Album Notes

Over the course of two weeks, twenty groups from or connected to Nevada City, California crowded into the Brighton Sound Studio to record their songs live and direct into the microphone. Inspired by releases from such seminal record companies like Sun, Motown, Elektra, and Studio One, Grass Roots Record Co.’s Family Album is filled with songs you will want to hear many times over. They are lasting, infectious melodies— honest music in a world where truth telling is a great revolutionary act. What these artists have to say exhibits the kind of urgency that makes music both timeless and timely. Whether it’s the heavy-duty Hella riff or intensity of Made In, the pop gems of Golden Shoulders and Lee Bob Watson, the acoustic beauties of Alela Diane, Mariee Sioux, Alina Estelle Hardin, the Moore Brothers, or Jessica Henry, the classic melody of Benjamin Oak Goodman, or the modern hillbilly poetry of the Reckon Family; be it the unclassifiable rockers by Them Hills and Casual Fog, the innovative warmth of RF and Neal Morgan, or the dreamy reverb drenched Kings & Queens; from the Snegg Band’s jazz soaked slow-jam to the incendiary social truth in the words of Biff Rose, these are songs guaranteed to send a shiver down the spine. The Family Album is unlike any compilation you’ve heard. This is not a collection of tunes culled from across time and place. This is an album. Though the songs are diverse in style and voice, you will hear an uncanny continuity from track to track and from artist to artist. Each group on the album performed their songs live, together in the room, direct to tape. You can feel the energy between the players—the familiarity of these folks who, for almost two decades now, have lived, created, and performed together. And so, Grass Roots Record Co. is proud and honored to work with these artists to bring you their songs. Expect many more records to come from the talent here. In my experience these are the real deal artists, singers, poets, and rockers, playing for the right reasons—inspiration, art, communication, and FUN. Further, Grass Roots Record Co. is a real record company, committed to facilitating the creation of many years of important, historic music. But don’t take my word for it; the artists on the Family Album speak for themselves! Get your ears up in the music, and see the photos from the recording session on our website wwwGrassRootsRecordCo.com and at www.MySpace.com/GRRfamilyalbum. - Marc Snegg, Founder of Grass Roots Record Co.