THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rock ’n’ roll is dead. Gallows Wine is a wake for its charred remains.
Calvin Johnson traveled to Columbus, Miss., to record Gallows Wine with the combo Hartle Road at their Pompeii studio. Columbus, in Lowndes County, is the childhood home of Tennessee Williams (just down Route 45 from White Station, birthplace of Howlin’ Wolf).
Songs reflecting this singular environment include Pink Cadillac, written by Calvin when he was 16 and held in reserve for just the right session; the title song Gallows Wine, which rips all psycho psychedelic while keeping its poetic licence intact; Crazy Legs, a Gene Vincent class act that celebrates our sock hopulation; and Orange Aid, which melts downtown no wave.
Yeah, Gallows Wine gets primitive: Lurch pulls a night shift on organ while Grandma Moses is on the fife and drum. Calvin busks melodica garage-style. It puts rockabilly in the spin cycle with guitar scrape and crush. It does the hand jive. You wanted Calvin Johnson howling beyond the magnolia curtain, you got it: Gallows Wine.
The only proper response: Rock ’n’ roll is dead. Long live rock ’n’ roll.”
