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Bare, Bread, and America

Leave it to Bobby Bare Jr. to refuse to choose between David Gates and Gerry Beckley. His upcoming EP American Bread, due out August 11, is true to its title, consisting of covers from the catalogues of America and Bread.

The precise track-listing hasn't been revealed, but given that it's seven songs – requiring, presumably, a 4-3 split – I guess we'll find out which band he likes better once the sequence leaks out. (Personally, I would've played it "Sister Golden Hair", "Guitar Man", "Ventura Highway", "Sweet Surrender", "Lonely People", "Diary", and "Daisy Jane".)

Here's the official press-release scoop:

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Nashville, TN – June 19, 2009 - Bobby Bare Jr. has been a busy man since the 2006 release of The Longest Meow. The birth of his second child, literally hundreds of shows, executive producing a Shel Silverstein tribute project with an accompanying Shel Silverstein day celebration at Chicago’s Millennium Park, writing and recording his next full length album, and lastly… finalizing the release of the American Bread EP.

American Bread EP, recordings from Bobby Bare Jr. and David Vandervelde covering the songs of 70’s soft rock giants Bread and America. In the span of 7-songs, American Bread EP imagines the hits of both bands sifted through Bare’s great range of influences that in moments conjuring up aural images of post-punk on A Horse With No Name and rock n roll abandon on Sister Golden Hair (beta)… cleverly pulling 70’s influence into 70’s inspiration.

“I just woke up one morning with a desperate need to both caress and molest these beautiful "SOFT ROCK" classics that seem to have been both over looked and under appreciated by today's rockers. Also I was quite certain the world needed more "ALLIGATOR LIZARDS IN THE AIR". – Bobby Bare Jr.

American Bread EP was recorded and mixed by David Vandervelde and includes performances by Chris Scruggs, Carey Kotsionis, Carl Broemel, Kai Welch, and Aaron Ford.

July 13th will be a significant day for both Bobby Bare and Bobby Bare Jr. with the first ever SHELEBRATION presented by the Chicago Cultural Center at Millennium Park. The show is significant for the Bare family since both have been executive producing an album of Shel Silverstein songs that will be released later in the year on Sugar Hill Records. Bobby will appear on the album along with Kris Kristofferson, Andrew Bird, Lucinda Williams, Ray Price, Bobby Bare Sr., My Morning Jacket, Dennis Locorriere and Ray Sawyer of Dr. Hook, Dr. Dog, Todd Snider, Band Of Horses, and The Boxmasters.

Bobby hits the road in July in support of American Bread EP which will also be partnered with the Bloodshot Records 15th Anniversary Beer-B-Q performances throughout the U.S.

American Bread EP will be released through Junket Boy at independent record stores throughout the U.S. on August 11th 2009.

Finally, Bobby's gonna have a hard time topping this take on the Golden one:

Comment by Jen Findley on June 22, 2009 at 10:35am: I've got a copy from when he was in Seattle at the end of March if you want to check it out. They're homemade copies that he put together on the train between Portland and Seattle. He told the crowd at The Sunset, "If you bought the new American Bread LP tonight and it doesn't work when you get home, email me and I'll send you another one. I copied them on my cd player at home."

Comment by David Shaw on June 23, 2009 at 8:14pm: Anyone else know this little ditty by Michael Hall?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_79mlkZ8ehg

Comment by Ron Frankl on June 25, 2009 at 9:09am: It's taken me a while to chew on this one. I finally decided I can't get terribly excited.

I think there's a perversity factor at work here. For those of us of a certain age, America and Bread were two of the low points of Seventies music. Now, of course, time can change one's perspective significantly, and I recognize now that both bands wrote and recorded some decent tunes. But I'm not willing to let them off the hook for appealing to the middle of the road market, at a time where creativity and originality did not prevent commercial success. What's next, reevaluations of the Little River Band and Pablo Cruise?

I would much rather see Bare Jr. revisit his father's astounding work for modern listeners. Bobby Bare was one of the giants of progressive country and a champion of the performers we now call the Outlaw movement, at a time when they had had no success at all in Nashville. The album that Jr. produced for his father (The Moon Is Blue) was a little disappointing; perhaps a good way to make it up to Sr. would be to record an album of his best tunes.

But the fact that Bare Jr. is releasing things like American Bread rather than recording his own music makes me wonder is he is experiencing writer's block or other issues. I hope not, because I think he's a real talented guy.

Comment by Kurt Christensen on June 30, 2009 at 10:43am: I know America and Bread are very MOR, but they have some great songs.
I've been listening to Yacht Rock all day long, and while the stuff was very mellow, they are still good songs.