10411 - THE BLACK LILLIES - HARD TO PLEASE (2015)
THE BLACK LILLIES
''HARD TO PLEASE''
OCTOBER 2 2015
45:22
**********
1 Hard to Please 04:11
2 That's the Way It Goes Down 03:50
3 Mercy 04:16
4 The First Time 04:30
5 Bound to Roam 05:13
6 Dancin' 04:44
7 Desire 04:33
8 40 Days 04:16
9 Broken Shore 05:38
10 Fade 04:05
**********
REVIEW
Michelle Ciarrocca, www.vanityfair.com
Capturing the energy and spontaneity of a live show on a recording is next to impossible, but on their forthcoming album, Hard to Please, Americana band the Black Lillies come really, really close. From the sultry, foot-stomping title track to the dreamy heart stabber “Fade” and each song in between, the Tennessee natives stretched their country bones with a noticeable soulful evolution—“our jukebox record,” as front man Cruz Contreras calls it.
“Our Appalachian roots are always the heart of what we do, but we went for it on this one,” adds vocalist and guitarist Trisha Gene Brady. Their sound continues to cross generations and musical genres—country, folk, blues, and add in a touch of the Dead, for good measure. On this album, fans will notice more deep funk and R&B sounds, a smattering of brass on a few tracks, and Brady singing lead vocals on the aptly titled “The First Time.”
Hard to Please, their fourth album, marked another first: unlike the down-home, self-produced recordings of the past, this time they brought in Grammy-award-winning producer Ryan Hewitt (the Avett Brothers, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and recorded at the famed House of Blues Studio D, which was relocated from Memphis to Nashville in 2009. “The history of that place is amazing, a traveling sound board in a traveling studio—Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding—I’m getting chills just thinking about it,” says Brady.
Hewitt and Contreras brought in several guest musicians to do so, including Band of Horses bassist Bill Reynolds, pedal steel player Matt Smith (Indigo Girls), and 20-year-old guitarist Daniel Donato. And, although the end result of Hard to Please oozes top-notch musicianship and a fresh, invigorated sound, getting there was a lesson in faith.
“Everything that goes on with the band, the music, the travelling, all the decisions—songwriting is the core of it. You have to have songs to sing. But, the more success you have, the more difficult it is to find the time to sit down and write,” Contreras explains. The band consistently plays more than 300 shows a year, coast to coast, from the Stagecoach Festival to the Grand Ole Opry. Their last album, Runaway Freeway Blues, landed on the Billboard Country and Heatseeker charts, became a mainstay on Americana radio channels, and was featured on dozens of 2013 top albums lists.
With a tour packed winter and studio time reserved for early March, Contreras was feeling the pressure. He had never had to produce that much material in that short of time. Adding to the panic, Contreras also learned that two veteran members of the band—pedal steel player and lead guitarist Tom Pryor along with bassist Robert Richards—were calling it quits. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” says Pryor from his new home in Taos, New Mexico. “But, when you’ve been everywhere from L.A. to N.Y.C. three times, you’ve played the Opry 30 times . . . for me, it had run its course.” For Contreras, it “was a big gut check. I went down to the bar the next day and pretty much just bawled, I let myself be sad.”
Looking back on it all now, Contreras is frank and honest about the tumultuous year, embracing the changes. “In this line of work, way too often I’m scared to death. I have no idea what’s going to happen. Everything is going to change. It’s the only guarantee in life, so you have to make it work for you.” He is also keenly aware of the people counting on him, most of all, his 11-year-old son, Cash.
“When we have a break—a week or two back home—we all have family and friends and we try to pack it all in. My No. 1 priority is my son,” says Contreras. “I had to explain it to him, ‘I’m home, but I’m going to be really busy. I have to finish this project.’” Ever wise and understanding, Cash provided the best advice and motivation a father could hope for: “Go write a record so we can buy a farm.”
As with previous albums, Hard to Please is band- and fan-funded (check out their Pledge Music page; for the right donation you could hangout backstage at the Opry, have a song written just for you, or pitch your tent with the band and jam all night around a campfire). And, just as their sound has evolved, the machine behind them has also grown. Brady notes, “For an independent band, we’ve been doing our thing, building slowly so this is really exciting. This is the first time we’ve been able to push it the way we should, the way we want to—to the next level.”
“I think I’d just had a conversation with my ex when I wrote the song, and I actually presented it to the band three to four years ago,” says Cruz. “A year ago, it hit us that it wasn’t meant for me to sing; it was meant for Trisha and came to life right away when she sang it. It’s the first Black Lillies song that I’m not singing on so it’s a special song—her voice and the new players gave it its own life.”
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Leggett
A country act that shades to the Americana side of things, the Black Lillies were formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2009 by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Cruz Contreras (formerly of Robinella & the CC Stringband), guitarist and pedal steel player Tom Pryor, drummer and percussionist Jamie Cook (both Pryor and Cook were formerly members of the Everybodyfields), bassist Robert Richards, and vocalist Trisha Gene Brady. The band, featuring a fresh blend of bluegrass, jazz, rock, country, and blues, with just a touch of string band Appalachia, began recording a debut album project in Contreras' living room (with help from Leah Gardner on backing vocals, Billy Contreras on fiddle, and Taylor Coker on bass). The resulting album, Whiskey Angel, was independently released by the band in the spring of 2009 and quickly garnered positive critical attention, regular play on American stations, and also brought the band a management and booking deal. A second album was announced in 2010 and funded through fan sponsorships sold through the band’s website. 100 Miles of Wreckage appeared in the spring of 2011, again to positive reviews, and quickly entered the national Americana charts.
**********
WIKIPEDIA
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''HARD TO PLEASE''
OCTOBER 2 2015
45:22
**********
1 Hard to Please 04:11
2 That's the Way It Goes Down 03:50
3 Mercy 04:16
4 The First Time 04:30
5 Bound to Roam 05:13
6 Dancin' 04:44
7 Desire 04:33
8 40 Days 04:16
9 Broken Shore 05:38
10 Fade 04:05
**********
REVIEW
Michelle Ciarrocca, www.vanityfair.com
Capturing the energy and spontaneity of a live show on a recording is next to impossible, but on their forthcoming album, Hard to Please, Americana band the Black Lillies come really, really close. From the sultry, foot-stomping title track to the dreamy heart stabber “Fade” and each song in between, the Tennessee natives stretched their country bones with a noticeable soulful evolution—“our jukebox record,” as front man Cruz Contreras calls it.
“Our Appalachian roots are always the heart of what we do, but we went for it on this one,” adds vocalist and guitarist Trisha Gene Brady. Their sound continues to cross generations and musical genres—country, folk, blues, and add in a touch of the Dead, for good measure. On this album, fans will notice more deep funk and R&B sounds, a smattering of brass on a few tracks, and Brady singing lead vocals on the aptly titled “The First Time.”
Hard to Please, their fourth album, marked another first: unlike the down-home, self-produced recordings of the past, this time they brought in Grammy-award-winning producer Ryan Hewitt (the Avett Brothers, Johnny Cash, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and recorded at the famed House of Blues Studio D, which was relocated from Memphis to Nashville in 2009. “The history of that place is amazing, a traveling sound board in a traveling studio—Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding—I’m getting chills just thinking about it,” says Brady.
Hewitt and Contreras brought in several guest musicians to do so, including Band of Horses bassist Bill Reynolds, pedal steel player Matt Smith (Indigo Girls), and 20-year-old guitarist Daniel Donato. And, although the end result of Hard to Please oozes top-notch musicianship and a fresh, invigorated sound, getting there was a lesson in faith.
“Everything that goes on with the band, the music, the travelling, all the decisions—songwriting is the core of it. You have to have songs to sing. But, the more success you have, the more difficult it is to find the time to sit down and write,” Contreras explains. The band consistently plays more than 300 shows a year, coast to coast, from the Stagecoach Festival to the Grand Ole Opry. Their last album, Runaway Freeway Blues, landed on the Billboard Country and Heatseeker charts, became a mainstay on Americana radio channels, and was featured on dozens of 2013 top albums lists.
With a tour packed winter and studio time reserved for early March, Contreras was feeling the pressure. He had never had to produce that much material in that short of time. Adding to the panic, Contreras also learned that two veteran members of the band—pedal steel player and lead guitarist Tom Pryor along with bassist Robert Richards—were calling it quits. “It wasn’t an easy decision,” says Pryor from his new home in Taos, New Mexico. “But, when you’ve been everywhere from L.A. to N.Y.C. three times, you’ve played the Opry 30 times . . . for me, it had run its course.” For Contreras, it “was a big gut check. I went down to the bar the next day and pretty much just bawled, I let myself be sad.”
Looking back on it all now, Contreras is frank and honest about the tumultuous year, embracing the changes. “In this line of work, way too often I’m scared to death. I have no idea what’s going to happen. Everything is going to change. It’s the only guarantee in life, so you have to make it work for you.” He is also keenly aware of the people counting on him, most of all, his 11-year-old son, Cash.
“When we have a break—a week or two back home—we all have family and friends and we try to pack it all in. My No. 1 priority is my son,” says Contreras. “I had to explain it to him, ‘I’m home, but I’m going to be really busy. I have to finish this project.’” Ever wise and understanding, Cash provided the best advice and motivation a father could hope for: “Go write a record so we can buy a farm.”
As with previous albums, Hard to Please is band- and fan-funded (check out their Pledge Music page; for the right donation you could hangout backstage at the Opry, have a song written just for you, or pitch your tent with the band and jam all night around a campfire). And, just as their sound has evolved, the machine behind them has also grown. Brady notes, “For an independent band, we’ve been doing our thing, building slowly so this is really exciting. This is the first time we’ve been able to push it the way we should, the way we want to—to the next level.”
“I think I’d just had a conversation with my ex when I wrote the song, and I actually presented it to the band three to four years ago,” says Cruz. “A year ago, it hit us that it wasn’t meant for me to sing; it was meant for Trisha and came to life right away when she sang it. It’s the first Black Lillies song that I’m not singing on so it’s a special song—her voice and the new players gave it its own life.”
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
Steve Leggett
A country act that shades to the Americana side of things, the Black Lillies were formed in Knoxville, Tennessee in 2009 by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Cruz Contreras (formerly of Robinella & the CC Stringband), guitarist and pedal steel player Tom Pryor, drummer and percussionist Jamie Cook (both Pryor and Cook were formerly members of the Everybodyfields), bassist Robert Richards, and vocalist Trisha Gene Brady. The band, featuring a fresh blend of bluegrass, jazz, rock, country, and blues, with just a touch of string band Appalachia, began recording a debut album project in Contreras' living room (with help from Leah Gardner on backing vocals, Billy Contreras on fiddle, and Taylor Coker on bass). The resulting album, Whiskey Angel, was independently released by the band in the spring of 2009 and quickly garnered positive critical attention, regular play on American stations, and also brought the band a management and booking deal. A second album was announced in 2010 and funded through fan sponsorships sold through the band’s website. 100 Miles of Wreckage appeared in the spring of 2011, again to positive reviews, and quickly entered the national Americana charts.
**********
WIKIPEDIA
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
