Midnight North’s new EP Stayin’ Single Drinkin’ Doubles released Saturday, February 14th, 2015 includes three songs previously only heard at the band’s live shows. The first track, “Stayin’ Single, Drinkin’ Doubles”, was originally written by local friends and fellow musicians with Hoosier roots, Jeremy Wilson and Kirby Lee Hammel. Elliott Peck contributed two additional verses to finish the story and added a female perspective to the song. This is about as country as Midnight North gets, it’s also a fan favorite at live shows. Two different versions of the song appear on the EP. The two versions include a shorter, radio friendly version, and an expanded version, aptly titled the “Morning After Mix”. Both tracks include a guest performance by virtuoso Jason Crosby (Doobie Decibel System, Phil Lesh & Friends) on both fiddle and honky-tonk piano, instantly transporting the listener to an old western saloon scene. This tune is sure to have you swaying in your bar stool!
Next up is “Find A Way”, written by Grahame Lesh. Also a staple of Midnight North’s live sets, this song begins with Grahame’s singing and storytelling and then bursts into three part harmonies on the chorus, showcasing all three of the band’s singers. Along with Crosby’s fiddle, this tune includes another guest, Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (ALO, Brokedown in Bakersfield) contributing a fourth voice to this song; his pedal steel guitar. Lebo’s pedal steel and Crosby’s fiddle playfully work off each other to add a beautiful depth to the arrangement.
Finally, “The Right Time” is a song written by Elliott Peck about luck, hope and good timing. It also showcases the band’s three part harmonies and includes a searing electric guitar solo by Grahame Lesh that had our normally composed drummer in tears after a listening session in the studio!
Betty Cantor-Jackson, a pioneer in the recording & engineering world, now shares her skills with the next generation of the Grateful Dead family on this release. She artfully mastered all four of the tracks on this recording.
Download the EP on Bandcamp! You can also stream it online on Bandcamp, or Spotify!
Tracklisting
1. Stayin’ Single, Drinkin’ Doubles (Radio Edit)
2. Find A Way
3. The Right Time (Electric Version)
4. Stayin’ Single, Drinkin’ Doubles (Morning After Mix)
Midnight North’s debut album, End of the Night, sonically picks up where Ryan Adams & the Cardinals left off, heartfelt rock & folk songs decked out in a tidy country rock nudie suit, smartly tailored with intuitively tight vocal harmonies and a steady beat. Produced by Connor and Grahame and recorded amidst the redwood groves at In The Pocket Studios in Forestville, CA, End of the Night peaks with a soaring slow burner that no great rock album would be complete without, Peck’s “All Remains the Same.” Worth a listen: the crisp guitars and memorable melody of opener “Falling,” the band strutting through “Miss M,” the gorgeous playing and singing on “Hold Me Down” and, of course, the closing title track. Lesh put it best when he said, “We’ve got a little bit of country in us, but it’s just rock n’ roll.”
