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 This
is how Jason Boland associates the difference
between his brand new record and those in the
band’s collective past. When it comes to making
music Jason doesn’t feel that one record is the
end-all be-all, but rather emerges as a timepiece,
like the ever-faithful phases of life. And though
his list of publicly proclaimed pet names and
labels have suggested him as the ghost of country
music past, Somewhere in the Middle, Jason Boland
and The Stragglers’ first album release in three
years, delivers a seasoned sonic indulgence
mellowed with age and wiser for the wear.
Jason Boland’s reputation as a
voraciously untamed songsmith and performer has
well preceded him over the years since emerging
first in 1999 at the age of 25. With over 50,000
combined units sold independently, and backed by a
fierce band of the musically well endowed, the
Stragglers are Roger Ray (pedal steel, lead/rhythm
guitar), Brad Rice (drums/backing vocals), and
Grant Tracy (bass). Additional record
contributions goes to Noah Jeffries on banjo,
mandolin, and guitar.
Let it be a warning to all:
“Mellow” in this case does in no way translate
to lukewarm. In fact, the irons in this fire come
out blazing with the record’s first track Hank.
Even upon first listening, if you didn’t know
any better, you would swear that Jason Boland is
linked to the Jennings’ gene with his baritone
saunter combined with Tracy’s bouncy bass line.
“Dirty Fighting Love,” co-written with Red
Dirt favorite Stoney LaRue, reigns with the grudge
of a bitter lead guitar stopping for breaks in the
desolate land of a heartbreak hang over. Love Song
approaches with seemingly exhausted warning of not
how love is lost, but rather how it is gained,
while Mary whines with the prowess of Ray’s
pedal steel combined with Rice’s surrendering
groove so smooth it would make Jergen’s jealous.
With guest appearances from Billy Joe Shaver, Red
Dirt pioneer Randy Crouch, Kathleen O’Keefe,
Stoney LaRue, and Reckless Kelly’s Cody Braun,
Somewhere in the Middle is sure not to disappoint.
The title of this album is ironic
in the way of its location being somewhat of a
familiar place to Jason—who has been caught
since early on somewhere between mainstream and up
the proverbial creek without a paddle. That is
until radio started flexing some muscle by
exercising fans requests going way outside the
lines of the Top 40 mandate. Initial spins were
quick to prove that fans were a little more
interested in quality than quantity. The band’s
debut album release of Pearl Snaps in 1999 put
them on the map of the working musician. Truck
Stop Diaries released in 2001 landed them the
rarefied #1 spot on the Texas Music chart with
“Travelin Jones,” and the Gruene with Envy
Album of the Year Award, an awards ceremony based
solely on votes by the fans. Live and Loud at
Billy Bob’s was their next release in 2002
winning them the Gruene with Envy Live Album of
the Year as well as securing them a Top 20 spot
with Mexico or Crazy before the single had even
been released.
Jason has been called everything
from the surfacing king of alt-swing to an outlaw,
and in some cases even a liability. But all in
all, at the end of the day what you have here are
five guys who have been instrumental in putting
quality music back on the radio airwaves, on the
covers of magazines nationwide and on the lips of
music goers everywhere.
Produced by Lloyd Maines, Grammy
award winning producer for the Dixie Chicks’
smash album Home, and brought to you by the Smith
Music Group whose series of “Live at Billy
Bob’s” releases have boosted Texas music
record sales by 53%, fans can expect the new album
unleashing by summers’ end.
Interview
PC:
When did you begin your music career?
JB:
really started playing and writing when starting
college in Stillwater in 1993. Went to see The Great
Divide at the Tumbleweed and they played Steve
Earle's "Copperhead Road" and it was all
over at that point.
PC:
Who are your main musical influences?
JB:
Waylon, Townes, Steve Earle, Willie...all the
standards
PC:
Where can someone get copies of your CD's "Truckstop
Diaries", " Live and Lit at Billys
Bob's", and "Pearl Snaps"?
JB:
at any show, most Best Buys and Wal-Marts, pretty
soon on www.thestragglers.com
along with www.lonestarmusiccom.com
or www.texasmusicroundup.com
PC:
What approach do you take when writing your songs?
Do you have any specific routine?
JB:
Songs just got to come to you. Sometimes it's
something that happens to you or a friend, maybe
something you hear about. The personal stories
always make the best songs cause they carry more
emotion. Two ways to write a song: either write
something extraordinary about something ordinary, or
write something ordinary about something
extraordinary. Billy Joe Shaver is one of the best
at taking something extraordinary and putting it in
ordinary words with amazing impact.(specific
routine)When it happens, it happens. You can't force
yourself to be inspired.
PC:
Decribe what Texas music is all about to you?
JB:
Texas or Red Dirt or whatever people are calling it
these days is really just music that means
something. It's not a song written in a cube by song
machines that will be sung by some karoke star. It's
become a huge family really, all living our dreams
and helping the rest getting a little farther up the
road
PC:
(Texas Music artist is like one big family, everyone
helps each other out)is this true?
JB:
(see above) Yeah, get us together around a campfire
or if someone gets their gear ripped off. Maybe
other music scenes around the nation are the same
way but we feel we have something special. Like all
the musicians that worked benefits when I made my
accident, when Randy's (from Cross Canadian Ragweed)
sister was killed, John Evans' band got their
trailer stolen, we've all been through something
made easier by those around us.
PC:
I've got four songs. If you don't mind, I was
wondering if you could go over how they came about
or what was going at the time.
"Telephone
Romeo"
JB:
loosely based on phone sex but you don't have to
print that
"Somewhere
Down In Texas"
JB:
standard ballad about chasing a girl
"Proud
Souls"
JB:
going through a rough time in Stillwater, wrote for
therapy
"Truckstop
Diaries"
JB:
broke down on my home one day, spent the day in a
truckstop
PC:
If you had to pick one song that you have written
that you are most proud of,what song would that be
and why?
JB:
Hard to pick just one, many of them mean so much to
me at different points of my life. Proud Souls of
course is up there, a couple new ones from the next
album coming out are going to be up there. Seems the
best songs can come from the parts of life.
PC:
What's your fondest career memory so far?
JB:
so many to list but a show in Fayetteville, AR when
Stoney Larue and Randy Crouch played with us, might
have been the most fun the band as a whole has had
on stage. Just a great night. Of course shows like
Wolfdance, Billy Bob's, going back to Stillwater,
PC:
What CD would be found in your CD player right now?
JB:
anything by Gram Parsons, Waylon, Billy Joe Shaver,
Burtschi Brothers
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CD:
"Somewhere In The Middle"
1. "Hank"
2. When I'm Stoned
3. Somewhere In The Middle
4. If You Want To Hear A Love Song
5. Back To You
6. Stand Up To The Man
7. Radio's Misbehaving
8. Dirty Fightin' Love
9. 12 oz. Curls
10. Mary
11. Thunderbird Wine
12. Hell or Bust
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$14.99 Buy it now at Lonestarmusic.com
Tour Schedule:
July 16, Stampede El Paso, TX
July 22, Woodward Elks PRCA
Rodeo & Dance Woodward, OK
July 30, Boulder County Fair
Boulder, CO
July 31, The Stagecoach
Franktown, CO
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