The Pink Stones
The Pink Stones från Athens, Georgia, skapar musik som närmast kan beskrivas som cosmic countryrock. Här finns klara ekon från sjuttiotalet och förebilder som The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead och, så klart, Gram Parsons. "This record was me trying to take everything I love as a listener and a player and shove it all into one thing without it sounding random," säger sångaren och låtskrivaren Hunter Pinkston. "There's obviously a lot of country and rock in our music, butthere's a lot of gospel and soul and psych and dub. I really wanted to get all of those things living peacefully together in one record."
I april 2024 kommer The Pink Stones till Skandinavien för första gången. På med Nudie-kostymen, en högtidsstund väntar!
"This record was me trying to take everything I love as a listener and a player and shove it all into one thing without it sounding random," says Hunter Pinkston, former punk turned cosmic country auteur, describing You Know Who, the boisterous, ambitious sophomore album by his band The Pink Stones. Ostensibly they play country music, yet all the pedal steel sobs, the two-steppin' rhythms, twangy harmonies, and lyrics about broken hearts and long days on the road are launchpads for wild experiments and unexpected stylistic forays. "There's obviously a lot of country and rock in our music, but there's a lot of gospel and soul and psych and dub. I really wanted to get all of those things living peacefully together in one record."
Made up almost entirely of Athens musicians who play in other bands around town (including former members of the Drive-By Truckers and the Glands), The Pink Stones match their frontman's vast musical vocabulary while adding their own twists to spacey honkytonk, pedal-to-the-metal trucker anthems, and ecstatic gospel. Together, they have the range to be whatever they need to be at any given moment, embracing the spirit of musical freedom that has animated the local music scene for more than forty years. Yet, The Pink Stones sound like no other Athens band. "We have the space to be free here in Athens and do whatever we want," says Pinkston. "We get to do our own thing, and there are a million other really good bands doing their own things here as well. Everyone is friends with everyone else, and everyone's doing something constantly, so you're always hearing something new. And you always have to stay on your toes."
The success of their 2021 debut, Introducing…The Pink Stones, took them far away from home and kept them out on tour for long stretches. That album laid out the parameters of their sound, winning accolades from Rolling Stone, No Depression, and American Songwriter and comparisons to Gram Parsons, the Byrds, and the Grateful Dead. But when they took those songs on the road, they busted right through all of those parameters, pushing their music in new directions and coalescing into a tougher, tighter live act. Very quickly The Pink Stones developed a reputation for their raucous rock shows, and the intensity, ingenuity, and unpredictability they cultivated on stages across America informs their sophomore album.
After recording Introducing…The Pink Stones, at Chase Park Transduction—the legendary Athens studio that has hosted sessions by the Truckers, Faye Webster, Deerhunter, and many others—this time The Pink Stones recorded miles from any professional studio. They set up at the home of Henry Barbe, son of Chase Park owner David Barbe and frontman for the Hernies. "It was way looser," says Pinkston. "We were able to take our time and have a little more fun. Sessions went later into the night. We did the live band thing where we tracked the whole record live and then went back to do a few overdubs." They'd already worked out most of these songs on stages across America, especially the rip-roaring "Who's Laughing Now?" which hides its aching heart behind a big sing-along chorus. They tackled it in one or two quick takes, then passed it along to friends and frequent tourmates Teddy & the Rough Riders, who added harmonies. "We did that song on tour with them, and I always loved the way they sounded on it. I always like to bring in as many of my friends to do stuff on a record as possible."
While Pinkston is hesitant to call You Know Who a coming-of-age album, the trials and
rewards of adulthood—with all of its responsibilities and disappointments, wisdom and
contradictions—animate every song. "I wanted this one in particular to be a snapshot of
us in the past year or so. We'll make more music together and record different records,
but this is where we are right now in our lives. It's fun and freeing to be able to give the
songs that kind of space, to let them be what they need to be at that time, and then let
them go."
"...these Stones roll with the same surly twang and honky-tonking attitude that made the likes of The Flying Burritos and early Poco sound so fresh... The multi-talented Pinkston turns in a set every bit as enticing, organic and charming as his first... Fire up the lava lamp, black lights and your recreational substance of choice and dig in."
Av Holler
"...a brilliant mix of classic Country and Indie Rock."
Av Americana Highway
"If you don't find yourself singing along with The Pink Stones on at least a couple of these songs, then something must be amiss. It will also inevitably evoke those glory days of hazy, country rock in the '70s and might have you reaching for some of Parsons' Sweetheart of the Rodeo fare. If so, that's all good. It all fits so well together."
Av Glide Magazine
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