High Rolling Loners

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The High Rolling Loners are the original lonesome heroes of today. Tapping deep into their roots they are searching for musical truth and vision under every rock that rolls. They hail from all across the New World, from Eastern to Western skies, from the fertile lands of the Deep South to the Industrialized Upper Midwest. Each member brings a certain element of home to the band. Whether it's a cranked up rocker, a sunny day sing along, or a disparagingly sad country song, the High Rolling Loners are your band. Come join us on our drive through the countryside and have a listen. The High Rolling Loners received two 2006 San Diego Music Award nominations for Best Country Band, and Best Americana album for their self-titled debut EP.

IN THE PRESS:It’s a cracker!! 100% guaranteed!! If there is a downside to the High Rolling Loners debut EP it is that its too short. The San Diego-based roots band captures a mix of AM-era Wilco and Robert Earl Keen or, at times, a twangy-Steve Miller Band, with a heavy dose of southern rock. Whether they are burning it up with full-throttle country rock, or tear-in-your-beer laments, the High Rolling Loners debut blows hot and hard like a Southern California wind.Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music December 2006

The High Rolling Loners aim low and hit hard. Garage rock aesthetics and an if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it production style land this debut EP hard in the dirt at your feet like a wayward horseshoe at a biker picnic. Grounded deep in roots rock and flying high on broken wings, the High Rolling Loners sound like the Band, Marshall Tucker, and mid-seventies Dead rolled in a Zig Zag and passed from the left, half wet, and smoking. You can almost see the hippie chicks twirling in the dust out behind the barn.



Lead vocalist and guitarist John Verruto sings with such a pronounced drawl you'd swear he's faking it, but I bet he isn't. Southern rock never sounded so southern. The EPs best song, 'She Can Love Me,' features the other guitarist Ryan Bartell on vocals, whose rough-around-the-edges sound and unaffected sincerity make him stand out. If they work a little harder, Verruto and Bartell just may be the best one-two punch in local roots rock, right up there with Peat and Cady of the Truckee Brothers.



Finesse junkies might be a tad disappointed by the slap happy guitar work and thrown-together feel of these undernourished compositions. And don't come looking for any lyrical depth or goose-bumping melodic reverie. This is meat and potatoes country rock straight from the trailer park, and it ain't apologizing for nothin'.



The thriving San Diego alt-country scene is a perfect home for the High Rolling Loners. A hippie might dream that some day there'll be an outdoor concert on a ranch in Ramona with the Truckee Brothers, the Coyote Problem, Gully, Dead Rock West, Golden Hill Ramblers, Bartenders Bible, Citizen Band, Whiskey Tango, and all the other great San Diego Americana rock outfits. Maybe it'll be called Weedstock or Ramonapalooza. Thirty Coors kegs, pulled pork sandwiches (on Bread & Cie rolls of course - we may be hicks but we have good taste), hippie chicks dancing in chicken wire cages, and the High Rolling Loners banging out the righteous clamor you just can't get in those tedious hook-up bars in PB. The last thing you'll remember before you pass out face down in the dirt is the smell of straw, purple sage, and barbecue, and the sound of Mountain Girl whispering in your ear, 'Honey, are you all right?' Now you're a High Rolling Loner too. Tom Paine - San Diego Troubadour - June 2006



If this debut EP from San Diego country band High Rolling Loners were just a single and the single was That Sound, you'd think some top-drawer anti-Nashville hicks were behind it. A fast-paced, almost military drum tempo and thick, country-blues guitar introduces us to John Verruto, who has the sort of voice you'd hear outside of a bait-and-tackle shop in a town where coffee comes in one flavor and in Styrofoam cups. His raw twang is lazy and fantastic; he sings about how he "used to cause trouble/ and all my drinks were double" before meeting a little lady who interrupted his shot-by-shotglass route to a grave plot in an RV park. The rest of the EP is above average, if bone-simple, country rock. Solid, and undoubtedly great to drink Budweiser to at a live show, but not nearly as great as That Sound. Troy Johnson - San Diego Citybeat - May 2006Simple rocking country, similar to Robert Earl Keen, is what High Rolling Loners play. The guitar ranges from growling to twangy. There's an occasional harmonica, and the lead vocals wear a Southern drawl like a pair of boots. That's it. That's what you get.



The tempo of most of the songs is upbeat but not poppy. "That Sound" is a bit quicker with a rockabilly punk rhythm similar to slower tracks from Tiger Army. "She Can Love Me" is a little slower, and the vocals are clearer. That track is the sentimental account of a woman's (sometimes confused) affections: "She fills my cup before it gets empty / She draws my bath when I'm tired and worn," but "She don't love me."



I'm keeping this CD to play on my next road trip to Vegas. The dusty desert track "Mexico" will match my straw cowboy hat, and "That Sound," with its lyrics about "bourbon and dice," might bring me some luck. Ollie - San Diego Reader - March 2006