The Morning Pages, an alt-country outfit on Zealous Records, released their EP, The Company You Keep, this week. Much like their label-mates The Basement, this EP should also make its way into your collection.
The EP is a nice toe-tapping collection of Alt-Country with influences firmly planted in the 70’s. On the Zealous Records page, The Brooklyn five-piece lists Leon Russell, Gram Parsons and The Band as influences. Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
“We have no problem with the bands that have dominated New York for the last few years. I love The Strokes and The Walkmen,” say principle songwriter Grant Maxwell, “but I feel like there is a general yearning for a more substantial and organic music that is beginning to emerge in some of the new bands.”
That is certainly evident here and also with contemporaries like Oakley Hall. There are only so many retro garage rock bands that one city can hold. Its good to see NYC kicking out a new brand of music.
I’ve listened to this album a few times and feel like I should be sitting on a porch with my dog, drinking a whiskey. The fact that I don’t like whiskey, combined with February Chicago temperatures put a damper on that idea. It still hasn’t slowed down my appreciation of The Morning Pages and Zealous Records as a whole. They’re two for two in my book.
They’ll be at SXSW 2007, so if you’re making your way to Austin, check them out. We’ll see you in the crowd…or at the bar.
The Morning Pages – With the Lord
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