Los Angeles based artist Jeremiah (Sammartano) and the Red Eyes started in the Southern California coffeehouses and bars, picking up sounds and ideas along the way and later mixed them up with the song ideas in his head. What came out was a blend of the Delta blues and old folk songs, Tom Waits and the Replacements, some Willie Nelson twang and some good old garage rock and roll - and a whole lot of other things - Delta blues and twangy grooves, one reporter called it.
2004 saw the release of Red Eyed and Restless on Bull Stud Records which had songs played on various U.S. stations including the syndicated show, "Altville", and Chris Morris' Watusi Rodeo on Indie 103.1 in LA, and across Europe. Over the years they have been well supported by the Americana scene in Los Angeles and have shared the stage with Southern Culture On The Skids, Dead Rock West, and Mike Stinson - to name a few - and also David Olney and Tommy Womack in Nashville, where Jeremiah relocated for a spell in 2009.
in 2010 Jeremiah and the Red Eyes hit the road in support of a new CD, Under Your Spell, and covered a good 40k miles starting with LA and then onto Phoenix, Denver, Austin, St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, and various cities in between. Plans for a Spring 2011 tour are already under way.
The Red Eyed and Restless CD available at CD Baby
Review of Red Eyed & Restless
JEREMIAH SAMMARTANO ****** (translated from French)
Red Eyed & Restless
Bull Stud Records
This young California man with the allure of a south-american Indian (his origins?) has been
working hard since 1990, from bars to dives, from encounters to experiences, and who has all
the same made 3 discs, arrives suddenly with an original album, excessively exciting and even
a little disturbing. Between minimalist country ballad, alternate rock and tortured blues, with a
caressing or sliding guitar, acoustic or plugged in, the songwriter Jeremiah Samartano, who
goes simply by his first name, practices a music pure, whose authenticity must have it's origins
in his long years of wandering. His music, punk and traditional, coming out of nowhere if not
far-away lands, is a sort of cross over whose references are at the same time from some found-
ing fathers of the blues (Charley Patton, Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf for example) but also
from another sphere, more alternative and rock: Paul Westerberg, ex-guitarist of the disbanded
Replacements, and most of all a band of musicians based in Arizona at Cave Creek.
In spite of all this, the music remains rather faithful to the tradition of Delta Blues and this
too-short (for me) album, recorded live in the studio with the bassist and producer (of this cd)
Dale Warner, and drummer Jimmy Paxton, captures perfectly the spirit (wit/intelligence) of
Jeremiah and his music. The singing is raw, mocking, the guitars rough, and the sound crude.
It's magical and spellbinding, the type of thing that makes you vibrate.
This artist has his sentiments "a fleur de peau" (note from fran: this means he is very sensitive,
but I can't think of an idiomatic phrase in English to translate it), the talent to write, the truth at
the end of his guitar and the sincerity of a real music. MAGIC!!
His objective from here forward: come to do a tour in Europe.
- Francis Rateau
Programme 'Hot Time'
www.couleursfm.com
Le Blues Café lebluescafe.free.fr
Collectif des Radios Blueswww.radiosblues.com
Magazine Blues&Cowww.blues-n-co.org
Magazine Crossroadswww.banditscompany.com
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