Concert Reports

Hard Working Americans bring their tour to The Majestic Ventura Theater!! New CD We’re All In This Together out Now !  

All Photos : Steve Kennedy
www.Facebook.com/SteveKennedyPhotography

www.TheHardWorkingAmericans.com

Throughout music history, the breakthrough albums for several legendary artists were live recordings. Live At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers Band, Frampton Comes Alive by Peter Frampton, and Alive by KISS. Now four decades later, history seems poised to repeat itself with the release of We’re All In This Together, the powerful, new live album by Hard Working Americans.

Recorded by monitor engineer Colin Cargile during the band’s 2016 Rest In Chaos tour, the album was produced by Dave Schools and mixed by the legendary John Keane, who also mixed the band’s first record. We’re All In This Together features 13 tracks, with most selected from an unforgettable show at Iron City in Birmingham, Alabama.

Dubbed a “jam band super hero group” by some journalists, because of its high-profile lineup, the rock sextet features bassist Dave Schools and drummer Duane Trucks of Widespread Panic, guitarist Neal Casal of Chris Robinson Brotherhood, keyboardist Chad Staehly of Great American Taxi, Tulsa guitarist Jesse Aycock, and celebrated singer-songwriter Todd Snider on lead vocals.

“For the kind of band we are, I think this is a definite statement for us,” Snider says of We’re All In This Together. “It captures a collective spirit, a collective muse being shared by a thousand-plus people.” Duane Trucks adds, “We have the power of the songs in a live setting and have a good picture of the exploratory nature of the band. That’s what you hope for.”

We’re All In This Together was released August 4, 2017 on Melvin/Thirty Tigers.
Hard Working Americans has always been a mission as much as a band. Loose-limbed, freak flag waving specters caper inside this quicksilver evolving unit where the boogie politics of Haight-Ashbury canoodle with southern muscle, blue-collar understanding, and a bold rallying cry for true American individualism, freedom and community.

The group’s self-titled debut was released January 2014 and featured 11 inspired, timely compositions by standout but often overlooked composers like Will Kimbrough, Kevn Kinney, The Bottle Rockets, and more. In the beginning, HWA’s mission was shining a light on the folks that get missed in the modern shuffle.

The process accelerated once they took this bohemian revival on the road, something happily evident on the band’s concert film and live album The First Waltz. Directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the film offers an insightful, copacetic-minded snapshot of the band’s first chapter. But the title The First Waltz is telling. As anyone who’s seen HWA live, the longer this project percolates the more they discover “gears we didn’t know we could use,” as Neal Casal observed after a late night festival barn burner.

In 2016, the band proved its mettle with original material, releasing Rest In Chaos, and touring the 13-track collection Dave Marsh called “one of the most well-sustained albums I’ve heard in years.” “The transition to original music has been really easy because of how well and how quickly this band has gelled,” says Dave Schools. “We finished the first tour and went directly into the studio in Chicago in the dead of winter, which was great because we were trapped in there [laughs]! It’s this sort of psych-rock, riff-rock, garage-y sounding thing with hints of Americana song forms.”

The clear flow and friendship in Hard Working Americans is easy to see, and the gravity of what they’re doing develops a stronger, more irresistible pull the longer they serve this mission.

The Majestic Ventura Theater

The Ventura Theatre, the best venue between LA and San Francisco, it offers a great 1920’s Mission Style Architecture ambiance – you can see & feel close to the band from practically anywhere in the theatre, excellent acoustics and easy nearby parking (a major plus). No question it is one of the hippest places to experience great music and So Cal’s best kept secrets.

Located in Ventura, California – minutes from the Valley and Santa Barbara, it is one of Southern California’s finest venues and home to the world’s most legendary artists – of all genres of music to include but not limited to: Punk, Alternative Rock, Reggae, Classic Rock, Metal, Blues, Country, Jazz, Funk, Latin, Rock en Espanol, Electronica, R&B/Trip-Hop/Hip-Hop, World and more. The Ventura Theater’s 1920’s Mission Style Architecture design, 1200 capacity spectacular venue, with multiple full bars, ballroom and the occasionaldinner show continues to enjoy the best talent line-ups North of Los Angeles to San Francisco.

www.VenturaTheater.net
 

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