Review: Bill Copeland Music News

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Creamery Station offer splendid sophomore roots album Walk With Me
By Bill Copeland on August 11, 2020
Original post:
http://www.billcopelandmusicnews.com/2020/08/creamery-station-offer-splendid-sophomore-roots-album-walk-with-me/

Sounding like they grew up listening to The Band, Bob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris, Connecticut band Creamy Station offer original songs that come from a good place, have a great natural, rootsie sound, and are very accessible to most music fans. New sophomore album Walk With Me is loaded with tracks just teeming with these endearing qualities, and it is one of the those CDs that you just have to keep playing over and over and over again.

Opening cut “Pistol By My Side” freely borrows idioms from western film scores, jittery harmonica, a trotting grove, a bar hall piano line, and friendly harmony vocals. This one is just a dandy of juicy cowboy melodies and it feels like it could have been a party song at the old saloon.

A lilting harmonica melody leads “Jimszamar” along a merry path. Eventually, a lead guitar takes on the role of providing a wide, all encompassing melodic line. Mellow, flowing vocals follow the easeful path of the music and this one just rolls on like a big bus full of friendly folks traveling through a hilly land.

“I’d Be Pleased” is a mesh of roots music instrumentation. Easeful vocals over a wide, rangy pedal steel guitar makes this one a winner. It’s as large in spirit as the pedal steel line that ranges out and pulls back in everything within this tune. An out-on-the-range harmonica line, too, gives off a wide, rangy feel, a sense of largeness that this band creates. An old fashioned accordion melody comes in too, and that adds more good old days magic to this number.

A mid-tempo shuffle “Without The Bad” is stuffed with perky lead guitar, bubbling keys, and a chirpy vocal ambles along an amicable path. Injecting a brief drum solo and keyboard interlude shows that these cowboys can and will get a bit funky. There are another knobby notes around a lonesome harmonica line to show how far cowboys are willing to go with their music when they feel a need to boogie.

A bouncy tune titled “Fernwood” shuffles along in this wedge of perky country guitar, accordion, and shuffle groove call and response vocals make this a party sing along, and it’s hard to imagine the audience not getting pulled into it a Creamy Station live show.

“Heaven Looks Down” builds a wall of country, roots sound over a down tempo groove. Swaggering friendly vocals, large and majestic, like a cattle ranch owner barker instructions to cow pokes from atop a wooden fence, inform the listener there is a connection with the almighty going on. A high pitched lead guitar line whips out over all of the groove, keys, and everything beneath and it feels as free as a lasso This one just gets mightier as it goes along and before the listener knows it, he’s listening to heavy epic song.

One cannot help but get drawn into the pedal steel guitar lines that jump out at you on “Wake Again.” A Jack Daniels smooth lead vocal goes toe to toe with a feisty lead guitar line, each carving their own mark in this territory. This is like a western outlaw version of “Another One Bites The Dust.” It’s funky, with plenty of notes from roots instruments sliding in and out of the open spaces in the groove.

“Those Days” swaggers in with a bulbous, rootsie groove. Meanwhile, stringy lead guitar notes spike across the range. Once that platform is established, the lead vocal considerately rides along the purty soundscape, a voice that reaches out in tender warmth and encircles all of the special country-ish idioms around it. Much of the credit goes to bass player Alex Wu for keeping the walk way clear and smooth for the pretty melodic instruments to travel on and for a gritty harmonica to get feisty over

Extended instrumental jam “Killian’s Dream” offers several tasty nuggets from each instrument; piping organ notes, feisty lead guitar phrasing, sly fiddling, and a whole lot more. This must be the band’s live intro piece at their shows. It can set up high expectations that the rest of the songs meet. It also sets the vibe for next song,, “ One With Zero,” tune with similar tones in instrumentation. A plaintive lead vocal, competing with a rusty harmonica line, carries the energy that the rest of the players follow. If the earnestness in the singer’s timbre isn’t enough, the band completes it by rustling up some tender lead guitar lines and a soulful scatter of organ notes.

“Dan The Outlaw” is a fine character driven story song. Sweet, lilting harmonica notes draw one into the landscape before a chirpy vocal and an old west piano melody kick the horse to move this carriage faster A galloping pace keep things shuffling, giving a pedal steel something to skip to arrive at a melodic joy. A visualization is easy to come by with the imagery given here, and it all adds up to one fun, rollicking joy ride.

Close out track “Show You The Way” comes wafting in with a breezy fiddle line backed by a smooth low end. A lead vocal remains low key, only allowing its emotive content out one quiet, slow verse at a time. It has a nice Celtic feel in some areas. Just when one expects the piece to turn into an exiting jig, it widens instead into a whistling lead guitar driven mid-tempo rocker. A harmonica line washes through, and this all becomes a large, magnificent song with a lot of moving parts.

Creamery Station will definitely go ever further than they already have. A few opening gigs for national acts at major city venue might be all this band needs to be on Wal-Mart shelves across the country. Their wholesome sound, earnest vocals, purty country melodies, and perfect song craft will carry them far. Produced by the inestimable Vic Steffens along with Creamery Station keyboardist Jon Truelson at Horizon Music Group in West Haven, the CD rustles up a clear tone for every instrument at every moment. Potential news fans should be advised to have a lot of time to listen to this album as it invites further listens.

www.creamerystation.com

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3 days ago

Creamery Station
UP NEXT! Come catch us kick off our “Second Sundays” monthly residency at The Met in Pawtucket, RI next Sunday, October 8th.This is a FREE early show with the music starting at 4:20pm and we have our good friends The Arctic Tortugas keeping the jams going between our sets, so you know it’s gonna be a show you won’t want to miss!!RSVP Here:Creamery Station FREE at The Met! W/ The Arctic Tortugas ... See MoreSee Less
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  • Another song from October 14 at the I81 Northbound Virginia welcome center.

  • Ran into four of the guys on October 14th at the I81 North Virginia Welcome Center just inside the Virginia state line coming from Tennessee. The welcome center / rest area has an area setup with guitars for travelers to stop and play a while and that’s where I had the pleasure of meeting them and listening for a while. Nice break from driving. Oh and thanks guys for the CD! Love it!!

  • Tonight we went into Horizon Music Group Studios to talk to the man himself, Vic Steffens, and get the process started. We will be taking it slow on shows for the next few months as we put together a full blown studio CD this winter and we couldn’t be happier to be doing it with Vic! We will still have a few shows here and there, so don’t miss out on the cream train when it comes rollin’ into your town: 11/8 - Bishop's Lounge in NoHo, MA (10pm start) 11/15 - The Eleven in Naugatuck, CT (9:30pm start) 11/17 - Beau's Bar in Greenlawn, NY (EARLY SUNDAY SHOW: 4-8pm) 11/27 - Worcester Palladium for Wormtown Thanksgiving in Woostah, MA supporting our brother Zach Deputy! (8pm Creamery opening set) 11/30 - The State House in New Haven, CT w/ John Spignesi Band and Friends Of A Feather (Music starts at 8pm) 12/6 - Arch Street Tavern in Hartford, CT w/ Joon (Music starts at 10pm) 12/20 - Harlow's Pub in Peterborough, NH (9:30 start) See y’all out there on the road! And keep an eye out for our new CD. We plan to release a few songs along the way to let you hear some of the magic that is unfolding! ???

  • That stage one live lp is fire! Good to see you guys as always.

  • Love ya Vinnie! Remembering you (and all of our fallen brothers and sisters) today as we hit the road heading south. Don’t forget to look out for one another y’all! ❤

  • Dayum, that was a weekend for the record books!!! We needed a few days of recovery before posting this. Friday night saw Creamery Station roll into Hebron, CT for an appearance at the "sold out" Just Joshin' Music Festival ...whatta fun and creamulicious good time as hundreds joined us and many other talented bands for one helluva raging hoot and good time...this has got be one of the most fun Fall music festivals in Connecticut, and the most comfy digs you can ask for in a music fest; rain, early snow, chilly temps; no problemo, the stage and some of the rooms are indoors at the super nice, yet rustic Camp Hemlocks facility...we love throwing it down here!!! A very special shout out to festival organizer, Andy Mooney , for putting together one of the best parties in the state, and while we're handing out kudos, howz about Cody Urban (guitar)and Isaac Young (sax) for sitting in with us and helping us pack the dance floor for a rip snorting cover of the Billy Preston classic, “Will It Go 'Round In Circles"...some blazing playing by Cody and Isaac on that tune that had the entire Just Joshin' crowd shakin' booty!!!!!!!!!!!! Late night shenagins followed with a variety of late night acoustic jams... All in all, yet another off the charts Just Joshin' Festival for the record books...we look forward to returning to Camp Hemlocks hopefully again in 2020... Stay tuned!!! Saturday afternoon, the Cream bus rolled into "the Valley" for an appearance at the Smoke In The Valley Festival at BAD SONS Beer Co. in Derby, CT!!! A mind blowing variety of micro brews from around the state, along with yummy barbeque and food trucks, and gorgeous Fall weather drew a big crowd to "the Valley" for a fun Saturday afternoon shindig! Following a kick ass opening set by roots rockers, Fingersleeve, Creamery Station took the stage, performing for a crowd of over a thousand beer swilling, but good natured folks, what an appreciative audience... Dayum, whatta off the hook gig... So great to see many of our Station Nation citizens in attendance, along with so many new friends and fans we met that day... Yup, that was a mighty fun show!!!!!!!!!! Great to see live music return to the Smoke In The Valley Festival again, and we hope this may become a regular, annual event for us! If that wasn't enough, a stripped down, (almost) acoustic version of Creamery Station, performing under the moniker of, "Creamery Kid And Friends", hit the stage Sunday afternoon at the Bethany Harvest Festival in Bethany, CT... We performed a set of bluegrassy acoustic versions of some of our Creamery Station songs and rootsy covers!!! Unfortunately rain moved in about 15 minutes into our set, but we enjoyed playing for several dozen hard core fans who danced on in the rain... Turned out to be a fun gig! We would like to thank those of you who soldiered on with us in the rain, we're very appreciative of your fortitude! The large, appreciative, and enthusiastic crowds we performed for this past weekend just shows us how incredibly fortunate we are to have so many devoted and loving fans...we can't thank you all enough!!!!!! We're just so appreciative of your support...we love our friends, fans, and fam...thank you to our Station Nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ???

  • TODAY we head to this year’s Smoke In The Valley event at BAD SONS Beer Co. in Derby, CT. Fingersleeve just finished sound check and are about to kick off the event with some groovy tunes and then Creamery Station takes over from 2:30-4:15pm to close out the event. Get on down here!!

  • TONIGHT! We begin our double header weekend. ***Note: THESE WILL BE OUR ONLY SCHEDULED CONNECTICUT SHOWS OF OCTOBER!! *** Tonight (Friday 10/4): We play from 10-11pm at this year’s Just Joshin' Music Festival in Hebron, CT alongside a huuuuge list of our good friends bands. Like, fuck yeah. Tomorrow (Saturday 10/5): We head to BAD SONS Beer Co. in Derby, CT to play at this year’s Smoke In The Valley event alongside Fingersleeve and a long list of incredible beers on tap for the day!! Fingersleeve 12:30-2pm and Creamery Station 2:30-4:15pm See y’all out there!! ❤ ???

  • Happy Tuesday! Fortunately, I still have one of these swell Flintstonian devices in my office...

  • TOMORROW NIGHT! We head to the legendary Chance Theater in Poughkeepsie, NY to play a show with our good friends in Gratefully Yours. We hit at 8pm sharp followed by two sets of the dead, so come early and stay late for a full night of music! ❤ Art by Kenny Schneidman

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