BLUES ROCKERS MORELAND
& ARBUCKLE SET TO RELEASE
PROMISED LAND OR BUST ON MAY 6, 2016
“Raw, dirty,
primal and infectious…sizzling guitar, sturdy vocals and rude harmonica”
–USA Today
“Deeply
satisfying...gritty soul and blues with garage overtones and fire-and-brimstone
vocals”
–Living
Blues
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Alligator Records has set a May 6
release date for Promised
Land Or Bust, the label debut from Wichita, Kansas' blues
rockers Moreland & Arbuckle.
Guitarist Aaron Moreland — co-founder of the groundbreaking Kansas-based trio —
describes their music as “gritty blues and roots rock from the heartland.”
Moreland, harmonicist/vocalist Dustin Arbuckle and drummer Kendall Newby bring
fierce electric fury and unrelenting punk rock energy to their original songs,
inspired by raw Delta and Mississippi Hill Country blues.
Their songs are expertly executed
with musical muscle and fifth-gear urgency. When they perform more traditional
blues, they play with the same decisive command. With each of their six
previous releases, the band has grown musically and lyrically, creating a
signature sound while earning a large and loyal worldwide fan base. Their
legendary raw and raucous live shows are played with wild abandon. The New York Post says
Moreland & Arbuckle have “a raw juke joint exuberance with a dirt-under-the
fingernails garage band attack.”
The group’s evolution continues
with their Alligator Records debut Promised
Land Or Bust (available on CD and vinyl) produced by Matt
Bayles (Mastodon, Botch, The Sword). From the howling cosmic opener Take Me With You (When You Go) to
the stomping Mean And Evil
to the plaintive Mount
Comfort, Promised
Land Or Bust is a far-reaching musical showcase. The
instantly-memorable, slice-of-life songs paint scenes of double-crossed lovers,
women meaner than the devil, and isolated loners beaten down by careless love.
According to Moreland, “The new album is consciously traditional but still has
the signature drive and power that we have crafted over the past thirteen
years.”
Moreland says signing with
Alligator is a perfect fit. “One of our biggest influences ever, Hound Dog
Taylor, was the very first Alligator artist. One of the reasons we have the
non-traditional lineup of no bass player was inspired by listening to Hound
Dog’s music as we were coming up.” According to Alligator president Bruce
Iglauer, bringing Moreland & Arbuckle to the label known for its Genuine
Houserockin’ Music was an easy choice. “I’ve watched this band grow from
talented interpreters of raw, traditional blues into creators of fresh,
original roots-based songs. Live, the energy just pours out of them.”
Aaron Moreland was born December
16, 1974. He played in a number of garage bands while growing up and was
influenced by punk music before having what he calls his “Son House moment.”
Hearing the blues legend’s Death
Letter Blues for the first time at age 22, he changed course,
focusing his playing on nothing but acoustic blues for the next several years.
Dustin Arbuckle was born December 25, 1981. He first discovered blues in his
mid-teens and received what he refers to as “a calling. Getting into blues made
me want to play music,” he says. He played in blues-rock bands, inspired by
Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson, while learning to sing with deep soul
and honest authority.
The two met at an open mic
session in their hometown of Wichita, Kansas back in 2001 and they quickly
bonded over their mutual love of blues. Less than a year later, they joined
forces, their raw and energetic approach to the music melding perfectly. Soon
after coming together, Moreland and Arbuckle played both as an acoustic duo and
as The King Snakes, a four piece electric band. Keeping a bass player proved
difficult, and they soon found they made a better sound without one, as
Moreland kept the rhythm thumping on his guitar while Arbuckle took the music
into overdrive with his harmonica and vocals. The band quickly became local
heroes, filling clubs beyond capacity. It wasn’t long before they started
touring larger cities around the country, earning new fans with every
performance.
From their 2005 self-release Caney Valley Blues to
2013’s 7 Cities
on Telarc, Moreland & Arbuckle have grown from a fiery, crowd-pleasing duo
to a genre-smashing three-piece band. Together, Moreland’s simultaneous bass,
rhythm and lead guitar work and Arbuckle’s emotionally-charged harmonica and
edgy vocals—driven by Newby’s propulsive drumming—create a sound that is
forceful enough to grab a listener’s attention and nuanced enough to hold it. American Songwriter says
the group’s music is “swampy, sweaty and muggy...mixing a bluesy foundation
with bits of country, folk and squawking American rock and roll.” WNYC’s Soundcheck says the
band plays “gritty blues with a thoroughly contemporary bite.”
Over the course of their career,
Moreland & Arbuckle have played hundreds of shows and have logged hundreds
of thousands of road miles (recently replacing their van after driving it over
400,000 miles), performing in the United States, Canada and across Europe. In
2008 they spent 10 days in Iraq, playing for the troops. They’ve shared stages
with ZZ Top, George Thorogood, Buddy Guy, Robert Cray and Los Lonely Boys.
They’ll return to the road in support of the new album, with dates in the
United States, Europe and beyond.
No Depression says, “These guys have kegs full of talent. Their
songs will keep you driving fast and long.”
Now, with
Promised Land Or Bust,
Moreland & Arbuckle are ready to bust it all wide open. Arbuckle calls the
new album “our best yet,“ and says, “we continue to evolve musically outside of
the box we started in, but the bedrock—the blues —is always there.” Moreland
adds, “We consciously went back to where we started and it took us to a brand
new place.”
