There’s a new supergroup in town. Meet the Silverlites, made up of R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, the Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson, Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees and Mad Season, and singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur who was first discovered by Peter Gabriel. Today, the band announced their debut albumSilverlites and released the lead single “Don’t Go, Don’t Stay.”
On Facebook, Martin revealed he recorded and produced the LP during the pandemic. “It started in a Nashville hotel room in 2019,” he wrote, and added that they “spent the pandemic years doing various recording and mixing sessions, and we used a classic songwriting form, which is often forgotten in this day and age. That is, acoustic guitars (with a little electric guitar in there), with superb lead vocals, catchy backing vocals, and a soulful backbeat in the rhythm section. It’s old school songwriting, just like us.”
The band’s first single “Don’t Go, Don’t Stay” is out now ahead of the November 15th release of its self-titled debut album.
The project features Arthur on lead vocals alongside R.E.M.’s Peter Buck on acoustic guitars, The Black Crowes’ Rich Robinson on acoustic and electric guitars, and Barrett Martin (Screaming Trees, Mad Season) on drums, upright bass, vibraphone, and backing vocals. “Don’t Go, Don’t Stay” introduces the Silverlites’ roots-rock sound, as Arthur sings over organic instrumentation from Buck, Robinson, and Martin — the latter of whom recorded the initial acoustic guitar tracks in a Nashville hotel room in 2019. “We hope you like the songs, as we spent the pandemic years doing various recording and mixing sessions,” wrote Martin on Instagram, “and we used a classic songwriting form, which is often forgotten in this day and age. That is, acoustic guitars (with a little electric guitar in there), with superb lead vocals, catchy backing vocals, and a soulful backbeat in the rhythm section. It’s old school songwriting, just like us.”
The LP was mixed in 2021 with Daniel Sanint at Flux Studios in Manhattan. Buck has also joined Black Crowes onstage a couple of times in recent years.
REF: Stereogum, artist links
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays The Silverlites–All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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