts out of the gate with a whirlwind array of American music styles. 'Town and Country' is full of Magnolia Mountain singer and songwriter Mark Utley's finest collection of songs to date, an 18-song double album of remarkable range. The band's signature interplay of acoustic and electric instruments is on full display on the new album, even moreso with the addition of talented newcomers Jeff Vanover (guitar), Todd Drake (drums) and Kathy Woods (fiddle) to the formidable lineup of Bob Lese on mandolin, folk harmonica, and blues harp, Utley on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and banjo, and upright bassist Bob Donisi. Magnolia Mountain's trademark blend of gorgeous 2-, 3-, and 4-part close harmony vocals is made even richer with the addition of Renee Frye, who now joins founding member Melissa English on harmony vocals. In addition, the band is joined on this album by a veritable who's who of Cincinnati roots musicians, including Ricky Nye (piano/organ) David Rhodes Brown (lap steel/slide guitar), Brian Hogg (sax), Mike Oberst (banjo), and more. 'Town and Country' reflects Magnolia Mountain's "big tent" approach to Americana music with songs like the Byrds-meets-bluegrass "All My Numbered Days", the mountain flavor of "The Old Ways", the country-punk scorcher "Shotgun Divorce" (a duet with Bloodshot Records artist Lydia Loveless), the gospel rave-up "Train to Glory", the menacing, dark gothic country of "The Devil We Know", the slow R&B burn and epic sweep of the heartbreaking "Cry for Me", through to the intricately layered harmonies of the album finale "A Light to Bring You Home". Included are haunting covers of "Don't Leave Just Now" by Cincy indie-rock giants Wussy, and "Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming" by Will Johnson of Centro-matic. Also featured is "The Hand of Man", the band's contribution to 2011's anti-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining complilation, 'Music for the Mountains'. This album is the band's third with producer John Curley (Afghan Whigs) at Ultrasuede Studio in Cincinnati. Also back from the first two albums are the stunning album cover photos of world-renowned photographer Michael Wilson. Town and Country will be released on two formats (CD and vinyl double album).
