Goodnight, Texas is a band you’ve almost certainly heard by accident somewhere. And now on second look, you’re deep in their catalog and they’re telling you stories about trapped coal miners and lovebird bank robbers. Banjos and mandolins twinkle. Now you’re seeing them live and they’re swelling to a fever pitch, suddenly singing quiet harmonies off-mic, and then rocking out again. You’re talking to them at the merch table for a good while and you’re legitimately excited about their new album Signals because, more than ever before, it captures the vast dynamic range of the show and blends it with their expansive and intricate songwriting.
Without doubt, the new album kicks. Lead single “Runaways” even features a blazing guest solo from none other than Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, who admired the band’s version of “Of Wolf and Man” on the 2022 covers album The Metallica Blacklist.
But beyond the memorable sock-you-in-the-face riffs, Goodnight, Texas is reaching its roots deeper in every direction on Signals, which drops July 19th via 2 Cent Bank Check Records. Their first album-sized trip into the studio expands their sonic range, thanks to Oakland’s Ian and Jay Pellicci (Deerhoof, Tune-Yards). Stories of the Americana of yore bleed into the near past and present via DB Cooper and North Dakota oil field workers. Electric guitars pound like hammers, but the mandolins still twinkle like stars. Is that song a little tongue-in-cheek? Are those strings?
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout track “The Money or The Time,” a right proper work of country-rock that features fuzzy guitar, sly vocals, and big choruses. The song bounces along with the kind of cool rock groove that brings to mind the likes of Tom Petty, George Harrison and elements of The Black Keys. Ultimately, it demonstrates the tightness and versatility these folksters have cultivated.
Singer-songwriter Patrick Dyer Wolf describes the inspiration and process behind the song:
“The Money or the Time” is an oblique reference to Frank Stockton’s 1882 short story ‘The Lady, Or The Tiger?’ which has become shorthand for an unsolvable problem, an impossible choice. Sonically, it’s a bop: the bouncy mid-tempo child of early ’90s Tom Petty and rooftop Beatles, with an Indiana Jones reference in the first verse. This song is unique in the Goodnight, Texas catalog: we nailed it as a four-piece on the first take. Sure, sure, we added some overdubs later. But the drums, bass, and two main guitars were all there on the first pass with Ian at Brothers (Chinese) Recording in Oakland.”
LISTEN:
The post SONG PREMIERE: Goodnight, Texas Lay Down Fuzzy Rock Grooves on “The Money or The Time” appeared first on Glide Magazine.
