(at Avast! Recording, summer 2011; l-r: Lincoln Barr, Andrew Salzman, Matthew Cunningham – photo by Cindy Reiner)
From Red Jacket Mine’s origins as a bedroom four-track project, through two studio albums (including 2009′s Ken Stringfellow-produced Lovers Lookout) and dozens of high-profile shows, bandleader Lincoln Barr has displayed a restless stylistic curiosity and unique command of his influences, masterfully whittling shards of soul, country, blues, rock, and pop into a coherent whole.
2012 finds Barr, who also serves as guitarist in Seattle power-pop heavy hitters Stag, marrying that band’s penchant for the sub-three-minute pop gem with his love for vintage soul and ’70s British pub rock. The results are thrilling, infusing Red Jacket Mine’s trademark commitment to songcraft with a welcome dose of humor and devil-may-care kineticism.
A series of releases on Fin Records will hit stores this year – February welcomes a 7” on chocolate vinyl of “Listen Up (If the World is Going to Hell)” b/w “Rosy Days”. The video for “Listen Up” features the most joyous display of barbaric animal overlords manipulating their human underlings in recent memory. View it here, and consider Easter from a far different perspective (you’ve been warned). May 29th, a second 7” arrives for “Bellar and Bawl” b/w “Grow Your Own.” It will be followed by a third single and a full length album in early 2013.
Longtime drummer Andrew Salzman thrives in this context, propelling the songs with a Stax-y swagger and strut, while bassist Matthew Cunningham artfully snakes his way around, over, and through Barr’s sophisticated changes. Veteran producer Johnny Sangster (The Tripwires, Cobirds Unite) proves the perfect foil for this rejuvenated lineup, contributing his trademark sparkle and peerless pop sensibility as the project’s producer and guest guitarist.
The Stranger said, “Barr’s compositions for Red Jacket Mine are beautifully put-together objects,” while Blurt Magazine wrote, “These guys have the kind of songs and chops that will weather any level of scrutiny.” But these songs have depth and dimensions, first listens show off shiny hooks and crunchy guitars – after a spin or two, the more cynical lyrics feel like a flashlight shining down a dark alley.
A Seattle resident, Lincoln Barr spent much of his youth in Memphis, Tennessee, where influences like Big Star, Al Green, Sun Records, and Delta blues swirl around in the drinking water. After attending college in the St. Louis area, he began releasing music under the Red Jacket Mine moniker. Barr moved to Seattle in 2005 and assembled a full-band lineup anchored by drummer Andrew Salzman. Over the past 7 years, Red Jacket Mine has shared the stage with bands like Chuck Prophet and Alejandro Escovedo as well as enjoying frequent rotation on indie rock powerhouse KEXP, which has grown from a Seattle institution into a national entity.
Download the one-sheet for “Listen Up (If the World is Going to Hell)” (PDF, 862KB)
Recommended if you like: Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Alex Chilton, Garland Jeffreys, Steve Forbert
Red Jacket Mine has shared the stage with Chuck Prophet, Alejandro Escovedo, The Minus 5, Ken Stringfellow (The Posies), Rebecca Gates (The Spinanes), Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers), Glen Matlock (The Sex Pistols/The Faces), Bahamas, Loney Dear, Liam Finn, Jason Falkner, Richmond Fontaine, the 88, Apex Manor, Langhorne Slim, Everest, Retribution Gospel Choir, Ian Moore, The Luyas, Jackie Greene, Reckless Kelly, Downpilot, The Devil Whale, Octoberman, and many, many more…
NEW! Hi-Res Promo Shots by Anna Hoychuk -
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(Visit the Anna Hoychuk Photography site.)
press bio for Lovers Lookout (2009)
Seattle band Red Jacket Mine — comprising singer/songwriter Lincoln Barr, bassist Matthew Cunningham, and drummer Andy Salzman — has spent the last five years honing its craft on stages throughout the Northwest, and it shows.
On the heels of their ornate, ambitious debut, Hello, Old Cloud, the band released its sophomore disc, Lovers Lookout, in October 2009, earning glowing reviews and heavy rotation on Seattle’s standard-bearing independent radio station KEXP. The last year has found the band sharing stages with the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, the Minus 5, Jason Falkner, and Richmond Fontaine.
Cut live to two-inch tape with minimal overdubs at Seattle’s Soundhouse Recording with producer/contributor Ken Stringfellow (The Posies/Big Star/The Disciplines), Lovers Lookout is a work entirely more immediate and accessible than its predecessor. Touching on Hi Records soul (“Such an Easy Thing”), bracing guitar rock (“Childish Things”), snotty bash & pop (“The Pose”), and smoky balladry (“Fascinated”), the album finds Hello, Old Cloud‘s often delicate, restrained tenor supplanted by a newfound passion and confidence.
“We set up in the studio just like we play live,” Barr says. “Since making the first album, we’d become a band, and I wanted to capture that without any kid-in-a-candy-store studio artifice getting in the way.”
On their increasingly-rare decision to record to tape, Barr says, “It’s certainly getting to be prohibitively expensive. We could only afford four reels — just enough for an album, really. I kind of felt like, if we wanted to make a record on tape, this could be our last chance. So we went for it, and it was absolutely the right decision. It simplified the process in the best possible way. ‘Is this the take? Because we can only keep one.’ It either is or isn’t. If it feels good, let’s go with it. If not, let’s play it again.”
As on Hello, Old Cloud, Eyvind Kang contributes several characteristically-brilliant string arrangements, but this time around, Kang’s contributions favor in-the-moment spontaneity over graceful composure. Nowhere is this more evident than on the hazy esoterica of “Apricot Moon,” where Kang’s viola wrestles fellow guest Ian Moore‘s angular, Tom Verlaine-meets-Hubert Sumlin guitar for dominance, consummating in a glorious cacophony of wood and wire. Moore also lends his signature keening falsetto to this track, providing Lovers Lookout with one of its most haunting moments.
With a knockout record in the can and an incendiary live show to back it up, Red Jacket Mine appear destined for the breakthrough their growing number of fans have expected all along. Beyond that, there’s no dramatic story of tragedy and triumph. The fellows in Red Jacket Mine are reasonably content, and why shouldn’t they be? The story is the music. And the music is good.
Download the Lovers Lookout one-sheet (PDF, 130K)
praise for Lovers Lookout (2009)
Lovers Lookout is aglow…bursting at the digital seams with pristine pop and luminous blue-eyed soul, with hints of psychedelia and Americana lining the seams…Posies/Big Star/R.E.M. fans will surely find the four young men of Red Jacket Mine to be kindred spirits – but the bottom line is that these guys have the kind of songs and chops that will weather any level of scrutiny.
— Fred Mills, Blurt Online (http://www.blurt-online.com), December 31, 2009
As luminous and warm as a beam of morning sun in your kitchen.
— Brian J. Barr, Seattle Weekly (http://www.seattleweekly.com), January 8, 2010
There is an immediacy to tracks like “Childish Things” and the ever so damn catchy “Showponies” that take very little amount of plays to lodge themselves in that part of the brain marked ‘constant rotation.’ [...] Jangling guitars, soaring harmonies, and sharp, precise production is the key here making for a good hearty listen…what’s not to like?
— Del Day, Americana UK (http://www.americana-uk.com), November 10, 2009
Red Jacket Mine is the real thing…this record, played 100% live in the studio, brilliantly displays how they have every detail of their western desert-lonesome sound, and their evocative lyrics under the command of a powerful vision, which they see through to a gorgeous, glorious conclusion…bleak biblical allusions and dripping-warm Motown love declarations coexist in Red Jacket Mine’s peculiar Eden.
— Ken Stringfellow, Lovers Lookout producer, singer/songwriter (The Posies/Big Star/The Disciplines)
The unassuming pop of Red Jacket Mine is a refreshing reminder that talented musicians continue to make wonderful albums. Lovers Lookout is likely my favorite “new” album since Midlake’s Trials of Van Occupanther. In a perfect world, Red Jacket Mine would be on top of the charts, but fuck the charts and the radio and the critics. Make the world that you want—and for me, that world includes Lovers Lookout in heavy rotation, particularly when friends stop by for a cold drink.
— Edward Burch, musical curmudgeon & singer/songwriter (Bennett & Burch/Kennett Brothers)
It’s as if Joe Pernice joined Centro-matic and we are all better for the union.
— Ben London, singer/songwriter (Burning Rivers/Sanford Arms)
praise for Hello, Old Cloud (2008)
Red Jacket Mine, fronted by the silky smooth vocals of Lincoln Barr, has created a darker American sound…with steel guitars, crunchy drums, and a guitar that often soars into beauteous oblivion, this band will satisfy the country-pop hipster post-rock scallywag in anyone.
— Chuck Dula, Weekly Volcano, Tacoma, Washington, March 5, 2009
Hello, Old Cloud reveals how much Barr has grown as a songwriter in the last five years…[his vocals] are in strong form throughout the record…I am confident that Red Jacket Mine are just getting started.
— Hugh Miller, Unfinished web zine, May 19, 2008
Hello, Old Cloud drifts along languidly, buoyed by Barr’s slightly fragile voice and intelligent lyrics. Like spiked lemonade, it’s refreshing and intoxicating.
— Barbara Mitchell, Portland Tribune, March 14, 2008
…on the cusp of releasing debut album Hello, Old Cloud, [Red Jacket Mine's] confident orchestrations sound like they’ve been around for much longer, as do songwriter Lincoln Barr’s mature lyrics and smooth delivery.
— Seattle Metropolitan magazine, January 2008