With a sound that is raw, expressive, and strange, Lonesome Shack’s music is part hill country blues, part urban folk rock, and owes as much to Alan Wilson’s Canned Heat as it does to Junior Kimbrough.
Formed in Seattle and currently based in London, the trio is led by Ben Todd, a finger picking guitarist who has spent time living in a shack in the New Mexico desert. Alone in the Gila Wilderness, Ben learned how to play old blues and banjo tunes from vintage and traditional recordings. Todd is joined by Kristian Garrard (drums) and Luke Bergman (bass).
On March 1st the trio will release their new LP Desert Dreams on Alive Naturalsound Records. The collection of songs comes together as a singular and poetic album of modern American music written at the tail end of a long, challenging winter in London. The result sounds like rock city meets backwoods boogie, desert blues meets jungle grooves.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Too Bad”, one of the standout tracks on Desert Dreams. The song showcases Ben Todd’s finger picking guitar, with eerie blues vocals and a sound that seems to carry his love of North Mississippi blues as much as it does the West African guitar style of acts like Tinariwen. The drums add a bouncy groove that propels this simple yet intriguing song forward. There’s an intimacy to the music that brings the listener in close, as if you are sitting inside Todd’s shack in the New Mexico desert and watching him explore the nuances of playing guitar.
Todd shares his own reflection of the song:
“Most of the songs on this album refer to the desert in some way, whether it’s the desert of the mind or the desert I’ve experienced in the Southwestern states. Triggered by a bout of homesickness and the reflection that comes with life challenges, writing ‘Desert Dreams’ pulled me through a tough winter spell in London. I think the saying ‘Too Bad’ carries a dark humor and, once said, helps you move on to the next more important thing. In the confusion that sometimes arises while wandering the desert, it’s best to avoid mental traps and continue searching, even when it’s unclear what you’re looking for. “I’m searching the desert for you.”
LISTEN:
Lonesome Shack’s Desert Dreams will be available March 1st on Limited Edition Vinyl, CD, digital and streaming formats via Alive Naturalsound Records. http://lonesomeshack.com
LONESOME SHACK TOUR DATES
March 09 – The Firefly, Bellingham, WA
March 10 – The Tractor Tavern, Seattle,WA
March 11 – Turn! Turn! Turn!, Portland, OR
March 12 – The Siren’s Song Tavern, Eureka, CA
March 13 – Pike Bar, Long Beach, CA
March 14 – Ace Hotel, Palm Springs,CA
March 15 – EXO, Tucson, AZ
March 17 – Lunchbox, Phoenix, AZ
March 19 – The Garage, SLC,UT
March 20 – TBA Boise, ID
Photo credit: Molly Adeler
