Steve Parkinson and The Stony Lonesome
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Steve Parkinson and The Stony Lonesome

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"Steve Parkinson rounds up K-W scene vets for new group, the Stony Lonesome"

It seems that every musician in Canada, no matter who they are, has a natural affinity for country music. It doesn’t matter if they’re a punk or a metal head, chances are at some point they’ll try on a cowboy hat, figuratively speaking. Steve Parkinson, former guitarist for K-W rock bands The Machines and The Candidates, has reached that point, and his new outfit, the Stony Lonesome features several other local scene notables who clearly have country in their blood.

The quartet, rounded out by pedal steel guitarist Steve Wood, former The Stars Here bassist Graeme Pautler, and Lucas Stagg Band drummer Chris Flannigan, has just released its first eight-song disc entitled Leaving My Key, and Parkinson is more excited about it than anything else he’s previously done.

“I was still playing and writing for rock bands when I noticed that I wasn’t really listening to too much rock music anymore,” he says. “It was all acoustic and country music. I found I was struggling to write rock songs, but the country/roots music was coming fairly easily. It wasn’t a tough decision at that point. You just do what makes sense for you.”

Parkinson adds that finding the right players was a fairly painless process as well. “Once I sat down with Steve Wood I knew that there was enough there to wrap a band around. Graeme and Flan seemed like easy choices. You want the best musicians that you can get for any project, but you also need guys that you enjoy being around. I was lucky to find both.”

Parkinson admits that making Leaving My Key posed some technical challenges compared to his previous projects, but he never lost faith in the songs. “For me, a great country song has to have a story. If I’m not pulled in by a storyline, then the song is not going to stick with me. There are thousands of pretty songs out there, but if I can relate to the narrative it won’t resonate with me. If the singer hasn’t connected with the song, then that’s something an audience will pick up on. You have to be both playwright and actor.”

An example of that is one of the album’s standout tracks, Alberta Oil Sands, which Parkinson says he wrote in 2008 when the economy began tanking. “Living in southern Ontario, we saw a near collapse of our manufacturing industry and the same thing was happening up north with forestry. I wanted to illustrate the hardship that goes along with leaving your family to find work elsewhere. I guess it didn’t have to be the Alberta oil sands, but it had the distance that I thought was really at the heart of what I was trying to get across.”

Trying to have a similar kind of determination is what Parkinson says has kept and the rest of the Stony Lonesome playing music for so long, although now he says that they’re keeping their focus on the music, which will hopefully allow other things to fall into place.

“We’re already talking about the next record, and we hope to get working on that soon. Beyond that, we just want to play for people who appreciate this style of country music. We’re not as young as we used to be, so there’s no push to tour across the country. Our goals have less to do with building our music career and more with the work—just write better songs and become better musicians. If we keep moving in that direction I figure we’ll be happy.”
- The Guelph Mercury


"Review, Folk and Country, Exclaim.ca Sept.21/2011"

Steve Parkinson and his band, the Stony Lonesome, are certainly adept at creating charming country music. Their debut effort, Leaving My Key, demonstrates this in spades. At eight tracks, the album isn't particularly long, but there's quality in the economy. The overriding emotion on Leaving My Key is joy. From the album's first moments to its last, there is a pervading optimism that matches the band's copious usage of slide guitar. Final track "One Shade Darker" is the album's high point. It sounds immediately as if it were a standard bluegrass ditty, with stronger-than-faint hints of Stan Rogers. Other strong points include the warm title track, the charming pop-twang of "Just one View" and the lovely "Alberta Oil Sands." Leaving My Key is an unavoidably strong and likeable contribution to the Canadian country scene.
(Independent) - Exclaim.ca


Discography

Leaving My Key (2011, LP)

Photos

Bio

“The Stony Lonesome Band: some of the best (real) country I’ve heard lately comes from Canada. Add these guys to your list.” ~Sloane Spencer, Country Fried Rock.org

Formed in 2009, Steve Parkinson and The Stony Lonesome combine the strong Lightfoot-esque stories of frontman Steve Parkinson with tight duelling country-guitar lines and western swing back lines to provide a night of music that is a throwback to classic Americana.

The Kitchener, Ontario, based band has currently signed on with Will Muir's Sound Distillery Studio to create their second full-length LP, after a successful debut, 'Leaving My Key' (2011).