Jeremiah and the Red Eyes
Los Angeles, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2002 | SELF
Music
Press
Need some Christmas woe in your springtime? If so, catch up with Home, the third (as far as we can tell) record by the Los Angeles-based Jeremiah Sammartano and his Delta Blues/Folk/Alt-Country outfit The Red Eyes. On that 2012 full-length, you can experience not one but two odes to winter misery with “Xmas Morn” and “Townes, Jesus and Me.”
The latter is of special relevance since it affirms Sammartano's stylistic allegiances with crystal clarity. In the especially disillusioned number, the frontman speaks of dreams (presumably romantic) shattered right around Dec. 25. As a balm, he devotes time to staring into the eyes of late folkie Townes Van Zandt (probably on a record cover) and begging Christ himself to share a drink with him. “Beneath the bar lights this Christmas Eve/Townes Van Zandt, Jesus and me,” he recites, as a soothing melody follows him.
Sammartano delivers that line with remarkable frailty, dipping his voice so low on that last word that he could realistically be referencing “Christmas Eve” or “Christmas Day.” Barring a lyric sheet, it's the kind of thing that needs multiple close listens to determine which is correct. It's a beautiful touch, really, since it encourages you to become even more intimate with this music.
Jeremiah and the Red Eyes do implement lots of wounded-soul Folk clichés into their work, but the seven-piece is usually so sincere about and deft with the execution that it feels OK to grant them leeway. - City Beat (Cincinnati)
"Jeremiah of Jeremiah & the Red Eyes plays a bittersweet brand of acoustic music. Fusing country, rock and folk styles, he rocks jams about love, loss and the devil, delivering them with gospel-style two-part harmonies. Despite their sense of pathos, the tunes manage to sound slightly optimistic. What makes this guy special, however, isn't his songwriting, but rather his laconic voice, which, at moments, has the cracks of a young Cat Stevens. " - OC Weekly
Jeremiah & The Red Eyes Shine With Delta Twang
-Mary, Fan Reporter #006
Feb. 11, 2009 - Norm's River Road House - Nashville, TN
Would've been nice to have scored a coveted ticket for the John Hiatt/Lyle Lovett show at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Since that didn't happen, I ventured out to see the Delta Blues & twangy grooves of Jeremiah & The Red Eyes at Norm's River Road House.
Jeremiah is a recent Nashville transplant from southern California. I first saw him play a converse-stomping solo show opening for David Olney & Sergio Webb at the Cinema Bar in Culver City, CA in April 2008. Last night was his band's Nashville debut. His mean-ass slide guitar work reminded me of Duane Allman and the butter-knife wielding Cedell Davis. And his songs about being beat-down, love won & lost and traveling both literally and figuratively were well-complemented by his gentle but deeply emotive vocals. Set highlights include: Rambling On My Mind, Salvation, Pony Blues, Under Your Spell, and Sun & The Moon.
-Mary
- Music Fog
Discography
Jeremiah and the Red Eyes - "Red Eyed and Restless" 2004 Bull Stud Records produced by Dale Warner
Track #2, Just Above the Ground, has received radio play across the US and Europe
Under Your Spell - released May 2010
HOME - released December 2012
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Bio
Jeremiah Sammartano, the Los Angeles based, Emmy nominated Native American singer/songwriter who fronts the bluesy/Americana group, Jeremiah and the Red Eyes, has covered many miles over the past several years - taking the various roads spreading music influenced by the raw blues of Charley Patton, the lyrical and often raucous sounds of The Pogues, the twang of Willie Nelson, and some vintage rock and roll - "Delta Blues and Twangy Grooves" - from Los Angeles outward through the Southwest, Austin, St. Louis, Nashville (where he relocated for a spell in 2008-2009), Cincinnati - and overseas to London and Brighton, UK. In the past Jeremiah has shared the stage with Willie Nelson, Southern Culture On The Skids, Tommy Womack, David Olney, Mike Stinson, SHURMAN and has performed on the radio shows: WDVX Blue Plate Special out of Knoxville, TN., The Live@Lunch show on KRFC out of Fort Collins, CO., and Chris Morris' Watusi Rodeo show out of Los Angeles. In Spring 2011 Jeremiah received an Emmy nomination for writing music for the documentary Prison Through Tomorrow's Eyes. Three albums have been released - 2004's Red Eyed And Restless and 2010's Under Your Spell - and December 2012's album called HOME. A few national tours happened in 2013 and now into 2014 - with more shows in the works.
Band Members
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