NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Obuck Records) - Pennsylvania-based roots-rock band The Youngers boldly stake their claim as one of the most promising and vital bands in
America with a stunning new album due out this fall, followed by a North American tour in support of the album.
Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Todd Bartolo funnels the vibrant energy of a hard-charging, up-and-coming rock band through the sieve of his disparate influences. At times country, at times rock, the music is always spot on and informed by some of the great storytellers of American songwriting tradition including Springsteen, Neil Young and Gram Parsons. But while he has an ear open to what came before, he never plants both feet in the past. He confidently pushes the country-rock cannon forward by honoring his mentors without imitating them.
When it came time to cut the new album, the band turned to producer John Carter Cash (only son of the legendary Johnny and June Carter Cash). They recorded at the historic Cash Cabin studio in Hendersonville, Tenn. The result is Heritage, available online Sept. 9, 2008, on the band's own Obuck Records imprint. Early industry feedback has resulted in a newly inked deal with Burnside Distribution and will land Heritage in stores on October 21, 2008. Bartolo and his Younger cohorts Randy Krater (Bass and Vocals) and Justin Schaefer (Drums and Percussion) land in that sweet, almost-impossible-to-find intersection of the past and present where old and new combine to create the extraordinary. When it works, as it does here, the results sound at once strangely familiar and still progressive.
The Youngers were joined on Heritage by an all-star supporting cast including John Carter Cash (Percussion), Laura Cash (Fiddle), Ronnie McCoury of The Del McCoury Band (Mandolin), and legendary Waylon Jennings' pedal steel player Ralph Mooney. James Harton (Hammond B3, Piano) and former Younger Jesse Nocera (Guitars) also joined Bartolo and company in the studio.
This new collection swirls with chiming guitars, strident vocals and intuitive storytelling. From the opening, sing-along anthem "Heartbreaker" to the closing down-beat epic "Downtown," The Youngers capture the heartbreak, hopes, dreams, despair and joy of a new generation. And tapping into universal themes that everyone has experienced and conveying them in a way that resonates with their peers is what Heritage is all about.
