Americana Roots

Here is a disc I had in a stack for a month or so. Frankly, I can’t even recall getting it in the mail and don’t know who sent it. So I pop it in the car cd player and thought, “Wow, what a great sound. Who are these guys?” Turns out the band is a group called Esquela and the disc, their debut, is called The Owl Has Landed. While the band as a whole are not newcomers, what first caught my ear in their music was a newcomer, vocalist Rebecca Frame. Man, I love her voice. Plenty of power and grit to hold up to the power music the band lays down. She totally had me by the third song on the disc, Jackie, which has now been stuck in my head for over two hours! The band has an edgy sound a bit like mid 70s Stones music. The band was formed by upstate-NY-native John “Chico” Finn (bass, vocals) and the and veteran Keith Christopher (lead guitar, vocals). Some of the bands energy makes sense seeing that Christopher was a founding member of the not-too-mellow band The Georgia Satellites who has recorded and performed with Kenny Wayne Sheppard, Billy Joe Shaver, Paul Westerberg, and Todd Snyder. Other standout trackes include the opening cut, Commies Stink, Hand On My Jammies, and Music Is My Mistress (AKA Cheatin’) which starts “You were with her last night at the local bar, night before she was in your car” and features a new percussion instrument, the dropped (beer I hope) can! Here is the video of their tune Hands On My Jammies. Enjoy!