Fry up some Punk and Southern Rock’n’Roll, smother it in a healthy ladel of Stoner Rock, and pepper in the wry Country sarcasm that can only be found in the dimmest, smokiest highway honky tonks, and the resulting truckstop delicacy might look and taste just like Smoker Dad. Simultaneously as warm and familiar as your favorite six-pack of cheap beer and as edgy and powerful as a 70s Trans Am with all the bells and whistles, Seattle’s Smoker Dad harkens to simpler days, while flooring it into the heart of the 21st Century. You gotta see ’em to believe ’em, and even then you might not buy a word they say… but you’re gonna love ’em anyway!
““Rock ‘n’ roll, smoke a bowl.” That’s the motto of Seattle-based 6-piece Smoker Dad, which gives you an idea of what to expect (if the band name didn’t already). The cover photo of their self-titled debut album shows that they also have a tasteful sense of humor. More importantly though: Trevor Conway (vocals, guitar), Chris King (vocals, keys), Teagen Conway (guitar, vocals), Chris Costalupes (pedal steels, guitar, tambourine), Derek Luther (bass, vocals), and Adam Knowles (drums) know how to play Southern fried rock music. The ten songs here – nine originals, one cover (Ron Pederson’s Puget Sound) – are loud, fast, raucous and dirty, as it should be. Smoker Dad rocks hard, but always with a sense of melody – swinging guitar riffs and powerful vocals – that will make you dance like crazy.” – Dennis
Ryan Curtis
Over the last decade, Ryan Curtis has made a name for himself as a songwriter not easily packaged into any specific genre. He’s bounced almost seamlessly from folk and bluegrass to rockabilly, blues, and vintage rock n’ roll. Never to be pinned down, his latest release and solo debut, Rust Belt Broken Heart is steeped in the kind of vintage twang more common in a 1960s honky tonk, than a modern club. Ryan’s songs are usually about life’s harder-learned lessons, featuring picaresque heroes to whom he gives a very personal feel. His new record dives deep into the different styles of country and western while telling tales from his youth in the Midwest from Michigan to Illinois. The gravelly voice of the Michigan-born, Boise-based singer has been praised on KEXP and earned acclaim from the likes of No Depression and Saving Country Music. Rust Belt Broken Heart is out now, on American Standard Time Records. You can catch Ryan and his band out on the road week in and week out bringing their unique brand of high desert country blues to the dives and haunts of the great American West and beyond.