It’s New Music Friday, and we are pleased to bring you a new Get it or Forget it of an amazing new band that features one of our long time friends in the indie music world – Candace Devine.
For those of you who don’t know, I spent quite a few years working in the music business as a publicist and manager. One of the artists that I used to manage was Devine, who I combined with another long-time friend, Dave Yaden, to form David and Devine. Twelve years ago this month we launched them with a tour of NYC and the east coast.
Devine went on to get married, move to Prescott, Arizona and start a family. She has now hooked up with Johan Glidden and Drew Hall to form Ponderosa Grove, and we couldn’t be more impressed with their debut album.
Artist Name: Ponderosa Grove
Album Name: The Debut
Label: Farasi Records
Genre: Folk/Americana
Track Listing: 1. Slowing Down in Real Time 2. Freedom Ride; 3. Waterline; 4. It Never Rains; 5. Til Tomorrow; 6. Save my Soul; 7. You Got Me; 8. One Seat; 9. Love; 10. Holding me Back; 11. Into the Blue
Publicist: Self-promoted
Review: Every so often a new band hits the market that stops you in your tracks and makes you take notice. The last band that stopped me was Sugarland with the release of their debut album Twice the Speed of Life . . . until today. This amazing new album has everything that propelled Sugarland to super-stardom, including great songwriting, impeccable musicianship, and a powerhouse female lead vocalist.
Ponderosa Grove features Devine on lead vocals, sharing the mic with Hall on guitar/vocals and Glidden on guitar/violin/vocals. They are joined by Cosimo Bohrman on bass, Shawnee Snaketail on keys/synthesizer, Kenneth Crouch on organ/Wurlitzer, Bryan Taylor on drums/percussion, Steph Griffin on trumpet, Paul Ruffner on saxophone, and Vince Porter on tuba/trombone. Devine also wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 11 tracks, which were produced by Dylan Ludwig and mastered by Hans DeKline.
There is not a weak song on the album, and we wouldn’t be surprised to hear quite a few of them released as singles. Although the vibe of the album is folk/Americana, there are subtle hints of R&B, jazz and blues, which gives the band a great cross-over window of opportunity. We do love this entire album, but the tunes that grabbed our attention the most were “Slowing Down in Real Life,” “Waterline” (with obvious inspiration from Fleetwood Mac), the powerful “Save my Soul,” the soulful ballads “You Got Me” and “Into the Blue”, the jazzy “Love” and “Holding me Back.”
Recommendation: Drop whatever you’re doing and go get this one NOW!! If you’re lucky enough to be in Prescott, Arizona, they’re celebrating tonight with a Record Release show at Downtown Square at 6:45 p.m.