This week seems to be dominated by falling in love with bands by association. We stumbled upon Pepper Rabbit via Cotton Jones and that love will, no doubt, linger on for the life of that band. Today, a simple tweet (goddamn Twitter) via @PeterWolfCrier alerted us to the fact that they will soon be embarking on a tour with Dawes and The Romany Rye (after just returning from tour with Delta Spirit). A quick search revealed a million comparisons to Ryan Adams and the Cardinals and frankly, it was off-putting. Don’t mistake — we simply love Mr. Adams and his Cards but that love means that we have approximately 297 bootlegs of Cardinals shows already on the hard drive so we see no need in cluttering that further with a band that sounds alike. Ryan Adams is infamously famous for his insane output — if we don’t have the time to get through THAT catalog how would we ever have the time to cipher through the catalog of The Cardinals 2.0?
Typically, we wouldn’t. But we’re making time for The Romany Rye. Turns out that while the comparisons are surely based in small truths, The Romany Rye has its own unique yet familiar sound. Romany seems to be a brand of heavier folk to us, as opposed to just a Cardinals clone but upon even the first listen, it’s immediately obvious that this band has the power to go just as far as the Cards.
The guitars are more ambient at times and the vocals and lyrics are not as heartsung and serious as the typical Cardinals jam…but this is certainly not a gripe. The Cards tend to be hard for the casual listener to stomach for hours upon hours and while there is thick emotion in Romany’s songs, it is a more accessible brand.
Listen up below. Do it, if not for the music, for the literary reference. And toss those damn comparisons to Ryan out the window.
The Romany Rye :: Brothers (from Daytrotter) [MP3]
Listen to more of The Romany Rye’s spectacular, wonderful, insanely badass Daytrotter session here. Do it. Do it now.
And pick up Romany’s Highway 1: Looking Back, Carefully via iTunes.
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