By Bloodshot Records
The world is hunkered down, socially distanced, tearing apart and pulling together. Studios are closed, tours are cancelled, and festivals just seem terrifyingly stupid. Cramming into a stuffy club to have friends and bands alike sweating and shouting all over the room? Not us, buddy, and hopefully not you either. Not until tides turn; not until science, empathy and common sense re-emerge.
We count ourselves among the fortunate who have some spare (though worry-filled) time on our hands. And with that time we scoured the vaults to bring together this collection of heretofore unreleased or hard-to-find tracks from the Bloodshot gang of wayward music makers – who miss you just as much as you miss them.
It thrills us to share what we found when we rolled up our sleeves and spelunked the catacombs of our ramshackle office (well, we’re not sharing everything we found down there; some of it was pretty gross). There’s everything from alternate versions to oddball songs that didn’t quite fit an album, to cover songs, and more. We’ve been itching to release a lot of this material since it was archived as “b-sides” or “outtakes,” but could never find the right reason or the right time to bring them all together.
And then the shit hit the fan.
Pandemophenia is a thank you to all the fans who have been so supportive during this challenging time. It is something positive to enjoy and something for the artists to share with the world while they’re grounded. And, of course, hopefully it’ll put some cash in their alarmingly empty pockets.
Getting these artists together on one release, in a time when we can’t all be together, is special in and of itself. It’s a reminder of the simple, but profound, joys music brings to us, individually, and as members of a missed community.
So, enjoy! Stay safe, stay smart, be well, tip your “bartenders,” support independent businesses and artists of all kinds, and take care of yourselves and your neighbors.
We’ll see you when this storm passes.
– Your friends at Bloodshot
Pandemophenia track list:
1. Jason Hawk Harris / “I’m Not There Yet”
2. Ruby Boots / “Keeping Me Alive”
3. Banditos / “Keep on Smilin'”
4. Kelly Hogan / “Homewrecker”
5. Ramblin’ Deano & Jon Langford / “Quarantine Rock”
6. Murder By Death / “The Moon Is Up”
7. Laura Jane Grace & the Devouring Mothers / “This Land Is Your Land”
8. Robbie Fulks / “Seventies Jesus”
9. William Elliott Whitmore / “New Skateboard”
10. Cory Branan / “Wish on the Moon”
11. Jon Langford & Skull Orchard / “Old Devils” (Live at Small Chicago)
12. Barrence Whitfield & the Savages / “Dream of June”
13. Ha Ha Tonka / “Rendezvous”
14. Freakwater / “Frayed and Bare”
15. The Yawpers / “Ace of Spades”
16. Scott H. Biram / “Baby in a Well”
17. ROOKIE / “Hold On Tight (Acoustic)”
–
Comments welcome.
Posted on July 4, 2020