All the young pups with hi-fidelity dog ears might be offended but I listen to a lot of music on my iPOD. Unfortunately I haven’t quite worked out how to strap a turntable to my bike rack or how to pedal at 33 1/3 RPM and sometimes I even end up listening in mono when an earbud falls out while I weave through heavy traffic. I do listen in true stereophonic sound when it is cold and the headband under my bike helmet jams the buds deeper into my brain. My daily bike commute gives me time to check out review discs that made it through a first and often unfairly brief listen. Sometimes I find a jewel.
Monday, I had loaded up the player with a dozen discs from unknown (to me) artists I had received through ReviewShine and headed to work. Halfway into my commute I heard a track kick off with sweet pedal steel that sounded so good I grabbed the player and read Emory Quinn See You At The Next Light “Tear Down The Walls”. I listened to the entire album at least twice during the course of the day. It sounded sort of familiar but I couldn’t quite but my finger on it. Tom Petty, The Byrds, The Band, Dylan? Yeah, some of that but maybe The Long Ryders, Chuck Prophet, and The Silos too? I’ve been listening to See You At The Next Light for the last few days to the chagrin of the eleven other as of now still unplayed artists buried in my iPOD “to review?” playlist.
So who is Emory Quinn? Nathan Emory Rigney and Clint Quinn Bracher along with Case Bell and Erik Frankson hail from San Antonio Texas and play some great twangy roots rock. Although I just discovered See You At The Next Light (TEG) it was released in late 2010 and it would have should have been on my year end list of favorite releases. Apologies to both Emory and Quinn. You can listen to Emory Quinn Radio and see if you agree.
I caught up with the guys for the following brief interview:
HB-I hear a lot of influences. Could you name a few?
Clint: A few influences that come to mind would be The Band, Robert Earl Keen, Neil Young, My Morning Jacket
Nate: All the members of our band share some influences like the ones Clint said, but also each of us have our own individual influences as well. I came from more of a Jam Band background and grew up playing classical music as well.
HB-What’s the weirdest gig(s) you’ve played?
Clint: We played for a stock show and rodeo in Eagle Pass, TX. They didn’t care much for our music but we ended the night fireside drinking scotch and overlooking the lights of Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Nate: We also opened for the Roots and Fall Out Boy for the final four one year. That was pretty interesting considering the extreme difference in type/style of music. The Roots blew all of us away.
HB-I lived in Texas and loved the music scene. Now that I’m not in Texas I get pissed off when I look at a tour schedule and all I see is Texas, Texas, Texas. I’d love to see you guys live sometime!
Nate: We have really been concentrating on playing as much outside of Texas as inside Texas. I think a lot of times Texas can been used as a safe haven because it is so huge and it is one of the only states that you can tour exclusively in and pretty much make a living. But our goal is to spread our music as far as we can make it go.
HB-Great originals but I was wondering if you do any covers?
Clint: We do a few. The ones in the mix right now are a folk/bluegrass version of “The Freshmen” by The Verve Pipe, “Arizona” by Kings of Leon, and “Whiskey in My Whiskey” by The Felice Brothers, which is also featured on our live album. We put our own twist on all the covers we do.
HB-Have you guys met Austin Collins, R.G. Stark or Rodney Parker?
Clint: We’ve met Parker in passing. Haven’t got a chance to hang out with any of those guys though.
HB-Why does so much great music come out of Texas?
Clint: Well you have a lot larger area to pull from, but I think a lot of it has to do wih the atmosphere and the attitude most people have around here. Also, the Texas musicians that were here before us have been great examples and have set the bar pretty high for those of us that follow.
HB-Thanks Clint and Nate. Great disc!
Edit: another very positive review on NoDepression I must have missed during the Holiday rush can be read here!
