Album Notes

Real West is what happens when two friends born in 1970 are fed a diet of syndicated 60s pop culture and cold war paranoia before discovering cool jazz, Johnny Cash and a social conscience. Backward looking and forward thinking, Real West uses vocals, acoustic guitar and an upright bass as weapons to cut through the noise and distortion of American culture. A touch of Burt Bacharach is the spoonful of sugar that lets the medicine go down.

Real West formed in 2001, in the wake of post-9/11 government hysteria and corporate media groupthink, as a shared idea between friends Mark Graham (voice, guitar) and Brandon Kwiatek (bass) to write 21st Century murder ballads about torture, collective guilt and the "War On Terror™." Their sound is minimalist and rough-edged because, like countless folkies and punks before them, they reject polish and complexity in favor of authenticity and honesty. As for the meaning of the name "Real West," in the words of Beat poet Gregory Corso, "Like it means nothing, man."