THE LONESOME HEROES ARE:
Rich Russell: Vocals, Guitar, & Lap & Pedal Steel.
Landry (Slydry) McMeans: Vocals, Lap Steel, Dobro, Guitar.
Chuck Fleming: Drums.
Jim DeGregorio: Electric Bass
Jeff Johnston: Electric Bass, Saw, Saxophone
Sarah Stolak: Fiddle.
Kullen Fuchs: Muli-instrumentalist/Textural Genuis, trumpet, vibraphone
vox, piano/rhodes/wurli, farfisa/mellotron, melodica, accordion, omnichord, autoharp, slide trumpet, french horn, trombone, guitar, clarinet, bass, occarina, banjo, theremin
A BUNCH OF OTHER LONESOME HEROES MAY SOMETIMES INCLUDE:
Judas Brooks: Spiritual Advisor/Guitar/Bass/Vocals. (????)
Josh Wayne: Flying Burrito Brother/bass/Fiddle/Tamborine/Vocals. (CA/TX)
Michael Bilger: Texas Country Music Consoltant/Upright Bass. (TX)
Burton Lee: Pedal Steel/Dance Making Machine. (TX)
Max Korten: Enviromental Advisor/Bass/Vocals. (CA)
Scott Hinman: Beerded Organs. (TX)
Shelley Herr: Muse/Siren/Melodica/Keyboards. (CA)
Darren Sluyter: George Jones Impersonations/Electric Bass. (TX)
Cary Ozanian: Motorcycle Repair/ Drums. (TX)
Doodle Cox: Good Vibe Machine/Upright Bass. (TX)
Jeff Manson: Artist/Piano. (CA)
James Moore: Ethnomusicologist/Guitar Maestro/Bass (NYC).
Nima Shirazi: Resident John Bonham/Drums. (NYC)
Julz A : Squeezbox Samurai/ Accordian. (NYC)
Influences
Johnny Cash, Beck, Little Cap'n Travis, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Silver Jews, EmmyLou Harris, The Magnetic Fields, Jeffrey Manson, Wilco, Grahm Parsons, Leo Rondeau, Iron and Wine, Little Wings, Hank Williams, Gillian Welch, Luna, Galaxie 500, Will Oldham, Yo La Tengo, The Flaming Lips, Leadbelly, The Gary Newcomb Trio, Smog, Woody Guthrie, Lou Barlow, The Velvet Underground, The Weary Boys, Patti Griffin, Dylan...
Sounds Like
Brooklyn Style Kountry Music. NYC Meets Texas by way of California and Mexico. A postmodern Mariachi ensamble of sorts. A rusty old van. 11 empty Lonestar cans. Josh Wayne on his best day... lots of stuff, but mostly REALLLY AWSOME.
JOIN THE LONESOME HEROES EMAIL LIST
..
VENUES THE LONESOME HEROES HAVE PLAYED:
Emo's, Austin, TX.
The Hole in the Wall, Austin, TX.
The Cactus Cafe, Austin TX.
The Continental Club, Austin, TX.
The Rodeo Bar, NY, NY.
Superfine, Brooklyn, NY.
Sidewalk Cafe, NY, NY.
The Hotel Utah, San Francisco, CA.
The Attic, Santa Cruz CA.
The Town Pump, Ashville, NC.
The Mucky Duck, Houston, TX.
The Granary, Jackson Hole, WY.
Pete's Candy Store, Brooklyn, NY.
Jovita's, Austin, TX.
Eklektikos, KUT 90.5 FM, Austin, TX.
Apocalypse Lounge, NY, NY.
Momo's, Austin, TX.
The Lucky Cat, Brooklyn, NY.
Trophy's, Austin, TX.
Freddy's Place, Austin, TX.
Redrum, Austin, TX.
Room 710, Austin, TX.
The Makeout Room, San Francisco, CA.
The Carousel Lounge, Austin, TX.
Café Mundi, Austin, TX.
The Stork Club, Oakland CA.
The Green Mesquite, Austin, TX.
Jambalaya, Arcata, CA.
Kaos Radio 95.9 FM, Austin, TX.
Maiden Publik House, Big Sur, CA.
Flipnotics, Austin, TX.
The Cinema Bar, Los Angeles, CA.
El Arroyo, Austin, TX.
Beck's, Austin TX.
Herman's Hideaway, Denver, CO.
Triple Crown, San Marcos, TX.
Duffs, Portland, OR.
Alice's Restaurant, Niederwald, TX.
The Fire, Philadelphia, PA.
CHECK OUT THE NEW WILDLIFE SKATEBOARDS PROMO FEATURING "DON'T PLAY TO LOSE" .. >..>
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Our new Record Crooked Highway is now available at CDBaby & Itunes
Check out our Sound Off:
http://www.austinsound.net/2009/02/23/sound-off-the-lonesome-heroes/
"Few young artists have done as much to promote the local music scene as the Lonesome Hereos, who started up the Wednesday alt. country nights at the Hole in the Wall. Like the lineups that founders Rich Russell and Landry McMeans booked, the Heroes’ music has an eclectic roots range. There are touches of cosmic country and Sweetheart of the Rodeo in their psychedelic tinged, restless country tunes, but the real draw of the Heroes is excellent melding of Russell and McMeans in spirit and sound. McMeans dulcet twang and expansive dobro, and Russells’ more grounded drawl and guitar combine for a mesmerizing and beautiful exchange, while their songs evoke the open west Texas expanse of road and possibilities. With their latest album, Crooked Highway, they have assembled a stellar band of local luminaries"
The Austin Sound Feb 23, 2009.
Check Out The Austin Chronicle Review:
Austin Chronicle, October 31st, 2008.
By Doug Freeman
Fronted by local free spirits Rich Russell and Landry McMeans, the Lonesome Heroes' psych-country sound proves equally restless. Whereas 2006 EP Don't Play to Lose wandered with a gentle ease, the group's debut full-length moves in more focused, if experimentally flourished, directions. "Lonestar" opens with a lilting warp and rough guitar distortion, Russell's playful drawl shading Lyle Lovett. McMeans' soft trill on "Canary" and "Stardust" lifts the album into airier climes that balance Russell's earthier tones, like Alison Krauss with a Texas twang, the best songs marrying the two vocal impulses in duet. Like the titular thoroughfare, the LP's merit lies in its peripheral surprises, Seth Gibbs' subtle, effects-laden production winding McMeans' Dobro through the pull of Sarah Stollak's fiddle on "Detained Dream" and spotlighting Kullen Fuchs' French horn on "Turn On the Shine."
LONESOME HEROES LIVE @ FERNWOOD LODGE IN BIG SUR CALIFORNIA. 6/20/08
with a psychedelic light show by Jeffrey Manson.
CHECK OUT THIS AWESOME ARTICLE IN THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE ABOUT OUR WEEKLY SHOWCASE:
The Lonesome Heroes charter is very simple: to take over and revolutionize Country Music in America.
However, in practice the implementation of this charter is somewhat more difficult. It's a big old world out there and most of the people running the show are not such lonesome heroes most of the time.
So we drive around in rusty vans and pour our souls into countless lonestars and sad country songs, trying to find meaning and other lonesome heroes in this strange world. Everywhere we find beautiful people hidden in the spaces between parking lots where highways end. We leave a few songs, some memories, and drive off like a giant slow motion cliche. We do our best to keep our spirits high and keep on keepin on no matter what.
AUSTIN CHRONICLE
JULY 21, 2006.
BY DARCIE STEVENS
Balancing on the slide of Landry McMeans' lap steel, the Lonesome Heroes' sad and forlorn country cry walks the dirt road from West Texas desert to a poor man's urban dwelling. Singer Rich Russell's Brooklyn upbringing marries Willie Nelson to Will Oldham on the Heroes' debut EP, and when McMeans' delicately airy voice opens up "Oyster," tears roll.
AMERICANA UK MAGAZINE
www.americana-uk.com
A sixteen minute psychedelic steel trip. The eerie, liquid noise that Landry McMeans pulls from her lap steel and dobro is the defining sound on this five track EP. It’s a desert sound, reminiscent of what the late great Rainer Ptacek might have produced if he’d taken a little more peyote. Smooth and multicoloured, like oil in a rock pool, it alternately leads the songs and slides in behind them, always there, always nibbling away at the psyche.
AUSTIN DAZE
I normally stick to reviewing full size albums, but this band shows great promise in their 5-song debut. Chemistry between players is so important in any music project, and thats what I hear in this. The vocal harmonies between Rich Russell and Landry Slydry McMeans seem like a rare thing in its infancy, and so does the songwriting. Slydrys high-pitched voice is as unique as her slide on the lap steel guitar. The Lonesome Heroes are on a mission to make a different kind of country music. With its Grapes of Wrath era feel soaked in reverb, you get the feeling you are listening to a long distant echo of something that once was. The drifting melancholy and bittersweet style is beyond the range of their youth, and yet it seems totally natural to them.The production is low budget and the mix is occasionally questionable. The song structure is loose but the almighty groove and ability to convey the mood is dead on. I expect great things from this band in the future, so theyd better stick around for the long haul.
FOXY DIGITALIS
Sleepy, weepy, cowpunk from the Austin duo of Rich Russell and Landry McMeans, whose lap steel and dobro drags these alt.country twisted tales through the barren Texas desert with a faint Neil Young aroma wafting through the sagebrush and mixing with Chicago cultists, Souled American. Steel sashays across the horizon, leaving a dusty aftertaste of Jonathan Richmans attempts at going country in our ears (cf. Jonathan Goes Country). McMeans takes center stage on The Moon and The Sun, and her vocals leave a sweet, honeysuckle variety to Russells good ol boy, downhome grooves. Russells echoed lap steep and dobro add a haunting, full-moon quality to the track that contrasts nicely with our heroines litling voice.The duo end on a high note with the spooky, Oyster, with McMeans faraway vocals riding the dusty prairie winds across your mind on a magic carpet ride buttressed by her lap steel and dobro. This is the perfect soundtrack for hunkering down in a sleeping bag under the stars somewhere out in the wild expanses of Americas vast hinterlands, counting shooting stars and cowering from coyotes howling in the night. - Jeff Penczak
SMOTHER MAGAZINE
The debut EP from country folk group The Lonesome Heroes are bar tales that are elbow to elbow with some of the legendary lyrics spun by the best in the country world. Salty vocals with numerous harmony parts soar into a high ledge of abandoned folk guitar and twangy hollow body guitar swagger. With psychedelic underpinnings, Dont Play to Lose is a tasty morsel of modern country folk that was extraordinarily produced and engineered by Scott OGara. Perfect.
J-Sin
www.75orless.com
If Maryrose Crook and the Renderers are the jaded souls playing to the barflies as closing time looms, then The Lonesome Heroes are the still-hopeful opening act. The haunting lap steel belies that hope, however, lurking beneath strummed guitars with a lonely yearning. In the title track, Rich Russell declares, "country songs ... have got a strange hold over me." With their roots firmly planted in Hank Williams territory, The Lonesome Heroes structure their songs well, blazing their own path through alt-country style.
ALSO CHECK OUT THIS NEW COMPILATION CD OF AUSTIN MUSIC
FEATURING THE MULTI ALUMINUM SMASH HIT
"DON'T PLAY TO LOSE" BY THE LONESOME HEROES
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We're playin our Texas brothers, Spies Like Us and The Bandulus! I hope you can make it! @ Flamingo Cantina Austin, Texas Saturday, November 7th! 9pm 18 + thanks! C1
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