New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Ardent Studios) Orange Humble Band are Rick Steff, (keyboards); Dwight Twilley, (vocals/guitar); Ken Stringfellow, (lead vocals); Jody Stephens, (drums); Mitch Easter, (Electric guitar, percussion, co-producer); and foreground are Darryl Mather, (songwriter/co-producer, acoustic guitar); Pete Matthews, (engineer); Dave Smith, (bass).
Orange Humble Band founder and principle songwriter since 1995, Darryl Mather has returned to Ardent Studios in
Memphis to continue the remarkable journey of this historically Australian-based, pop-infused melodious rock and roll band. This latest recording continues to reflect the band's striking fusion of the best elements of guitar-based pop rock, folk, country and soul.
The Band's line up for this 2013 release, "Depressing Beauty," remains largely unchanged from their last effort "Humblin Across America," with core members Ken Stringfellow (formerly of The Posies); lauded American indie producer Mitch Easter (Let's Active); Darryl Mather (formerly of the Someloves and Lime Spiders) and Jody Stephens (Big Star) again all present, along with new members, Memphis' highly respected Dave Smith (bass) and Rick Steff (keyboards, Lucero member).
Also, for the first time, joining Mather and the band in the studio as guest singers/songwriter, was the iconic pop figure Dwight Twilley and the equally respected Jon Auer (Posies, Big Star) culminating in the completion of 13 new songs and a cover of one of Dwight's pop classics.
"Returning to Ardent was like a homecoming," commented
Orange Humble co-founder Darryl Mather. "So many significant ups and downs have happened both within my life and the band members lives over the past 10 years that we realized, whilst all together in Austin, April 2012, it was time to again finally reunite to create some fresh new music which not only honored our varied musical roots, but also the many fallen friends we have sadly lost over this period of time."
Additional special musical guests for this momentous recording include the legendary figures Susan Cowsill (background vocals); Spooner Oldham, (Wurlitzer piano), along with the talented mult- instrumentalist Shawn Lynch, (backing vocals, guitar, keyboards and percussion).
The brass section was comprised of
Memphis stalwarts Kirk Smothers, (baritone and tenor sax); Jim Spake, (tenor sax and clarinet); and Scott Thompson, (trumpet and flugal horn). Finally, a most welcoming inclusion, string arrangements were created and scored by the highly regarded Carl Marsh, who most famously wrote and conducted strings for the revered Big Star's 'Third' album of 1974, with famed pop luminary Chris Stamey also providing additional string arrangements.
Ardent's Pete Matthews was again engaged as the album's principal recording engineer, alongside additional engineer Bob Engel, stationed at Mitch Easter's Fidelitorium NC studio.
For more info about the
Orange Humble Band and music, visit:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Orange-Humble-Band/444870488900902?fref=ts
For information about Ardent Studios, visit:
https://www.ardentstudios.com
