A few years ago, Old Californio self-released their debut album, 'Along The Cosmic Grass'. It was an effortlessly charming album, clearly grounded in a quintessentially West Coast California musical tradition that combines the very best in folk and rock and country. Alas, too few actually got the chance to hear that album, even as the band were drawing relatively large crowds to their frequent L.A. area gigs. Sometimes the best things just go unheard, unless you're lucky enough to stumble across it.
Well, that was then, and this is now, and Old Californio have returned with their sophomore effort, although there's certainly nothing sophomoric about 'Westering Again', if you'll pardon the obviousness of such an overused rock cliché.
You may already be a fan of some of the bands Old Californio might likely name as influences - particularly the counter-culture Bay Area bands like Moby Grape, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service... Or a handful of the smokier Topanga Canyon bands further down south, like Canned Heat, Neil Young & Crazy Horse and Spirit - and yet... Well, they don't really sound like any of these bands if you want to know the truth.
Like many of the best bands who released LPs some forty years ago, this new album, (and like 'Along The Cosmic Grass' before it), finds its roots in sounds that once gave California it's own identity at a converging time and place, the late sixties and early-to-mid-seventies. Try to imagine a musical interstate stretching and twisting like overgrown Napa grapevine, snaking along the foggy Bay Area coastline to the golden San Gabriel Mountains, all the way down to the sparse desert of the Inland Empire.
Now imagine that interstate leads right to 'Westering Again'.
What we're talking about here is bright guitar-driven melodies with complicated and earthy arrangements, mixed in with a little down-home country twang and dovetailing instrumental jams, providing ample evidence that they also have a tacit understanding of what made those great classic rock outfits of yore so exhilarating and memorable in the first place.
What we're talking about here are really great songs (remember those?). There's no real dross or dead weight on this ambitious work. It's a melodically complex and accomplished effort, hard set with a blast-furnace production that reveals the considerable talents of the band's membership.
Speaking of membership, at the focused core of these efforts you'll find the very talented Rich Dembowski, who plays guitar and sings with a heartfelt voice that might remind some of the Band's Richard Manuel. His lyrics are inspired, to say the least, evoking winsome images of riparian vistas and wine stained front porches. These are songs with thoughtful lyrics that fill the air.
In the same breath we should also mention the two other orbiting full-time members of the band - drummer Justin Smith and bassist Jason Chesney - who combine both explosive drumming and propulsive bass elements that expose the kind of prowess that few bands seem to have these days. And we would be remiss if we didn’t mention Levi Nunez, who adds wonderful sparkling keyboards when they're needed to flesh out the proceedings.
This is spirited music, friends, and the perfect soundtrack for the interregnum, this wonderful shared experience of renewed hope and peace that seems to be sweeping across the country right now. Westering Again is liable to stir up something inside you, and to my ears, it sounds like music that could have only been created in Southern California.
Remember how the great Raymond Chandler once described the warm Santa Ana, coursing along the mountain passes and drifting across the chaparral, whining through the eucalyptus windbreaks. Chandler said this oven-hot red wind was the kind that could "curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch."
Well what I'm saying is that the music Old Californio makes stirs up a presence you can actually feel, just like Chandler's red winds, a kind of palpable sensation, like the warmth of the sun on your face. It won't actually make you jumpy and itchy, you understand, unless you're naturally prone to that type of response, that is.
Old Reliable
A fixture on the independent music scene for ten years, Old Reliable has earned a name making gritty honest roots music combined with the fire of rock and roll and the howl of bluegrass. Centered on the songwriting of Shuyler Jansen and Mark Davis, Old Reliable’s unique style is combined with lyrics that are unafraid to explore the darker themes of traditional country music. Multi-instrumentalist Shawn Jonasson, bass player Tom Murray and drummer Scott Lingley round out the band. The key to the group’s success is their ability to sound utterly natural; nothing appears forced or artificial, and no one raises an eyebrow at the bubbling synthesizers lurking behind the fiddle or the fuzz guitar solo.
Old Reliable’s third recording, Pulse of Light Dark Landscape, showcases the songs of Shuyler Jansen. Tinged with violin, cello and pedal steel guitar the record moves effortlessly from winsome ballads to galloping rock songs. Pulse of Light Dark Landscape features the work of famed rock photographer Elliott Landy (Van Morrison/Moondance, The Band/The Band, Bob Dylan/Nashville Skyline) and guest vocalists Mike Caldwell (The Smalls) and Corby Lund (Corb Lund Band). Pulse of Light Dark Landscape has charted across Canada, reaching the top ten in several college, co-op and country radio markets (CKUA, CJSR, CKER, CBC Radio Sonic).
The Gradual Moment, Old Reliable’s sophomore effort, features appearances by the members of Calexico and Giant Sand as well as the multi- instrumentalist Bob Egan (Blue Rodeo, Freakwater, Wilco, Billy Bragg). The Gradual Moment was composed by Mark Davis and chronicles his girlfriend’s battle with breast cancer from her initial diagnosis to her tragic death at age 31. The Gradual Moment drew widespread acclaim for its atmospheric sound and reached number one at CKUA and CJSR. The album has also been featured on CBC’s Radio Sonic, In the Key of A, and Definitely Not the Opera.
Old Reliable’s first three albums, including their debut Gone Are the Days, were recorded by Scott Franchuk at Riverdale Recorders of Edmonton and were mastered by Peter J. Moore at the E Room in Toronto. Their latest and fourth album, The Burning Truth, was recorded by Scott Franchuk, Al Irving and David Alcock at Sundae Sound Studios in Calgary, and was mastered by Jim Wilson of Yes Mastering in Austin, TX. Featuring songwriting by both Jansen and Davis, The Burning Truth were released in the spring of 2005, following their first-ever appearance at the renowned South By Southwest festival in Austin. 2005 will also see Old Reliable performing at the Alberta Scene showcase in Ottawa, as well as a United Kingdom release compiling songs from all four of Old Reliable’s albums.
Old Reliable’s mesmerizing live shows have made them a number of notable friends over the years. The band has shared the stage with Guy Clark, Gord Downie, Alejandro Escovedo, Oh Susanna, Ray Condo, Giant Sand, Richard Buckner, the Corb Lund Band and many others. The members also maintain active careers outside of Old Reliable; these have produced Jonasson’s old-school country project The Swiftys (whose self-titled debut came out in 2003) and Jansen’s psychedelic-folk solo album The Hobotron (released November 2004).
The band is currently working on a new album for release in 2008.
