11. May 2017
3 Reasons Why The Black Lillies – Hard to Please
The Black Lillies tour dates here.
by Walter Price
The Black Lillies most recent release titled Hard To Please is akin to a classic 1970’s era country radio playlist. Not that this is an album of covers but it is an album that travels in shadows of sounds past. As the tracks play out memories of Ronnie Milsap, Tanya Tucker, John Conlee, Conway Twitt, and Lynn Anderson fill the room. It’s clear that songwriter Cruz Contreras has a deep appreciation for the names that preceded him. Blending these classic country sounds with pinches of blues, pop, and rock…you’ll find that the recipe works.
And the devotion to keeping the band’s sound grounded in reality, if not historically accurate, the songwriter is a damn fine storyteller. Each track carries that magic that allows the listener to direct short little mental films in wildly fantastic interpretations. In a time when music is carbon copies of itself, the craftsmanship here is brilliantly refreshing.
by Walter Price
The Black Lillies most recent release titled Hard To Please is akin to a classic 1970’s era country radio playlist. Not that this is an album of covers but it is an album that travels in shadows of sounds past. As the tracks play out memories of Ronnie Milsap, Tanya Tucker, John Conlee, Conway Twitt, and Lynn Anderson fill the room. It’s clear that songwriter Cruz Contreras has a deep appreciation for the names that preceded him. Blending these classic country sounds with pinches of blues, pop, and rock…you’ll find that the recipe works.
And the devotion to keeping the band’s sound grounded in reality, if not historically accurate, the songwriter is a damn fine storyteller. Each track carries that magic that allows the listener to direct short little mental films in wildly fantastic interpretations. In a time when music is carbon copies of itself, the craftsmanship here is brilliantly refreshing.
“Gearing up to write this record, one reoccurring theme kept smacking me in the face. It came from every direction and in many ways, but always the same: write from your heart. Create from a personal space. Heart. Heart. Heart. It was the only way to do it.” – Cruz Contreras
If you long for those take it easy days when AM radio played from the ol family four-door sedan, then The Black Lillies’ Hard To Please is one for you. Let’s go just 3 of the reasons why this stunning release…HARD TO PLEASE
Well it’s a big old world with lots of folks in it Some take take, some gonna give it At the end of the day it’s all about the same Ain’t nobody else that you can blame For your own damn troubles and the way ya go Buck up now you got a long ways home It’s like I said when you end up dead There’s no farther to goMERCY
Oh darling, yes darling I can hear you calling out my name And it sounds so good, every time we meet Like a rollin’ melody you’ve got a hold on me40 DAYS
Forty days and forty nights Flying down the highway white line sideways leavin it all behind We gonna rock n roll till the break a dawn Set em up knock em down sing our song Forty days and forty nightsTHE BLACK LILLIES
Cruz Contreras Bowman Townsend Dustin Schaefer Sam Quinn
SUPPORT GREAT ARTISTS, BUY MUSIC