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Country Music Tattle Tale Presents Charlie Overbey

Charlie Overbey may be a lifelong Californian, but his songs are steeped in the timeless traditions of the American South. After years of touring the world supporting acts ranging from David Allan Coe and Blackberry Smoke to Social Distortion and Motorhead, Overbey slowly amassed a collection of introspective original songs that transcend the endless rock & roll party, taking a stark, undeniably honest look at some of life’s most gritty moments. The result is Charlie Overbey’s new LP, Broken Arrow, which comes out April 20.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Overbey was exposed to country music early and often. It wasn’t something he sought out on his own—his father owned a 1947 Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, and almost every time it was played, out spilled a Johnny Cash song. Overbey recalls these times fondly and admits they shaped his musical growth, though it took years of punk-rock rebellion before he’d come to appreciate the genre’s influence on him.

Overbey’s first success in the music industry came when his cowpunk outfit Custom Made Scare landed a deal with Side One Dummy Records in 1998. But before the band’s debut album dropped, Overbey went on the run from the law for months, finally turning himself in and spending a year in prison. The very same week he was released, the band hit the road immediately, and toured heavily into the new millennium alongside seminal punk acts such as Suicidal Tendencies, Social Distortion, Agent Orange, Zeke and REO Speedealer.

by Baby Robot Media

Cowboys and Indians Premieres Great Peacock’s “Heartbreak Comin’ Down”

Rising Americana folk group Great Peacock gives C&I readers a sneak preview of their latest single, “Heartbreak Comin’ Down,” off of their latest LP, Gran Pavo Real.

Hailing from Music City, Great Peacock comprises lead singer and guitarist Andrew Nelson, guitarist Blount Floyd, drummer Nick Recio, and bassist Frank Keith IV. Together they turn conventional Americana on its head and challenge the very notion of the genre.

“Heartbreak Comin’ Down,” off of their upcoming Gran Pavo Real, is proof of their tasteful line-blurring.

The song tackles the insecurities and potential loss of new relationships. Rooted in gospel, the foot-tapping track is charged with organs, piano, and electric guitars, creating a sound that also blends in rock ’n’ roll and folk.

Nelson says the song always makes him want to move.

“[It]may be my favorite song on the album,” he says. “I originally wrote it with more information of an electric guitar riff type sound in my head. But our producer, Dex Green, and the other guys in the band encouraged trying it as a more acoustic type recording. Laying back on the electric guitars and letting Ralph get at it on the piano and organ really opened the recording up to a more universal type sound.

“I like that it’s kinda country and kinda R&B. The idea for writing it came to me in seconds while just goofing around on the guitar. I tend to think the best ones are the simplest and fastest to write. [This song’s] just saying, ‘Don’t use me. Don’t break my heart!’ Who can’t relate to that?”

by Baby Robot Media

Interview: Noah Lamberth of Sir Canyon on the Mystique of Los Angeles and the Brand New Album “Ventura Skies”

Americana Highways pulled over out in California to chat with Sir Canyon’s Noah Lamberth, filmmaker and occasional pedal steel player for Katy Perry, about his upcoming release, Ventura Skies, produced by Andy Davis and due to be released March 2^nd.

When asked about the project, Lambert responded, “Ventura Skies is all about connotations of the west. Whether we consider it as a cultural state of mind, or as a physical state, it’s wide open and cinematic. This album is an attempt to echo everything I love about the west: mariachi trumpets, pedal steel guitar, baritone reverb guitars, lush background vocals, it’s upbeat and vibey! I’m hoping the listener is actively seeing and experiencing being in the west.”

When urged to tell us about his favorite song on the album, he said, “It would have to be “Angeleno Daydream.” The lyrics: “so hold me close, darling, or set me free” are really about Los Angeles. People have talked about Los Angeles as a mythological place for years but until one has spent time living there it’s hard to get a sense of how “dreamy” the place really is. It’s like living in a bubble where the most beautiful, talented, creative and wealthy people in the world all descend to strike it rich in some profession. Some never want to leave and others can’t get out fast enough but it keeps luring people again, hoping for fame, fortune or a sense of identity. Los Angeles can be a dream, both good and bad, and that’s what this song is about.”

“I used to live on a street called Angeleno in L.A.; it was up on a hill and I could look out on where I used to live across the valley. The view felt like a dream with all the memories in that scene. We wrote the song at that house on Angeleno. The song was also musically inspired by Neil Young. I wanted to write a Neil Young-esque song with those big wide open baritone guitars and some melodic pedal steel guitar, like the beginning of a Western movie.”

by Baby Robot Media

SONG PREMIERE: LESLIE TOM ECHOES COUNTRY’S GOLDEN ERA VIA HANK INFLUENCED “AUDREY’S SONG”

Leslie Tom’s Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams is not your typical tribute record. It’s a 10-track reflection of Leslie’s own journey in life, thoughtfully—and often playfully—intertwined with Hank Williams-inspired tales of addiction, love, heartache and loss. “A part of all of us died, too, the day he passed away,” she croons on “Mr. Williams,” spotlighting the legend’s lasting emotional and musical impact.

Leading with her irresistible vocals and proclivity for grounded storytelling, Leslie has worked extensively with some of country music’s finest players, from honky-tonk piano veteran and Country Music Hall of Famer Hargus “Pig” Robbins (Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Sturgill Simpson) and pedal-steel genius Lloyd Green (George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Charley Pride) to Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson. Leslie has also had the honor of sharing stages with Lee Roy Parnell, Gene Watson and Kevin Fowler, and played the 2017 ZiegenBock Music Festival alongside such acts as Aaron Lewis, Josh Abbott Band, Blackberry Smoke, Whiskey Myers and Jamestown Revival.

On Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams—recorded at Nashville’s Cinderella Sound Studios and produced by John Macy (Los Lobos, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)—Leslie once again enlists Lloyd Green on steel and is joined by a long list of talented musicians, including Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters (dobro on the somber “Angel of Death”), Walter Hartman (drums), Joe Reed (bass), Eugene Moles (guitar), Todd Moore (drums), Lindsey Brown (bass), Ben Waligoske (acoustic guitar) and Matt Weesner (wurlitzer). Alabama singer and songwriter Larry Nix can be heard throughout the record singing in perfect harmony with Leslie.

by Baby Robot Media

California Sounds: Thundercat gets chopped and screwed, Quitapenas honors migrant workers and Charlie Overbey celebrates Eddie Spaghetti

Charlie Overbey, “The Ballad of Eddie Spaghetti” (self-released). Lifelong Angeleno Overbey named his last record “California Kid,” so he’s not concerned with hiding his western roots. An artist who has sweated the L.A. country rock and punk scenes for two decades, he’s maneuvered through bands including Big Bang Babies and Custom Made Scare — and a stint in prison — while working behind the scenes as a booking agent.

His forthcoming album, “Broken Arrow,” will arrive in April, and he’s been teasing it with a few prerelease songs. “The Ballad of Eddie Spaghetti” is about the singer and guitarist for the twang-punk band the Supersuckers, who was diagnosed with throat cancer a few years ago.

Written as a kind of last will and testament, Overbey inhabits his friend’s psyche to celebrate his life with thrilling glee. “If I die at 47, if I die before my time / Would they drag me up to heaven or drive me off to hell in my prime?” (The good news is that Spaghetti was declared cancer-free eight months after being diagnosed.)

Another forthcoming song, “Echo Park,” rolls with rock ‘n’ roll momentum suggestive of the E Street Band, if Bruce Springsteen were singing about lost love not in Asbury but Echo Park.

by Baby Robot Media

Elijah Ocean Penned This Folky Hit in a Las Vegas Hotel Room

“Down This Road“ by Elijah Ocean is a hooky classic-rock/singer-songwriter style ballad about the journey of life and traveling. This song took Elijah years to write as he took many breaks when penning it. He finished the song is a Las Vegas Hotel room in November of 2017. The production of the guitars and the vocal delivery is reminiscent of Tom Petty’s “I Wont Back Down“ and the classic song “Free Fallin’” as well as other classic rock hits. It blends right in to the classic songs released in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The song is refreshing as you can tell all the instrumentation are live instruments. Elijah Ocean puts back the emotion in modern music with this track.

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