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Songpickr adds Rev. Greg Spradlin and the Band of Imperials’ “I Drew Six” to its Indie Discovery and Americana & Alternative Country Guide playlists

rev greg spradlin band of imperials songpickr americana roots rock gospel
“I Drew Six” is the latest single from Rev. Greg Spradlin and the Band of Imperials, Spradlin’s new project with Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo and Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas.
 
An incredible guitar player, songwriter, singer and bandleader, Rev. Greg Spradlin has been flying under the radar for years—despite recording and performing with everyone from Lucinda Williams to Chuck Berry and John Lee Hooker. After spending his teenage years playing all over Arkansas, Spradlin flirted with stardom in L.A. back in the ’90s with a major-label-assembled roots-rock project that was derailed by the grunge explosion. He almost hit it again with No Depression-approved alt-country band The Skeeterhawks in the early 2000s before their label vanished into thin air with their masters and was never heard from again.
 
Spradlin lost heart for a while, gave up rock & roll, got a straight job at a nonprofit and soon found himself wandering the middle of nowhere in Ghana, Africa. He had an epiphany there one day when he heard a Muscle Shoals soul track coming from a random hut in the bush, was inspired to create again, came home, befriended and was mentored by legendary rock & roll producer Jim Dickinson (The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Big Star, The Replacements), and ended up delivering the eulogy at Dickinson’s funeral.
 
Along the way, Spradlin managed to assemble a supergroup with Hidalgo, Thomas, and now-deceased gospel-organ legend Rudy Copeland (Solomon Burke, Johnny Guitar Watson), at which point Rev. Greg Spradlin and the Band of Imperials was born. Back in 2010, they made an amazing Hurricane Katrina-inspired record called Hi-Watter, mixed by Tchad Blake (Tom Waits, Los Lobos, The Black Keys).
 
But then, as if an act of God, an unexpected series of tragedies and major life events derailed the Reverend’s musical plans—his wife got pregnant, a close member of Greg’s family passed away, his old drummer and close friend of 15 years died, followed by his dog, and his cat. Hi-Watter ended up being shelved for a decade. Now—pandemics and hurricanes be damned—this album has finally been released.
 
New single “I Drew Six”—featuring Los Lobos’ Hidalgo on rhythm guitar & bass—is a blistering, frenetic gospel-rock rave up with its roots in Hurricane Katrina (“down in Louisiana, back in aught five, muddy high water nearly buried me alive”).
 
The song was recently added to curator Songpickr’s playlists “Indie Discovery” and “Americana & Alternative Country – Songpickr Guide.” You can listen here…
 

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Glide Magazine Premieres New Tom Freund Video “Homer Simpson’s Clouds (Day Of The Locust)”

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Alt77 reviews Radiator King’s new track “Haunts Me Now”

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“Haunts Me Now,” the new single from Radiator King. The track—out this week—features drummer Brian Viglione (Dresden Dolls, Violent Femmes), Jesse Malin guitarist Derek Cruz and bassist Ed Goldson (Ghostface Killah, Passion Pit).

The brainchild of New York-via-Boston troubadour Adam Silvestri, Radiator King has shared bills with Malin, Pile and L.A. Witch, and has been covered by Brooklyn Vegan, American Songwriter, PopMatters and Paste, who praised Silvestri’s “affecting pastiche of Americana and indie rock.”

“Haunts Me Now”—from Radiator King’s forthcoming third LP, Unborn Ghosts (out Aug. 21)—is a spectral, punk-tinged folk ballad that grapples with the idea that you can’t run from the past, that you must confront your demons. 

Alt77 writes: “With a voice that’s eerily reminiscent of Brian Fallon’s, Radiator King echoes the dark folk inclinations of Tom Waits, of, even The Horrible Crowes.” READ MORE…

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American Pancake Praises Radiator King’s New Song “Haunts Me Now”

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Haunts Me Now by Radiator King, the musical project of New York based (by way of Boston) folk indie / Americana / blues punk Adam Silvestri, feels like a sinewy road worn, beat up tale, maybe originally slower and played in the corner of some dark bar that smells of alcohol and mildewed green carpet. In that imaginary bar, I can see Silvestri playing solo on a worn acoustic or even vintage resonator bleeding on stage with his cut glass throaty voice making three drunks in the audience cry. Maybe this really happened.