“SOUL, STYLE & CHOPS TO MATCH ANY UP-AND-COMING BAND IN AMERICA.”
Hittin’ The Note magazine, official merchandiser of The Allman Brothers Band
LEROY JUSTICE has shared the stage with members of The Black Crowes, Levon Helm Band, Gov't Mule, Rose Hill Drive, The Whigs, Hill Country Revue, American Babies, RANA, Marah, Molly Hatchett, and many others. The band has toured the east from Maine to Alabama, rocking such venues as The Norva in Virginia, NYC's B.B. King's, Austin's SXSW and Woodstock's Bearsville Theatre. LJ’s May 2009 release, The Loho Sessions, was recorded and engineered by producer John Siket (Dave Matthews, Sonic Youth, Phish) and has received praise from publications such as Elmore magazine, Jambase and Hidden Track, which says “Loho has breakout written all over it . . . a contender for best this year.” Along with releases from My Morning Jacket and The Black Keys, LJ’s debut, Revolution's Son, was chosen by Earvolution as one of 2008's most memorable. Both albums are now available for purchase through Hittin’ The Note, official merchandiser of The Allman Brothers Band. HTN distributed free Leroy Justice CD samplers to fans along all stops of the 2009 Allman Brothers Band / Widespread Panic tour.
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"Oozing the same authoritative boozy charm as Mike Cooley of the Drive-By
Truckers, Jason Gallagher barks out the title track like a grizzled Southern rock veteran and turns "Belt Buckle" into a lost Skynyrd classic. You may not have heard of much of Leroy Justice in 2008; I imagine that will change in 2009."- EARVOLUTION.com's 2008 Most Memorable (Revolution's Son)
"The blues-fueled spirit of Seventies Southern rock lives. Oddly, it lives in New York City. The crunging riffs, the twinned leads, the squealing keys, the hard-road vocals--the backup chicks! All here! Oh, and the songs--the songs're here, too."
- KURT LODER, MTV
"In Leroy Justice we find a modern band ready, willing and able to go toe-to-toe with The Faces, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the like, and their sophomore release, The Loho Sessions shows they're not prepared to give an inch to their ancestors in the face off."
- DENNIS COOK, JAMBASE 2009 (review of "THE LOHO SESSIONS")
".their Southern-fried boogie is so faithful, it's hard to believe these guys are from the big city and not from some Mountain Dew and Southern Comfort hollar."
- ALL MUSIC GUIDE
"NYC's Leroy Justice has the same spark as early Black Crowes and Mother
Hips. There's enough twang to make you think it's southern rock but the
tender lyrical turns tie them closer to Springsteen and other Northeast roots rockers. Their debut is great and they kick ass live. Belly up to the bar and let them pour you a shot of what you need."
- DENNIS COOK, JAMBASE (Five Artists to Bend An Ear Towards)
LEROY JUSTICE - THE LOHO SESSIONS (released 5/26/09)
Jambase Review by Dennis Cook
There's a moment late in opening track "All My Life" where lead singer-songwriter Jason Gallagher pleads for a dream his voice betrays his doubts about. The only backing is sympathetic, dizzy organ and then a chest slamming blast of electric guitar pushes you into your seat. It's a classic "classic rock" moment, absolutely free of premeditation, careless, exposed and a little rough like all the music we associate with this subset of rock. And it is but one of many more such moments that follow. In Leroy Justice we find a modern band ready, willing and able to go toe-to-toe with The Faces, Lynyrd Skynyrd and the like, and their sophomore release, The Loho Sessions shows they're not prepared to give an inch to their ancestors in the face off.
Much like the massive growth spurt exhibited by obvious forebear The Black Crowes between their debut and Southern Harmony and Musical Companion, Leroy Justice's second album takes their heaping initial promise and molds it into a full featured, highly appealing band able to reinvigorate the basics in a way that rejuvenates one's love for melodic, powerful rock that centers on common things (loss, heartache, dreams, jealousy) with uncommon acumen. Captured with intuitive lightness of touch by the great producer John Siket (Phish, moe., Yo La Tengo) at the legendary, now-defunct NYC studio which gives the album its name, The Loho Sessions, in spirit, is actually closer to Skynyrd's justifiably beloved Second Helping - workingman's grub that feeds heart and soul in ways as effecting as whiskey and women.
Like the Crowes and Ronnie Van Zant's outfit, these guys excel at mid-tempo bittersweetness, and where one's manly pride says they should like the rockers best it's the stripped down, bruised honesty of "Bathroom Wall" and "Mickey" that one keeps playing over and over. That's no dig at the rockers like "Out To Sea" or "Patriot," which careen with bare knuckle whomp – Leroy Justice is pretty swell at all speeds. And no matter the mood, Gallagher is a primo singer, full of feeling and fire, flexible as young Rod Stewart, similarly serving the needs of each individual piece with a voice capable of great diversity. Like Rod, he's none too careful, emotions spilling every which where, the truth of each line sinking like a barbed arrow that hits its mark most times. Like many of my faves – Petty, DBT's Patterson Hood, Backyard Tire Fire's Ed Anderson – Gallagher reaches into his gut in a way that makes one's own innards shift responsively.
One of the main ways Leroy Justice succeeds and surprises is their neat curves tucked into the middles and endings of these songs. Often a concise, intense solo, beautiful dropout or eloquent yet succinct instrumental passage waits unexpectedly around a corner, details that further cement the feeling that we're witnessing the emergence of a future great that's already pretty fucking good. As sequenced, The Loho Sessions carries us along with seemingly careless grace. That they consciously put all this together but it never feels forced or overtly thought out is the mark of real artists. Rock of this ilk – bedrock, blues dappled, amp cracklin' tastiness – needs to be fun for the medicine of it to go down. The intensity of feeling here is married to music that's just plain enjoyable to imbibe. All bets are off for what record three is gonna be like but one feels confident in saying it's likely to be terrific based on this outing.
-Dennis Cook, Jambase.com
