Magnolia Summer is a St. Louis-based rock band that has a rolling cast of members who also do double time in other bands (such as Grace Basement and the Bottle Rockets). Centered around singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist, Chris Grabau, Magnolia Summer has released three records (via Undertow) to critical acclaim. Over the years, Magnolia Summer has toured throughout the midwest, showcased in SXSW and CMJ. They have shared the stage with Counting Crows, Cracker, The Minus 5, Grant Lee Philips, Glen Kotche, Bobby Bare Jr., Robyn Hitchcock, Richmond Fontaine, the Bottle Rockets, and Will Johnson.
Their most recent record, Lines From The Frame (2009) is the first recording the band has completed in an outside studio. The band solicited help of acclaimed engineer, Jason McEntire at Sawhorse Studios (Son Volt, Ha Ha Tonka, Ludo, Destiny's Child). As with the two previous records, Frame features the searing and inventive guitar work of John Horton (Bottle Rockets) and is supported by longtime members Greg Lamb (bass) and John Baldus (drums). In addition, Magnolia Summer expanded its sonic palette to include pedal steel and strings with friends Dave Anderson (Tenement Ruth) and Kevin Buckley (Grace Basement). Glossary's Kelly Kneiser also lends backing vocals on a couple of tracks. The end result is a sound more direct and expansive than any other outing to date.
In 2010, Magnolia Summer released two digital only EPs that are addendums to 2009 Lines From The Frame.
In addition to the the bands' recordings, you can also hear Magnolia Summer on the upcoming "Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs For 43 US Presidents;" a 3-CD compilation that features music by Mark Kozelek, Califone, Rosie Thomas, Bill Callahan, Xiu Xiu, Radar Bros., and Alan Sparhawk. Magnolia Summer was recently featured on NPR the recently reviewed record, "Of Great and Mortal Men: 43 Songs for 43 US Presidents" for their contribution to the song, "William McKinley (Czolgosz's Dream)."
With a strummy Americana sound somewhere between Son Volt and the Pernice Brothers, these songs slowly grow on you. Grabau's vulnerable, barely whispered vocals perfectly convey the music's delicate and intimate strokes (Hal Horowitz, ALLMUSIC).
VINTAGE VINYL
"Magnolia Summer craft eleven songs that merit having the band's name being mentioned with the likes of R.E.M., Yo La Tengo and Wilco."
POP NARCOTIC: Top 20 Records of 2008
"Lines From The Frame is easily the best country-tinged rock album of 2008."
NO DEPRESSION: Magnolia Summer's Midwinter Contentment
"Lines From The Frame is the kind of record that deserves to be noticed even by those who haven't been fortunate enough to see this band live. It's a well-balanced blend of direct passion and opaque beauty, of simplicity and complexity."
RFT COVER STORY - by Annie Zaleski (11.05.08) D.I.Y. Now for the Future: The Undertow Collective and Magnolia Summer are using technology to modernize their D.I.Y. creative vision
"Sonically, Frame is crystal-clear and dynamic. Grabau's keening, wistful vocals mesh well with mournful violin from Kevin Buckley and the occasional curl of pedal steel. The music ranges from slow-burning alt-country (the Whiskeytown-esque "Like Setting Suns") to pensive ballads ("Birds Without a Wire," a gossamer duet with Glossary's Kelly Kneiser) and gnarled, loud rockers (the wiry "Wrong Chords"). "By Your Side" is a Wilco-like track on which strings explode like a sunrise by the end. The jaunty jangle and springy cowbell of "Pulling Phase to Ground" recall the rowdiest moments of R.E.M.'s Life's Rich Pageant."
KDHX Blog by Roy Kasten - Lines From The Frame Review
"There’s a sense of freedom in the crunchy guitar hooks, arcing violin lines (courtesy of Grace Basement’s Kevin Buckley) and the craftsman-like arrangements of power pop and country. Maybe it’s Chris Grabau (he of the songwriting and singing) and John Horton (he of the Bottle Rockets) and Joe Thebeau’s (he of Finn’s Motel) thick and agile guitar parts or maybe it’s John Baldus’s splashing, impulsive drums that puts me in mind of Big Star’s Radio City–though the songwriting is somewhat more philosophical than “September Gurls.” But Grabau’s contrasting images and ideas–decline and ascent, erasure and memory, battle scars and moments of reprieve, time lost and found–have a classic economy and naturalness."
Harp Magazine - Review of From Driveways' Lost View
On Magnolia Summe's debut, 2003's Levers and Pulleys, the atmosphere was muted and personal, like a friend quietly sharing a secret. Since the, the quintet has evolved - a veritable who's who of St. Louis musicians, including Waterloo's Chris Grabau and Mark Ray, the Linemen's Greg Lamb, Ring, Cicada's Aaron Zeveski, and the bottle Rockets' John Horton - and discovered its inner rock band through relentless live work. The raucous results are all over the band's sophomore effort. There are still moments of relative calm, like the sedate "Casting Satellites," the mournful "Palindrome," and the Wilco-tinges "Words for the War." For the bulk of the album, however, Magnolia Summer combines the shimmery folk expanse of the first album with a rollicking Americana vibe that suggests Joe Pernice fronting Crazy Horse. And that's a good thing (Brian Baker).
