Album Notes

The Official Reltone Biography

Brownbird Rudy Relic is a bluesman unlike any other, a straightedge Vegan Chicano purveying traditional acoustic blues music. A teenage punk rocker-cum-blues street busker, his songs were born in the bowels of punk rock house shows, Subway platforms and the streets of New York City.

Brownbird’s music is all passion - an amalgam of pre and post war blues influences with an emphasis on emotive minimalism, a style he calls “Holler Blues.”

His self produced recordings are warm and gritty, a sonic style dubbed as "anti-stereo" and comprised of a purely mono sound that is the product of 2 vintage Unidyne 55s and an archaic Ampex Reel to Reel deck.

In a manner uncommon among blues composers, Brownbird’s songs owe as much to the poetry of Plath and Neruda as they do to the pumping anomalous holler of Charley Patton or the Ragtime infused hokum of the Bluebird beat. They owe as much allegiance to the street corner serenades of long lost Doo Wop as they do to the grandiose drama of Mexican romantic ballads.

Brownbird has played such notable venues as the Knitting Factory and CBGBs, toured internationally, regionally and spends much of his time on the road, jumping from his home base of New York City to all points near and far.