The Black Oil Brothers
Chicago, IL | Established. Jan 01, 2008 | INDIE
Music
Press
Hailing from Chicago, blues trio The Black Oil Brothers‘ sound is 100-percent pure Mississippi. The band’s debut, Long Way From The Delta, actually sounds like it was recorded right in the heart of it, with soul-stirring blues from start to finish. Don’t let their youth fool you: these guys are well-versed in their blues history, and have captured the sound perfectly from the harmonica solos and smooth harmonies, to the dueling acoustics and mandolins, right down to the old-school story-telling lyrics. (www.theblackoilbrothers.com)
– Carter Moss - Illinois Entertainer
As ever, we ask the question: Why Should You Care?
Well, you should care because the Black Oil Brothers create an amalgam of Country and Blues not beholden to contemporary "alt" whatever, forging their sound from a deeper well, stripping away the trappings of contemporary naval-gazing to find a purer sound. Strapped to the concrete acreage of the big, big city, the Black Oil Brothers find the wide open spaces of beyond, and the smallness of life lived in overgrown yards and back porches lit by fireflies.
Regret and bad choices made in the midnight hour, then. The kind of Country record we love so dearly.
On their new record, Long Way From The Delta (scroll down for album link), the Black Oil Brothers pile us into the pickup truck and take us down the road a fur piece to the end of the line, literally and figuratively. On "Going For Broke", we get a loose-string laden chugging meditation on love and loss. "Robert From Hibbing" (our favorite tune) is a classic drinking song that posits the relationship between the aspiring songwriter and the immortal bard, Robert Zimmerman, and features the classic lines, "I want to be Bob Dylan/But I play the guitar wrong/So I guess I won't be singing her this song". And "Wednesday Afternoon" is a gloriously muted, mandolin-driven hoedown that's guaranteed to find you on the rare mid-week day off, feet kicked up, beverage of choice gripped in hand, singing lustily to the sky.
If you're in the Chicago area at the end of June, be sure to check out the band for their record release party at Quenchers on June 26th. We'll be there. - The Real Big Rock Candy Mountain Blog
Discography
The Black Oil Brothers- The High Road To Ruin (2011 full-length)
Bethany Saint-Smith & The Black Oil Brothers- American Honey EP (2010 EP)
The Black Oil Brothers- Long Way From The Delta (2009 full-length)
The Black Oil Brothers Steal From Thieves (2007 EP)
Photos
Bio
Theres a source in rock n roll music, a well from which most of the great musicians and songwriters have drank deeply. Born in the Mississippi delta and raised on the streets of Chicagos south side, The Blues is often recognized as the source. The Black Oil Brothers draw from the same well our heroes have, but what comes out is invariably our own. Utilizing everything we can beg borrow or steal acoustic, electric and resonator steel guitars, banjos, harmonicas, mandolins, drums, shakers, 3-part harmonies we create the music that lets your ears know that there aint a damn thing wrong with the sound of a good man feeling bad. Such is the blues. Finding outlets in music that turns heartbreak into ass shake. Such is the music of The Black Oil Brothers and it very well may be saving our souls. Let us save yours.
See The Black Oil Brothers on tour across America (and the UK/Europe) in 2014 promoting their upcoming LP.
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