Americana duo The Cactus Blossoms, brothers Jack Torrey and Page Burkum, continue to tour for their acclaimed new album One Day with a series of June dates. The band was recently featured on The Late Show With Steve Colbert's "Late Show Me Music" series performing their Top 5 Americana Radio single "Hey Baby." The song, featuring the Minnesota-based brothers' trademark harmonies and an upbeat message, was lauded by Guitar World, The Boot, The Bluegrass Situation, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune and more. “That idea of finding a silver lining comes up a lot on this record,” says Torrey about the single. “It’s an acknowledgment that no matter how messed up things might be, people still want to believe in the world and find ways to feel lucky and joyful.”
Stream / Download the album HERE
Their video for next single, “Everybody” (featuring Jenny Lewis) was featured at Rolling Stone who wrote, “The song plays out like a conversation, nodding to Elvis Presley’s 'Suspicious Minds' in the opening line — 'Here we go again/Asking where I’ve been' — and then ultimately recognizing the other person’s agency and best intentions in the three-part harmonies of the chorus.” The song was picked up by Stereogum, Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan and others outlets.
While The Cactus Blossoms have drawn frequent comparisons to other musical siblings like the Everlys and Louvins over the years, One Day often suggests a more soulful, ’70s-inspired palette, hinting at times to Bobby Charles or JJ Cale with its playful Wurlitzer, breezy guitars, and lean, muscular percussion. The band’s classic country and old-school pop roots are still there, of course, but the growth and evolution underlying One Day is obvious, not only in the duo’s writing, but in their core philosophy, as well.
Lockdown hit the brothers hard. Quarantine put a sudden halt to their plans to record a new studio record, and as Minneapolis began to erupt in social and political unrest following the police killing of George Floyd, music began to seem like the least of the duo’s concerns.
“It felt like the whole world was falling apart,” says Burkum. “We had to put things on hold just so we could try to wrap our heads around everything that was happening in Minneapolis and beyond.”
As 2020 stretched on, Torrey and Burkum slowly began to regain their footing, and when it felt safe enough to get together in person, they started kicking ideas back and forth, inviting each other into their respective writing processes earlier than ever before. When it came time to record, the brothers called on longtime collaborator/engineer Alex Hall, who brought his mobile rig up from Chicago so they could cut the album quick and dirty in Burkum’s basement. They kept their circle tight for the sessions, working with their core touring band—which included both their older brother and their cousin—to capture the songs with a feel as close to the live show as possible.
“From the start, we knew we wanted to keep the instrumentation minimal and consistent across the whole album and embrace the dryness that came with recording in Page’s basement,” says Torrey. “We wanted it to sound raw.”
One Day Tracklist:
01) Hey Baby
02) One Day
03) Is It Over
04) Everybody (featuring Jenny Lewis)
05) Runaway
06) Ballad Of An Unknown
07) Not The Only One
08) Love Tomorrow
09) Lonely Heart
10) I Could Almost Cry
11) If I Saw You
Tour Dates:
06/04/22 - McGill, NV @ Schellraiser Music Festival
06/08/22 - Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads Saloon ▲
06/09/22 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Ponyboy ▲
06/10/22 - Dallas, TX @ Sons Of Hermann Hall ▲
06/11/22 - Austin, TX @ 3TEN ▲
06/12/22 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall ▲
06/15/22 - St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway ▲
06/16/22 - Iowa City, IA @ Gabes ▲
06/17/22 - Des Moines, IA @ xBk ▲
06/18/22 - Omaha, NE @ Reverb Lounge ▲
07/08/22 - Berwyn, IL @ FitzGerald's
07/09/22 - Chicago, IL @ Square Roots Festival
09/10/22 - River Falls, WI @ Tattersall Distilling River Falls
▲ w/ Esther Rose
