by Rick J Bowen ~ No Depression

"Seattle based Gravel Road learned many lessons in their five year apprenticeship with T Model Ford, chief among them being to play to one’s strength and seek out fine collaborators. The quartets album El Scuerpo, released November of 2014 once again finds them mining the caverns of the emerging genre that mixes the raw energy of garage and punk rock, the simplicity of delta blues with a psychedelic seventies sonic known as Deep Blues. The nine tracks rest heavily on the shoulders of the stout rhythm section of Joe Johnson on bass and drummer Martin Reinsel who lay down dynamic entrancing grooves while the guitars push the envelope of compressed overdrive, mixed to perfection by audio genius Jack Endino at his Sound House studios in Seattle.

The opening track “Waiting For Nothing,” reveals slow burning tale of a lonesome man’s inner struggle. The groove gets swinging for the North Mississippi styled “Wolf On Down The Way,” and the heavy duty boogie “40 Miles.” The amazing Lisa Kekaula of the Bell Rays delivers a stirring performance as the first of two guest vocalist on the Junior Kimbrough gospel blues tune, “Lord Have Mercy.” Andrew Chapman leads the band through the sludge rock stomp fest “DD Amin,” and the eight minute epic “Asteroid,” testifies to the bands first love of doom rock pioneers Black Sabbath. The jaunty “Flesh And Bone,” plays upon the popular fixation with zombies with marvelous tongue in cheek flair, and may qualify as the groovy new theme song for The Walking Dead. "

http://nodepression.com/album-review/gravel-road-el-scuerpo

Here are a few but a few photos from this year's trip to Mississippi...

GravelRoad - photo by Peter Lee

GravelRoad - photo by Burl Bondsmann

GravelRoad - photo by unknown

Stud - photo by Burl Bondsmann

Lightnin' Malcom & Stud - photo by Burl Bondsmann

Scott H. Biram - photo by Burl Bondsmann

James Leg - photo by photo by Burl Bondsmann

James Leg with Rupert Orton (The Jim Jones Review)

photo by Burl Bondsmann

Knick Knack Records is proud to announce the release of GravelRoad’s fifth studio album on December 9th (advance copies available now) and we wanted you to be among the first to check it out. The album was engineered by Brian Nelson at Elliot Bay Recording Co and was mixed by Jack Endino at Soundhouse. Rick Fisher did the mastering at RFI. It features two guest vocalists, Andrew Chapman (Princess, The Keeper) on DD Amin, and Lisa Kekaula (The Bellrays, Lisa & The Lips) on the Junior Kimbrough song, Lord Have Mercy. The album art is by Kyler Martz.

This is GravelRoad’s best album yet.  They’ve taken the North Mississippi style of blues and pushed it into some really heavy territory where Black Sabbath might have been had they grown up in Holly Springs Mississippi instead of Birmingham.  You can help us spread the word by sharing the link below.

Streaming audio available here: https://soundcloud.com/knick-knack-records/sets/el-scuerpo

Upcoming shows:
October 16, 2014 – Logue’s Black Raven Emporium, Nashville TN 
October 17, 2014 – Deep Blues Festival @ New Roxy, Clarksdale MS
October 18, 2014 – Deep Blues Festival @ Juke Joint Chapel, Clarksdale MS
November 15, 2014 – El Scuerpo CD Release Party @ Conor Byrne, Seattle WA

http://gravelroadblues.com/

This year's Deep Blues Festival at Linday's Landing in Orting Washington once again tops expectations and delivers some of the best blues and roots music that you'll see on the west coast in a festival of this size.  It's community vibe and the fact that it's a free festival with free food is something that isn't sustainable, but for the time being is something that everyone in attendance can agree is a cut above just about any festival ever.  

The festival's organizers, Nick Lindsay, Chris Green and Jon-Thomas Butler are avid blues and roots music fans that have poured their hearts, souls and money into sharing the music that brings so much joy to them.  You'll see these guys at so many shows throughout the year supporting the scene and the bands that they most certainly earn the title of "super-fans".  But beyond being fans of the music they are helping to incubate and cultivate this wonderful music scene that is growing exponentially every year.

This year the festival presented GravelRoad with an incredible honor by naming the main stage after the band.  The "GravelRoad" stage was commemorated with a beautiful wood plaque that was artistically crafted by none other than Jon-Thomas Butler.

There were many great performances throughout the weekend from veteran acts and some new discoveries as well.  CW Ayon and Jaw Knee Vee gave some great solo performances, Rootjack kept the energy going in the hottest part of the afternoon, and The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit made a return appearance that everyone at the festival was talking about.  

Below are a few photos from the event, we'll post more as they become available. 

GravelRoad completed a very successful European tour that included Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany.

Here's a link to drummer Martin Reinsel's tour blog:

http://gravelroadblues.com/category/gravelroad-news/

Here are some links to the press received on the tour.  They are not in English so you will need to use Google Translate or something simliar.

http://www.fullmoonzine.cz/clanky/sterkovou-cestou-od-blues-k-punku-gravelroad

http://swiebodzice.info/2014/05/19/gravelroad-dali-czadu-w-dobromierzu-foto/

http://radiobiper.info/2014/05/12/vii-miedzynarodowy-biala-blues-festival-galeria/

Here's a link to them are playing to a packed house at the Highway 61 Club in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic on May 7, 2014

Video footage of GravelRoad at Bluesfest in Eutin, Germany on Sunday May 18, 2014.  

this video includes: Baby I Love You, Fireman, Death Bed Blues, Leave Her Alone

Guitar player Stefan Zillioux was born in Würzburg, Germany and spent some of his life living in Germany and was fortunately able to help communicate with the crowd on behalf of the rest of the band who knew very little of the language.

Photos from Bluesfest, Eutin - photos by Krzysztof Szafraniec

https://www.facebook.com/krzysztof.szafraniec/media_set?set=a.743382685684129.1073741830.100000372123991&type=1

As this tour wraps up, plans are already in the works for a fall tour of the Midwest into the South revolving around the Muddy Roots Festival near Nashville TN, where they will be performing on Labor Day weekend with Mudhoney, The Blasters, Bobby Bare, Left Lane Cruiser, Possessed by Paul James, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, ANTiSEEN, Hooten Hollers, among others.  

http://www.muddyrootsrecords.com/mr_events/mr_musicfest/lineup.php

GravelRoad's next show is Saturday May 31 at The Mix in Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood.  Catch them as they're still on fire from the tour along with Sweet Jesus and Michael Wohl (solo, Mystery Ship).

This week the lineup for the 2014 Deep Blues Festival Northwest (August 8-10, 2014) was announced and GravelRoad will be making their 3rd appearance.  

Full details on the festival and lineup can be found here: 

Deep Blues Festival Northwest

On January 10-12, 2014 GravelRoad began recording the follow up to their 2013 album The Bloody Scalp of Burt Merlin. Over the course of 2 days and 3 nights GravelRoad were able to lay down 5 new tracks, over 26 minutes of music with engineer Brian Nelson at Elliot Bay Recording Company.  Their sound continues to evolve as they explore even heavier sounds with more complex arrangements inspired by the current psychedelic/stoner rock movement while keeping one foot solidly in the north Mississippi blues that they so expertly command.  Below are some photos from the recording session.  The album is slated for release sometime in the summer of 2014 following their European tour.  

The Knick Knack Records crew gathered this past Satuday night at Knick Knack HQ in Seattle for a Holiday Kegger to celebrate the past year of new releases accomplishments, and to blow off some stream before the new year.  Proud Wonderful Me and GravelRoad both performed great sets for the gathering of family, friends, and crew.

here are a few photos from the event:

GravelRoad video and black and white photo by Jason Neuerburg

The Blues Rock Review gives GravelRoad's latest effort, 'The Bloody Scalp of Burt Merlin' 7.5 out of 10 stars

"The Bloody Scalp of Burt Merlin’s idea of mild-altering blues isn’t actually the main attraction, since it’s hiding under their heavy, driving, cranked-to-11 hard rock sounds."

click here for the full text