Photo by Alysse Gafkjen

We are delighted to announce yet another addition to the PoB roster of contemporary artists: young Nashville country-rock band Promised Land. While in Music City working with Chance Martin in October, the Bachelors crew stopped by our pal William Tyler‘s fine bar and venue the Stone Fox to unleash a PoB Soundsystem DJ set. The stars were aligned, because in a stroke of luck we were playing records in advance of Promised Land’s opening slot for luminaries Wooden Wand and MV&EE. Suffice it to say we were duly impressed. Despite only being together for a few months, these boys were already choogling like a well-oiled machine, conjuring visions of the International Submarine Band, CCR, and Jesse Ed Davis.

Folks in Nashville have taken notice. Promised Land has a 7″ ready to release on Jack White’s Third Man Records, and they’ll be heading to the studio in the next few months, under the co-production direction of William Tyler and Jem Cohen, to record their debut full-length for PoB. You can listen to their first recordings–titled Stoned Eagle–below; judging from the demos we’ve been hearing, their forthcoming LP will be an even more exciting affair. Stay tuned here and on the Promised Land artist page for more news!

Bio

There was a time, just yesterday in cosmic terms but increasingly difficult for the young’uns to remember, when Chuck Berry provided the essential template for rock and roll bands. These days those bedrock r&b foundations may feel remote, or even archeological, but Nashville country-rock combo Promised Land chose to begin at the beginning, unselfconsciously; they named themselves after an immortal road-dogging Berry jam and proceeded from there. For such a young band—belying their seasoned and subtle musicianship, they’re astonishingly all around the quarter-century mark—they’re remarkably attuned to historical precedents, working the same red dirt boogie and country-fried choogle as the Flying Burritos, Jim Ford, Gene Clark, Jesse Ed Davis, Link Wray, the Band, CCR, Johnny Darrell, the Stones, et al. And yet their tweaking of tradition never registers as revivalist or dilettantish, but rather intelligently informed, refreshingly sincere, and reflectively rooted in the highest calibers of Southern vernacular songcraft. The woodshedding and session-vet vibes are palpable, the live show compellingly unhinged and propulsive, all close harmonies, high-Stax changes, and “whoa, did he just do that?” guitar breaks, punctuated by moments of Velvets-style thud.

Promised Land emerged from the fertile Nashville garage scene—members have played with PUJOL, Denney and the Jets, and members of JEFF The Brotherhood and Those Darlins, among others—but they have quickly evolved to deploy a more varied country and soul palette than most of their brethren and sistren. In short order, they’ve managed to attract the admiration of esteemed folks like fellow Nashvillain Jack White, who is releasing a live 7” of theirs on his Third Man Records. Bassist and singer Joey Scala and his younger brother Evan (drums) originally hail from Roanoke, Virginia but moved to Tennessee in 2000. In another exploration of a venerable American tradition, Joey spent some time hitchhiking around after high school, eventually meeting Nashville lifer and guitar prodigy Sean Thompson and playing in a succession of local bands together before beginning to write in earnest as a team. Keyboard player and pianist Ricardo Alessio tells us he was raised by an insular homeschooling family in Southeast Michigan and classically trained. Luke Schneider sometimes guests on pedal steel. Our slack-jawed reaction upon first hearing Promised Land live at the Stone Fox in Nashville abides: These dudes can play.

Paradise of Bachelors is delighted to release Promised Land’s first full-length album, which is currently in the works, co-produced by Nashville guitar wizard (and Hiss Golden Messenger band member) William Tyler and Jem Cohen of the Ettes and the Parting Gifts. Stay tuned for more details, and keep on chooglin’.