The Black Oil Brothers

Artist Information

Biography

There’s a source in rock n roll music, a well from which most of the great musicians and songwriters have drank deeply. Born in the Mississippi delta and raised on the streets of Chicago’s south side, The Blues is often recognized as the source. The Black Oil Brothers draw from the same well our heroes have, but what comes out is invariably our own. Utilizing everything we can beg borrow or steal – acoustic, electric and resonator steel guitars, banjos, harmonicas, mandolins, drums, shakers, 3-part harmonies – we create the music that let’s your ears know that there ain’t a damn thing wrong with the sound of a good man feeling bad. Such is the blues. Finding outlets in music that turns heartbreak into ass shake. Such is the music of The Black Oil Brothers and it very well may be saving our souls. Let us save yours.

See The Black Oil Brothers on tour across America (and the UK/Europe) in 2012 promoting the recently-released LP The High Road To Ruin on Rocksauce Records.

Instrumentation

Timmy Ryan - Percussion, Harmonica, Lead Vocals, Slide/Rhythm Guitar
Anthony Maietta - Lead & Backing Vocals, Slide/Rhythm Guitar, Foot Stompin'
Tony Manno - mandolin and banjo, Slide/Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Johnny Action - Drums, Percussion

Discography

The Black Oil Brothers- The High Road To Ruin (2011 full-length)

Bethany Saint-Smith & The Black Oil Brothers- American Honey EP (2010 EP)

The Black Oil Brothers- Long Way From The Delta (2009 full-length)

The Black Oil Brothers Steal From Thieves (2007 EP)

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Last.fm
• Twitter
• YouTube

Audio

• A Moment's Peace
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• Sodapop's Blooze
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• Going For Broke
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• Wednesday Afternoon
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• Sentenced
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Black Oil Brothers Record Review [+ Show ]
  

  Hailing from Chicago, blues trio The Black Oil Brothers‘ sound is 100-percent pure Mississippi. The ...Hailing from Chicago, blues trio The Black Oil Brothers‘ sound is 100-percent pure Mississippi. The band’s debut, Long Way From The Delta, actually sounds like it was recorded right in the heart of it, with soul-stirring blues from start to finish. Don’t let their youth fool you: these guys are well-versed in their blues history, and have captured the sound perfectly from the harmonica solos and smooth harmonies, to the dueling acoustics and mandolins, right down to the old-school story-telling lyrics. (www.theblackoilbrothers.com)
  – Carter Moss

• The Black Oil Brothers Record Review [+ Show ]
  

  As ever, we ask the question: Why Should You Care? Well, you should care because the Black Oil Br...As ever, we ask the question: Why Should You Care?
  
  Well, you should care because the Black Oil Brothers create an amalgam of Country and Blues not beholden to contemporary "alt" whatever, forging their sound from a deeper well, stripping away the trappings of contemporary naval-gazing to find a purer sound. Strapped to the concrete acreage of the big, big city, the Black Oil Brothers find the wide open spaces of beyond, and the smallness of life lived in overgrown yards and back porches lit by fireflies.
  
  Regret and bad choices made in the midnight hour, then. The kind of Country record we love so dearly.
  
  On their new record, Long Way From The Delta (scroll down for album link), the Black Oil Brothers pile us into the pickup truck and take us down the road a fur piece to the end of the line, literally and figuratively. On "Going For Broke", we get a loose-string laden chugging meditation on love and loss. "Robert From Hibbing" (our favorite tune) is a classic drinking song that posits the relationship between the aspiring songwriter and the immortal bard, Robert Zimmerman, and features the classic lines, "I want to be Bob Dylan/But I play the guitar wrong/So I guess I won't be singing her this song". And "Wednesday Afternoon" is a gloriously muted, mandolin-driven hoedown that's guaranteed to find you on the rare mid-week day off, feet kicked up, beverage of choice gripped in hand, singing lustily to the sky.
  
  If you're in the Chicago area at the end of June, be sure to check out the band for their record release party at Quenchers on June 26th. We'll be there.

Setlist

ORIGINALS:
Sodapop's Blooze
Trust Me
Black Lincoln Town Car
How Much Is Enough?
A Moment's Peace
Not Gonna Leave Her
Door Locks Behind You
Poor Planning
Trouble Rides a Fast Horse
Dark Mountain Blues
On We Go
Sentenced
Johnny and the Pale Rider
Dirty, High & Confused
Nothin' Country
Not The Blues
One for Susie
Robert From Hibbing
Indeed Sir
Gypsy Trash
Riding White Horses
Wednesday Afternoon
What I Done
Goggles Paisano
Gone
Going For Broke
Love

COVERS (more added every day):
Boom Boom (John Lee Hooker)
Dead Flowers (Rolling Stones)
Midnight Rider (Allman Brothers)
Sweet Virginia (Stones)
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash)
Stop Breakin' Down (Robert Johnson, Stones)
The Weight (The Band)
Phantom Engineer (Dylan)
Let It Bleed (Stones)
She Is My Drinking Problem (The Sleepers)
Rollin' And Tumblin' (Muddy Waters)
Sway (Stones)
Call Me The Breeze (JJ Cale)

Basic Requirements

Calendar