Vinyl Review: "Smalltown, Midwest, USA" by The New Old Fashioned

Smallltown, Midwest, USA

So, it's been a minute hasn't it? Newer readers used to my daily double posting may have been a bit miffed to see that it's been a week since my last big piece of righteous music journalism.

For that, I'm sorry. To my readers, to my contacts, and to the bands who've so wonderfully sent me interviews to work up to pass along to you.

It's been a helluva couple weeks and because of that, no fingers on keys has happened and that sucks.

But, back today with another vinyl review. This is the first time that I've posted back to back vinyl reviews which isn't exactly a good thing...see above.

Today I'm sharing the latest record by Dayton, OH's, The New Old Fashioned. They're an Americana band from just a couple states over. On a personal note, though my travels have taken me to Ohio more times than I can count, never once have I been to Dayton. No star on my map.

Smalltown, Midwest, USA is their sixth full length release, depending on how those Treblephonic Sessions albums count.

The New Old Fashioned

This disc is a thematic concept record. There's no narrative story line and the only thing linking these tracks together is how they were written and I'll get to that in a moment.

First, it's time to dispel a myth I think, and that's of Smalltown, America. Leave It To Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, and other such programs have really warped our sensibilities as Americans.

As I traveled several small towns in my home state of Missouri recently, a thought occurred to me...

Smalltown, America is a minority and has always been a minority.It's not real America, typical America, or anything other than a small section our population. It's interesting to me that our mass media has purported this romantic idea of Middle America as being anything more than an outlier.

More people in this country can relate to life in Seinfeld than all of the small town shows combined.

Now, let's move forward.

This release was written during the election cycle of 2016. It's special now that I'm hearing it after the election cycle of 2018. The idea was to give listeners and idea of the people you'd meet walking down the street of the mythical America.

As everything going forward is to be based on my personal experiences. Allow me to tell you a bit about my life, upbringing, and family. In my family, I am the outlier. Most of my family lives in Middle Missouri. It's a great place to visit, but there are far too many Josh Hawley, Eric Greitens, and Donald Trump signs for my liking.

My mother and I are the only urbanites in our entire clan. So, there are all sorts of conspiracy theories, Anti-Obama stories, etc in my Facebook feed. My family are who they are, but what am I supposed to do? I really have no idea. I've taken a policy of non-engagement.

In my lifetime, I've lived wholly in the St. Louis Area. From the Lafayette Square Neighborhood to Vienna, MO (which is 40 miles outside of Rolla) and even in rural southern Illinois. As an adult, I choose to live and raise my daughter in St. Louis City. Not the county, not the exurbs, but the city proper, yes where all the drugs and violence is if you're willing to believe the stories you see about my Fair City on the internet.

My best childhood memories come from the time spent on a farm in the Middle Missouri I just spent time lambasting. My grandfather owned a former prison farm in the little town of Holt's Summit, MO.

Because of how life was and is, this record really, really spoke to me. Each track tells a story about not life in a small town, but a person you'd meet at a diner in those small towns.

I've met every single person The New Old Fashioned deemed fit to sing about. It's kind of uncanny and unnerving, but it made the songs that much more powerful to me.

How did they meet everybody in my family?

The opening track gave me pause like I've never felt before in a song. Now, St. Louis is a city, a major metropolitan area, but we're on the small side. There's probably 5 cities in California bigger. So, we have a small town complex...and the line "it's hard to find love in a small town" in the opening track brought back floods of memories for me.

That one line opened up a floodgate of memories about courting my wife. My first phone call. Our first date. And, all the women I dated leading up to her. It was a weird time in my life.

But enough about me. Truthfully, I find myself to be an interesting topic, but this record is the star here.

They self describe as Americana, but that feels wrong to me. Americana doesn't have mournful guitar solos, pedal steel guitars, and it sure as shootin' doesn't contain that sweet, sweet Hammond Organ.

There are few songs in this world that can't be improved by the swirling Leslie Speaker sound. Fight me. To paraphrase Lou Reed, I get lost in that swirl.

The vocals are emotive and powerful, but my mind keeps going back to the power of the guitar and the organ. That's what make these songs for me instead of poems. The lyrics are fantastic. Strongwilled and unapologetic.

Half the time while listening, I was snapping on the four like some sort of douche....the sort that I worked for back in the 90's actually.

The New Old Fashioned make music like it's supposed to be in 2018. It's familiar enough to scratch the itch, but new enough to scratch that other itch.

This is a rock band, about America using no traditional instruments at all, which is why I can't personally attach the Americana tag to them, but how many rock bands use Hammond Organs in the new millennium? What about pedal steel guitar?

I mean, do country bands still use those? God I hope so.

The New Old Fashioned took a swing at life in the modern day. What people think of the current generation. What people think about living the small town life. What people think about The Old Days. The Kids Today.

They may have not reached the goal of bridging the country and bringing some closure to the world we're living in, but they tried to help bridge that gap.

This record will do more than make you tap your toes. It'll make you think. There's nothing more in this world that you can ask for from a piece of art.

It's appropriate that I'm getting this to you ahead of Thanksgiving, because this just might be the record you play for your uncle.

You know which one.

RELEASE 8/31/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK