Album Notes

Steeped in the finest traditions of American music, The Beautiful Loser Society inhabits the space in time when Hank Sr. defined country music, and a young truck driver from Tupelo named Elvis was busy laying the foundations of rock 'n roll. While fully embracing these classic musical tenants, The Beautiful Loser Society brings a thoroughly modern perspective to their music.

It’s a long road from the swamps of the Mississippi Delta to the high desert plateau of Southwest Colorado, but it is rife with the characters and events that inform the songs of Chuck Barry and The Beautiful Loser Society. Snakes and haints and gators and all kinds of evil men lurk in murky rock ‘n roll shadows. The regrets of wasted years hang heavy in smoky barrooms and the age-old struggle between the darkness and the light plays out underneath neon signs where distorted guitars mingle with pedal steels.

The music that carries these songs is what gives them power and urgency and brings them to life. In the fall of '01, Barry and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Chelf formed a four-piece and began to spread their own unique version of the music that has given voice to the downtrodden, simple working men and women of this country. In the spring of ‘06 the Losers added a new rhythm section - Danny Bankston on drums and Mike McCluhan on bass – and set about recording their debut album, Aim Low.

A roots rock affair, Aim Low combines the grit and abandon of the Losers live sound with the spit and polish of the recording studio. Fiddle and pedal steel enhance the band’s straight-ahead four-piece sound on tunes such as the fateful waltz “Guilty As Sin” and the conflicted two-step “Talkin’ To The Devil”, while banjo and slide guitar accompany the listener on the spooky trip to hell that is “Swamp Thang”. Mixed and mastered in Austin by Dale X Allen and Cris Burns, Aim Low is a proud debut by The Beautiful Loser Society.

*****
“Aim Low” moves forward with both a bruising punkish swagger and a bruised country canter, traversing muddy swamps and soggy barroom haze, taking in moonshiners and outlaws and sinners, covering twanging rockabilly, gutsy cowpunk and bare faced country, all delivered with authenticity and conviction. The playing and writing are impeccable, the production tastefully treads the fine line between grit and polish, and it’s all delivered with such verve and passion that it’s impossible not to enjoy it. These Beautiful Losers may aim low, but their debut rises above the sum of its parts. - Alex Cleary www.americana-uk.com

The album rocks with tales of losers, loners, moonshiners and jilted lovers. All of these tales are cloaked with a certain Gothic charm. Call it Roots Goth, or Gothic Twang. Whatever description it is given the Society's music deserves to be heard. - Chip Frazier www.twangville.com

Barry may have some Hank Williams blood running through him somewhere - he’s that good - although he’d probably kill you with a pitchfork if you told him that... out of respect for Hank, of course. - Durango Herald

The Beautiful Losers sound is in the grip of some trialer trash wisdom, equal parts mud and sunshine, heartbreak and honeymoon. - Telluride Daily Planet

Whether it’s a rocking tribute to Elvis, a soulful remembrance of lost love, or a new take on a country classic, The Beautiful Losers know how to captivate an audience. - Four Corners Free Press

The Beautiful Losers have a knack for songs that may be new to you, but sound as though you’ve heard them somewhere else before. - Mountain Gazette

The Beautiful Losers are the best thing to hit Colorado since irrigation water.
- Hearsay Magazine