The Minus 5 shares “Blow in My Bag” featuring Debbi Peterson and Patterson Hood; Tour Dates Announced

The Minus 5 shares "Blow in My Bag" new track features Vocals from Debbi Peterson of The Bangles and Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers

 

Oar On, Penelope! Out May 30 on Yep Roc Records

 

Watch/Share: “Blow in My Bag” Official Video

 

More Tour Dates Announced 

 

Today, indie rock collective The Minus 5, lead by legendary musician and songwriter Scott McCaughey, shares “Blow in My Bag,” the second single and video from Oar On, Penelope! out May 30 on Yep Roc Records.

 

“Directed” by McCaughey, the instant video includes sneaky appearances of the featured album players Kurt Bloch, Peter Buck, Patterson Hood, Debbi Peterson, Linda Pitmon and Spencer Tweedy, as well as cameos from the Yep Roc Records artist roster past and present: Alejandro Escovedo, John Wesley Harding, Chuck Prophet and Steve Wynn.

 

Of the song, Scott McCaughey says: "I had an idea to do a Nancy Sinatra / Lee Hazlewood duet between me and Debbi, but of course, I only mention that because I typically don’t manage to get close enough to elicit comparisons. That being said, I’m not sure what the song is about, but Patterson’s vocals at the end convince me that he knows!"

 

The album's first single, "Words & Birds," “a power-pop gem” (American Songwriter), is a raucous ode to life, punctuated by cranky guitars and McCaughey’s unmistakable vocal delivery. 

 

Throughout the 12-song collection, McCaughey’s breadth of musical knowledge and appreciation is on full display from the addictive power pop of “Words & Birds” to the gnarly garage rock of “The Garden of Arden,” the Neil Young-influenced Americana of “Bison Queen,” and the bite-sized psychedelia of “Sharktooth.” “The songs feel immediate, relatively unadorned, and somewhat more positive in an indescribable way,” says McCaughey. “The words could be termed stream-of-consciousness, which is nothing new from this sector, but there seems to be a ray of light fighting its way through the usual twisted tales.”

 

Produced by Scott McCaughey and mixed by legendary engineer Ed Stasium (The Replacements, Ramones, Talking Heads), Oar On, Penelope! is The Minus 5’s first album of all-original material in five years and features help from some of his most trusted allies: Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), Debbi Peterson (The Bangles), Kurt Bloch (The Fastbacks), Linda Pitmon (Baseball Project, Filthy Friends), and Spencer Tweedy.

 

Over a four-decade career, indie rock cult hero Scott McCaughey has been a member of many bands, including R.E.M., Young Fresh Fellows, Baseball Project, Filthy Friends, and Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3, to name a few.  Still, The Minus 5 has remained one of the most enduring projects of his storied résumé. Suffering a near-fatal stroke in 2017, it was under the The Minus 5 name that McCaughey put out the recordings of Stroke Manor, featuring the original songs that detail his recovery through music therapy.

 

Formed in 1993 by Scott McCaughey, The Minus 5 is known for its collaborative ethos and ever-changing lineup, which has included some of the most celebrated names in music, from Jeff Tweedy and Wilco to The Decemberists, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie, Kelly Hogan, M. Ward, Chuck Prophet, Michael McCready of Pearl Jam, Alejandro Escovedo, and many more. The band embodies the communal spirit that has been a hallmark of the band since its inception.

 

The Minus 5 Tour Dates

May 9 -13 – Little Steven’s Underground Garage Cruise – Miami, FL

June 1 – Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA+

June 2 – Casbah – San Diego, CA+

June 3 – Zebulon – Los Angeles, CA+

June 4 – The Chapel – San Francisco, CA

June 6 – Mississippi Studios – Portland, OR

June 7 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA

June 8 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC

July 18 & 19 – Woodtick Fest – Darby, MT

September 10 – Intuition Ale Works – Jacksonville, FL*

September 11 – Saturn – Birmingham, AL*

September 12 – Terminal West – Atlanta, GA*

September 13 – 40 Watt Club – Athens, GA*

September 16 – Codfish Hollow – Maquoketa, IA*

September 17 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN*

September 18 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL*

September 19 – Bell’s Beer Garden – Kalamazoo, MI*

September 20 – Mr. Smalls Theatre – Millvale, PA*

September 21 – White Eagle Hall – Jersey City, NJ*

September 23 – Crystal Ballroom – Somerville, MA*

September 24 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA*

September 25 – The Hamilton – Washington, DC*

September 26 – The Broadberry – Richmond, VA*

September 27 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC*

 

+w/ Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill

*w/ The Baseball Project

 

From left: Peter Buck, Kurt Bloch, Linda Pitmon, Scott McCaughey, Debbi Peterson / photo credit: Mary Winzig 

 

 

Oar On, Penelope! Tracklisting

1. Words & Birds

2. Death the Bludgeoner

3. Let the Rope Hold, Cassie Lee

4. I Don’t Want to Hate Anyone

5. The Garden of Arden

6. Last Hotel

7. Bison Queen

8. Falling Like Jets

9. Burgundy Suit

10. Blow in My Bag

11. Sharktooth

12. What Shall Not Be Released 

 

Follow The Minus 5

Facebook | Instagram

Old 97's set to release new album 'American Primitive' on April 5

Check out the wonderful music video for the new Old 97's track "Where The Road Goes" and get details on the beloved band's forthcoming new album "American Primitive" set for release on April 5...Robert Kinsler 

Old 97’s Celebrate 30th Anniversary with 

New Album American Primitive 

Out April 5 via ATO Records

 

Official Video for New Single

 “Where The Road Goes” Out Now

 

West Coast Tour Kicks Off April 3

February 20, 2024: Thirty years after the release of their powerhouse debut Hitchhike to Rhome, alt-country pioneers Old 97’s are celebrating with the announcement of their lucky 13th studio album American Primitive that will be released on April 5 via ATO Records. Opening with the lyric “You’ve got to dance like the world is falling down around you, because it is,” American Primitive radiates with rambunctious joy even as Miller’s lyrics contend with complex questions of love and mental illness and the routinely daunting state of the world. Today, the three-decade-long lineup of singer and guitarist Rhett Miller, bassist Murry Hammond, guitarist Ken Bethea, and drummer Philip Peeples released the official video for first single “Where The Road Goes” which features Peter Buck on guitar.

 

Watch the official video for “Where The Road Goes.”

Pre-Order American Primitive.

 

“I was in Montana and found myself on the banks of the Blackfoot River, watching the water pounding with a ferocious power, and I started building this song as a statement of gratitude for having survived this long,” explains Miller. “It revisits some of the darkest moments of my life, including a suicide attempt at age 14 that by all rights I shouldn’t have lived through and yet somehow did. In a way it’s like a spiritual travelogue that rolls back through all the places that shaped me for better or worse, and ends up in this beautiful place that I felt so thankful to experience.”

 

Produced by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Neko Case) and featuring iconic guest musicians like Peter Buck of R.E.M. and Scott McCaughey of The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5, the album took shape in a series of deliberately whirlwind sessions at Flora Studio in Portland, Oregon. “This was the first record we’ve ever done with zero pre-production,” Miller points out. “It’s us working completely on instinct, leaning on 30 years of playing together to come up with something on the fly rather than overthinking any of our choices.”

 

The album’s title was lifted from a bit of fictional art criticism in Stephen King’s psych-horror novel Duma Key and experienced a full-circle moment when King himself tweeted the news about the album early. In choosing the cover art for American Primitive, Old 97’s selected a painting created by Hammond’s 17-year-old son Tex Hammond — a prodigious talent who, at age 14, became the youngest artist ever to exhibit at the prestigious LA Art Show. It’s a fitting choice for a band who’ve maintained a certain youthful exuberance more than three decades into their career, and for an album in which a palpable sense of wonder prevails despite its world-weary undercurrent. 

 

“Over the last year of touring in celebration of our 30th anniversary, it’s been impossible not to feel some emotion welling up at the idea that my bandmates and I have been in this close brotherhood for so long,” says Miller. “I think a lot of that longevity has to do with the fact that we’re really the same band we were back then. We’ve experimented with pushing in different directions, and we’ve had experiences outside the band where we’ve learned new things, but the way we approach this music has fundamentally remained the same. Our heart is still in the exact same place.”

 

Old 97’s will kick off a spring west coast tour in Santa Fe, NM on April 3 and make stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and more. Find a full list of tour dates below or visit their website.

 

Early Acclaim for Old 97’s American Primitive:

 

“If it’s the end of the world as we know it, this is the record we want to hear to push us on through to the next level.” - Rosanne Cash

 

“Little did you know, Jerry Lee Lewis and Leonard Cohen had a bunch of bastard children that were raised in a dumpster behind a bar in Amarillo and their names are the Old 97’s.” 

- Rainn Wilson

 

“This is all I'll be listening to until the next Old 97’s album.”

- Tig Notaro

 

American Primitive tracklist:

1) Falling Down

2) Somebody

3) American Primitive

4) Where The Road Goes

5) Honeypie

6) By The End Of The Night

7) Masterpiece

8) Incantation

9) Magic

10) Western Stars

11) Chased The Setting Sun

12) This World

13) Estuviera Cayendo

 

Tour Dates:

4/3 – Santa Fe, NM – Tumbleroot Brewery

4/4 – Tucson, AZ – Hotel Congress

4/5 – Pioneertown, CA – Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace

4/6 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre

4/7 – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up

4/8 – Morro Bay, CA – The Siren

4/9 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post

4/11 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore

4/12 – Bend, OR – Domino Room

4/13 – Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater

4/14 –Seattle, WA – The Showbox

4/16 – Missoula, MT – The Wilma

4/17 – Bozeman, MT – The ELM

4/18 – Billings, MT – Pub Station - Ballroom 

4/19 – Laramie, WY – Gryphon Theatre

4/20 – Englewood, CO – Gothic Theatre

4/21 – Jackson, WY – Jackson Hole Center for the Arts – Center Theater

 

Website – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter

 

Photo credit: Jason Quigley