New York, NY (Top40 Charts) LEE ROCKER of The Stray Cats fame today (12/10) announced the January 22 release of his new solo album GATHER ROUND on Upright Records (his label distributed through Orchard). Get ready to "Gather Round," start "Pickin' and Grinnin,'" enjoy a "Dirty Martini," do the "Doghouse Shuffle" and place a bid at the "Graceland Auction."
GATHER ROUND marks the Grammy-nominated upright bass player, singer and songwriter's first album of all-original music since 2007's
Black Cat Bone (Alligator Records). The sizzling 10-track rockabilly album was produced by ROCKER (vocal, string bass), who is joined by Buzz Campbell (guitar, backing vocal), Larry Mitchell (drums, percussion) and Matt Jordan (piano, organ).Two songs with videos -"Doghouse Shuffle" and "Pickin' and Grinnin'" - are now available, with a third track/video due out ahead of the album's release. Pre-order the album here and watch the trailer here.
Most of the songs on GATHER ROUND were written after the pandemic started. "My wife Deborah and I hit the road in our airstream and criss-crossed the country from California to New York and back," shares ROCKER. "We rolled through 20 states from north to south and from east to west. In addition to the pandemic, the presidential election was raging. I wrote songs and music and drove 6,000 miles. It's been year filled with global disaster and uncertainty. It's also been a time of introspection and for me a time to reimagine how to record an album under these circumstances.
"When we returned to Southern California," he elaborates, "I booked a studio to record in one day week for months. I played many of the instruments myself and had my band, Buzz Campbell, Larry Mitchell and Matt Jordan send me their tracks from remote home studios."
Opening track "Gather Round" powerfully gets the album rolling." It's a song of positivity, of love, joy and happiness. When I wrote and now listen to the song, I feel like I'm raising my middle finger high in the air and waving it to 2020."
"Graceland Auction," explains ROCKER, "came about by my lifelong obsession with Presley. I've been a bit of a collector and have bid and bought various Elvis stuff. "It makes me laugh and it makes me want to cry."
"The Last
Offline Lovers" is a song "I wrote to my wife Deborah. We've been together for 32 years and she has been my inspiration, love, and strength. All of the instruments on this are acoustic and I played all of them with the exception of the drums performed by Larry Mitchell."
Another album highlight is "When Nothing's Going Right," a song ROCKER wrote that appears on the Stray Cats' album last year, 40. "This is the original version I recorded before the Stray Cats' version. I feel it has that spark of original fire."
ROCKER minces no words and looks to brighter day on "Pickin' and Grinnin." He says: "I wrote this song as my statement on Trump and the dividing of this country which I love. We all need to reside in the UNITED states of America. Come together gather round. I know that we all can't agree on everything but we should be able to agree we live in a democracy and that every four years we have an election that should be respected."
ROCKER's infectious party spirit is in full effect on "'Dog House Shuffle." "It's just plain fun! It's really my tribute to the original rocking bass players that have influenced me so much. These guys are in a way the unsung heroes of rockabilly and early rock. We've incorporated these players into the video."
Last year, in a multiple-page feature in the new Bass Player magazine (December 2019), ROCKER was asked about his ability to come up with fresh rockabilly bass-lines. He says: "I'm still discovering things. I still have revelations: 'how did I not think of this before?' There are a lot of different rhythms and slaps, and different ways to walk your bass-lines. There's only 12 notes but there's an infinite number of ways to play them."
The GATHER ROUND track listing is:
1. Gather Round
2. Graceland Auction
3. The Last
Offline Lovers
4. Everybody Wants to be A Cat
5. Pickin' and Grinnin'
6. Every Time I See You
7. A Dirty Martini
8. When Nothing's Going Right
9. Dog House Shuffle
10. Ophelia
Lee Rocker made his mark singing, playing, standing on, spinning and rocking his giant upright bass in the legendary music group The Stray Cats. Grammy-nominated, The Stray Cats have sold nearly 10 million albums and garnered an astounding 23 gold and platinum certified records worldwide. Founded by Rocker, Brian Setzer, and Slim Jim Phantom, The Stray Cats remain a radio staple, were music video pioneers at the infancy of MTV, and repeatedly brought rockabilly music to the top of the charts. From the cover of the Rolling Stone magazine, to appearing on Saturday Night Live, to headlining music festivals and touring with the Rolling Stones, Lee Rocker has seen and done it all. In addition to The Stray Cats and the Rolling Stones, Rocker has toured and performed with
George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, and John Fogerty. In 1982, Rocker and his father Stanley Drucker, (classical clarinetist) both received Grammy nominations; this was something that has only occurred twice in the history of the Grammy Awards. In 2012 Lee appeared on Broadway in the hit musical "Million Dollar Quartet" and in 2014 he was inducted into the Bass Player Hall of Fame. Rocker has received numerous honors for his contributions to music and the arts, including being inducted to the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Long Island
Music Hall of Fame and he is a recipient of the Visionary Artist Award by the City of Laguna Beach California. Lee Rocker and his band look forward to touring again and performing Stray Cats hits including "Rock This Town," "Stray Cat Strut" and "Sexy and 17" as well as slamming renditions of songs from his many solo albums.
