Want a couple of country albums that are off the beaten path? And more than a little NSFW? Try these new titles from a pair of unrepentant mavericks. They definitely speak for themselves. So I’ll let them.
Hellbound Glory
Pure Scum
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Pure Scum, a sequence called “tales from a degenerate gambler”, was produced by two-time Grammy Award-winning producer Shooter Jennings (Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker). The album is Hellbound Glory’s second release with Jennings’ Los Angeles-based record label, Black Country Rock, and is a much anticipated followup to his most critically acclaimed album to date, Pinball. Leroy Virgil (who is Hellbound Glory) and Jennings go boldly into telling these musical tales of a degenerate gambler with the most straightforward country songs Virgil has ever written on Pure Scum. The Aberdeen, WA native relocated to Reno, NV, where he created Hellbound Glory, quickly becoming the proclaimed king of “Scumbag Country” while touring with country, southern rock, and alternative rock superstars (ZZ Top, Leon Russell, Kid Rock) encapsulating the inspiration for the record. The album was recorded in just two days at Station House Studio in Los Angeles, CA with Jennings’ massively talented group of musicians — Jamie Douglass on drums and percussion, Ted Russell Kamp on bass guitar, John Schreffler on pedal steel and guitars, and Aubrey Richmond on fiddle. “This album is the most classic country record Hellbound Glory has ever made. It’s also the scummiest” Virgil says of the album. “All the vocals are live takes.”
https://youtu.be/G0UHwiCV-zc
Paisley Fields
Electric Park Ballroom
THE PRESS RELEASE: “Electric Park Ballroom is the new album by Brooklyn/Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and bandleader Paisley Fields. Fields writes country music. His songs are tender and authentic, but also pretty good with a joke. They’re mindful of tradition, but deeply informed by his singular background — as a teenage Midwestern church pianist, a Manhattan piano bar survivor, and a touring member of pioneering queer country outfit Lavender Country. He’s worked on a farm and co-written songs for RuPaul’s Drag Race. The stories are his, but the feeling they convey — love, loneliness, lust, and so on — are, hopefully, universal. Electric Park Ballroom features contributions from Patrick Haggerty (Lavender Country), Mercy Bell, and Sam Gleaves.”
