GALLERY

PRAISE FOR JUNE STAR

The Late Spring (2019) Whistlepig Records

June Star’s “The Late Spring” Will Stoke Your Fire For The Oncoming Winter—H.R. Gertner—Americana Highways

The Late Spring from June Star arrives in late fall to stoke our fires for the oncoming winter. Bristling with the heat of a barely contained fire, June Star’s confessional country rock invites us in to battle the blaze or find close comfort dancing to keep warm. Baltimore based June Star has been the primary musical outlet for Andrew Grimm since 1998. The Late Spring showcases June Star’s bar band chops over heartbroken laments.

Album opener, “Heaven Only Knows,” finds Grimm admitting to, “thinking of you when I shouldn’t be.” It’s an open road windows down thinking country rock tune that could slip into the midst of a Son Volt or Bottle Rockets set. “Waiting on You” expands the record’s sonic landscape with horns, piano, and a prominent pedal steel’s mournful wanderings. “Tired of waiting for wishes you wish,…there ain’t much here a fire won’t fix,” sings Grimm to introduce us to a “Long Low Simmering Kiss” – a plodding drive alongside a James McMurtry sing-talking baritone. “Used to You” introduces prominent female vocals by Katie Feild to the mix over a mellowed “We Will Rock You” drum beat, a thumping bass, and haunting pedal steel. “When the end comes we’ll clearly see what was want and what was need, I’m getting used to you, I’m getting used to you,” their voices intertwine.

“Boys in Trouble” introduces us to a sorry state of affairs, “burning up all the things that you love, is not the same thing as giving up, someday you’ll find yourself alone…the sad truth is right under your nose and from the bottle to your blood stream it goes.” Though the circumstances may seem unfortunate, “Boys in Trouble” is a beautiful ballad brimming with sincerity in the midst of a simple yet precise arrangement delicately delivered from seasoned players’ hands. Electric guitars return on “New Moon” as does a sense of renewal and optimism in the lyrics. “I Might Fall” builds on this energy as Grimm sings over a guitar driven groove twist on Tom Petty and Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell’s guitars in “Listen to Her Heart,” “I can’t remember where I slept, but I dreamt from you, you were telling me it’s all right, you know what to do.” The Late Spring closes with “Heaven Please” – a sweet dessert after the band’s main offering. 

June Star—The Late Spring—Valsam—Rootstime.be

'June Star' is an American roots rock group from Baltimore, Maryland on the American east coast. The founder, band leader, multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter is Andrew Grimm who has gathered the other group members Katie Feild (acoustic guitar and vocals), Ryan Finnerin (bass guitar), Kurt Celtknieks (drums) and Dave Hadley (pedal steel). to record his songs on record and play them live.

This formation was initiated by Andrew Grimm in 1998 and no less than sixteen albums were released in the following 22 years. “The Late Spring” is the most recent release that we would like to take a closer look at for you here. Ten new songs were recorded for this album and the music genre used by 'June Star' can best be defined as alt.country.

That Andrew Grimm is a fan of established artists such as Tom Waits, Tom Petty or Bob Dylan is shown several times when listening to the songs on “The Late Spring”. The song “Heaven Only Knows” can be heard on the video as an example, but this comparison becomes even clearer with subsequent tracks such as the ballads “Waiting On You”, the pedal steel dominated “Used To You” and the cleverly instrumented “Who's Wrong Now?”.

The harmonious vocal contribution of Katie Feild colors these songs into beautiful musical landscapes, just like the following songs “Boys In Trouble” and “New Moon”. With the songs “LLSK” and the rocking “I Might Fall”, however, we should rather think of Lou Reed and his friends from 'Velvet Underground'. The closing act of this album is formed by the melodic song “Heaven, Please” performed with guest musician-organist Brian Simms, sung in its entirety by Katie Feild. It is a beautiful song that certainly does not look out of place on this excellent new album by 'June Star'; a real must for all fans of the alt.country and Americana sound that we have all known from bands like 'Son Volt' or 'Drive-By Truckers'.

East on Green (2018) Self Released

Interview with Andrew Grimm of June Star—David Linantud—Society Fringe Podcast

Check it out! Friend of Society's Fringes Andrew Grimm stops by Possum Studios to shoot the shit with Bri and Davey. Basically the next June Star record is called EAST ON GREEN and it is rad as fuck. Believe it.

June Star’s “East On Green” Is Unmistakable Poetry, All Americana—Melissa Clarke—Americana Highways

June Star’s new release East on Green was produced by Andy Bopp, mixed by J. Robbins at Magpie Cage Recording Studio, and is the band’s 15th release. East on Green accomplishes the rare feat of combining contradictions. It’s a direct and emotionally uneasy, but somehow simultaneously comforting, contribution to the Americana music catalogue. Lyrically, the songs confront painful elements of the human experience, but the degree of distress is juxtaposed with reassuring guitar (and sometimes fiddle) tones, harmonious melodic styles and rhythms, while front man Andrew Grimm’s vocal qualities emote secure resignation. Grimm writes all the lyrics, which are unmistakable poetry, and his vocal register flirts with the minor key and at times achieves a more guttural, gritty growl. June Star includes Andy Bopp on electric 6 and 12 string, and organ too; with Katie Feild on acoustic guitar and vocals adding a thoughtful sincere quality, and a guest appearance by Greta Thomas on violin. Rhythm section Cody Harrod and Kurt Celtnieks hold down the Americana alt-country beat.  J. Robbins contributes too, and Katie Feild crafted the cover art.

Breaking with ordinary album format, the project draws the audience in to have a unified listening experience in a novel way; every alternate track is a small clip recorded from a police scanner, bridging in between traditional song tracks. The clips set the stage by displaying the baser side of humanity, with dispatcher reports such as “she’s having trouble with her husband, he locked her out of the house” stated in deadpan tones of resignation.

“Break” opens with a heartbreaking violin intro by Thomas, and more poignancy unfolds as Grimm sings “your luck’s been running out for some time, and as it closes the door, it’s looking you in the eye,” over plucked banjo. “Hang On” is an instant standout, and the album’s centerpiece, with its lines “hang on, you’re sinking fast, I’m nowhere near you now, hang on,” again showcases Grimm’s keen ability to tap into the painful aspects of human relationships while highlighting his refined guitar skills. “Spin” features Katie Feild in a vocal duet singing about “that same old spin” in a juxtaposition of pretty music, beautiful entwining vocals, and depressing outlooks. “Loneliest” similarly features Feild and Grimm: “Find someone who’s lonely too, go make her lonelier than you” where Feild’s vocals add a gracious dreamlike quality to Grimm’s gritty earthy ones. “Tomorrow,” “I know all your secrets girl, just as long as you let me in, I will never tell,” once more recreates the sense of genuine angst, the risks of relationship and simple honesty, while “Let’s Get Out,” showcases the licks and thoughtful guitar spaces June Star is known for.

You’d be hard pressed not to assume this band is a distant cousin of Son Volt’s, but with significantly more lyrical depth. Grimm clearly has a second calling as a poet.

Sleeping with the Lights On (2017) Self Released

June Star: Sleeping with the Lights On—Mike Davies—Folk Radio

June Star are named after a character in  Flannery O’Connor’s short story collection A Good Man Is Hard to Find. The Baltimore roots-rock crew, currently a trio consisting rust-voiced frontman Andrew Grimm, drummer Kurt Celtnicks and Andy Bopp on guitars and bass, have been knocking around together for a few years, during which time they’ve accrued ten albums.  For their eleventh, Sleeping with the Light On, they’ve opted to give a few of those tunes a new coat and sprinkle some new ones in between.

It’s a rework that gets the ball rolling with the steady midtempo driving rhythm of Telegraph,  the title track of their 2001 release. However, that and the moody desert noir ballad Faithless (from 1999’s Songs from an Engineer’s Daughter) with its steel guitar are probably the only old numbers likely to be familiar even for long time fans. One of the standouts here with its line about power chords is the urgent plangent guitar driven Cinnamon, which evokes thoughts of early Miracle Legion, featured on the 1998 debut, of which Grimm reckons there’s at most 75 copies in circulation. Even harder to find in their original form, the drawled weariness of  Sleeping With The Lights On and the steady chug ‘road and relationships’ number Smoke and Diesel both appeared on Grimm’s 2006 solo debut (even he doesn’t have a copy). His solo releases also account for the choppy blues riffing Neil Young-ish Engine  (2007’s Wolves) and the gutsy  Smoke (2009’s Almost Home), a psychedelic feel to its introduction before that steady driving drum beat and electric guitar storms set in. I have no idea what any of these sounded like in their original form, but they sound damn fine here.

The other five numbers are all new, first up being the guitars dominated growly rock of Hum and Buzz, a mood echoed later with Careless, another of several one-word titles, while You’re Still Here is a more strung out affair to capture its emotional collapse.  By way of something different, banjo lays the ground for the sparse hillbilly blues of My Sugar, the album closing in simple acoustic hymnal form with the gentle home on the range rhythm of Already Saved. 

Like I suspect will be the case for many, this is a welcome chance to catch up, a compelling vision of where they are now and where they’re heading.

June Star—Sleeping with the Lights On—Mike Morrison—Americanroots UK

One of my all time favourite albums was June Star's 2001 recording 'Telegraph' so it was with some trepidation that I put this new album on the c.d player. Why? Because they rework several of the bands 'oldies' including the title track from Telegraph, all balanced by some excellent new Andrew Grimm originals. I shouldn't have worried because although the bands covers of the oldies are different to the originals there is no drop in quality, not that I would really have expected it from these talented musicians that I have followed since the start of their career. They have been in my top ten favourite bands ever since their self titled debut '' way back in' 1999 and whilst they are usually described as 'country rock,' it is a description that whilst having a degree of accuracy also sells them short. There is an indie and alt. country vibe in much of what they do and even occasionally a little 'grunginess,' a combination that gives them a unique sound that can't really be mistaken for anyone else. Add Andrew Grimm's superb songwriting and his unique vocal style and there is little more that any discerning music fan could or should want
The lineup has seen many changes over the years with mainstay Andrew Grimm being the only constant. He handles lead vocals, electric, acoustic, baritone and lap steel guitars as well as banjo, harmonica and percussion, Andy Bopp plays electric, acoustic, baritone and bass guitars, percussion and backing vocals with Kurt Celtnieks on drums, percussion and backing vocals. J (James) Robbins played organ and co produced with Andrew Grimm and Andy Bopp and Ellen Cherry added her gorgeous harmonies to several of the songs.

The band's music, whoever was in the lineup, was always hugely influenced and mapped out by the voice and songs of Andrew Grimm, with some of their dozen or so albums veering more towards a rock direction albeit one that has an alt. country influence. Whilst there is often that 'country rock' label I've always felt that the 'grunginess' that is sometimes evident is what gives them the edgy rock feel, despite the fact that the country elements if not always heavily in evidence are never too far away.
This album gets underway with a tremendous version of the classic title track from 'Telegraph,' just as essential as the original, although perhaps changing some country elements for rock but still recognizably a great song. The intro is by way of Andrews vocal and acoustic guitar before the song takes off with bass, percussion and electric guitar, gradually building to a powerful crescendo. It is immediately followed by Sleeping with the lights on the title track of this album which gets underway with dynamic guitars, thudding bass and percussion, with Andrews vocal bringing a huge amount of character and emotion to the song as it builds to a grungy climax before returning to a more sedate power. Smoke and diesel has a nice easy rolling atmosphere and tempo with organ, chugging guitar and restrained bass and percussion allowing Andrews vocals more space, and with Ellen's gorgeous harmonies the song brings a completely new dimension to this varied recording. The song is performed at a sedate mid tempo and the melody is excellent as is the later intervention of the harmonica. A really slow melodic guitar starts Faithless with a haunting steel guitar and throbbing bass for company. It is a song that has a beautiful open sound, again with Ellen Cherry's feminine harmonies adding yet more depth to a composition that whilst lacking the 'grungy' guitars is no less powerful. It is actually a tale that has an edgy spookiness in its makeup, drawing the listener into its dense otherworldliness. My Sugar includes a banjo and percussion intro that is soon joined by Andrews's evocative vocal and some lovely haunting harmonies, with an occasional deep twangy guitar on a song that exhibits the more country/hillbilly side of the band albeit in a modern setting.

It's usually relatively easy to pick favourites from an artist's back catalogue but with perhaps the exception of the already mentioned 'Telegraph,' the June Star list is of such excellence that it is difficult to pick out others. Having said that, this tremendous new recording is at least as good as anything else they have done, perhaps even challenging Telegraph, and it pulls together the various loose styles and influences that they have adapted over the years, all recognizably culminating in June Star. This is a great band that has recorded yet another excellent album. Not too many you can say that about.

June Star: Sleeping With The Lights On (self released) Out now—Simon Redley—Music Republic Magazine

4/5 Stars

This Baltimore outfit make a wonderful noise. They say it is “alt. country”, but that’s not the full story by any means. The alt. bit may well be accurate; as in they are an alternative to a lot of the mediocre drivel that purports to be Americana these days.

The band cite the likes of Tom Waits, the Velvet Underground, the Church and Bob Dylan as influences, and they say they enjoy being “underdogs” and staying “under the radar”.

There’s definitely country flavours, but it is rootsy, gutsy, lots of attitude, guitars are King, but not overpowering, and the song writing really is top notch. Yeah, main man Andrew Grimm’s songwriting is quite something.

There’s a grungy rock vibe at its core, which sets this album and this band apart.  I’ll pick out the brilliant fourth track, “Cinnamon” to sum up what this record is getting at; think Nirvana meets Steve Earle and Todd Snider with Tom Petty over-seeing proceedings. Hank Williams’ ghost moving the furniture. They have this under-stated swagger, if that is not a contradiction in terms.

Formed in 1998 by Andrew Grimm, the sole original from the regular line-up changes throughout the band’s 19-year history, this is their 11th album. Here they revisit and revamp a few older tunes, five from the band’s previous albums, two from the front man’s solo record, along with five new Andrew Grimm originals. The opener “Telegraph”, is the title cut from their acclaimed 2011 release. A strong number to kick off with.

All dozen songs penned by Andrew Grimm, who sings lead, plays guitars, banjo, harmonica. Andy Bopp (great name) plays guitars, bass and sings backing vocals. Kurt Celtnieks hits the drums while singing backing vox. Ellen Cherry adds lovey harmony vocals.

The guitars sound gorgeous, cutting through like a bitch. Mad studio skills…. In fact, every instrument and the voices sit exactly where they should in the mix, and everything sounds almost like it would on a stage, live. It all has  real energy and excitement, nothing sterile or sanitised by a studio environment.

Producers take a bow; Andrew Grimm, Andy Bopp and J Robbins. Mixed and engineered by J Robbins aka James Robbins, who also played organ on the record. Mastered by Dan Coutant. They all played their part to make this album one of the best sounding pieces of work to hit my desk this year. Bravo.

Nothing here sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s all damn good. Slotting between Americana, roots and rock. A good example of forgetting labels and letting the music speak for itself. And it really does. Loudly.

Steve Earle’s grizzled vocal drawl and laid-back attitude springs to mind across a lot of this album – which is a very good thing.  Andrew Grimm sounds too cool for school as a singer, and this material fits him like a glove. But I say again; he is an exceptional songwriter. I am amazed that this man and this band are not filling stadiums and selling lorry loads of albums after 11 records. I really am. A real find….

Opening Act Interview with Andrew Grimm—Trunk Space

Influences: Lou Reed/Velvet Underground, Buck Owens, Miracle Legion, The Jam, Cowboy Junkies

TrunkSpace: How would you describe your music?
Grimm: It’s rock ‘n’ roll, I suppose. We started off doing a fairly straight alt country type of thing, but over the past eight years we’ve been drifting away from that sound. There’s still a country aspect to it, but I think I’ve been writing more rock songs. Then again, some of the songs on the new record sound like country. Maybe I should say that the music is authentic.

TrunkSpace: From an outside perspective, the Americana scene has grown leaps and bounds in recent years. Have you seen the same thing having been a part of the scene itself since first forming in 1998?
Grimm: Yeah, it’s funny to see that word “perspective.” In many, many, many ways the Americana scene or artists have really maintained their dignity or truth in purpose… some of it can get kind of hokey… but people like Steve Earle have really kept the quality up. Jason Isbell as well. And that’s where a bigger shift is about to happen in the mainstream with folks like Isbell and Sturgill Simpson cracking through all of the commercial junk.

As far as June Star… we’ve made some progress over the years, but it’s hard to get attention from folks. It’s harder and harder to get people out to shows. When I started writing the new bio for the SWTLO one-sheet, I started with the line, “June Star is a band that just keeps showing up.” So, from the perspective of attrition, we’re doing great!

TrunkSpace: As already stated, June Star has been writing and performing for nearly two decades. How has the band changed most in that time?
Grimm: Oh, the lineups change a lot. When the original members came and went I was kind of forced to figure out what I needed and what I wanted… since then it’s been a rotating cast. If a song is well written, it doesn’t matter if it’s two guitars, bass, and drums or one guy playing spoons.

TrunkSpace: Two decades of life is a lot of experience to play out in song. Has the subject matter of June Star songs changed since you wrote your first song to where you are now given that you yourselves have no doubt changed over time?
Grimm: As Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion said about songwriting, and I’m paraphrasing, “When I started writing songs I wanted to save the world. I found out pretty quickly that I couldn’t, so I decided to save myself and prove to others that it can be done.”

A lot of the early material from “Songs from an Engineer’s Daughter” (2000) and “Telegraph” (2001) was really playing off of Americana aesthetics… trains, swamps, weddings. They’re great songs, but they also tend to function as fiction and they are really disconnected from me. They weren’t my voice or a voice that sounded real, to me. That’s why, for the most part, we revisited some of those songs from previous records on our new one.

The goal in songwriting is to shape a voice to communicate an idea or an emotion, and the music is the delivery device. The music, of course, can be more than that… it adds colors, shadows, saturation…

My songwriting has really shifted to a kind of observational, everyman type of thing… or every human. Love and loss. Each song certainly has a piece of my experience.

Also, I’ve ruined a lot relationships, so I tend to write about that a lot.

TrunkSpace: What is the most universal theme that resonates most with listeners? Is it love? Is it loss? Is it something else entirely?
Grimm: Many times on stage I introduce every song, “This is a song about love.” Usually loss… weird, huh? I don’t think we all just commiserate over the loss, but it’s kind of nice to know that someone else has been there too.

TrunkSpace: You sell June Star sunglasses. Who is the mastermind behind that genius merch concept and have you booked more outdoor shows to inspire sales?
Grimm: The sunglasses are my idea. I spend a lot of time thinking about how to get people to listen to the records… more and more I hear, “CDs? I don’t even have a CD player anymore!” And I thought, “What would be a dual purpose item, cheaper than a t-shirt, that we can stick a download card on and people might buy?”

Cheap. Sunglasses.

We’re still paying those off.

TrunkSpace: Sticking with the merch idea, what is the best (and most outside-the-box) way to get your name and music out there in a day and age that is dominated by social media?
Grimm: You know, I have no idea.

The more I work on this stuff the more it seems that social media is one large swirling whirlpool of digital voices that are yelling at the same time. So, I’ve been reaching out to people in a more analog manner through a letter writing campaign. I have become so fatigued with social media that I tune out. The online world was a great place when we all got connected, but now with that “On Demand” ideology commanding everything, we’ve sort of morphed into a place where we say, “Yeah, I’ll listen or watch it later because I don’t have to right now.” And with live streaming and concert windows and all that stuff, it’s becoming easier to never go out or never look away from a screen. That concept or execution of experiencing music is unsatisfying and loses the point.

I’ve been working on a subscription service through Bandcamp. Junestar.bandcamp.com/subscribe will get you there. The deal is that someone subscribes and they get my entire back catalog… 14 – 15 records… and I write, record, and publish an exclusive song just for subscribers. I haven’t had huge success so far, but with anything, it will be a slow build.

TrunkSpace: Having been performing for nearly two decades, you must have quite a few stories to tell about your time in clubs and on stages. That being said, what is the craziest experience that comes to mind?
Grimm: One of the funnier things that happened was on a tour in 2004. We were playing a show at Nancy Raygun with Mike Roy and J Roddy Walston and Business (a few years before they got big), and J Roddy and Mike Roy accidentally locked their keys in their van. After some intense negotiations, we agreed that June Star should open the show and hopefully the Pop-n-Lock guys would get there soon.

Attendance was pretty sparse, it was a Tuesday I think, and to make things a little more hopeless it was raining torrentially.

About five songs in, this older woman, maybe borderline elderly, maybe elderly before her time… okay, let’s say that she had done a lot of living… she comes swaying up to the front, dragging so hard on a cigarette that the lit end seemed to burn more yellow than orange. She swirls around, making no eye contact and throws all this money at us and then lurches away.

We all look at each other and laugh, just having a good time. During the rest of the set, while playing, I started looking at the money on the stage, and I start counting it up in my head, and I start to get a little excited. I know the door is not going to make much money, and if we’re lucky, we’ll sell a CD; eventually, the set winds down, we pack up the gear, I gather the cash and count it. $100.

That pays for our gas to Alabama! Awesome. Jay Filippone, a guitarist with us at the time, and Tom Scanlan, who played mandolin with us up until the end of that year, they corner me and say, “Hey man, that woman doesn’t know what she’s doing… we should give the money back to her, it’s the right thing to do.”

I disagreed.

Both of them felt bad for her and said that they were at least going to thank her for the tip and offer her a CD. I shrugged, “Sure!”

So, they approach her at the bar and Tom says, “Excuse me, thank you so much for the tip. We really appreciate it.”

She turns to him, squints and yells with a burst of cigarette smoke and a voice that makes you clear your own throat, “FUCK YOUR ASS!”

There was this other time we were opening for John Doe of X and he forgot something on stage. We were sound checking and he came up to me and introduced himself. As I turned to say hello I couldn’t help but be completely stunned by his absolute luminous cerulean ice gray blue eyes. I think I introduced myself as Blue Eyes.

TrunkSpace: Looking beyond your accomplishments, what do you hope to still accomplish? What’s on your creative bucket list?
Grimm: Make another record, book another show.

June Star: Sleeping with the Lights On—Philip Verhaege—Keys and Chords

41/2 Stars

Singer-songwriter Andrew Grimm is the brainchild of the band June Star. He has already put together twelve delicious gems for the album 'Sleeping With The Lights On'.

And they are of course full of beautiful electrified blues and Americana rock songs. In 2001 Andrew was already successful with the album 'Telegraph'. The title track that he has reworked for this occasion and may serve as the opening song here. His 1999 debut album 'Way Back In' was labeled country rock. But there's more. Quite a bit more! On his newest member 'Sleeping With The Lights On' you hear a lot of instrumentation that goes perfectly with his rough vocal timbre. In addition to Grimm's lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, Andy Bopp (bass guitar and guitars) and drummer Kurt Celtnieks are the backing. So the album opens with a reworked and acoustic version of 'Telegraph'. But soon follows the dynamic title track and the clever instrumentation of 'Hum and Buzz'.The track 'Cinanamon' is a wonderful rock song that contrasts pleasantly with the quietly constructing 'Smoke and Diesel'. In the ballad 'Faithless' a haunting slide guitar pleases us and Ellen Cherry adds some feminine harmony. The song 'Careless' has that grunge guitar sound, just like the heavy song 'Smoke'. The banjo intro and deep twang guitar tune in 'My Sugar' are the guiding principles for the acoustic and country tinted closing track 'Laready Saved'.The banjo intro and deep twang guitar tune in 'My Sugar' are the guiding principles for the acoustic and country tinted closing track 'Laready Saved'.The banjo intro and deep twang guitar tune in 'My Sugar' are the guiding principles for the acoustic and country tinted closing track 'Laready Saved'.

June Star Sleeping With The Lights On—Paul McGee—Lonesome Highway

June Star started up in 1998 and this is their seventh studio release. Andrew Grimm is the frontman, songwriter, and plays guitars, banjo, harmonica in addition to providing lead vocals. He is joined by Andy Bopp on guitars, bass and backing vocals with Kurt Celtnieks on drums and backing vocals.

The songs attack with real attitude and are somewhat reminiscent of Son Volt with jangling guitars and a loose feel to the song arrangements. Backing vocals are supplied by Ellen Cherry and J Robbins plays organ to provide a full sound to the twelve tracks. Grimm co-produced with Andy Bopp and J Robbins and the results are very upbeat and engaging.

Telegraph, Hum & Buzz and Cinnamon are fine band workouts with Smoke & Diesel, Faithless and You’re Still Here showing a different side to the band dynamic.  Closing tracks My Sugar and Already Saved show a possible shift in direction towards traditional Country but the band are perfectly capable of delivering on whatever stage they want to. The title track is certainly worthy of commercial air play, but here’s wishing.

If you like a guitar driven; let’s get dressed for Friday night feel; then this is going to really light you up!

June Star Sleeping with the Lights On—Mr. Blue Boogie—Billybop.be

Andrew Grimm is the man behind the Alt country trio June Star. Eighteen years ago he stopped persuading a writing career and moved into music. Since then he is constantly recording & writing tunes with his band June Star. For his newest release, “Sleeping with the lights on” he wrote again twelve tunes that are best described as Alt.Country. Leading track “Telegraph” is a reworked version of one of his older tunes, title track “Sleeping With The Lights On” follows and immediately kicks in with a great alt.country feeling. “Hum & Buzz” comes with an amazing instrumental part and “Cinamon” rocks like no other tune on this album. “Smoke and Diesel” comes in a more or less classic country outfit and “Faithless” follows the same path if I may say so. On “Engine”, Grimm throws in some of his finest tricks and brings a typical alt.country song. With “Sugar”, Andrew Grimm proves that he also is capable of playing the Banjo, in a tune that is reminiscent to the Gothic Americana scene from the late nineties.

Sleeping “With The Lights On” is a very nice album that comes with a majority of interesting tunes. Unlike many other singer songwriters, the voice of Andrew Grimm is one that keeps you focused on the tunes and never makes you wandering of to other places. The album sounds fresh and comes with a handful of tunes that have good airplay quality but above all it’s album that stays interesting for the complete duration of the album.

You’re Still Here (2016) Future Oak Records

June Star: You’re Still Here—Mike Morrison—Americanroots UK

The first June Star album I heard was 2002s now classic (at least in my world) 'Telegraph.' They had released two albums prior to that tremendous recording and this new release is their tenth, although it could be argued, justifiably, that at just five tracks and fourteen minutes this is an e.p. I rarely review e.ps but this is a June Star e.p and any June Star release is a huge event!

Their sound has changed a little in those years, perhaps now a little more sparse and with steel guitar, rather than playing a supporting role, often taking the lead. What has remained completely unchanged are the vocals of singer, songwriter, guitarist Andrew Grimm. They are and have always been both warm and raw, and with an expressive world weary acceptance that gives the impression of all of his songs subjects being a little downtrodden but reluctantly accepting their place in the great scheme of things. Because of the depth and feeling that goes into his singing he has one of the most recognizable styles in any music, but certainly in the alt. country field that June Star have always inhabited.

The lineup has varied over the years, with the Baltimore based bands core being Andrew Grimm on guitars, bass, harmonica, percussion and drum programming with the extraordinarily gifted Dave Hadley on pedal steel guitar. The pair are often accompanied by Andy Bopp on bass and Kurt Celtnieks on drums and percussion, the four bringing a density and power to Andrews poetically descriptive songs that much bigger bands would struggle to project. Generically they can be placed alongside a band such as Son Volt, having much in common with Jay Farrar's esteemed band. They are certainly the equal when it comes to talent, but what distinguishes June Star is their instantly recognizable sound that they adapt to the most aching ballads and up tempo country rockers, much of that recognition coming from the use of the steel guitar and of course, Andrew Grimm's emotion drenched vocals.

The recording opens with You're Still Here a song that moves at a slow almost funereal pace with the gorgeous uplifting steel guitar accompanying Andrew Grimm's emotional vocal with gentle, sparse guitar, restrained percussion and bass laying a perfect foundation. It is followed by the slow wistful Almost Home a song that has a memorable melody with the lead vocal perfectly complemented by steel guitar and with the eventual inclusion of a warm melodic guitar break with harmonica for company. proceedings are lifted to an almost mid tempo on Way Off, with chugging chiming guitars, solid drums and bass supporting the evocative lead vocals on another beautifully written, arranged and performed song.
Anyone who has never heard June Star and who is introduced to them via this warm melodic and varied recording, despite its brevity, as well as possessing plenty of grit, can't really fail to become addicted to their music and hopefully will go on to investigate one of the finest back catalogues in the broad generic field that includes alt. country and June Star at its fulcrum.

Simple Truths (REDUX)(2016) Self Released

Things to do in Baltimore This Week—Baltimore Food and Fun

June Star – Somewhere around September 2014 June Star released an acoustic based record, Simple Truths… it went mostly unnoticed… however, June Star drummer, Kurt Celtnieks noticed that there weren’t any drums or bass on the record… fast forward to 2016… Kurt was talking smack… Grimm challenged him to put his drums where is mouth is… and he did… the result was a fresh new record… mixed by J Robbins at Magpie Cage.

Pull Awake (2015) Self Released

June Star: Pull Awake—Shannon Cowdy—Gas House Radio

9/10 Stars

Baltimore based June Star have, improbably in this day and age, survived and prospered for nearly two decades as one of the nation’s best kept musical secrets. The four piece, focused around singer/songwriter Andrew Grimm and pedal steel guitarist David Hadley, have been plying their trade since 1998, but their musical reference points reach back much further. Hadley’s pedal steel lines are strongly flavored with a lifetime listening to classic country while Grimm’s lyrics and bone-dry delivery are reminiscent of figures from the alt-country movement of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s like James McMurtry. Their tenth studio album, Pull Awake, boasts eleven songs that synthesize the band’s disparate influences into a highly musical, coherent whole. The production presents a balanced sonic picture and incorporates instruments outside of the band’s typical configuration, like banjo and harmonica, without losing sight of the larger artistic picture.

“Tether” and “Feathers” open the album as a strong one-two punch. While its lyrical content turns toward the darker end of the spectrum, “Tether” milks its ponderous tempo for every bit of drama. It’s a slowly unfolding tune dependant on instrumental color, rather than snappy melodies, to achieve its effects. “Feathers” has a similar thrust but, thankfully, the band dials up the tempo and introduces rockier elements into their sonic blueprint. “House Call” has a distinctly different tint thanks Hadley’s steel guitar. It punctuates the song’s muted shuffle with the instrument’s indelible lonesome whine, but Grimm’s darkly comic lyric about a contentious romantic relationship and his droll, but sometimes surprisingly affecting, vocal give the song considerable appeal. June Star brings back the rock edge for “Wonders”, but it never veers far from the Americana vibe stamped so clearly on the band’s songs. “Passed Over” takes a similar approach marrying four on the floor rock drums with the band’s coolly confident amble. The song has such a relaxed vibe that an initial listen might lead the inattentive to think there’s not much going on here, but a deeper examination of the song reveals another superbly constructed track with Grimm’s terse lyrical inventions in full flower. June Star takes their biggest whack at outright rock with “Coma” and the gamble pays off big. The guitars chew up the scenery with big chord flourishes, but also bite and snap at the listener with clear, diamond hard Telecaster fills. The album’s penultimate song, “Apollo”, visits the same territory with a big dollop of Tom Pettyisms added for good measure. The electric guitars grumble with a nasty distorted sheen and the band latches onto a stomping groove quite unlike anything else on the album.

Despite the genre, Pull Awake is a surprisingly diverse affair. June Star have certainly been working long enough to know how to pay appropriate respect to the genre’s conventions while nonetheless focusing their efforts on crafting collections that are relatively wide-ranging excursions. Their confidence is hard to miss, but it isn’t hubris – they are simply seasoned professionals and artists. Their long career doesn’t dilute their current work of any vitality – each of the album’s eleven songs fully engages with the experiences and emotions they depict. This is as fine of an album as you’re likely to hear in 2015.

June Star—Pull Awake—Mike Morrison—Americanroots UK

Based in Baltimore, USA, June Star were formed 17 years ago, with their self titled debut album being released a year later. This new recording is their eleventh in a catalogue that is to my mind is almost peerless. (although I’ve yet to hear the impossible to get 2009 release ‘Shift, Engage, Initiate’) Perhaps Tom Petty has a back catalogue of similar quality, also The Byrds, but very few others that I can come up with off the top of my head. In my world that proves beyond all reasonable doubt that luck and expensive promotional campaigns, although not necessarily in that order, are everything, with talent being useful as well, but as it often seems to me, not absolutely essential! Therein lies the problem for June Star. Of the three above debatable requirements musical talent is the one they have in great abundance although it is such that the other two, in a fair world, should not be at all necessary! Sadly, this world is anything but fair.

The core of the band is and always has been Andrew Grimm on vocals, songwriting, guitars, banjo and harmonica, whilst on pedal steel guitar is the uniquely talented David Hadley who I have actually seen described as a musical ‘alchemist!’ Supplementing the incredible sounds these two make is Kurt Celtnieks on drums and Andy Bopp on guitars, percussion, backing vocals and production. Their originality is such that the initiated can recognize their unique sound almost immediately, whether it is Andrew’s moodily atmospheric baritone that has the smooth edges stripped away or by the wash of sound that is David Hadleys steel guitar blending with electric guitars but providing the melodic lead. It is a sound that has a beautiful melodicism that washes over the listener as it ebbs and flows with Andrews vocal providing an edgy counter point that gives a distinctive shape to every song. There is such an obvious depth of conviction and feeling in June Star’s music, setting them apart from most other bands, although there is no doubt that they do fit comfortably under the alt. country banner but more by coincidence than contrivance. The instrumentation is relatively sparse but at the same time provides a full sound thanks to the unusual wash of melodicism from the steel guitar that often brings a powerful density to the overall picture painted by this band that just can’t fail to provide an uplifting melodicism, even on the more downbeat songs!

The album opener Tether starts with a nice acoustic guitar before being joined by electric guitars and drums, soon added to by the ubiquitous steel guitar in support of Andrew’s excellent vocal on a song that, as with most of their songs, has an up and down effect on the emotions, such is the powerful and fluctuating atmosphere that is created. Next up is Feathers, a song on which the steel often takes a back seat to twangy electric guitars, although not too far back, on another song that tugs the emotions in various directions but is also strangely uplifting, eventually segueing into a wash of melodic cacophony! Shelter from the preceding storm is provided by House Call, a gorgeous country ballad with lovely steel crying away in the background, helped out by acoustic guitar and excellent harmonies supporting Andrews lead with the occasional addition of twangy guitar. The tone changes completely on Walk Away a song that has a nice chugging walking bass line, with excellent banjo and guitar vying with steel on a gorgeous, moody haunting ballad. Atrophy is not a word you would normally associate with an alt. country album but when you add the melody and lyrics it works beautifully on this moody slow to mid tempo, hugely melodic song that has less of a sound wash, but with steel, acoustic guitar and harmonica providing the backing for another excellent vocal from Andrew on a strange, intensely sad tale.

Eleven tremendous songs on an album that was impressive on first listen but has got progressively better with each play to such a degree that it will soon be up their with one of my all time favourite albums, their 2001 release ‘Telegraph.’ Maybe i’m doomed to wander this earth for all eternity singing the praises of this great band. If that’s true I can think of a hell of a lot worse crusades to set out upon!

June Star: Pull Awake—Calvin Powers—Americana Music Show

It’s like people left the fields of alt-country lay fallow for a few years and along comes June Star to turn over the dirt and plant Pull Awake in it. The album is unmistakably alt-country. It’s got the just the right weariness in the vocals and just the right mix of rock ‘n roll and twang. Andrew Grimm writes the songs and while you’d never call him a cheery kind of guy based on his songs, you can tell he’d make a hell of a drinking buddy.

June Star: Pull Awake—Mike Pryzgoda—Divide and Conquer
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Pull Awake by June Star is a fantastic album of Americana-ish songs that are fused with country, pop and rock influences. Driven by the gritty baritone voice of lead singer/songwriter Andrew Grimm, the songs feel both ancient and contemporary at the same time. Some of this has to do with the well-crafted songs, but the excellent production and engineering certainly contributes to this as well.

From the aching pedal-steel guitars that swim around in “House Call” to the subtle knee-slap like percussion and Rhodes-like keys in the banjo driven “Walk Away,” each instrument is treated smartly and crafted carefully for each song.

Songs like “Tether,” “Wonders” and Proof are great examples of radio friendly songs with clever catchy hooks. “Passed Over” sounds like early Wilco meets Beck (when he’s in his folk persona), led by palm-muted guitar and a crisp snare sound. “Coma” contains a catchy hook with some half-time breaks for contrast. “House Call” is probably the best song on the album with lush country harmonies and sly lyrics that border on the edge between sad and funny.

“Atrophy” has a nice harmonica solo over brushed snare drums, but the refrain is a bit repetitive. Some more development in this song would be nice (although perhaps it is in reference to the title). “Apollo” has a stoner-rock vibe with grunge-y guitars over a head-nodding beat.

The album concludes with “The King Is Dead” which is a stark stripped down song containing only acoustic and pedal steel guitar underneath Grimm’s voice. It’s a haunting conclusion with a very catchy hook, and an interesting hushed way to end the album.

Overall, June Star has lots of talent in songwriting, performance and production. By combining all of their strengths, they’ve really caught lightning in a bottle.

June Star: Pull Awake—Pamela Bellmore—Music Existence

8/10 Stars

June Star, first formed in 1998, have seen an assortment of names pass in and out of the band’s ranks over the last fifteen+ years, but the abiding mainstays Andrew Grimm and David Hadley continue steering this seminal East Coast alt-country outfit towards brighter dawns ahead. June Star is, without question, part of a particular musical school. Their sound comes straight out of the alt-country movement of the late eighties and nineties headed by beloved bands like The Jayhawks and Son Volt among others crossed with similarly influenced songwriters and older names like John Prine. Grimm’s lyrics are as tight as clenched fists – there isn’t a wasted word in his texts and their intensity is often diluted by some welcome bits of dark comedy.

Despite their membership in a particular musical movement, June Star never sounds imitative. Retro movements or forays into genres like country or blues suggest, to the unwitting, a conscious limitation – many listeners will assume the range of expression in these areas are lyrically and musically limited. June Star proves naysayers wrong with their tenth studio album Pull Awake. The eleven song collection relies on the typical tools of their trade – pedal steel, acoustic and electric guitars, bass, vocals – but extends itself with additional instrumentation like banjo and harmonica. Many of the tracks devote themselves to copping that alt-country sound, but others like “Apollo” and “Coma” embrace straight rock and roll beats, walls of guitars, and succeed spectacularly.

June Star is probably guilty of loving shuffle tempos a little too much, but even there, contrasts are abundant and critical. The middle half of the album, particularly “Walk Away”, relies on variations of the standard shuffle beat, but June Star mixes it up on tracks like “Passed Over”, “Proof”, and “Coma” with the aforementioned rock drumming, a strong sampling of pedal steel on “Proof”, and the stormy “Coma”. The band excels with pure atmospherics as well. “Tether” opens the album and doesn’t play as much as it coalesces for the listener, gradually taking clearer and clearer shape – there’s a woozy weariness surrounding every bar that draws a lot of attention. The album’s final song, “The King is Dead”, ends the album memorably with a duet between the band’s leaders, Grimm and Hadley, on acoustic guitar, voice, and pedal steel respectively. It’s quite unlike any other song on the album and plays in equal parts like a dream and a tightly constructed melodic ending for the album.

Though understated, June Star’s Pull Awake deserves consideration as one of the year’s finest albums. It certainly isn’t immune to criticism, but such observations are particularly important in the larger context of its quality. There’s isn’t a single track of filler – instead, everything here plays with equal importance and the band’s focus never wavers. June Star has endured for many reasons, but one indisputable fact about the band is that their quality has undoubtedly help carry them through an increasingly lean national music scene. Indie isn’t good enough for these guys – their talents deserve a much wider stage.

June Star: Pull Awake—Lydia Hillenburg—MTS

9 /10 stars

After fifteen plus years crisscrossing the country and streaking north and south along the East Coast, Baltimore’s own June Star have long since paid their dues. Nine studio recordings have established primary songwriter Andrew Grimm as one of popular music’s great unsung writing talents, but the band doesn’t begin and end with him. His chief creative collaborator, pedal steel guitarist David Hadley, has left every bit as indelible of a mark on the band’s artistic history with his sinewy, signature lines. These virtues remain in full force on the band’s latest studio effort, Pull Awake. The album features eleven songs vividly presented with superb production and energetic, committed performances.

The first performance, “Tether”, starts Pull Awake off impressively. Grimm’s baritone has a dry, ironic edge reminiscent of the singer/songwriter James McMurtry. Unlike McMurtry, however, Grimm’s range allows him to shift for the choruses with much more conventional vocal delivery. The song does a great job of blending acoustic and electric guitars while still maintaining its focus on the low-fi end of the meter. “Feathers” moves away from the opener’s songwriting style into a much more direct, physically engaging guitar workout. Grimm’s voice cuts loose completely here and the result shows his considerable abilities when singing in a full on rock voice. The lightly mournful air surrounding “House Call” and its prominent pedal steel work help give it the vibe of the hour before sunrise. This song sounds like something sung at the end of an exhausting night with someone you love. There’s sweetness, desperation, exhaustion, and acceptance peering out from behind every line and between the lines.

June Star wears mid-tempo rock like a loose garment and plumbs that well again on “Wonders”, but adds to it by stressing vocal excellence. Even the lightest touches can elevate a good song to something great and the contributing harmony vocals further open the music’s pre-existing melodic possibilities. “Passed Over” is one of Pull Awake’s strongest entries thanks to its masterful build and the sympathetic juxtaposition of its musical elements. Everything comes together for a rousing, yet tastefully played, climax. “Coma” embraces the band’s rockier edge while still retaining the same traditional thrust defining many of the band’s songs, but the album’s best nod to outright rock is the Tom Pettyish “Apollo”. The bluesy snarl biting at the track’s edge gives it an appealing moody air and the steady stomp of percussion reinforces its strength. Pull Awake’s muted finale, “The King Is Dead”, wafts by with a tangibly haunted quality rising off its strings and Grimm delivers a nuanced vocal tailored to the song.

One listen to Pull Awake will amply illustrate for novice listeners why this band has persisted on the margins of mainstream success. The songwriting is five star quality with a consideration and deliberateness of spirit one doesn’t often associate with such acts. Moreover, they wear their influences proudly, but no one can ever dismiss Pull Awake’s eleven tracks as imitative trash. Instead, this is an album that features any number of elements many listeners find favor with today – insightful, even literary, lyrical content and an ear for affecting melodies.

June Star—Pull Awake—Craig Bowley—Vents Magazine

90%

Baltimore and Maryland especially have a very deep, intricate musical history. From the extensive scene of hard rock and old school heavy metal worship that spawned greats like The Obsessed and Spirit Caravan to the legendary DC punk scene and unknown blues rock greats like Hillow Hammet from 1969, there is no shortage of great music from the area. The current musical climate is no less exciting and June Star’s latest album Pull Awake is a great example of the originality that comes from Maryland.

June Star isn’t exactly a new band. The group’s origins date back to ’98 with Andrew Grimm founding the project and collaborating with several other musicians that congealed into a pretty steady, solid line-up (currently a four-piece) of songwriters and multi-instrumentalists. This is the band’s tenth studio album, so as a hardcore music buff I’m a little ashamed to admit that this is my first time listening to them! Thankfully, good music doesn’t have an expiration date. June Star is a familiar blend of sounds that’s like a cross-pollination of the 60s and 90s. The alt-country movement is a big influence but so are the folk/country shakedowns of Bob Dylan, Hank Williams and Tom Waits. A crisp, crunchy recording brings polish to the table, so that’s certainly from the modern crop but the music itself comes across as timeless. The one-two punch of “Tether” and “Feathers” gives you a good idea of what the record’s about. Steadfast, r & b rhythms flirt with rock n’ roll bombast while dirty, grungy guitar riffs open up into arid, roaming acoustic/pedal steel arrangements that are magical nods to music’s storied past. Grimm stands at the helm, delivering his vocals with an afflicted rasp straight from the heart of Nashville and sometimes he’s joined by backing harmonies beautifully wrapping around his poignant storytelling.

Pull Awake is built on a bread n’ butter, meat n’ potatoes approach where country is given a mulekick in the rear thanks to some good rock n’ roll done up with a blues approach. “House Call” bucks June Star’s tradition with acoustic, American Gothic balladry where even the percussion is kept to minimum; the soft groove draped in swirls of chunky, upright bass, intoxicating steel melodies and southern-friend acoustic licks. Smoldering yet edgy riffing comes back into play on “Wonders” with tempos to match. The drumming toys with jazzy work on the snares and the acoustic/slide interplay moves at an aggressive clip that makes for a head-nodding rocker sure to ignite the kind of biker bar these guys probably frequent on tour stops. Variety is the spice of life and June Star has plenty on this record, take for example “Walk Away” a coal mining, gold-panning jam where banjo, distant electric guitar soaked in reverb and pedal steel all ride in the same wagon.

“Passed Over” is another mid-tempo tune lost in an oasis somewhere between rock and country, but it’s a bit forgettable, crafted in virtually the same mold as “Feathers” but lacking a hook of equal quality. Bringing things back around “Proof” feels like some classic Hank Sr., outlaw country mingling with the dusty, dirt road folk rock of Wovenhand and it ends up an excellent precursor to the riff-dominated groove of “Coma.” Of the remaining tunes “Apollo” is the best of the bunch packing in some of the album’s heaviest riffs and hard knock rhythms. The whole thing is burning and baking with 4/4 blues grooves as the rhythm section jackhammers away at a cinderblock of old blues. More acoustic balladry is dealt on “Atrophy” and album endnote “The King is Dead,” and Grimm displays songwriting that it’s built to handle any volume, loud or quiet in the process. His tunes are versatile and excel either way.

 June Star: Pull Awake—Lambert Smits—Keys and Chords

4/5 Stars

June Star is the band around Baltimore-based frontman, songwriter, guitarist, banjo player and ex-teacher Andrew Grimm. Band members are David Hadley on pedal steel, Kurt Celtnieks on drums and Andy Bopp who, in addition to the electric guitars, keyboards and percussion, also provides backing vocals. Pull Awake is the man's eleventh, alternative country, electric rock and Americana-filled studio album. Andrew has a slightly abrasive voice, which you quickly experience as pleasant. One hell of a song is the electric country rocker 'Feathers' with guitars breaking loose like a thunderstorm and subtle input of pedal steel. That same pedal steel is more in the foreground in the country-influenced ballad 'House Call'.Andrew's impressive voice really comes into its own in the beautiful banjo accompanied 'Walk Away' and you can certainly taste that nice twang guitar in 'Proof'. Sometimes your mind drifts towards Tom Petty and that is certainly not negative. 'Pull Awake' is an album that grows with every listen.

June Star Drops CD—Owen Matheson—No Depression

June Star is a long running folk/alternative southern-rock group from Baltimore, Maryland that has been fronted by singer-songwriter Andrew Grimm since its formation in 1998. The band has undergone several lineup changes since its formation nearly eighteen years ago, and has succeeded in recording ten original albums, beginning with a self-titled release in 1999. June Star currently consists of Andrew Grimm on lead vocals and guitars, David Hadley playing pedal steel, Kurt Celtnieks on drums, and Andy Bopp playing bass. Aside from this lineup, June Star has frequently invited guest musicians, such as Mark Tuminello, to play, often resulting in a performing group that can have as many as eight members on stage at a time. Andrew Grimm quit his job as a teacher in order to play music with June Star full time. The bands newest album, released March of this year, is titled “Pull Awake”, and is June Star’s tenth full length work.

After listening to about three or four of the tracks off of “Pull Awake”, it will become apparent to most listeners that June Star definitely has a succinct musical formula that is seldom deviated from. This is by no means a trait that is immediately negative. While the band does maintain rather strict principles of compositional direction and stylization, there are many examples throughout the record where June Star demonstrates the multi-dimensional capabilities of their alternative folk rock sound, usually through the exemplification of talented musicianship that is both well-executed and thoughtfully sparing. In short, the fact that a lot of the tracks on “Pull Awake” sound the same doesn’t really matter, because the overall approach to songwriting and musical composition on this record is excellent. Most listeners will not get tired of June Star’s sound, these songs are too good to be considered repetitive. That being stated, the production on this album is fantastic. One would suppose after making nine other records that June Star has gotten the hang of things in the studio by now, because everything in these tracks sounds crystal clear, sharp, and punchy. The mix is nearly perfect, and listeners will even be able to appreciate the little things on the album, from the conservative and well rounded synths, to the expertly placed guitars that always tend to be in the perfect spot on every track. Listen to the ending guitar work in “Apollo” for example, the guitar is turned down just enough to really blend in with the envelopment of sound throughout the ending of that song; knowing where to place instruments, and having the restraint to not always put everything full-bore, in-your-face, is trademark to people that simply know what they’re doing, and the skill at which this album was mixed and produced is testament to why these songs simply sound amazing. The other impressive aspect of the instrumentation on this album is its keen sense of melody, both in respect to the guitars as well as the pedal steel. The typical June Star track will be a mid-tempo glide through rustic Americana that will often feature key fills and inter-working riffs between the guitars and pedal steel, all of which will be guided by the commanding presence of Andrew Grimm’s warm and frayed vocals, which are reminiscent of a mellow Bruce Springsteen (before all the synthy pop-rock stuff). In bands that have multiple guitars, it is always impressive to hear how each musician filters into and compliments the rest; June Star has a knack for making a musical arrangement that is both sparing yet satisfyingly full and intricate, almost in the same way that Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, and Ed King all made their guitars sound so distinctly different yet harmonious in Lynyrd Skynyrd recordings. However, not all instrumentation in “Pull Awake” is restrained, and the record isn’t without its fiery guitar solos, listen to the ending jam on “Feathers” as an example. Another great mention is the pedal steel, as it serves to give the album a bundle of rustic character that really shines in its scarcity and brassy elegant twang; listen to the last track and one of the best on the album, “The King is Dead”, for excellent steel guitar work.

As was mentioned before, the premise of June Star’s sound is a conservative musical formula, and chances are, if listeners aren’t already attuned to alternative southern-rock, they’re isn’t going to be much to enjoy from this album. However, this stipulation is pretty simple, if you don’t like the genre, you probably won’t like the band. One other critique would pertain to the nature of Andrew Grimm’s vocal performance; although the vocals throughout the album are full of lived in, tender character, they are somewhat limited both in range and emotion. “Pull Awake” really could have been taken to the next level if listeners got a few high notes and vocal crescendos from the band’s frontman.

Overall, June Star is a musical experience that combines the rustic yet southern-rock orientated sounds of Crosby Stills & Nash with the contemporary alternative awareness of more modern bands like Phish. The group has produced a nearly perfect album from the standpoint of production, and the tracks reflect a sense of masterful musicianship as well as a well-developed song craft that is highly impressive, tasteful, sparing, and full of lived-in American character.

June Star: Pull Awake—Cis Van Looy—Written in Music

4/5 Stars

Andrew Grimm was an English teacher in Westminster, Maryland near Baltimore. Reading literature and discussing it with his students no longer satisfied him and in 1989 he decided to turn his own literary aspirations into music with June Star. The name of a character from A Good Man Is Heard To Find, a short story by Flannery O'Connor, an American writer from the South. It is not only the group name, but also O'connor's image-rich southern gothic style is assimilated by Grimm in his songwork.

In the meantime June Star has been active for more than seventeen years, during that period Andrew Grimm was flanked by 23 bassists and no fewer than 30 drummers in addition to two keyboardists and ten long players were released. Grimm is about the one constant in the Baltimore alt country band. The singer guitarist also provides the integral song work. For Pull Awake the help of producer Andy Bopp is called in, who, in addition to backing vocals, develops the rhythm structure together with drummer Kurt Celtnick. In addition, he adds efficient keyboard work.

David Haley's pedalsteel is omnipresent, whether it be semi-acoustic West Coast country pickers like House Call , Walk Away , or Atrophy in which Grimm strums the banjo next to acoustic guitar or the more massive guitar tracks. In the rippling country rock of Proof , the instrument comes to the fore for a while. The melancholic sound is an essential part that nicely balances the layered, electric strings. In this way the more rocking work like Feathers and Apollo retains a rustic, somewhat calming character.

The tender, somewhat frayed, murmuring vocals of Grimm come across even better in the subdued passages, as the sober The Kings Is Dead illustrates clearly at the last minute. Great craftsmanship from the alt country rock genre that deserves wider attention.

June Star—Pull Awake—Muziekwereld

A new June Star album, that's always good news. After all, the four-man ship from Westminster, Maryland, which has guaranteed top Americana and roots rock for about eighteen years, has never disappointed us. And the band does not do that again on their now tenth full-length. The follow-up to “Kill The Lights” from a year or two ago just turned out to be a very strong record again.

Eleven songs long vintage June Star actually. With Andrew Grimm's wonderfully angular baritone voice of course up front and center . And with the same Grimm at times also working mightily on electric and acoustic guitars and banjo respectively. And of course again with David Hadley 's blissfully wailing pedal steel . Those three factors nach wie vor reasonably determine the sound of Star June. Without wanting to detract from the contributions of multi-instrumentalist Andy Bopp ( backing vocals , electric guitars, keyboards and percussion) and drummer Kurt Celtnieks by the way.

Some of the top moments on “Pull Awake”: the alternative country of “Walk Away”, which is regarded as infectious as it is alienating, the handsome, a little more rock-oriented Americana tug “Tether”, the catchy , quite a bit to us Tom Petty in better Heartbreakers- times reminiscent of roots rocker “Feathers”, the downright delicious false slow “Proof” and the closing “The King Is Dead”, a real cloud of a ballad with David Hadley 's pedal steel almost constantly in one of the main roles.

June Star: Pull Awake—Late for the Sky

Even if it looks like the cd of an artist on a lonely path, June Star does not refer to a name and surname but to a group, among other things a very pleasant group that could remind many of us as regards some alternative country groups such as Willard Grant Conspiracy, Son Volt, Scott Laurent Band, Uncle TuPelo, Buffalo Tom, Whiskeytown and ... in short, the territory in which June Star move is that one. 

A very pleasant sound for a band that certainly leaves its mark, formed by now in 1998 have already reached over ten albums, even if we are not very well known. Excellent is the deep and measured voice of singer Andrew Grimm, never out of tune that undoubtedly characterizes the style of the group, Grimm who also plays guitars and banjo. Then we have Kurt Celtnieks on drums, David Hadley on pedal steel and Andy Bopp on keyboards, electric guitars and percussion. They come from Westminster, a town near Baltimore, Maryland, and took their name from the writer Flannery O'Connor who used the name June Star for a character in her 1955 novel A Good Man is Hard to Find. O 'Connor author of only two novels,The wisdom in the blood (1952) and Il cielo è dei violenti (1960) but of many memorable stories centered on grotesque situations full of unforgettable characters that implied that in everyone's life the events were often determined by imponderable and unpredictable circumstances, he lived only 39 years old, she died in 1964, due to a serious illness, called lupus, which she inherited from her father, and is one of the best known and best loved Southern novelists in the United States.and is one of the best-known and best-loved Southern novelists in the United States.and is one of the best-known and best-loved Southern novelists in the United States.

Three amazing ballads, House Call, Walk Away and Atrophy, characterize this album that expertly mixing rock, folk and country gives us a group of extreme solidity led by a leader of considerable strength and prestige that we could certainly bring closer to already more well-known charismatic characters and established. But not only these two songs mentioned lead us to lean towards a positive feedback regarding this work, also many other pieces such as Proof, Coma and The King is Dead are striking at first glance and as I often like to say when an initial listening intoxicates the listener. , then we are all on track. Produced by Andy Bopp it uses a thin cardboard box that opens nicely to lp and a simple but meaningful cover.

June Star: Pull Awake—David Shouse—Skopemag

With their rich blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation, June Star combines musical ideals both old and new on their 10th album to date, Pull Awake. Led and founded by singer/songwriter Andrew Grimm the album’s 11 tracks explore a good chunk of ground; sounding more like a hungry young band throwing everything at you all at once rather than a band that’s been around since 1998.

“Tether” sets the tone for the entire album to come. Andrew Grimm’s got a strong voice that feels weathered by time and naturally haggard as his forlorn croon burns and fades like the last drag of a cigarette. Musically speaking, Dave Hadley’s pedal steel guitar steals the show on this tune and will continue to do so on pretty much every song. Electric guitars color in the background with the rhythm section of drummer Kurt Celtknieks and bassist Andrew Bopp providing a sturdy, muscular pulse. Still, it’s the beautiful acoustic and steel guitars which make for a lush wilderness of country informed rock that feels wild and untamed throughout, especially on the immediately following “Feathers.” “Feathers” is accompanied with just a dash of harmonica but features the band the working hard and driving the material more forcefully into rock-laden waters. A stomping beat anchors the dueling guitars with ample, succulent bass lines flowing underneath the groove like a raging river wild. Squealing, noisy riffs only add to the atmosphere which feels like an Ennio Morricone soundtrack interpreted by a blue collar rock band.

It’s in the harder, dirt under the nails moments where June Star really sets things ablaze like a harvest moon illuminating the night sky. Cuts like the rollicking, mystical “Wonders,” the infectious “Passed Over” and the fire hot “Proof” where subtle electric riff explosions, acoustic melodies and mesmerizing steel licks congeal in glorious unison showcase a band that’s locked onto the dynamics and completely stellar in terms of chops. These cats can play all day and all night and whenever they catch a groove by the tail you can be sure they aren’t going to let it go. The banjo-kissed, acoustic heavy “Walk Away” may not be as loud as its aforementioned counterparts but it rocks no less furiously; dialing into a pond-skipping, old school country fervor delivered with all of the energy of a kinetically charged rock number. “Coma” and “Apollo” are also overflowing with octane and don’t skimp on the riffs, throwing punches at the drywall like Mellencamp, Springstein, Petty and Dylan all duking it out at once.

If anything sucks the power out of this record or sticks out as a true weak point it’s probably the ballads which don’t really differentiate themselves from one another very much. Thankfully, there’s only a scant few. “House Call” and “Atrophy” are simply too restrained to stack up against the rest of the material and on an album primarily centered on rockers, they bring down the pace too much. The curtain call acoustic slow burner “The King is Dead” is more winding and expansive with some very passionate vocals from Grimm but even it doesn’t seem to buck the trend that June Star’s ballads aren’t nearly as interesting as their more swinging jams like “Proof” and “Coma.”

Pull Awake is an enticing crossover rock album. Grimm and the boys pepper their rock with liberal shades of country, blues, folk and vintage singer/songwriter charm. For a 10th album things feel surprisingly lively and fresh. Most bands this far into their career would come off like they’re running out of steam but June Star musters up an exciting set of tunes that only falter in a few select instances. This an excellent, old school sounding album without falling into the trendy retro arena that so many artists are mining in the modern era.

Simple Truths (2014) Self Released

Kill the Lights (2013) Self Released

June Star Record Release Show at Windup—Baynard Woods—Baltimore Sun

You'd think that today's kids would be savvy enough to know about the "20-year rule," which says cultural styles come back into fashion every twenty years or so, and thereby avoid it. But it's hard to turn around without bumping into a "grunge"-influenced band of twenty-somethings. Roomrunner's comes with the promo-sticker tagline that cheekily reads: "Yes, we've heard Nirvana. Try harder," to which a reviewer might equally-cheekily respond, "So have we. You try harder." (Since the album doesn't sound much like Nirvana to me, the snark remains hyopthetical). So, here in the Strum und Twang department of nostalgia, we did start wondering why none of the young bands are yet bringing back the great alt-country that began when Uncle Tupelo's 20-year-old albums that mixed the same punk songs that influenced Nirvana with Buck Owens instead of the Beatles. Partly, it's because all the country kids are still caught up with Old Crow Medicine Show and the whole new folk revival thing-y that seemed like a novel response to alt-country ten years ago. But, maybe we don't need young kids to bring that shit back when there are old-timers (I don't mean it as an insult, but more like dudes of my own generation) who are still playing like that. Which brings me to the point of this post: June Star, who have been plugging away at making original alt-country sounds since the 1990s, has a kick-ass new album,
Kill the Lights, and are playing a release show at the Windup Space, Sunday night July 7. Their last album, Slow Dance, came in third for our favorite local folk and country albums last year, and we like Kill the Lights even more. The first song, "Foreign," kicks off with a quiet country lick and then explodes into a Replacements-like power-chord chap. Singer and primary songwriter Andrew Grimm's vocals are both rougher and stronger than ever in their Jay-Farrar-like mix of country high-and-lonsesome twang and rock 'n' roll angst. The hooks also find that right combination between between country and rock. The pedal steel and the power chords on "Surprise Collapse" make me wonder why there aren't more youngsters lined up at June Star shows stealing licks. But, if the kids are subject to twenty-year rule, old heads like June Star don't worry about t he trends that come and go. They just keep making great music and having fun and wait for the times to catch back up with them.

Slow Dance (2012) Self Released

June Star—Slow Dance—Mike Morrison—Americanroots UK

4 stars

This is the seventh studio album by genre defining alt. country band June Star, with the only constant in that time being Andrew Grimm, songwriter, guitarist and classic alt. country singer. All of those recordings have been of an incredibly high quality, (although as yet I’ve been unable to track down a copy of ‘Shift, engage and initiate’) with plenty of diversity of tempos within the fairly loose alt. Country/rock genre. Personally I’ve always believed their 2001 recording, ‘Telegraph’ to be pretty much unmatcheable, being in my top ten all time favourite albums although despite this, every single one of their albums is something to savour and all worthy of at least four stars of anyones money. On this album they steer a path that edges slightly closer to rock than most of their other recordings but is still a really high quality album that includes many of their usual strong country elements.

For this recording the band consisted of Andrew Grimm on Guitars and Vocals, David Hadley, Pedal Steel, Timothy Bracken, Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals and at times Drums, Mike Ward on Keyboards, with the production being courtesy of the band. Although not off putting the sound can seem a little too dense on some tracks, although some may actually prefer the album because of that! Having said that, where the sound is more sparse it serves to provide excellent contrasts, although on a few songs Andrew Grimms vocals do seem a little too far back in the mix. The choice of instrumentation and the playing are superb, with some of the guitar sounds being beautifully uplifting with the chiming, haunting tones and changes of tempo and atmosphere producing an album that few can match. The tremendous songs on this disc range in style and tempo from incredibly catchy rootsy rock to mid tempo country rock and some of the most hauntingly evocative ballads you are ever likely to hear.

This recording kicks off with the up tempo rootsy countryish rocker of Saint, a song similar in many ways to the classic Jayhawks sound, but with more of an edge, even including a few woo hoo hoos and some tremendous lead guitar playing for good measure. The excellent Leaned, is more of a mid tempo roots rocker, whilst Undertow is back into country rock mode and similarly is also mid tempo. Time retains much of the same pace, with the addition of a haunting steel guitar on a song that warns against counting your chickens, because nothing lasts for ever. All of the ballads are superb, with the title track Slow Dance being a gorgeous, sad country story with beautifully evocative steel guitar and sparse chiming piano on a story about someone who still retains some hope of reclaiming a love lost to someone else, despite very little chance of success. Last Lock is another slow, moody song, again with some gorgeous steel and recounts a story that seems to be about a lack of communication, in fact, all of the ballads have this same haunting quality, something that is shared by many of the more uptempo songs.
In this day of manufactured stardom irrespective of talent, wouldn’t it be nice if talent was a prerequisite for success. Were that the case, Andrew Grimm and his highly talented band of musicians would be superstars!

June Star, Slow Dance—Jon Patton—Driftwood Magazine

June Star’s Slow Dance (the band’s third release in just over two years), opens with a song that’s anything but: An upbeat rocker with a “Woo hoo hoo” chorus, it’s the closest the band has gotten—in years, if not ever—to a pure pop rock song, and a true band effort. The title track, though, puts frontman and songwriter Andrew Grimm’s vocals (a lived-in and more broken Jay Farrar-style drawl) front and center, cradled by the masterful steel guitar of David Hadley. This dynamic, moving back and forth between songs where he’s fighting the band and the songs that really put him front and center, is a good metaphor for June Star’s life as a band: Grimm is now the only constant in the band’s multi-decade run. A live show can range from a duo with Timothy Bracken to a five-piece band that where Bracken is nowhere to be found; four-piece sets without drums and three piece sets without steel guitar.

It says a lot about the underlying quality of Grimm’s almost-but-not-always country songs that they can survive or thrive under drastic changes in instrumentation. Everything still gets from point A to point B. Fittingly, Grimm has chosen a map for the cover; it shows roads and terrain, but, every once in a while, it looks more like a dancer mid-pirouette.

June Star: Slow Dance—Music Newsletter Germany

The band JUNE STAR from Baltimore, founded in 2009, is also offering their latest - now their seventh - album on the “bandcamp.com” site. There are 11 very good songs on “Slow Dance”, which can be easily filed in the large drawer “Indie-Rock meets Alternative Country meets Americana”. . I like the prelude “Saint”, the roots-rocky “Undertow”, the title song “Slow Dance”, which presents itself as a fine Americana ballad with a crying pedal steel guitar, and “Back To The Valley” with a thick slide guitar solo. Excellent album that will probably be on the list of “albums that unfortunately nobody knows, although it really shouldn't be like that”. Well - the saying will at least not be relevant for competent visitors to this website :-))

Lower Your Arms (2010) Dangerously Delicious Pies/Chinaberry Tree Records

Shift, Engage, Initiate (2009) Self Release

Cora Belle (2008) Milltown Records

June Star: Cora Belle—John Worley—Aid and Abet

This one didn't make the cut last issue, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. Maybe it's that I've been listening to more Uncle Tupelo lately...lead singer and songwriter Andrew Grimm is an aural doppelganger for Jay Farrar. But these aren't Uncle Tupelo (or Son Volt) songs. They're Andrew Grimm songs, and played by June Star. Timothy Bracken is the other half of the duo, and he does a lot of the playing and all the producing. The two guys make one hell of a team. It's hard to make rolling roots music with just two people. Takes skill, devotion and a little luck. June Star has all that. These songs sound like they're being played live to tape, with just enough knob-twisting to bring out the sweet spots. Most solid. I'm still stumped as to why I didn't dig this as much the first time around. Maybe because it is right up my alley. I just don't trust something that stabs me in the heart and twists the knife. Oh well. If I listen to a good album enough times, eventually I'll figure it out. I'm thinking it won't take quite so long for most other people.

June Star: Cora Belle—Chris Parker—IndyWeek

June Star is a block off the old Bakersfield shitkickraspy, heel-shuffling honky-tonk exiles with hands turning the wheel between rock swerve and parched twang. Residing somewhere between Lucero and the Jayhawks, June Star frontman Andrew Grimm caresses no-frills songs soaked in Southern gothic and longing. His creaky backwoods baritone settles easily into the traditional sound, which embraces country-western and folk while keeping a foot in rootsy rock. The band's latest, Cora Belle, is the fifth of its 10-year tenure, telling tales of a small, fictional town populated with unsatisfied, dissolute people looking for a way out.

Sugarbird (2004) Toadfish Records

Deep and Black: June Star, Sugarbird—Lee Armstrong—Amazon

For the third June Star release, lead singer Andrew Grimm has a new band to back his words & music. On 8 of the tracks, it is only Grimm & multi-talented Tim Bracken. Sugarbird's sound is dense alt-country with heavy electric guitars often churning on slow to midtempo tracks with lyrics that show a somber side of life. Professional reviewers' likening their sound to late era Uncle Tupelo or Son Volt fit for me too. The lyrics here are for feel, often not making a great deal of sense grammatically, but having an emotional impact. In the dense "Ohio" Grimm sings, "It's deep & black, straight & wide, where she put her sons, straight & wide, where she put her sons, deaf & off-course." My favorite track is the most upbeat on the CD, "Once Knew," with Grimm sounding like Merle Haggard meets the Dillards. Grimm & Bracken play joyfully and then abruptly shut the door to end the track. The homage to Grimm's hometown is musically joyful on "Baltimore" while the lyrics recount a concert to which no one came. "Mexico" is a somber tune with a bit of Gram Parsons-like irony as Grimm sings, "I can't shake the words stuck to your breath, 'honey, I've got to go.'" The title track is typical of the sound with a slow thundering guitars reeling out a pleasant melody behind Grimm's aching vocals, "You're shadowed in fall & eased on out over & over again, picked up & shook by your roots & held off another day." If there

were a weakness of the set, a bit more variety in tempo and distinctiveness between tracks would help. But June Star's is a good sound, one that grows the more it hits the changer! Enjoy!

June Star: Sugarbird—Mark Deming—All Music

Perhaps June Star frontman Andrew Grimm should get together with Willy Vlautin of Richmond Fontaine and form a support group called "Alt-Country Singer/Songwriters Who Sound a Lot Like Jay Farrar Without Really Trying." Like Vlautin, Grimm's curse (if that's the right word) is that his voice bears more than a passing resemblance to that of the former leader of Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, which is compounded by the fact that the slow, thoughtful drift of many of the songs on June Star's third album, Sugarbird, gives them a sound and feel not unlike much of the best material on Trace. But like Richmond Fontaine's work, if you look past the surfaces on Sugarbird, it becomes clear that Andrew Grimm is a songwriter with a style very much his own. Significantly more direct and less oblique than Farrar, Grimm's lyrics deal with the nuances of life along the margins in his hometown of Baltimore, from playing a gig when even your own dad heckles you ("Baltimore") to the desperate need to blow town before love and geography can crush you ("Mexico"). Grimm's stories are smart, concise, and effective, and his guitar (coupled with multi-instrumentalist Tim Bracken, who is the only other player on most of these tunes) conveys both the space and the isolation of the big, decaying city with surprising skill. Sugarbird is a strong and compelling album from a band that certainly deserves a higher profile on the current alt-country scene, and hopefully work of this caliber will not be overlooked.

June Star, Sugarbird—C. Nathan Coyle—Rambles

Andrew Grimm is the star of June Star, in that he wrote the music and lyrics, produced and helped mix the album, sings lead and plays electric/acoustic/bass guitars, mandolin and banjo. While Grimm may seem to have superhuman abilities, he does admit being accompanied by "satellite affiliates" Chris Plummer, John Tenney, Jay Filippone and Tom Scanlan.

There are plenty of great things about Sugarbird. All of the songs, even the "OK" ones, are very accessible and affable. One reason for this could be the common themes of all the songs -- love and loss -- to which anyone can relate. In my opinion, the highlight of the album is "Baltimore," a great narrative of promises, failure and optimism.

Another reason for June Star's accessibility is Grimm's vocals. While the instruments, background vocals and lyrics could be all across the board, it won't matter because Grimm's vocal style (a monotone baritone -- monobaritone?) actually acts as a conduit/cohesive device for all the elements.

It's not all about Grimm's vocals, though. Check out the surprisingly energetic instrumental "My Sweetheart." It's a little over two minutes -- a bit short for such an interesting tune. But, like any good performance, you're left wanting more.

The downside to this album is, well, it has a down side. There are some songs like "Acetone," "Mexico" and "Home" that take such a slow and somber pace (in tempo as well as in the lyrics) that they border on depressing. However, that's not to say that slow=bad; check out "Way Down" for a solid well-crafted song that keeps it slow. But, as I mentioned before, even the "OK" songs are of a sufficient quality to keep your interest in the overall album.

If you are looking for an album that instantly piques your interest and retains it, I recommend Sugarbird by June Star.

Telegraph (2001) Safehouse Records

June Star: Telegraph-William Meyer—All Music

On their sophomore release, Safe House Records' June Star offers a satisfying blend of atmospheric twang, hard-driving humbucker folk, and "Wayfaring Stranger" bluegrass. Mixing the overdriven, alt-country sounds of Son Volt with the heady, metaphorical lyricism of Fables-era R.E.M., Telegraph is musically and lyrically meaty. Polished acoustic guitar, banjo (Tim Johnson), mandolin (Tom Scanlan), and overdriven pedal steel figure prominently on most tunes, giving them a rich sonic texture. The album's palette is diverse as well. Expect heavy alt-country tunes, including the album's growling opener, "Thrown," and closing title track, "Telegraph," the most fully realized example of the band's sound. There also are more hushed country ballads and jaunts, including "Wedding Girl" and "Follow Me," which have an old-timey authenticity without being dated and contrite. Lead vocalist Andrew Grimm -- who also plays guitar, harmonica, and banjo -- pens the band's tunes. Lyrically dark, abstract, and sparse, they largely focus on the desolation of small-town life, the journey from innocence to experience, and the disillusioning power of truth. Grimm recasts these common themes more effectively in some songs than others. "New Jordon" is the standout. Grimm isn't beyond humor, though, as in the whimsical "If I": "By the time I try/You'll say I forgot." Grimm's limited vocal range and somewhat affected delivery do take some warming up to. That aside, Telegraph is a rock-solid release from a promising band.

June Star: Telegraph—Alex Steininger—In Music We Trust

June Star's brand of alt-country is as much about the mood as it is the story being told. Hard knock tales of growing up and living life, June Star keeps on chugging on, writing about the ups and downs of life, putting a country spin on it all, and making you feel as if you were there. Through the mid-tempo rock numbers that will have you getting up out of your seat and dancing to the poignant acoustic pieces, you'll always want June Star to sway you to sleep with its oft-dark, still warm and comforting sound.

June Star: Telegraph—Gary Wollen—Penny Black Music

I don’t want to waste precious review words here on the negativity of pigeonholing, when instead I should be expounding the virtues of this absolutely beautiful album. Really, though, we should try to clear the air first.

Disregard the patter, the verbal honing of the album, because this offering is a litany of country jargon that can only serve to confuse and distract us, YES US !, from what is a marvellous body of work. These words or in certain cases phrases merely make cameos, albeit at every utterly delightful turn. These though are simply that. Cameos or scant reverberations from a direction of sound too broad to be merely bagged and tagged by the label country.

This essentially is music from and for the soul, not the head. In the same way Dylan or the Flying Burrito Brothers is soul. In the same way that Orange Juice or Felt are soul. Don’t try to understand how a song like 'Wedding Girl' with its haunting, mournful, lilting melody can sound so painful and yet so thoroughly uplifting. Don’t try to figure out the five boys from this group can tug at your clichéd heartstrings when, in 'If I ', they sing “if I fell in love with you, I wouldn’t have stayed at home…”, and seduce you to sing along to each American tinted refrain in 'Follow Me.'. They tangle with the superficial pop beast on the song 'New Jordan' and win hands down delivering it as a superb shambling effort. Just surrender your soul and rejoice in the beauty and gentle swagger that is this album.

As I said file this under country if strict rigid apartheid is your bag. For me though the creative output on this works on more levels than a simplistic categorising. If you can’t hear the soul here, then you really are missing something quite excellent , and it will be a very long lifetime with that kind of thinking. Such trifling details like the semantics and positioning of a band or album in the current marketplace should not deter the listener. The fact that 'Telegraph' sits absolutely nowhere in the current popular spectrum should inspire many more people to seek it out and discover its brooding, yet undeniably enriching delights. You see a band can’t make an album as poignantly beautiful, haunting and robustly gentle as this with only one definitive musical framework to follow and without breaking a few fences. After you have taken these plaintive almost spiritual songs to your heart, you will realise that defining musical boundaries and details are by and large peripheries. This music is truly inspirational, and quite clearly created by people who very obviously care and ultimately believe in their music and message completely.

June Star: Telegraph—Muziekwereld

Telegraph is the name of the second and very good CD from alt.country band June Star. This band around Andrew Grimm seems to be writing the songs with the bottle close by. Or is it a style tool to make songs sound nice and veiled, because if necessary, like on Felled, June Star sounds very tight, partly due to a thunderous rhythm section. By the way, at kick-off you expect yet another band that Uncle Tupelo wants to imitate, but after that their roots sound soon goes towards Gourds, and before you know it you think that Shane MacGowan has made the crossing from Ireland to America - so wonderfully unkempt and raw sings. Grimm. Telegraph is mainly acoustic with a single electric guitar and occasionally the beautiful pedal steel of guest musician Eric Heywood, who almost screams like an electric guitar on the opening track Thrown. I had never heard anyone do this before. For example, Telegraph is full of surprises.

Songs from an Engineer’s Daughter (1999) Hungry for Music (2000) Safehouse Records

June Star—Eric Zehnbauer—Country Standard Time

Is Washington, D.C. becoming the new hot-bed of alt-country talent? Hot on the heels of a new disc by Sixty Acres, here come their musical brothers-in-arms (as well as sometime stagemates and D.C. neighbors) June Star, with a very commendable self-produced album, brimming with talent.

June Star have cast themselves in much the same vein as Sixty Acres, drawing on classic influences such as Neil Young, Tom Waits, and bluegrass, while further improving on sounds explored by more recent alt.-country artists. The songs span a wide range of the alt.-country milieu from the slow, murder-ballad type ("Teas Summer Nights") to folky ballads reminiscent of the Jayhawks or Wilco ("Tonight") to the Crazy Horse-ish, crunching rock guitar sound of "Faithless." Also in the harder rocking vein, and featuring awesome guitar playing, is the album's best track, "Mountain Top."

Also watch for the hidden 12th track. It's a kind of goofy, almost bossa nova beat number, played on one of those cheesy home organs with the canned rhythm section included, accompanied by outstanding harmonica work. Sounds weird, but it's really quite catchy. The same could be said for June Star as a whole: they're quite catchy and worth watching for.

June Star (1998) Self Release