Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Shurman to release new album

There’s a powerful sweet spot at the juncture where rock’n’roll and country intersect, giving the music that results a double-whammy that can’t be denied. The Austin, Texas-based band Shurman hits that bulls-eye dead on packing a powerful punch of rock crunch, soulful grooves and deeply-rooted country twang. The songs breathe the truth of real life experiences and emotions, and reside within the common themes that are a part of everyone’s lives.

The foursome’s new album Still Waiting for the Sunset (Sustain/Universal Republic Records) is now set for a January 26th release. For those who can’t wait for the proper release, the album will be made available digitally beginning today and then on vinyl on December 12th.

Still Waiting for the Sunset is a smoking 12-song tour de force that blends the best of heartland rock with a deep grounding in the finest country traditions. It blasts off with the propulsive kick of the regular guy existentialism of “Is It True” and wraps up with the blistering twang and statement of musical purpose of “Three Chords.” And in between one finds everything that a fan of real American music with a Southern accent holds dear: songs about life, love, people and places that speak to the human heart and soul with sincerity and conviction, and potent music that can lift the spirit as well as drown any sorrows. Or in short, it’s the best elements of real rock’n’roll and true country united in a potent, persuasive and emotive set of songs, driven by the impassioned vocals of singer, songwriter and guitarist Aaron Beavers.

Co-produced by Beavers and Danny White, Still Waiting for the Sunset was tracked at Nashville’s 16 Tons Studios and Austin’s Premium Recording. Joining the band on the sessions are such luminaries as steel guitar legend Al Perkins (known for his work with The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Gram Parsons and a host of others), Robert Reynolds of The Mavericks and rising Memphis soul singing star Susan Marshall on background vocals, and former Wilco/Uncle Tupelo drummer Ken Coomer on percussion.

At the heart of Shurman are the voice and songs and as well as faith in music and artistically ambitious tenacity of Beavers, who founded the band in Los Angeles in 2000. Since then Shurman have built a dedicated grassroots following over the course of two self-released EPs and a live platter plus what Amazon.com calls their “exuberant album-length debut,” the aptly titled Jubilee on Vanguard Records in 2005, as well as some 200 road dates a year. Now with Still Waiting for the Sunset and a dream team of such killer players as bassist Mike Therieaux, lead guitarist Jesse Duke and drummer Nick Amoroso behind Beavers, the group stands ready to fulfill All Music Guide’s prediction that its “songwriting and synchronicity will carve out a distinct place for the band on the contemporary music scene.”

Along the way Shurman has been declared “L.A.’s undisputed favorite” by The Los Angeles Times in an article on the city’s burgeoning country-rock revival. CMT has touted the group in a half-hour Close-Up feature program and used its song “I Got U Babe (Pt. 3)” as theme music for the channel and in promo commercials for its 2006 CMT Music Awards. House of Blues tapped Shurman for its annual “One To Watch” program that previously helped usher such acts as Kanye West, Linkin Park, Coldplay, Radiohead, Gavin DeGraw, Travis and other notables to stardom.

Over the last decade the band has built a “reputation as a live powerhouse” that has scorched its music into the hearts and minds of a mushrooming cadre of followers that is about to hit critical mass.

“It’s like a whole new chapter,” says Beavers of the group today as it soars into its next chapter. Making music that melds “the energy of alternative rock with the sensibility of alternative country” (Tucson Weekly), Shurman has evoked comparisons to such monumental bands as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd and even The Rolling Stones. As the Phoenix New Times declares, “I defy anyone not to love this band.”


Track Listing For Still Waiting for the Sunset
Is It True
Small Town Tragedy
Best You Ever Had
Here’s To Rock ’N’ Roll
She’s The One
I’m Not Crazy
Country Just Ain’t Country
Lonesome LA Blues (Featuring Al Perkins)
Big Things
Didn’t I?
Wonder Where You Are
Three Chords

Bonus Digital Only Tracks:
Country Ain’t Country (Reprise)
Wonder Where You Are (Acoustic Version)
2AM (Live from the Yucca Tap Room Tempe, AZ)

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