Album Notes

The Linemen draw on many influences to create an Americana country sound swirling with high lonesome vocals, lush pedal steel, twangy guitars, melodic bass lines, and inventive drumming. Not content to recreate the classic sounds, The Linemen mix up influences ranging from Lefty Frizzell to The Beatles to Gram Parsons to The Jayhawks to create a hook filled concoction that sounds both retro and modern.

The band is led by the acoustic guitar and excellent high tenor singing of Kevin Butterfield. The sound is filled out by the pedal steel and guitar of Scott Swartz, and the grove is laid down with the melodic bass of Greg Lamb and the rock solid drumming of John Baldus.

Through Side One is already receiving excellent reviews....

Riverfront Times
by Roy Kasten
2/21/07

With the self-released album Through Side One, the Linemen have raised the bar for the St. Louis country scene — and they've done so without sinking into predictable punk attitude, all-too-familiar rockabilly fashions or the winking, hiccupping twang-core that plays well in south-city dives but is as far from the emotional core of country as the Wichita lineman is from home. Butterfield's warm, supple tenor — with a fine high register, like a young Don Gibson or a less-uptight George Strait — caresses original songs of regret, towns that barely exist, losses without second chances and the comforting smell of smoke and whiskey. Guitarist Scott Swartz finds some echoes of the Flying Burrito Brothers with a few fuzz-tone runs but mostly lets his pedal-steel shine around the melodies. Drummer John Baldus (also of Waterloo and the Dirty South) and bassist Greg Lamb (also of Magnolia Summer) lay back and let the songs unfold with a steady throb of sweet, sweet pain.


Other recent press for the band includes a Riverfront Times Best of 2006 award for Best Traditional Country Band

"When it comes to distinguishing traditional from alternative country, it's the singer, not the song. Kevin Butterfield is a traditional country singer, but not because he's a stuffy purist or because he's mimicking the classic honky-tonkers he has devoured like bagsful of boiled peanuts. Lefty Frizzell, Faron Young and pre-jazz Ray Price echo through Butterfield's tenor, but he approaches every melody with personal understatement and tender grace."