Jake Hill

From the moment a saxophone was placed in Jake Hill's hands at South Elementary School, he knew he would be forever bound to music.

“That’s the thing with music,” Hill said. “I really feel like it’s not something you choose to do. It chooses you.”

Now, almost 20 years later, Hill has released four albums, most recently Any Kinda Work Today in November and In the Mountain’s Shadow last April. He fills his time with local shows and is always in awe when he sees fans singing along to the songs he has been writing since high school.

Adopting styles he learned to appreciate in college at the University of Arizona, Hill describes his music as “Americana.”

“That is the easiest term to use,” he said. “It’s an umbrella term that encompasses blues, country, folk and bluegrass.”

Still, Hill admits that he refuses to stay inside the confinements of a particular genre. For example, he recently worked with producer Charley Hustle in New York, creating an EP called New Men, Old Boys set to be released in February. With a more pop sound, Hill said it strays from his typical Americana music.

“It’s not country music at all,” he said. “It’s different so I’m really excited for people to hear it.”

As his career progresses, Hill said he will remain unafraid to change his musical style and sample features from other genres.

“Music is always an evolution,” he said. “When an artist doesn’t evolve I just find that completely strange because that means they’re just following a formula and I haven’t found a formula. I don’t want a formula. My music is so connected to what I’m listening to, what I’m reading at the time, and where I’m at.”

While he feels his musical future is largely uncertain, Mark Bryant, the president of Plymouth’s Plimro Records, predicts that Hill will leave his mark on the music industry.

“Jake’s going to have a very large cult following of music fans that are inspired by great songwriters,” Bryan, who has worked with the musician on Hill's last three albums, said. “He may not be a household name, but he’ll definitely be a force to be reckoned with when it comes to independent singer/songwriters.”

Regardless of where his future takes him, Hill said he has no plans to leave his hometown.

“I’m not going to move out of Plymouth,” he said. “I like Plymouth. I realized that Plymouth is the place for me and I’m inspired here.”

Hill, with his band Deep Creek, is scheduled to play an all-accoustic show Feb. 4 at the Pilgrim Sands Lounge and a full set Feb. 10 at T-Bones Roadhouse.

- Plymouth Patch

PLYMOUTH — “That double helix ain’t wound too tight …” ~ Jake Hill’s “White Grandad”

Don’t wash the dirt off; it belongs there.

It’s a hot, hot, dusty day when you hit “play” on Jake Hill’s new CD, Any Kinda Work Today.

Its foot-stomping, banjo-twanging rhythms set off Hill’s rasp to perfection. The next thing you know, you’re slapping the dashboard and laughing at the clever songs about edgy characters who swill whiskey through “corn cob teeth” and have illegal wives and nine DUIs.

It’s hot, summer music, and the people in these songs are barely breathing, living on a shoestring, bending the law if they’re not breaking it and rendering it impossible for the listener to remain serious about their own troubles.

It’s music that makes you smile, even laugh at times. You will try to describe Jake Hill’s groundbreaking sound to a friend, and you will find yourself frowning. You can hear some identifiable stuff happening – like a Johnny Cash thing going on in “Red,” or a wisp of Appalachia/Texas jug music barreling through “White Grandad.”

But, no, it’s not quite that either.

Country music owes its life to Celtic strains played in Irish and Scottish pubs for hundreds of years. The songs tell stories and, when imported to America, told southern stories. Hill’s music pulls from this tradition. It’s raw country music that’s so authentic you can smell the sweat and cigarette smoke as it curls into the big purple sky.

If you want to see and hear for yourself, Hill is playing live at 8 p.m., Thursday, March 10, at Club Passim in Cambridge (yes, where Dylan played.)

Years from now, perhaps music buffs and critics will compare singers and songs to Plymouth’s own Jake Hill. They’ll say a particular band has a certain Jake Hill quality.

Ask Jake Hill to describe his music and even he balks. He doesn’t need to describe it, doesn’t want to. He’ll tell you he’s ruined his life for music, refused to do the college, tie-and-jacket job route and sacrificed all to write songs and play music.

That sacrifice has paid off.

Hill recorded Any Kinda Work Today eight short months after his breakout album, In the Mountain’s Shadow, where it became crystal clear this 27-year-old singer/songwriter is a force to be reckoned with. Any Kinda Work Today is a densely packed, tightly woven album that slams the senses with relentless banjo licks, driving drums, thumping bass and shuffle beats that force you to your feet. This isn’t background music. The whiskey-weary, hard-living personae Hill dons in songs like “Billerica Blues,” “Horsefly Summer” and “Movin’ to Montana” highlights the joys of dysfunctional families and appears to be dragging life around by the hair.

In “White Grandad,” he sings:

“The family gathers and the family fights
talkin’ tire irons on a Tuesday night
it cracks a windshield, cracks it right
that double helix ain’t wound too tight.”

“Everybody thinks their family is the craziest family and that nobody can relate to it,” Hill said. “So, I said, ‘Let’s make a song about the craziest family you can imagine.’ ”

The story that unfolds in “Billerica Blues” is a true one, as conveyed by co-writer Christopher McClellan, whose uncle provided inspiration.

Hill sings:

“…Laid brick for summer with a brother of blood

Next thing I know I’m sucking midnight mud

Family of 13 so I got s**t luck

Pa brings home the bacon in a rusted ice truck

Sing a long sing along.”

Hill brings home the bacon in his rough, authentic Americana style, reminiscent of Bob Dylan – not so much in its quality but in its sincerity. Hill’s voice morphs into smooth sentimental strains in “Red,” and could be likened to that rusted ice truck when he drives it through his down and dirty southern tunes.

It’s a vehicle that’s sending Hill on a wild ride that shows no signs of slowing.

“Since In the Mountain’s Shadow I’ve never been busier in my life, between gigs and writing and meeting people,” Hill said. “This CD was written in the chaos of all that. My life is so good because the people around me are so good.”

They are good.

Kit Carlyle is the pro behind the drum kit, the banjo, the percussion and back up vocals. Christopher McClellan co-writes several songs, and Dave Robertson beefs up the authenticity of the CD with his upright bass and backups. You’re going to want to know who Allyson Harple is, too, because her harmonies drip with sincerity, particularly on “Red,” which is a poignant nod to the likes of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams (the first one). Mark Bryant of PLIMRO Records and Seasound Studio is the man behind the engineering. It took him two days to record Hill’s last album; three for this one.

Hill continues to distill himself; he’s fired up and letting his inner animal out of his cage.

“I’m truly listening to myself,” he said. “That takes years of practice. Music is my life and you have to be comfortable with your instrument and with your voice. So few people ar - Old Colony Memorial

Plimro Records recording artist, Jake Hill, will be appearing at the Zeiterion Theater on November 4th as part of the new Stage Door Series at the Z. You’ll enter the Stage Door on Spring Street and be treated to a seat at a table right on the stage! An intimate evening in the theater. I recently spoke to Jake about his recording experiences and life in general. He is a very interesting guy and very dedicated to his music which can be described as Americana. When I listen to Jake’s music I’m reminded of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan with a Creedence Clearwater Revival beat and exuberance. I highly recommend that you attend this show- only $15/ticket: A Bargain! (Seating is limited to 125 so get on it!) At all the Stage Door Series shows, there is a full cash bar, coffee bar and decadent desserts for purchase. Show starts at 7:30, general seating. Tickets are sold at the door and they can also be ordered online at www.zeiterion.org or by calling the box office at 508-994-2900. Jake Hill’s latest CD “In The Mountain’s Shadow” is now available.

BUTCH McCARTHY: Tell me about yourself, Jake!

JAKE HILL: I am a born-and-raised Plymouth boy and have been performing music in some fashion or another since the 4th grade when I started squeaking on the Alto Saxophone. Played Baritone Sax in a skat band in high school. Played bass and sang in a pop-punk band in high school. Yet it wasn’t until I went to college at the University of Arizona in Tucson where I found the music that I was supposed to play for the rest of my life. Americana music grows out of the rocks and sunsets in Arizona.

BUTCH: I heard you recorded your latest CD in one day! Tell me a little about that experience.

JAKE: This past album we recorded in about seven hours. All said and done. We didn’t intend on doing it in such short order, but we did intend on going into the studio as prepared as possible, with fully developed songs, and planned to give ‘er hell. A lot of this is the fault of Mark Bryant (Owner/Engineer/Producer at Seasound Studios and Plimro Records). I have fully enjoyed making the past two records with Mark Bryant, because he is a man who chooses to have no B.S. in his recordings, and I am a man who chooses to have no B.S. in my songs. It makes total sense if you know the both of us, and was surprising to those who were outside of the studio, but not to any who were there. I owe a sea of thanks to my band mates who just straight-up played there guts out, and were tough as nail’s when Mark advised us to keep laying it down hour after hour. It was the coolest seven hours of my life to date.

BUTCH: What are the names of your band mates?

JAKE: Dave Robertson on Bass, Kit Carlyle on Guitar/Banjo, and Mark Bryant and Paul Bonfilio on percussion.

BUTCH: Have had any interesting gigs of late?

JAKE: I had a lot of interesting gigs this summer. I was very fortunate. While some would think opening for Huey Lewis and the News at the Cape Cod Melody Tent would be the most interesting, it was actually playing a backyard show up in Prince Edward Island, California. My father and brother go up there for the summer each year and this year my new album proceeded me and the neighborhood asked me to play a little backyard concert and a bunch of people were singing along to all the words. They also had as much potato moonshine as you wanted, which helps with the singing.

BUTCH: When can we expect a new CD?

JAKE: We are starting the new record on November 3rd. We’re not planning on taking forever on it, but we’re not planning on shotgun style either. We’re planning on kicking ass, and that’s all. We are hard at work rehearsing and focusing and cannot wait for everyone to hear this batch of tunes!

BUTCH: Any shout-outs? Last chance.

JAKE: My homeboy Scott Gordon Bleicher of Brooklyn, New York for doing 100% of the work–story board to editing board–besides my having to be there and look cocky–on our three music video piece’s we did for “In The Mountain’s Shadow”… filming of the lead single of “Any Kinda Work Today” to start on Saturday Nov. 6th.

- New Bedford Guide

Singer-songwriter Jake Hill celebrated the release of his third full-length album, In the Mountain's Shadow, Saturday night in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and Hill and his band of Kit Carlyle on guitar and banjo, Dave Robertson on the upright bass, Fred Bement on harmonica, Pat Leary on drums (and 3rd Left drummer Zak Fey on the last three songs of the set), played a combination of new and old songs by the 26-year-old singer/guitarist. 3rd Left, who literally just pulled back into town after touring Florida, New Orleans, and Virginia, were also represented on stage by singer Brian Hitchings, who joined Jake on the last two songs of the night. The show was one of the best live shows I've seen in a long time. The venue, The Guru Room in downtown Plymouth, reminded me of a combination of the Middle East in Cambridge and The Paradise in Boston. Jake and his band played some good ol' Americana, folk, and bluegrass on the main stage, which looked like the Middle East Upstairs (only with better sound and lighting) and in the front room, there was an acoustic duo, playing in a setting that looked like the Paradise Lounge. Hill and his band went through his new album and old material, the highlights coming on "Catfish Breakfast," "Heave To," and the single "Down From the Sun," three very different songs musically, yet Hill and his boys played flawlessly. (In the Mountain's Shadow is out on Plimro Records and was produced by Mark Bryant). The album will be out shortly on iTunes. Check back later for more info. - Tranzmission

Artist of the Year
Where do we begin? Jake Hill keeps folk music and Americana alive and kickin,’ recently releasing his Plimro Records debut disc, Heave To. But his music roots date back to high school when he played in a punk rock band. Since then, he’s matured into one of the area’s greatest emerging singer-songwriters.

The 25-year-old said last year that, “You can say – actually say – whatever you want to say with melody, with clever writing or introspective writing, and that’s a whole form of music that people are incredibly passionate about.”

I recently corresponded with Hill, who said he’s looking forward to writing and recording his third album this winter and plans to release it this summer. He’ll start touring regularly this spring.

Hill wanted to give props to Plimro Records President Mark Bryant for the engineering, mixing, and production on Heave To. Brian Hitchings earned Hill’s praise for producing and playing lead guitar. Dave Robertson and Bryan Pierce added layers of bass guitar, and Rick Crowell added drums to the mix. Johnny Souza’s trumpet playing helped Hill as did Jim Callendrella sax play. Hill also thanked The Gobshites for their assistance on “To the Sea,” as well as, “Anyone else who’s on the CD jacket.”
- Old Colony Memorial

It’s possible the magic of Jake Hill’s authentic sound is buried somewhere in Adam Hill’s blue eyes and the mountain that defines these Hills.

They were born 11 months apart – Jake with the healthy lungs and heart of the singer/songwriter he would become, Adam with cerebral palsy.

They grew up like twins for all their physical differences. Jake has been picking his brother up and carrying him to wherever he needs to be for 20 years. Adam has been carrying Jake, too, inspiring him to push harder because he can.

Jake Hill’s latest CD is seminal; it’s entitled In the Mountain’s Shadow for that very reason.

The mountain, for Jake Hill, is the immovable part of a person’s life that always has to be accommodated and won’t change. The mountain defines, the mountain teaches. And, for Jake and Adam Hill, who live in the shadow of a “mountain” that prevents Adam from walking and moving in the world with the same ease as his brother, the mountain has also become an impetus to rise above.

“My little brother is like my compass. I’m hyper aware of the fact that I have time, opportunity and ability – that if he could do it, he would,” Jake said. “People complain about small, menial things, unaware of what they have – the fact that they can walk. I have a certain fire that a lot of people don’t have.”

Jake Hill eases you into his Americana music with “Down from the Sun,” and “County Fair,” the first two cuts off the CD that are reminiscent of country music, the way it used to be – raw, real and frayed at the edges. They’re head-turner songs, calling up images of Newport summers, wide-open fields, sun-drenched fairs and young love. It’s earthy, artless, free music that kicks up dust and makes no excuses. There’s no overproduction, slick synthesized rhythms or makeup on it. It punches out at you with immediacy and you just can’t talk over it.

People don’t write or play music like this anymore, not really. That’s the beauty of it. It’s brand new, but resurrecting an older, simpler time when family was everything and slow conversations on back porches punctuated lazy, summer evenings.

“We went on the Tilt-o-whirl. I sat so close I could feel her curls, covered my eyes when we went too fast, I won her a bear with a ring around a glass,” are some of the lyrics from “County Fair,” a song with widespread radio play written all over it.

In “High and Low,” Hill recounts the suicide of a friend and a dream in which Adam is able to walk,

“And then his lungs were filled with an angel’s breath, and the song he sang was the sound of his own footsteps. We go high, high and low. In the mountain’s shadow, I walk alone.”

Mark Bryant of Plimro Records recorded and produced In the Mountain’s Shadow in seven hours – unheard of in the music industry, noted for taking days, even weeks, over a single track. It is also a testament to the immediacy and power of this album.

“It’s my favorite album of the year, hands down,” Bryant said. “I have Napster and I hear newly released Americana music every day. I haven’t heard anything close to the songwriting and talent of Jake Hill’s new album.”

So, what exactly is Americana? You can hear Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and dash of Kris Kristofferson in Hill’s music, the rustle of leaves on a woodland walk somewhere about 80 years ago in Kentucky, maybe. Or is it Nashville before it sported the tan and the sunglasses?

“Americana is an umbrella term of what I’m doing, backboned in the traditional American home, country, blues and folk,” Hill added. “It’s definitely my most mature and defining. It’s risky. I took chances with it and we captured something special. It was really reckless. We did it in seven hours, which you’re not supposed to do.”

Hill started with the saxophone in grade 4 and played in a Ska band, dubbed Skacopaths, before picking up the bass and playing Blink 182-type pop punk in Left Out – an explosive three-piece. He started writing songs at age 16, songs about girl problems and the inevitable teenage pity party, he said.

Hill attended Bridgewater State College before transferring to the University of Arizona, where he studied English and creative writing for three years. The summer before his last semester, a serious car accident left Hill with a broken pelvis and eight cracked vertebrae.

The doctor hovering over his bed informed him that, if he hadn’t been as physically fit, he’d be dead. That’s when Hill looked down at his life path and saw a treadmill.

There was only one way off.

“I knew all I wanted to do was write songs,” he said. “Life is so precious. I knew exactly what I wanted to learn about.”

Months of recovery afforded him ample time to read the biographies of American songwriters. Jake steeped himself in their music and histories, picked up his acoustic guitar and began a songwriting frenzy that hasn’t stopped.

Hill’s fans agree that In the Mountain’s Shadow is his best work to date. Dave Robertson’s upright and elect - Emily Wilcox, GateHouse Media New England

The stripped down nature of Jake's songs make the lyrics pop into the foreground. The songwriting is very strong, and even more though provoking. A beautiful collection of stories that I recommend to everyone who love singer/ songwriter music. - New England Entertainment Digest

PLYMOUTH -

Neil Young’s classic line, “Hey, hey, my, my, rock and roll will never die” still rings true. The same could be said for folk music. A new generation of singer-songwriters has proven that, and one of them is set to release an album Friday.

Plymouth’s Jake Hill will release his second CD, Heave To, this Friday, Oct. 10. This will be the 25-year-old Hill’s debut album on the independent label Plimro Records. His first CD, Black Coffee Sessions, was released in the fall of 2007 on Rearview Records and is available to purchase on iTunes and various music and retail Web sites.

The first Heave To CD release party takes place Friday, Oct. 10, at Sweetwater Café in Boston. The 21-plus show begins at 9 p.m. The following evening, Hill heads to play the Rockwood Music Hall in New York to celebrate his New York City album release.

Sunday night (Oct. 12), Hill comes back to where it all began – his hometown of Plymouth, where he’ll play two sets at Cabby Shack on Town Wharf. The first set, which is 18-plus, runs from 8 to 9:30 p.m.. The second set, for 21-plus, will kick off at 10:30 and run till midnight.

Heave To brings out the best in Hill lyrically. A bit of folk rock here and Americana there also make this disc stand out. Check out the reflective “Bird Food” and the title cut, the southern fried rockabilly ditty “Heave To.”

For more information on the shows, Jake Hill or Plimro Records, visit www.myspace.com/jakehillsings or www.myspace.com/plimrorecords. Tune into WATD Radio (95.9 FM) tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 a.m., to hear Liz Raven interview Hill and singer-songwriter Jim Hanft.

Ryan Wood’s blog, Take Me to Your Music, at http://blogs.townonline.com/planetmusic, will feature an interview with Jake Hill following his CD release party tour. You can also link directly to Wood’s blog at wickedlocalplymouth.com.
- Old Colony Memorial

JAKE HILL & THE LAW, THE EAGLE HILL BAND
The Plymouth Schools Out Summer Concert Series
The Plymouth Waterfront, Plymouth, MA
7/11/2008
Tonight’s waterfront show put on by Brewster Productions features some lively entertainment geared to a younger fan base than usual at this venue.
The first set belongs to the Eagle Hill Band whose lively performance entertains with a mix of up-tempo covers like Tom Petty and a few catchy originals. I guess these guys used to be the Clams Of Death but must have lost interest in the red tide this summer.
Jake Hill & the Law follow up with a flawless set of nearly all-original songs of which any could be past or present day hits. Hill’s songwriting and performance of them is as infectious, melodic and masterful as anything that has ever come out of this area. His soprano style voice and songwriting is not unlike that of a Muswell Hillbilly era Ray Davies and his onstage antics are as cool as they are awkward. The topics of his songs range from new found love “Bird Food,” to insecure relationships “Out Of My Hands” and “Heave To” a song about dying on a sailboat! His backing band, the Law, feature Dave Robertson on bass and Rick Crowell on drums. Together the rhythm section (who also play as a unit in a number of other bands) holds down the beat and are a perfect support system for Jake’s music. (Mark Bryant) - The Noise - Around Boston

Most people don't get a second chance like musician Jake Hill. Three years ago Hill was injured in a car accident that left him nursing a broken back and reevaluating his life. Hill now has an existence dedicated to writing and performing music. The Plymouth native's first CD, Black Coffee Sessions was released in 2007 by Rearview Records and his most recent musical endeavor, Heave To, was released in October 2008 by indie label Pilmro Records. Hill describes his second album as having a "much bigger sound" than the first CD, which was a "bare bones solo venture with just a guitar, vocal, and harmonica." Hill has been making music since third grade when he picked up a saxophone and eventually became involved in a band when he entered high school. From being the lead singer in a pop-rock ensemble to playing baritone saxophone in a local ska band. Hill can do it all --including making you stop and listen when he picks up the microphone.
"My inspiration for writing comes from everywhere; from relationships, to the ocean, to human nature," says the singer-songwriter. "I'll keep an open mind to songwriting, so if it hits me I will know it."
Hill will play at the Sweetwater Cafe in Boston on January 10th as well as the Cabby Shack in Plymouth in the spring and summer. For further details and to hear a sample Hill's folk-rock style, visit plymouthrockrecords.com or www.cdbaby.com. - South Shore Living Magazine

Sound off: The Evolution of Jake Hill
By Ryan Wood


- After a horrific car accident in 2006 that nearly killed him, Jake Hill took a step back and looked at life from a different perspective.

“I thought, ‘This is the worst thing that could happen to me, but wait… This could potentially be the best thing,’ ” said Hill, a 23-year-old singer/songwriter and Plymouth native.

After the car slammed into a tree, the seat cushion Hill sat on in the backseat of the car flew out through the back window, and he came crashing down on metal, breaking several vertebrae, his pelvis and an elbow. His promising music career – that had been in the works for five years – had almost come to an abrupt end.

Hill, who graduated from Plymouth South High School in 2002 and spent a year at Bridgewater State College, was a couple months away from entering his senior year at the University of Arizona.

“After the accident, that was my turning point. I could’ve easily been paralyzed. I didn’t want to waste another year at school,” Hill said, noting that his parents weren’t exactly thrilled that their son chose music over getting his college diploma. “I knew that this was what I wanted to do and had to do. And this was my time, because I was 23, and I had to do it or else I would’ve never forgiven myself. I could always go back to school.”

In high school, Hill played bass in the explosive local punk band Leftout. When he arrived in Arizona, he soon met people who shared his passion for music. In a span of less than a year, Hill went from abandoning his final year of college to finding himself recording a CD and landing his songs on iTunes.

“I wanted to pursue music,” Hill said. “What happened there (Arizona) was that I found a group of friends; my closest, most inspiring friends. They were all into the type of music that isn’t necessarily accepted here; at least it wasn’t five years ago. It opened my mind that this is actually cool.”

Hill went from playing a part in the speedy, three-chord world of punk rock to exploring a completely opposite realm of music, one made famous by some of this era’s most legendary singer/songwriters. He took a liking to folk music.

“They showed me all this cool, old music they had listened to over the years – Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan; something I’d listen to but hadn’t been in right place to realize that it was really cool. We all were just there and supportive of each other. It was such a growth period for us.”

But before Hill really embraced the folk scene, he formed a band, Another Messenger, with friend Brian Wells.

“It was pop rock, but it was cool because they were songs that I wrote,” Hill said. “It was the popiest stuff ever with fancy little lead lines. My songwriting started to evolve there, but it was like, this is not what it is supposed to sound like. But it was fun.”

Hill’s evolutional music journey then expanded. He focused on what he had learned during his years as a creative writing major in Arizona. He put his words to music, and it was folk music that gripped him. He embraced it.

“I was writing everything on acoustic guitar and singing and playing a couple of open mic nights here and there,” Hill said. “I didn’t know how I was going to get there, but I was always pretty confident that I’d be able to do something, even on a small scale. I knew it was going to take a lot of work and just an open mind to every form of music to see what struck me. And folk music hit me like a ton of bricks.”

Hill quickly learned that his path to success would ride on the heels of folk music, where, he said, singer/songwriters can express themselves in a way other musicians who play other genres of music cannot.

“You can say, actually say, whatever you want to say with melody, with clever writing or introspective writing. And that’s a whole form of music that people are incredibly passionate about,” Hill said. “All my neighborhood friends, I always played for them. I’d get out the acoustic guitar and just jam, but I never actually had something on tape of just myself. After the accident, I said, ‘I have to do that.’ I already get a pretty good feeling from it, and everyone else genuinely likes it. I said, ‘I might as well give it a shot.’ ”

Hill began playing several different venues in locations all around the country, including the legendary Viper Room in Los Angeles. He’s played T.T. The Bear’s in Cambridge, private parties in New York City, and locally on the South Shore at Kiskadee Coffee shop and the Colonial Tavern in Plymouth. In late February, Hill will play The Loft in Yosemite, Calif., and Feb. 27, Hill will bring his talents to the Paradise Lounge in Boston.

Hill said that insurance money from the car accident afforded him the chance to get his career off the ground.

“It gave me money to buy equipment, and I didn’t have to pay for recordings (which were taken care of by the label he’s on, Rearview Records). - Old Colony Memorial