Album Notes

Inside the head of Ron Keyes, is a little man forever spinning tunes.

Sometimes, he is moody.

Now and then, mellow.

And often ornery, contemplative and funky.

A hungover snapping turtle; a coffee house dreamer.

He feels no shame throwing the musical sucker punch.

He is the mystery that makes a.k.a. george.

From its acoustic origin, this trio has evolved into a collage of contradiction that in the end, makes perfect sense.

A pack of modern-day schizophrenic nomads wandering a landscape of blues, folk and rock, knowing exactly where they're headed and exactly who they are.

Based in New York's Saranac Lake, a.k.a. george is Keyes, Catherine Hechmer and Mary Lou Reid.

And their lastest effort, "Two-Tone Throwback", is a cleverly written, sometimes daring, work that can only be called "original."

Dark and brooding one minute, sunny the next, with harmonies like silk.

At times a blend of percussion carried on the back of a mandolin joyride.

All of it introduced by an angry, straight-ahead rocker that draws a parallel to any one of Warren Zevon's most enchanting bitter moments.

If this band were food, it would be a tossed salad of Timbuk 3, Bob Dylan, Ian Anderson, and the Cowboy Junkies, with Peter, Paul and Mary in Raybans playing the role of the Bacon Bits.

Yet, in the end, the taste is all its own.