Tedo Stone

Throw that pumpkin spice latte in the garbage where it belongs and let Atlanta songwriter Tedo Stone push you face-first into fall with "Mind Wasted." The homegrown folk singer charms on the third single from his forthcoming LP Marshes with a boyish maturity that came from playing gigs in biker bars by the time he was twelve. Basically, he's seen some shit. Described as a Etsy-fied Neil Young, there's a bit of a Burger Records garage quailty that pulls at your heart strings, especially as the autumn makes its long-awated entrance. Stream "Mind Wasted" below and pre-order Marshes here, officially out this Friday, September 18 via This Is American Music. - Noisey

Load Tedo Stone’s new album Marshes into iTunes and it proudly self-categorizes as Indie Rock. To me, though, that’s too confining a descriptor—it doesn’t do justice to Stone’s reverb-laden majesty or to his classic Southern rock melodicism. Perhaps a better genre identifier would come from simply borrowing the name of Stone’s record label: This Is American Music.

“I first heard My Morning Jacket around the time they put out Z,” Stone happily concedes over lunch at the Carroll St. Café in his Cabbagetown neighborhood. “I’ve probably seen them live like 15 times, so I can see how some of that has soaked in.” As the baby of the family, the Covington native grew up with a myriad of earlier influences as well. His older brother years—16 years his senior—was into the Allman Brothers and Grateful Dead, while one of his sisters was a “textbook 90s alternative kid.” Stone’s father played in R&B tribute bands in his younger days. “I remember being mesmerized even before I could get my hands around the guitar, sitting with my dad on the bed and him playing ‘Mustang Sally.’”

Tedo (short for Theodore, a nickname he shares with a great uncle; “It’s on my debit card, even,” as Stone demonstrates to me) acknowledges that Marshes reflects the first time he’s really found his sound. Even so, the album still isn’t the work of a stable, cohesive band—counting on both hands he tallies eight contributors to the album overall, with the touring band (save for the drummer) drawn from that cohort. “As soon as these new guys started playing together, the old stuff just took on a new life,” he marvels, with the keyboard lines of his 2013 debut full-length Good Go Bad now reworked into a classic two-guitar rock context. “I’m the only one (in the band) not living in Athens,” where they’ve done most of their recording. “I almost feel like we’re more connected to that scene.”

Stone went to college at Ole Miss, where he played a supporting role in the band Ramblehorse with his pal Chip Bradley, but he’s been writing and home recording his own material since high school. He released his first solo EP (“it has kind of a country twang,” he offers) in 2012 after moving back to Atlanta. “I was kind of late on the draw. Most of the guys I play with are four or five years younger,” though you’d never know it from looking at the baby-faced 28-year-old.

Marshes was originally envisioned as an EP as well, with Stone recording its initial three songs soon after Good Go Bad. “Then I moved to New Orleans for six months, collected myself, went through some things….” he trails off. Sure enough, Marshes bears the markings of an album fueled by that tried and true catalyst, romantic turmoil. Check the irresistible refrain that propels the opening title track: “I’ll be fine/Ain’t the first time that you left.” Stone says he wrote most of the album in a creative burst during a trip with buddies to St. Simons Island, repeatedly slipping away to sing ideas into his iPhone.

During a Sunday night set at the EARL in East Atlanta the band sounds impressively tight and full-bodied; I was shocked to learn later it was the quartet’s first show with new drummer Chris Mala. “To the Marshes” stands out as the calling card, but the insistent guitar line of the winding “Mind Wasted” reaches lofty heights as well. Stone has drawn comparisons to Dinosaur Jr., which makes sense on denser fuzzed-out tracks like “Way Gone,” but the similarity owes mostly to Tedo’s reedy voice. Personally I hear more Neil Young and Jim James than J Mascis.

Stone has had plenty of time to hone his live chops. “Maybe for my 11th birthday my brother gave me an old bass of his, and I started playing in a buddy’s basement with a group of guys three or four years older than me,” he recounts. “We ended up playing a motorcycle bar in Covington, stuff like Smashing Pumpkins, and we had a couple of originals we did. They made us call our parents, like ‘y’all can’t be in here without an adult.’ There was a rough, motley crew of guys sitting at the bar and they were not havin’ it,” he laughs in retrospect. But the show was not quite a one-off. “One of the other guys’ dad was a preacher and we had a concert in his church sanctuary on a Saturday night.”

With Tedo Stone and his quartet embarking on a more far-reaching itinerary to spread the gospel of Marshes, their barroom-ready rock is poised to receive more spirited Saturday night receptions. - Georgia Music Magazine

Tedo Stone’s rock ‘n roll origin story seems almost too authentic to be real, the type you might expect from some fabled early 20th century bluesman, but certainly not from a modern-day twenty-something with a Bandcamp page. But Stone did in fact grow up in a musical family in Covington, Georgia, a small town you might happen to find yourself in if you somehow managed to get lost trying to make your way from Atlanta to Athens. By the age of 12, Stone was already well on his way, fronting a band that he toured through the motorcycle bars of greater Covington. A more badass way to hone your chops, we cannot imagine.

By 2013, Stone was all grown up and living in Atlanta when he released his first proper album, Good Go Bad. As is often the case with debut efforts, however, Stone didn’t yet feel like he’d truly come into his own. That would change soon thereafter when he started playing around Athens and developing a raw, often-snarling, often-sweet live sound that’s about as close to the guts of American rock ’n roll as one can get, albeit with a little psychedelic undercurrent. Think Dinosaur Jr. meets Neil Young meets a mason jar full of sweet tea and bourbon before mason jars started trending on Etsy (go ahead and throw a smidge of Deerhunter in there, too). Knowing he was on to something, Stone rushed into the studio to lay it all down, live and straight to tape, as we can only assume is customary when you’re a musician from Covington, G.A. What resulted were 10 new tracks that would go on to make up Stone’s second album, Marshes, which will be available September 18 on This Is American Music. - Impose

Tedo Stone’s listed influences range from John Prine to David Bowie, and surely his unlisted influences are even more varied. One would think juggling such diverse inspirations might create a disjointed and inconsistent sound, but that’s not the case with Stone.

His music infuses alt-country and rock with elements of psychedelic, electronic and indie rock. Any given song may be based around a fuzzed out guitar line, a swelling synth, or a mellow acoustic guitar, but Stone’s echoey vocals and catchy melodies always tie everything together.

Stone and his band released a well-received EP last year and followed up with the release of his first full length, Good Go Bad, earlier this month. Check out Tedo Stone’s catchy single “Big As The Ocean” from Good Go Bad in the player below. - PASTE

I guess you could call Tedo Stone southern rock—if you let that term steep in southern soul and squeeze it through a modern indie filter before it gets out the door. So let’s do that and get to the fact that Stone engages in all kinds of seeming contradictions on Good Go Bad: tense processed vocals over relaxed percussion, soulful vocals over distorted and tense arrangements, patient ballads, cosmic wanderings, places where it sounds like the spirits of T. Rex and Muscle Shoals are making out.


Stone’s influences are all over Good Go Bad, but underneath it all is a collection of fine songs with a heavy storytelling side which would no doubt sound mighty fine if stripped down to an acoustic guitar. As a listener, you’re of two minds at the end: 1) let’s hope he keeps that diversity and restless spirit, and 2) imagine what he’ll do when he finds his One True Voice. - PopMatters

ATL rock guy Tedo Stone and his backing band the Cosmic Supermoon set out on Midwestern tour last week (Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and a recording session with Daytrotter) to commemorate the release of Stone's debut full-length Good Go Bad.

Stone has been playing around town for a few years, and started recording Good Go Bad two years ago. His soul-inspired vocals and fuzzy guitar rock are retro in a kinda sunny '70s vibe, but retro in a kinda early '00s vibe as well. Most of the tracks from Good Go Bad can be triangulated looking back at tunes recorded a decade ago, stuff like that of the Strokes (garagey, anthemic, and mid-tempo), Ted Leo (clearly enunciated vocals, strong rock underpinning), and Taylor Hollingsworth (guitar-focused and singer-songwritery).

Like those bands, Stone picks an emotional range and sticks with it for a song, though the mellow piano and organ on "Time" move things from a delicate waltz to a more rousing rocker. A tuneful songwriter, Stone never overloads his songs with too many effects, though he does heavily favor some vocal filters. Horns on the album opener "As Big as the Ocean" or the solid organ lines on "High" add punch. And "Circles," a vocals-and-ukelele tune, was recorded on Stone's cell phone - it's charmingly minimal and lightweight.

Stone handles vocals and guitar duties with the Cosmic Supermoon, backed by Atlanta guitarist Clay Houle (Brain) and an Athens-based rhythm section, bassist Frank Keith IV (Frank and the Stranglers, the District Attorneys), drummer Grafton Tanner (Space Ghost). Good Go Bad is out now via This is American Music. - Creative Loafing

The beat with which Tedo Stone’s debut LP Good Go Bad opens – on a song called “Big as the Ocean” – immediately recalls Charlie Watts. Indeed, Stone’s drummer, Grafton Tanner, plays with the same laid-back confidence that brought classic Stones’ songs and albums like “Honkey Tonk Women” and Exile on Main St. to life. But when Stone’s voice enters, the tune takes on more of a glam feel. The fuzzy guitars – in combination with the vocals and drums – make the song sound like Bolan fronting Faces.

But Stone doesn’t want Good Go Bad to be an exercise in idol worship, even though it occasionally sounds that way. He’s far more eclectic than that in the way he combines his influences. The title track is a mid-tempo pop song, with solid melodies in the verses and the choruses, and the horns have a beefy vibe that recalls Chicago.

On “Taste,” Stone distorts his lead vocals, and the song benefits from a keyboard riff that brings Good Go Bad from the 70s’ feel of the first two tracks to the 80s – but not completely. The new wave keyboards combine with Stone’s and fellow guitarist Clay Houle’s licks (they sound like Keith and Ronnie more than Keith and Mick Taylor) to generate a somewhat original sound. But the song retains the mellow groove of the first two cuts.

Stone bases “Who” on an 80s-sounding synth pattern and a folky acoustic guitar. Here his vocal sounds like Devendra Banhart. The vocal and electric guitar melodies, as well as the synth washes that enter, are truly beautiful. And because the tune is slower than the pervious three tracks, it breathes new life into the record and a much-needed change of pace.

“Back Again” returns to the glam rock elements of “Big as the Ocean.” It sounds like one of those slow 50s’ parodies that Bowie plays on Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane. But Stone plays it straight – and it’s good to see him abandoning the influence of The Rolling Stones. I can imagine kids dancing to this track in some futuristic time when sock hops come back into style.

“Circles” begins with a delicately played acoustic and whole lot of echo on Stone’s voice. The song sounds like homemade folk – and definitely is a change of pace from the rest of the record. It’s the most intimate sounding song in the set. It’s also the most introspective. “Circles” makes you realize that Stone can take his music in any direction he wants and excel. He could just as easily fit on a bill with Banhart, Andrew Bird, and Joanna Newsom as he could with T. Rex and The Stones.

But Good Go Bad never sits still for long – it’s that eclectic, functioning both as a Stone-created Spotify playlist and an old-time jukebox. On “High,” Tanner and bassist Frank Keith IV lay down a terrific groove, over which Stone sings a catchy melody and the guitars shine. It’s the first true pop song on the record – and it’s wonderful.

“Time” returns Stone to the balladry of “Back Again,” has a terrific vocal melody, and shares that song’s 50s’ vibe. But – again – the lyrics are more earnest than what Bowie and his contemporaries did with similar sounds during the glam period. But the best part of the song is when Stone and Houle step on their pedals and add some powerful, organ-backed blasts of guitar. “Time” is a great song.

“War” – the penultimate song on the record – clocks in at 5:10, which is a significantly longer running time than the rest of the songs on Good Go Bad. At its heart, the tune is a piano ballad that has a sort of Elton John vibe at the beginning – but the song becomes ominous as the guitars and drums escalate its intensity. The distorted guitars, in particular, transform this song, which could have settled into standard piano balladry, into something more special.

Stone closes the album with a track called “Downtown,” which begins with his voice and an electric guitar. The song builds as Tanner’s solid beat enters (you can imagine fans at a gig clapping to this one). But then Tanner changes the rhythmic pattern, and synths and glam-era guitars enter. Stone’s vocal melody makes the song anthemic, as does the guitar solo – the best on the record (even though it sounds a tad like Oasis).

Ultimately, a record like Good Go Bad is a double-edged sword. It’s cool to see an artist amalgamating his influences into such a cool, eclectic brew – and it’s terrific to see an artist who’s willing to experiment with various influences. But the downside is that it’s obvious that Stone – despite the high quality of his songs – hasn’t discovered his voice yet. The easiness with which one picks out his influences makes this obvious.

All in all, Good Go Bad is a solid debut effort that’s packed with great tunes. Let’s just hope that it promises a future when the influences become less transparent and Stone’s own musical voice comes to the fore a bit more.

—Paul Gleason - Caught In The Carousel

Smooth melodies, haunting vocals and soothing rhythms make for one damn fine album of tunes, and that is exactly what Atlanta’s Tedo Stone has put together. Piecing together sounds from multiple genres like a musical mad scientist, Stone has offered up Happy, his debut EP. Full of some of the sweetest sounds to enter your ear hole, the 6 tracks have a classic feel while sounding fresh and new.

Tunes like “Cold Floor” and “Brand New” are filled with killer pedal steel guitar licks underneath Stone’s dark haunting vocals. The EP mellows out with the smooth and soulful “Happy” and “I Want To Be Your Man” and ends on a rocking not with the guitar driven “My Oh My”. The gem of the record is easily “Eastwood”. Asking the question “how many times do I have to kill you”, the song answers with some bad ass psychedelic western guitars with the right amount of fuzziness. It is able to be new and fresh while reeking of old western movies.Tedo Stone’s music lies somewhere between The Jayhawks and Gram Parsons, and then heavily dosed with psychedelic fuzziness. With a perfect blend of old and new Happy is a fresh listen and a treat to the ears. Stone’s music is worth checking out, and is another great example of a thriving music scene here in Atlanta. - Atlanta Music Examiner

TEDO STONE

“Happy”

Tedo Stone, frå Athens, Georgia, spelar countrysoul med ein overvekt av country. Men også rock og blues. Mannen har ei særprega stemme og skriv sterke tekstar. Spesielt ”Eastwood” der tekst saman med lydbilete skapar ein nesten skremmannde stemning. Og eg håpar at dette berre er oppvarminga på ei full plateutgjeving. For dette er så bra at det er behov for meir. Nok ei utgjeving som har fått mange omgangar på iPhone og stereoanlegg. - Firdaposten