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Rusted Root
Rusted Root will be releasing Stereo Rodeo, their first studio album since the band's 2002 release, Welcome To My Party on May 5, 2009. The album will be available digitally on March 13, 2009. "We named our record Stereo Rodeo after a song that I started writing back when we were recording our last studio record. It’s really just a great name,” says band founder and leader Michael Glabicki. “We were all just so into the music,” says vocalist, percussionist Liz Berlin about the recording process, “the synergy and excitement on this album is so fresh and energizing.” “It is one of the most powerful albums we have ever recorded,” agrees Patrick Norman, who holds it down with bass, vocals and yes -more percussion.
“[Stereo Rodeo] is filled with all the different styles you’ve come to expect from Rusted Root, definitely having all the elements you want. From the energetic dance euphoria that Dance in the Middle evokes to the powerful epic sound of Weary Bones” writes Evan Levy, (CBS Radio) of the long awaited eleven-song collection. “We are getting a lot of positive feedback from fans,” says Michael Glabicki, vocalist, guitarist, founding member and primary songwriter, “We are definitely heading in a lot of different directions with this new CD.”
“Dance in the Middle is one of those tracks that once we first started working on, we instantly knew we had something,” says Patrick Norman about the invigorating, energetic track that leads off the album. The title track, Stereo Rodeo brings a cinematic, wide-open and intimate style to the album that is captivating. Suspicious Minds, the one cover on the album made famous by Elvis Presley in 1969, is reworked with new and vitalizing Latin rhythms and has become a powerful favorite at the band’s incendiary live shows. Glabicki states that the political track on the album, Bad Son, “is about George Bush’s accomplishments, (as his fellow band members laugh) talking about his childhood insecurities that you can see were prevalent in how he ran the country.” Filling out the album, the last track Crucible Glow was an obvious conclusion, as it’s about change and the uncertainty of the future, adding horns and a heavy groove to the polyrhythmic flow of the album.
Songs, like Driving One & Driving Two “came about musically by hanging out playing on stage, just improvising, and a groove just fell together” relays Patrick Norman. Other tracks on the album such as Weary Bones, Animals Love Touch and Garbage Man are songs Glabicki has been playing solo over the past few years that have been restructured by the band. “What I like about our band is that I might write a song and have a certain idea for it but then we start playing and the group comes together. They often come up with different ways to express the emotions of the song,” says Glabicki.
News Pop music critic Jeff Miers writes “Rusted Root, which all but tore down the Tralf (Music Hall), knows how to take the singer/songwriter guy’s songs and pump them full of fire and life… These were strong lines with supporting chord progressions penned by Glabicki, and given abundant support by the team of percussionists Jason Miller (Liz Berlin) and Preach Freedom, guitarists Dirk Miller and Colter Harper, and bassist Patrick Norman…in essence, this was a dance party…the new songs, Stereo Rodeo and Weary Bones, were standouts… Crucible Glow (was) among the most visceral…Glabicki appears these days as an elder statesman of ‘world music’-based rock.”
Stereo Rodeo blends the diverse influences of each member to create an album that explores a variety of musical styles crossing and merging genres as usual. Original members Michael Glabicki (lead vocals, guitar), Liz Berlin (vocals, percussion), and Patrick Norman (vocals, bass, percussion) are joined on this album by Jason Miller (drums, percussion), Colter Harper (guitar), Preach Freedom (percussion) and Dirk Miller (guitar). “Labeling is dangerous and limiting,” said Glabicki. “We are a band made up of individual musicians who come together collectively to create music, call it what you want but we are simply creating music that has a message.” “That message has been resonating with fans for nearly 20 years” writes columnist Rick Coats.
Rusted Root has sold more than 3 million albums worldwide. Formed in Pittsburgh by singer/guitarist Glabicki in the early ‘90s, Rusted Root’s worldly style quickly charmed fans of roots music and world rock. After debuting in 1992 with the self released Cruel Sun, Rusted Root signed with Mercury Records and released the 1994 platinum selling breakthrough When I Woke, which featured the hit songs Send Me On My Way, Ecstasy and Martyr. Not long after, the band scored on tours with Toad the Wet Sprocket, Santana, The Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews Band, The Allman Brothers Band, HORDE Festival and, perhaps most notably, the highly coveted support role on the landmark Jimmy Page/Robert Plant reunion tour.
The hard-touring Rusted Root returned in 1996 with Remember, which was followed by 1998’s Rusted Root. After some time off the band re-emerged in 2002 with Welcome To My Party. After leaving Mercury/Island Def Jam Records, the band’s sixth album, Rusted Root Live was released in 2004, the second album on its Touchy Pegg label, following the re-release of the newly remastered Cruel Sun in 2003. Along the way, Rusted Root has also issued three EPs (Evil Ways, Live, and Airplane), a home video (Rusted Root Live) and miscellaneous film and TV soundtrack tracks (Twister, Mathilda, Home For the Holidays, Party of Five, Charmed, Homicide, Ice Age). Rusted Root will be touring throughout 2009, playing their new music as well as some of the faithful fans favorites.
