On Friday Sept. 7, at 8 p.m., Brattleboro's homegrown classic country band The Rear Defrosters takes the stage at the Stone Church, 210 Main St., to celebrate the release of their new EP, Gentleman Farmer. The event will be a double EP release party with the Boston-based country band formerly known as Girls, Guns and Glory - now going by the name Ward Hayden and the Outliers - releasing their own EP, Can't Judge a Book.
Featuring a large and rotating cast of all-star players from Vermont, New Hampshire, and western Massachusetts, The Rear Defrosters formed in 2011 on a whim by guitarist/singer Michael Roberts, bassist Jeffrey Murphy, and drummer Frank Roberts - all members of the alt-country band Wooden Dinosaur - to explore their love of classic country.
Since then they've honed their sound, which harks back to the Bakersfield Sound of Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, and Dwight Yoakam, at dance parties across the northeast. The band is primarily a vehicle to pay tribute to the country hits of the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s.
Gentleman Farmer was written by guitarist/singer Michael Roberts over the course of many years, but the album was recorded in a single afternoon at Loud Sun Studio in Jaffrey, N.H. The songs convey a deep respect for the country tradition, a keen ear for contemporary narratives and a love for rural communities of northern New England, according to the news release.
Players featured on the album include Boston-based troubadour and guitarist Sam Moss, fiddler Ethan Hazzard-Watkins (of Elixir), pedal steel guitarist Rick Contino (formerly of JP Harris and the Tough Choices), singer Kate Lorenz (formerly of Rusty Belle), drummer Jesse Fox, and bass player Jeff Murphy.
The album will be released on Lost Honey Records on Sept. 7.
Ward Hayden and the Outliers formed as Girls, Guns and Glory over a decade ago in Boston. Since that time they've barnstormed far beyond their hometown, playing honky-tonks, beer joints, and more recently concert venues throughout the U.S. They've amassed a loyal legion of fans along the way. The media have noticed too, including Rolling Stone, which heralds them as a “modern-day Buddy Holly plus Dwight Yoakam divided by the Mavericks.”