The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! ponders the eternal musical question Why Did I Eat The Whole Bag Of Mushrooms? in his whimsically weird new single — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The first intoxicating dose of New Jersey singer-songwriter Gary Van Miert’s upcoming third batch of psychedelic Americana — the magnificently titled If I Stop Moving, I’ll Fall From The Sky — Why Did I Eat The Whole Bag Of Mushrooms? takes you on a woozy country waltz through the weeds of regret, self-recrimination and existential gloom in the wake of over-indulgence. And oh yeah, there’s a skeleton-filled bayou of molten lava:
“The walls are melting, the room’s in a whirl
Now I find myself living in a frightening new world
I’m flying on some mad trapeze
I can’t see the forest from the trees
Why did I eat the whole bag of mushrooms?
Why did I take so much of the stuff?
Why is too much never enough?
The situation has become dire
My backyard is a lake of fire
It’s become a boiling, gurgling swamp
With bones floating near the top.”
“A cautionary tale,” is how Van Miert understatedly describes the song. “It was inspired by Billy Wilder’s great film The Lost Weekend and my tendency to overdo things. This song (also) name-checks my favourite Rolling Stones album, Exile On Main St.“
Like the Stones classic, If I Stop Moving, I’ll Fall From The Sky — due Oct. 25 — proffers a potent blend of country, blues, gospel, pop and rock to accent his enlightened quips and sardonic euphemisms. The 10-song LP follows 2022’s The Adventures Of A Psychedelic Cowboy and 2020’s The World Will Break Your Heart. This latest chapter leans into psychedelic pop a la Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Electric Prunes and The Chocolate Watchband.
“The songs on The Sensational Country Blues Wonders!’ new album are about the sky, the universe, and altered states of consciousness,” Van Miert says. “They were influenced by the psychedelic music that was so prevalent on the radio in the ’60s when I was growing up. They were also inspired by my sense of awe about the universe. If I Stop Moving, I’ll Fall From The Sky is a trippy, whimsical musical journey guaranteed to put a smile on your face.”
Music, as you might expect, has been the muse of his lifetime. “I saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show when I was five years old, but my love for music actually goes back further. My mother told me that when I was a small child, I took 45 rpm records to bed with me instead of a teddy bear.”
After embracing The Fab Four, he started tracing the music backwards. “I noticed that The Beatles recorded three Carl Perkins tunes, so I figured this guy must be good if The Beatles covered so many of his songs. After becoming a Carl Perkins fan, I learned that he was influenced by Hank Williams, so I started listening to Hank. The Rolling Stones named their band after a Muddy Waters song, so I knew I should check him out as well. And on and on.”
Having sung and played old country and blues songs for years, mostly as a hobby, Van Miert came up with the concept for The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! as a vehicle to start performing in Jersey City. “I’m a record collector and I have an extensive collection of old gospel 45’s. That’s where I cull a lot of the material I perform and where I got the band’s name, which is a homage to all the great groups from the golden age of gospel,” he says.
His sound replicates the instrumental lineup of acoustic rhythm guitar, electric lead guitar and upright acoustic bass used on the first rock ’n’ roll records. “Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records, and Elvis Presley loom large in my list of influences. Others who have inspired me include Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Gene Vincent, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Brother Joe May, Charlie Feathers, Carl Perkins, Smiley Lewis, Brother Claude Ely and Ernest Tubb. Simply put, The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! are the sound of America, starting at the intersection of all its best influences!”
Check out Why Did I Eat The Whole Bag Of Mushrooms? above, pre-save the single HERE, listen to more of The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! below, and share your stash with him on his website and Facebook.
