Well i'm guessing the other thread ain't coming back so here goes again...
On Saturday March 29th,
WagonWheel Presents… returns to
Shakespeares with another fine triple bill of acts from home and abroad. Currently hard at work on their Faith & Fear In Philadelphia project we have local boys
The Payroll Union. From Austin, Texas via New York comes American singer/songwriter
Ash Gray, and following on from last year’s Tramlines performance we welcome back
Tommy R. Jones. Advance tickets priced at £4 are available from
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/262090 or entry on the night will be £5. Doors open 8pm.
***THE PAYROLL UNION***The Payroll Union are a four-piece Americana band with an obsession for American history. Inspired by country, rock ‘n’ roll and southern gothic, they formed in 2009 and have shared stages with artists such as Bellowhead and Johnny Dowd. They have played numerous festivals including Galtres, Off The Tracks, Music In The Gardens, Tramlines, Magpie’s Nest, Kendal Calling, Dragonfly and a headline slot at Sensoria 2012. After bringing out two EPs, they released their debut album, The Mule & The Elephant, in February 2013. With songs about conspiratorial Masons, persecuted Mormons and dueling politicians, the album’s narrative charts the rise of American democracy in the early 19th century. The band are currently working with the history department at the University of Sheffield on a collaborative music and history project (Faith & Fear In Philadelphia).
“
A spectacular success when it could very easily have failed, The Payroll Union have a great future ahead of them.”
Americana-UK.com“
For the uninitiated, The Payroll Union are hands-down one of the most exciting bands we’ve seen in ages”
Toast Magazinehttp://www.thepayrollunion.com/***ASH GRAY***At long last Texas songwriter Ash Gray finally gets around to releasing his debut solo album. The title Once I Got Burned is hopefully not a comment on his nigh-on twenty year career fronting The High-Class Family Butchers and Ash Gray & The Girls, or holding down the lead guitarist’s job in various rock bands in Austin and New York. But it does see a shift away from the gypsy punkgrass of the Butchers and the psych-pop of The Girls as Ash turns in an album of stone Texas country-rock.
Born in the US to parents form Yorkshire, Gray first began to make inroads into the UK music scene when he assembled the Anglo-American ‘punk-grass’ band, the High-Class Family Butchers during a late-90s sojourn in London. Achieving notoriety (and not-inconsiderable airplay) with their back-porch covers of pop classics and guerrilla-gigging, the Butchers have continued over the years with a flexible line-up including members of Menlo Park, The Ralfe Band and folk poster-boy Seth Lakeman’s band. For a time they even included Harper ‘Son of Paul’ Simon, oddly enough.
Relocating to New York with short-lived hard rock throwback band Cycle Sluts From Hell, Gray began shifting gears after realising that his female guitarist KG was a great harmony singer who blended perfectly with his backing vocalist Helen. He formed Ash Gray & The Girls in late 2008 as an acoustic trio, with him on vocals and guitar and these two singers. After some fine-tuning and the occasional personnel-change, the band launched the album Born In The Summer with a four-night stand at SXSW in Austin in 2012. Returning to the UK at the end of last year, Ash is currently residing in Sheffield, the land of his forefathers. The circle remains unbroken.
“
Consistently high quality and faultlessly performed.”
**** R2 magazine“
An excellent uplifting album that reaches back to the sounds of the summer of love but twists it enough deliver a set of tracks that are home in the present.”
Beat Surrenderhttp://www.facebook.com/ashgraymusic***TOMMY R. JONES***Singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tommy R. Jones plays a range of music from rock to funk to grunge to blues to country to folk either solo are as part of numerous bands he’s been involved with over the years. His solo offerings focus on the mellower end of that spectrum.
“
Mr Jones’ expertise in forging affecting, stripped back songs is plain to see and the passion by which these types of songs will live or die is also present”
Sandman Magazinehttp://www.facebook.com/tommyrjonesmusicFacebook Event page:
http://www.facebook.com/events/261082730718530Last.fm Event page:
http://www.last.fm/event/3809365