New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On May 18, Low Cut Connie will release Dirty Pictures (Part 2) via Contender Records. For their fifth and most fully-realized album to date, the band travelled from their home turf of South Philadelphia to the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN where they cut their critically-acclaimed 2017 release Dirty Pictures (Part 1). Today, NPR Music premeries "Beverly," the first single to be released from the forthcoming album.
NPR Music's Alison Fensterstock said, "'Beverly' leaves its spare, poignant string intro quickly behind, snowballing downhill into a glam-tinged piano plea for re-connection and recovery of what's been lost. Stretching songwriting muscles to encompass the wider, complicated spectrum of human emotion, after all, need not preclude a breathless rager of a performance." Stream "Beverly" via YouTube:
Weiner tells NPR Music that the new album is "...character driven, exploring the way people and their emotional lives are a little more than this bar-culture thing that we had been doing for a while."
While Dirty Pictures (Part 1)'s grimey take on American life found the band digging deeper into the dirt, Part 2 finds them climbing out with their most mature, emotional and cathartic record to date. Piano-pounding frontman / songwriter Adam Weiner explains the ragged but hopeful characters that live on the new record this way: "If you spend a lot of time in divey bars, Waffle House counters, and Burger Kings you'll meet some really mixed-up beautiful people. Those are the people that end up in my songs."
Ever present on Part 2 is frontman Adam Weiner's $100 junker piano named Shondra: the ragged-but-right backbone for Low Cut Connie's boogie strain of rock n roll. Guitarists James Everhart and Will Donnelly weave soulful and scuzzy guitars over drummer Larry "Smooth-Head" Scotton and bassist Lucas Rinz's ace rhythm section. The result is what Rolling Stone recently described in their review of Dirty Pictures (Part 1) as "...a mix of Seventies Stones (but dirtier), the New York Dolls (but tighter) and Jerry Lee Lewis (but Westerberg-ier)...with an extra sense of bare-knuckled grit and sonic thwump to fight against the darkness."
The band has also fleshed out their lineup with longtime Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings singer Saundra Williams. "When I play with these guys, I feel at home. It's natural. And the love they have for their fans, that love comes back to them. It's incredible to be a part of," explains Williams.
Over the past 7 years and a now annual 100 shows a year, the band has grown their cult following to include fans like President Barack Obama, who included their song "Boozophilia" on his summer Spotify summer playlist and invited Weiner to the White House. Last year, Sir Elton John made the band a staple on his Beats 1 radio show Rocket Hour and invited Weiner on the show for an interview where they discussed the importance of naming your piano and the legacy of piano-based rock n roll.
The band has just announced their first major tour of 2018 which includes stops in Philadelphia, New York, and Los Angeles alongside festivals like Bonnaroo, Pickathon, Bottlerock, Treefort, Savannah Stopover, SXSW and more. Find a full list of tour dates below.
In May of 2017, Low Cut Connie released Dirty Pictures (part 1) which was included on Fresh Air's Top 10 Albums of 2017 (as chosen by music critic Ken Tucker), Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of 2017, Classic Rock Magazine's Top 20 Albums of The Year, Glide Magazine's Top 20 Albums of The Year, the Philadelphia Inquirer's Best 10 albums from Philadelphians in 2017, and music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine's Best Albums of 2017.
Dirty Pictures (Part 2) tracklist:
1) All These Kids Are Way Too High
2) Beverly
3) Oh Suzanne
4) Every Time You Turn Around
5) Hollywood
6) One More Time
7) Master Tapes
8) Please Do Not Come Home
9) Desegregation
10) Hey! Little Child
Tour Dates:
2/09: Asheville, NC - Ellington Underground
3/03: Bethlehem, PA - Musikfest Cafe
3/09: Savannah, GA - Savannah Stopover
3/12-18: Austin, TX - SXSW
3/21: Colorado Springs, CO - Black Sheep
3/22: Fort Collins, CO - Hodi's Half Note
3/24-25: Boise, ID - Treefort Music Festival
3/27: Bozeman, MT - Live From The Divide
3/29: Seattle, WA - Tractor Tavern
3/30: Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
4/03: Sacramento, CA - Holy Diver
4/04: San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
4/05: Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
4/06: Phoenix, AZ - Last Exit Live
4/08: Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre Studio
4/10: St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
5/17: Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
5/18: New York, NY - The Bowery Ballroom
5/26: Napa Valley, CA - BottleRock
6/7-10: Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo
8/3-5: Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
