Album Notes

The Radio Kings, fronted by Michael Dinallo and Brian Templeton, return with 11 new recordings that explore the spectrum of American Music on their first record in over ten years. The new record, simply titled “The Radio Kings”, includes seven new songs from the pens of Dinallo & Templeton: the Memphis influenced “Can’t Keep A Good Man Down” to the Dion meets California pop of “Donna” to the bluesier “The Moanin’ Blues and “Watch The Trains Roll By” plus “Everything Is Gonna Be All Light” a heavy, blues-funk workout, the industrial-jungle blues of “Evil Love”, and last but certainly not least “I’m Not Trippin’” an almost Orbison-like dreamy ballad. Also on the record are “Pallet On The Floor” and “You Got To Die” both re-workings of traditional tunes. The Magic Sam tune “She Belongs To Me” and O.V. Wright’s “You’re Gonna Make Me Cry” round out the record and these classic blues and soul tunes go back to the roots of the band’s earliest shows in 1991. In 1998, Dave Alvin wrote in the liner notes of the band’s Money Road record, “If I had my way, radio stations would play all types of music and there would be statues of Mississippi John Hurt, Little Walter and Big Joe Turner in every city park. But at least I can hope that enough people get a chance to hear the Radio Kings and their own voice in the American Music tradition. They deserve it. By the way, have I mentioned that those guys play their asses off?” With this new record, The Radio Kings have certainly established their voice in American Music and have begun to write the next chapter.