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In 2005, Baltimore songwriter Adam Trice founded the graveyard
country rock band Red Sammy. The band name, a
reference to Flannery O’Connor’s story “A Good
Man is Hard to Find” (1955), is a perfect pairing for the
band’s dark and menacing style.
The band’s sophomore record is called Dog Hang Low.
Listeners will naturally relish Red Sammy’s signature rollercoaster
lyrics, sounds and emotions, but the group has added even more
layers this time around.
From electric-guitar, stomp-rock songs like “Lord Don’t
Break My Back” and “Songbird,” and quieter,
clean tones in “Cathedral” and “Postmark My
Apologies” to the eclectic use of instruments such as pedal
steel guitar, musical saw, harmonica, and haunting vocals, the
album demonstrates Red Sammy’s ability to mix beauty with
chaos, and soft reverberations with wrenching eruptions.
Not only has Red Sammy created a genre all its own—Graveyard
Country Rock, a unique sound, blending a wide range of musical
and literary influences—but the band has always played in
a wide variety of arrangements: sometimes as an acoustic duo in
smaller venues, or frequently in concert with a number of Baltimore’s
most accomplished musicians. They’ve even performed with
an aerial dance troupe.
But the driving force behind Red Sammy is singer/songwriter Adam
Trice. “I’m experimenting more, not only with the
music, but especially with the lyrics.” Trice said, “Dog
Hang Low has a lot more range and dynamic shifts, even within
individual songs. It can be quiet and intimate one moment, the
next, bold and rocking.
“Graveyard Country Rock is gritty, stark storytelling.
Part southwest rock, part Cash and Escovedo. Sparse, but accessible,
there’s a thread that runs through the music, from Hawthorne
and Poe (fitting, since we’re from Baltimore), to Faulkner
and Flannery O’Connor. You’ll find Chekhov and Neil
Young, along with an unmistakable Southern Gothic influence.
“The lyrics are about the daily struggles all of us face,
work—hard work—love and loss, the blessed and misfortunate.
In the end,” Trice added, “no matter who we are, we
all end up in the same place: the graveyard. It’s the collective
commonality none of us can escape.” |
DISCOGRAPHY
Dog Hang Low
BRL 0616 // CD // 2009
WEBSITE
www.redsammy.com
PRESS RESOURCES
See our Press page for hi-res photos,
press sheets, etc.
REVIEWS
Reviews for Dog Hang Low |
