Posted on: January 2, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

“Damn if Slider Pines haven’t come up with one hell of an addicting roots rock album here…Slider Pines seem to have all the goods to take Road Avenue Railroad to a wide audience.” – Sea of Tranquility

Road Avenue Railroad is a simple description of Memphis and an allegory to the band’s sound – roots upgraded. Uprooted, even. All the members have an affinity for the sounds of the 60s (from Holland, Dozier and Holland through English folk rock and “Sympathy For The Devil”) and it shows. Tracks like “The Memphis Hack” make like a sloe-gin shanty, full of fuzz and feeling. “Missing Street Sign” is a brilliant exercise in songwriting (“cobras and kickball / asthma and frost”) set to the simple-syrup style of a snare trap and Lester’s sweet Mellotron. “Fast Track” shows off the trio’s powerful ability – a clamorous southern anthem where Spellman’s driving drum fills sturdy Shanks’ anti-corporate sentiment. “To me, Memphis is a strange mix of strip malls, lame tourist traps, unsung talent and racial unease. In my mind, it’s a weird town.”

PRAISE FOR ROAD AVENUE RAILROAD:

“Straightforward hard rockin’ toots fare. Slider Pines pushes forward with every beat and never looks back…Pour a bit more whiskey in the iced tea, please.” – Aiding & Abetting

“Road Avenue Railroad is an earnest rock record, a slab of angst and discomfort wrapped in guitar and Mellotron. The band draws on such inspirations as The Drams and the Old 97s…but comparisons can also be made to indie rockers the Ike Reilly Assassination and any numbe3r of other straight-ahead bands that don’t try to paint themselves into a corner.” – Knoxville Daily Times

“There’s a warmth to Slider Pines that suggests music made on elderly, much loved instruments, in a time before Autotune made even the most talent-deprived at least vaguely listenable, recorded in the American South in the height of the summer.” – Kerrang!

Slider Pines on the Web: http://www.sliderpines.com

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