The Morning Pages
| Status | Rocking, and also rolling. |
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Bio
With prominent influences such as The Band and Gram Parsons, The Morning Pages bring a deep, rural passion to the New York City scene. Along side contemporaries like The Felice Brothers and Bright Eyes, the band blends the speed and sophistication of the city with the organic depth of the country. Their debut EP, The Company You Keep, released in the summer of 2007, perked the ears of critics, with The Tripwire declaring: "The sound that these guys got onto tape comes from the mighty heavens. It's like American Beauty slept with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris while cheating on The Band's version of 'I Shall Be Released.'"
About
It began during a downtown Manhattan loft party on New Years Eve of 2008. A slightly intoxicated Grant Maxwell, lead singer of The Morning Pages, was approached by an even more intoxicated Russell Simmins, drummer and producer for The John Spencer Blues Explosion. He had heard The Morning Pages EP, released earlier in the year, and was impressed with the band’s unique blend of country, soul and indie-rock. Simmins and the band got to talking and eventually agreed he would produce The Morning Pages’ debut album, Rising Rain.
With prominent influences such as The Band and Gram Parsons, The Morning Pages bring a deep, rural passion to the New York City scene. Along side contemporaries like The Felice Brothers and Bright Eyes, the band blends the speed and sophistication of the city with the organic depth of the country. Their debut EP, The Company You Keep, released in the summer of 2007, perked the ears of critics, with The Tripwire declaring: "The sound that these guys got onto tape comes from the mighty heavens. It's like American Beauty slept with Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris while cheating on The Band's version of 'I Shall Be Released.'"
Simmins and The Morning Pages hunkered down in Brooklyn-based CTS studios and began work on the 11 tracks that make up Rising Rain. Surrounded by walls of vintage gear and faded Al Green and Waylon Jennings albums, the band tore through material ranging from the raucous stomp of “With The Lord”, the epic beauty of “My Name Is Lion” and the country duet of the title track. The Morning Pages brought in a cast of NYC’s brightest up-and-comers to help out on the record, including Alec Higgins (Alberta Cross) on piano, Gillian Rivers (Nicole Atkins) on fiddle, Simmins himself on percussion, and The Pierce Sisters who sing harmonies on over half of the record.
Evident in both their lyrical themes and their musicianship, it is this productive opposition between city and country that drives the band to create music that is both unexpectedly fresh and grounded in the deep musical traditions of America.
