Jeremy James Meyer

BART BUDWIG Sometimes when Bart sings, I forget what we’re talking about. I’m sure he knows though. I trust him. He sounds like John Prine, plays like Hoyt Axton, and looks like well...Bart Budwig. He’s a cosmic country lawn gnome. He’s cherubic, cheery, and an old soul. Songs spring from the dreams of his noon day naps, and punch the keys of his typewriter above the OK Theater in Enterprise, Oregon. When words won’t take, he calls 'em in with a bugle of his trumpet, or a strum of soothing guitar. - American Standard Time ANDY DALE PETTY Nowadays only a few isolated cowboys in the pockets of the American landscape dare to challenge the rigid modern musical status quo. Some do, by blowin' on the glowin' embers of a culture whispering at Death's door : southern bluegrass and gospel, rural folk and old-time Appalachian music, country blues and the oft spoken "old weird America". Andy Dale Petty is certainly amongst these rare firekeepers - Hence a fine weirdo in a bunk timeframe. Born in the mid 80s in rural Georgia, raised & reared as an only child among fifty cousins in Huntsville, Alabama through the Nirvana, Bill Gates, Clinton & Bush years, and now having set down roots on some land near the town of Marshall, North Carolina (Pop. 800), Andy is a jack-of-all trades - an active witness and archivist of his homeland changings. Carrying the spiritual heritage of shouters, fingerpickers and troubadour peers like Hobart Smith, Dock Boggs and Abner Jay, as well as the influence of modern outsider musician figures like Daniel Johnston and Charlie McAlister, Andy established himself one foot in the tradition of the long-gone travelling medicine shows and greasy hoboes, the other in the wave of southern gothic literature heroes such as Harry Crews and William Faulkner. As were those writers and performers, Andy is first and foremost a storyteller. And as a storyteller he can't draw a dividing line between his life and his songs - the first embracing the latter and vice versa. Its hard to keep your boots on when your ankle deep in the mud. His chronicling of dreams, travels, strange encounters, roots and family background, interests diving into herbalism and obscure history and beat literature end up blended together in colorful lil' witchy poems bathed in southern folklore meant to be sung and whistled. And since his late teens years, Andy has travelled the byways and blue highways singing and whistling his tunes - accompanying himself only with the banjo or the guitar - in the most strange and out of the way bars, clubs, squats, basements, barns and streets of almost every States in America, Eastern & Western Europe, Turkey, Israel and Mexico. In a post-apocalyptic 21st century only 20 years old - in which neoliberalism, galloping social inequalities, political apathy, narcissism, technophilia, virtual gulags and a world pandemic has finally achieved to destroy our sense of the Land, our sense of priorities, our desire for rebellion as well as most of what was left of our collective mental health, Andy Dale Petty's ageless songs may very well be an antidote - it's secret ingredients are lying down somewhere at the bottom of a mysterious 1920s glass-embossed medicine bottle. JEREMY JAMES MEYER Alive & OK is the second full band album from Jeremy James Meyer. It was recorded live in Enterprise, Oregon at the historic OK Theater with Bart Budwig at the helm. Surrounded by some of the most audacious players in the west, Jeremy explores the universal elements of failure and regrowth using the full range of roots music styles, from folk and blues to country and rock. Jeremy James Meyer is an artificer of song. A songwriter’s songwriter. He crafts redemptive songs full of woody rock 'n' roll tones. Alive & OK comes out swingin like saloon doors on it's opener "Brick Wall Blues". The song features cosmic cowgirl Caitlin Jemma on vocals, and lively guitar and piano contributions from a full band. Right away you can hear Jeremy's peripatetic personality finding a home among his Northwest counterparts. The song typifies Meyer's positivity despite hardship, a trait that finds him welcome wherever he lands. “Cat On A Chain” finds Jeremy turning hard luck into opportunity to explore the American west, and continues the country rock streak with wailing electric. His experiences with hard work, the road, and the expansive natural vistas of the American west become his songs. "Rhinestoned Cowboy" is perhaps the best song he's ever written about his lifestyle. Forlorn mandolin mingles with acoustic guitar and piano, and organ drone as the song trots along and Jeremy sings “Let the wind toss your hair, quit your frettin’ there child / had your fun playin’ cowboy, now come home for a while”. His deep, penetrating voice has a wide range, and is especially captivating in his droning, lower register. Jeremy is mesmerizing on his folk songs like "Bon Voyage" a hot jazz influenced song of resilience, with stabbing piano and electric guitar prodding Jeremy’s winding verses. His duet with phantom baritone Matthew Neal Shulz on "Thought That You Could Tell" a must listen. "Woodshop Rock" --featuring Taco Tapes cohort Ben Walden making harmonica sound like a firestorm in a reed marsh-- is a country rocker in a reverb coil, blasting lessons learned from a lifetime as a craftsman that takes its cues from hillbilly music as much as it does Dave Bartholemew and Ike & Tina Turner arrangements. He spent the last decade drifting around, a tool belt troubadour, working carpentry by day, bringing folk music to the people at night. As with most well traveled songwriters it’s hard to tell where the road ends and Jeremy James Meyer begins. Meyer is also a prolific session musician, performing on albums for Bart Budwig, Goldish, and Andy Valentine, and playing bass in Caitlin Jemma’s live band The Goodness. On his eponymous album from 2018 one can hear the distinct influence of his then home New Orleans dancing it’s way into his songs. Horn sections and piano marched through the album like a second line. In 2020 he started the year releasing the deeply groovy EP Bobbie’s House (produced by Matt Costa) in California, and stood up the folk project Taco Tapes in Washington. As part of the not-so-traditional folk duo Taco Tapes he released the album "trad is rad" in 2020 to critical acclaim (TIDAL playlists, european press, nationwide radio airplay). All the while he had the rollicking Alive & OK under his hat. At record label headquarters original mixes of Alive & OK made it into constant rotation because of it's affirmative nature. His voice, lyrics, and acoustic melodies tangle into great gordian knots of human complexity that he undoes with a blow of harmonica, or an upbeat chorus. His work is inspired by the weird pockets of America he’s lived in, breezed through, or entertained. On songs like "Low Gap Swagger'' Jeremy's characters are working through complex personal feelings with a good feelin' full rock band --vibrato guitar, and gentle chorus of backing vocals. Jeremy isn't afraid to fly off the grid. He channels post-Beatles Paul McCartney / early Wings on "That's OK" --relying on ferro guitar melody, and polyrhythmic drums (and glorious backing vocals from Margo Cilker) to craft an incredible song that couldn't be further from country, but couldn't be closer to the mark we need to be hitting in personal discussions in 2021. Like our favorite songwriters (ahem, Jerry Jeff Walker) his songs seamlessly blend plain-language and poetic lyricism. They wander from personal truth to outlaw legends. He’s capable of cathartic protest songs, cosmic country canticles, and dive bar sing-a-longs. Whenever, and however your path crosses with Jeremy James Meyer’s (and it will) prepare for an enchanting, psychedelic trip through cosmic American music.