Patrick Sweany

There are so many days where you wake up and feel like cracking a cold beer right away. You wake up and you just feel like you need a beer. It doesn't make you an alcoholic, it just makes you reasonably pessimistic, or reasonably worn. You're not setting off to bury the day or to forget that it's happening before it's even occurred, but you'd like some help getting to noon. You'd like to ride a good buzz through the afternoon hours and see where that gets you. You'd like for there to be something or someone to commiserate with in advance, before you're sure what you're going to have to be bummed about. It might call for a beer or it might call for some Maker's Mark. You'll know when you get there and you might not have to wait too long to find out. Seems like you can find who your real friends are by sticking with the ones who don't cluck their tongues at you for drinking before noon, by taking stock in the ones who don't hesitate to crack one open right beside you when they see you digging in. Patrick Sweany's song, "Million To Me," could be the anthem for these days of early nipping, of trying to get some perspective on what's happening around you. Here, the Ohio-born songwriter is casually accounting for the things he holds most dear in life and everything else can be damned, for the most part. Bukowski's greatest wish in life would have been to have a small home, rent paid forever and a fridge filled with enough to eat and drink for the same amount of time. It's not far off from where we hear Sweany coming from. The longtime buddy and former bandmate with Black Key main man Dan Auerbach, Sweany sings about how the phone calls that he gets are usually just to tell him that something bad's happened. Of course, that would make you never want to answer any of your rings. He seems to be a man who's boiled the fat out of the meat, working that marble into the taste, getting rid of the excess and taking it down to a great cut. His bluesy hoarseness gives him that unmistakable lived in quality, a tip-off that he's had himself rearranged a time or two and he's got the chunks ripped out of his hide to prove it. When he sizes up his days, he rationalizes that he doesn't need much and he believes that everyone should be able to relate. Some things are important and most things are not. He sings on "Same Thing," "I just want a little butter sometimes on my daily bread/Everybody wants the same things." He mentions how a good soul singer always makes him cry and though he'd never give himself credit for it, he's just as effective at it. He's like Joe Cocker raspily giving us the self-deprecating line and affirmation, "Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song/And I'll try not to sing out of key," knowing fully that singing out of key is one of the things that doesn't matter a bit. He sings on "Million To Me," "Every morning I just hear these songs/That's a million to me," and that's his world. That's a morning where you can do a traditional bowl of cereal, some pancakes and eggs or a beer and you're gonna be alright. You're gonna be okay with yourself. - Daytrotter

21st century blues - Fans of new-school blues rockers like Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi and JJ Grey should get to know Patrick Sweany. He expertly balances his love for classic blues and indie rock, (but) the stars of the show are the dude's gruff howl and chunky riffage. - Justin Farrar, Rhapsody.com Music Editor

This impressive collection of tunes announces Sweany as Northeast Ohio's next great talent.

- Jeff Neisel, Music Editor

His music has a loose, aggresive edge, but in his quiter moments, Sweany recalls the supple beauty of Ry Cooder's 70s readings of Depression-era pop blues. - Mojo Magazine (UK)

At age 32, Massillon, OH native Patrick Sweany has been building a strong reputation as a talented original blues performer with a schedule that includes more than 150 gigs a year, including Merlefest, King Biscuit, Eureka Springs Blues Fest and the St. Louis Riverfront Fest. Recently, he was added to the CMJ Rock Hall of Fame Festival and The Cincinnati Blues Festival. His current CD, C’mon C’mere is outstanding. It’s one of the featured CDs on the No Depression website and is currently pushing its way toward the top 10 of the Roots Music Report airplay charts for blues. - Buffalo Artvoice

To say Patrick Sweany is just a blues musician is like saying Coke is just a soft drink. A Sweany set can veer from soulful, slow burn, John Lee Hooker-style blues to swampy, delta-country pickin' to white-hot rockabilly. A solo fixture in Akron from the Lime Spider to the Zephyr Pub, Sweany also fronts a combo, the Patrick Sweany Band, which just released its second full-length, C'mon C'mere. - Cleveland Scene

"Patrick Sweany may hail from the industrial town of Akron, Ohio, but the music he plays is all over the map. The 11 self-penned cuts which make up Every Hour Is a Dollar Gone, his fourth and strongest album to date, swagger and swing from the Led Zeppelin-influenced blues-rock opener “After Awhile” and the lazy, grinding groover “Them Shoes” to the audible hints of ‘60s garage raunch ‘n’ roll on instrumental “Burma Jones”. Elsewhere, Sweany deftly touches on a crooning ragtime revival with gazoo ("Two or Three") and guitar ("Mom and Dad"), while longtime friend and collaborator Dan Auerbach of local duo the Black Keys steps up to provide backing vocals (he also produced the album) for bluesy rocker “Think About It”. But it’s the handful of excellent soul tunes, like the rhythmic cha- cha-shuffle of “Million to Me” and the smouldering gospel-blues on “Hotel Women” with their echoes of Sam Cooke and Marv Johnson, that bind this record together and capture the Rust Belt rocker’s soulful drawl." - Alan Brown

A few years ago at the Blues & Heritage Festival in Wheeling, WV, I heard Patrick Sweany getting down. I wasn't surprised at the power and proficiency in his blues, because I'd heard him before...one of his original songs devastated me, because I've sure enough lived it. I wished I'd written it. He sat in with me and Pinetop Perkins at our concert there, and I knew I had to introduce him to you. - Blues Revue

"Sweany has the kind of voice Dan Penn used to turn into Gold." - Lindsay Millar

"His appearance earlier this year at a KRSH 95.9-FM listener's party was the talk of the town...Sweany is rawer than ever. Every Hour Is A Dollar gone is his best work yet." - Gabe Meline - North Bay Bohemian

For those who love the Blues but are bored with the tight-assed "white guys in blazers" style and prefer something more adventurous, Sweany is a slam-dunk. The new album is a start-to-finish thrill, partly due to the singer/songwriter/guitarist's lack of "stick to the script" Blues theory. Sweany dips into the more folksy side of Blues, slinky R&B, early Rock & Roll, '70s Blues Rock and dirty Garage Blues. That's not to say that Sweany is for White Stripes fans only; the man has mad-crazy skills in whatever style he's exploring and redecorating, something even the staunchest "back in my day" curmudgeon is sure to appreciate if they give it an open-minded listen. - Mike Breen

Patrick speaks the truth in his songs. - WCPN Radio Interview