Cory Branan Is Perhaps the Most Unheralded Man Holding a Guitar Today
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Cory Branan is perhaps the most unheralded man holding a guitar today... there’s no question that the guy can write the absolute hell out of a song. – Noisey/VICE This North Mississippi-born all-star is a stunning lyricist, ferocious guitar player and gravelly voiced singer, all characteristics that add up to an Americana “must see.” – Rolling Stone Included in the 10 New Artists You Need To Know: “Left-leaning roots music that owes more to the rhythmic whiplash of Memphis’ Sun Records than the poppy, pol- ished twang of Nashville’s Music Row.” – Rolling Stone Country CORY BRANAN ADIOS RELEASE DATE: APRIL 7, 2017 ADIOS is Cory Branan’s death record. Not the The blistering punk of “Another Nightmare cheeriest of openings, but like all of Branan’s in America” bops along daring listeners to mercurial work, it’s probably not what you “Look away, look away, move along, nothing think. As funny and defiant as it is touching to see here” (the song is written from the and sad, this self-dubbed “loser’s survival point of view of a racist killer cop). And as the kit” doesn’t spare its subjects or the listener. mourning singer on “Cold Blue Moonlight” shifts from paralysis to panic, the song’s Not even Branan’s deceased father is let jazzy drone shifts to an almost Sabbath off the hook. In the tender homage “The fury. The tonal shifts are always deliberate Vow” he drolly cites his father’s favorite and not just simple genre hopping; while banality “that’s what you get for thinking” the turns can be jarring you can trust as “probably not the best lesson for kids.” Branan to take you somewhere unexpected. For most songwriters that would be the punchline but Branan pushes through words The 14-song album was self-produced and and, in his father’s actions, finds a kind of recorded in the spring of 2016 at Tweed “genius in the effortless way he just ‘did’.” Studios in Oxford, MS with a tight three piece: Branan on lead vocals and guitar Not all the death on ADIOS is literal (both electric and acoustic); Robbie Crowell mortality. “Imogene” is sung from the (formerly of Deer Tick) on drums and wreckage of a love that once “poked fun at percussion, keys, and horns; and James the pain, stoked the sun in the rain” but ends “Haggs” Haggerty on bass. Additionally, with the urgent call to “act on the embers, Amanda Shires contributes on fiddle and ash won’t remember the way back to fire.” vocals, and Laura Jane Grace of Against The trademark lyrical agility is mirrored Me! and Dave Hause provide guest vocals. sonically. Never a genre loyalist, ADIOS finds Branan (much like his musically restless Cory Branan has four previous full-length heroes Elvis Costello and Tom Waits) coloring releases: The Hell You Say (2002, Madjack outside the lines in sometimes startling Records), 12 Songs (2006, Madjack), Mutt shades of fuzz and twang. While unafraid to (2012, Bloodshot Records), and The No- play it arrow-straight when called for (“The Hit Wonder (2014, Bloodshot). His music Vow,” “Equinox,” “Don’t Go”), ADIOS has received critical praise from the likes veers wildly from the Buddy Holly-esque of Rolling Stone and Rolling Stone Country, rave up “I Only Know” (sung with punk NPR All Things Considered, Noisey, Wall notables Laura Jane Grace and Dave Hause), Street Journal, Paste Magazine, Oxford through the swampy “Walls, MS” to the American, Consequence of Sound, Costello-like new wave of “Visiting Hours.” Southern Living, and many others. For press needs, contact: Josh Zanger at [email protected] Bloodshot Records 3039 W. Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL 60618 Ph: 773-604-5300 Fax: 773-604-5019 Web: www.bloodshotrecords.com .