Brothers Daniel and Jesse Reaux began performing as The Rayo Brothers at a songwriting competition mounted in their home town of Lafayette, Louisiana in 2012. Recruiting Lance Kelehan on drums and Jordan Ardoin on bass, they recorded their debut album Gunslinger in 2014 to significant critical acclaim, followed three years later by Take You For A Drive. The group regularly appear at festivals all over the Southern U.S. including the renowned Jazz & Heritage Festival in New Orleans and music venues throughout the region.
On March 29 the Brothers will be releasing their third long player, Victim & Villain, on Louis Michot’s Nouveau Electric Records imprint. The new album was recorded at Maurice, Louisiana’s renowned Dockside Studio by Grammy-winning engineer Tony Daigle who also mixed the set. Michot of Grammy-winners Lost Bayou Ramblers co-produced Victim & Villain with the Brothers’ Jesse Reaux.
The songs on Victim & Villain are deeply rooted in folk and old timey country music traditions; they started out as simply lyrics and melody, voice and acoustic guitar. In the recording studio, the band then fleshed them out with tough-rockin’ full-bodied electric guitars, bluegrass style banjo, Daniel Reaux’s lead vocals and signature sibling harmonies with Jesse and pedal steel guitar to bring out their C&W influences. Meanwhile, the album also has a distinct Cajun flair featuring another set of brothers as special guests – Andre Michot on lap steel and Louis on fiddle.
Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive premiere of Victim & Villain. The album finds the Brothers crafting a straightforward, old school country sound that speaks to a time when real country music is actually respected again. Lyrically, the album delves heavily into the theme of recognizing and accepting life’s tougher realities, and devising positive ways of coping with them. The protagonists of these songs confront their own weakness, dishonesty and darkness and make the decision to address them rather than seeking a scapegoat or an escape; they realize that their relationships are flawed. They accept that suffering is an inevitable part of life but choose to avoid becoming embittered; they choose the high road – to create a life worth the pain endured. This is an album about self-realization and personal growth, which are two areas many of us can identify with during these rollercoaster times we find ourselves in. Musically, there are outlaw and classic country influences on the surface that will resonate with fans of Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and even the Avett Brothers, but things get interesting when the Brothers bust out a banjo and a fuzzy electric guitar among other instruments. The beauty of the album is the way the musicians can effortlessly jump from honky tonk to Americana, hard country to folk, and ultimately this is one of the most exciting country music releases so far this year.
Brother Jesse Reaux describes the album in his own words:
“This album is a lot about coming to terms with reality and figuring out how to move forward. Realizing that things are not okay (within oneself, and within relationships). Seeing the weakness and the darkness and dishonesty within oneself and deciding to deal with that instead of looking for an escape or a target to place the blame. Accepting that suffering and hurt is an inevitable part of life, but resolving to follow the good in spite of it. To make life worth the suffering. All of the songs on the album lie somewhere along that spectrum of realization and personal growth. The song that embodies all of it together is the title track ‘Victim & Villain.’”
LISTEN:
Victim & Villain is out on March 29th. For more music and info visit rayobrothers.com.
Photo credit: LeeAnn Stephan
