Add Event My Events Log In

Upcoming Events

    We see you appreciate a good vintage. But there comes a time to try something new. Click here to head over to the redesigned Louisville.com. It's where you'll find all of our latest work. And plenty of the good ol' stuff, too, looking better than ever.

    Music

    Print this page

    The local music scene can be overwhelming for a newcomer – so many bands, so many venues and so little time. When I started listening to Louisville-made music, So It Goes…,  caught me, and I’ve been waiting ever since for Nellie Pearl to produce an album. The news that the band had successfully Kickstarted a full album (over $10k!) was sweet music to my ears. Now, seven months later, I’m listening to Lonesome No More! fully satisfied.

    “Live/Die” and “True, Fiction” have already made it ito the airwaves - “Live/Die” is the perfect premiere single from this album - and the rest of the tracks live up to the standard it's set. This album shows a maturation both lyrically and stylistically — the album adopts a number of genres, flowing in and out of Americana, rock and even surf. Watch Nellie Pearl perform both tracks below, as part of Louisville.com's Studio Sessions video series: 

    The diversity found in the album can be attributed to the varying backgrounds of the band members, “I had been working with Blunt Honey, a roots folk band, before Nellie Pearl,” says J. Mitchell (vocals, guitar). “Gregg [Manfredi] had been playing [upright bass] in a folk/horror punk group Harley Poe for years, and Christo [Foros] played [percussion] in Local Villains, who recently reformed as Ramble, which is straight up rock.” Add to that the songwriting and vocal talent of Rachel Monroe and an electrifying violin from Alex Peterson (Hey Hey Honey), and you have the heart of the sound that has become Nellie Pearl’s signature.

    The release has done a superb job of highlighting the vocal collaboration between J. Mitchell and Rachel Monroe. Both the first two singles show this off well, as well as “Cowboy Cold,” a love song that realizes that sometimes, we really screw up in our relationships. Sometimes, we don’t know how to love other people.

    While the album title would suggest a concept gearing toward the upbeat, happily-in-love variety, that isn’t the case in Lonesome No More! The album, as a whole, is an exploration of love and life, touching on issues of drug abuse, self-doubt, home, relationships, and more.

    Lonesome No More! also ventures into some social commentary, “The Children (Are On Drugs)” a teaser for the band’s next album: “I love to write music, but I hate to write a good song then not have an outlet for it to grow. Once we were on track to record a full length record and were going to be needing more material, it had been a while since I had done some serious writing. Life had inevitably changed, and I've only wanted to write about social issues since. “The Children” is the first of a string of songs that are lyrically uninhibited and musically the most pleasantly awkward I've written…,” says Mitchell.

    “Just the simple act of living in this world is f—ing hard,” continues Mitchell, referencing the likes of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly, the GOP, Matt Bevin and Planned Parenthood. You can look for Mitchell tackling these topics in his songwriting on the next release.

    You can get your copy of Lonesome No More!, as well as hear Nellie Pearl perform, this Friday at their album release show, where they'll be playing Headliners with support from Cheyenne Mize, Frederick The Younger and Derby City Soul Club. Find details here. Pre-order the album here.

     

    Image: Nellie Pearl

    Michelle Eigenheer's picture

    About Michelle Eigenheer

    A Louisville transplant beginning to appreciate all the city's small things.

    More from author:      

    Share On:

    Most Read Stories