Today, Birmingham, Alabama-based band Bob Marston & the Credible Sources have announced their forthcoming debut full-length LP, due out June 3rd, with the release of its title track. Marston wrote "So Long" after reflecting on how to be a better friend, take equal responsibility for disconnection, and put in equal work for reconnection.
"It ends with an expression of patience and love, or patient love,” Marston explains. “A call to action inviting the narrator, the subject, and the listener to realize that we often forget where these rifts came from and to explore coming together in love to heal. Coming together knowing that the solution lies among a loving community."
The Credible Sources are equal parts roots rock backing band and high-flying, improv-ready aces. Truly a whole greater than the sum of its wildly capable parts, the band is known for its intricately-woven guitar parts, tight and compelling bass and drum grooves, and pure, emotive vocals, a sound that garners comparisons to The Grateful Dead, Wilco, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and more.
Marston (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/lead vocals) is accompanied by George Hipp (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/dobro/ backing vocals), Natalie Valentine (backing vocals), Aaron Branson or Eric Onimus on bass, and drummer Brett Huffman. So Long also features keyboard master Matt Slocum (Railroad Earth, Jimmy Herring, and more), powerhouse vocalist LaToya Matthews, and monster bass player Adrian Marmolejo (Early James and the Latest). Trombonist Chad Fisher (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Allen Branstetter (St. Paul and the Broken Bones) on trumpet, and Gary Wheat on saxophone and clarinet bring horn-infused heat, while award-winning fiddler Adam Purvis, Niamh Tuohy (violin), Melanie Richardson-Rodgers (viola), and Patty Pillon (cello) provide cinematic strings.
The album’s tracks explore love and devotion through the lens of attempts to salvage a challenging relationship, the processing of a painful breakup, and a patient plea for reconciliation, to pondering life’s big questions and commentary on issues of social injustice and society. Ultimately, So Long is about striving to find humanity in ourselves, our friends and lovers, our communities, and in society as a whole.
Whether you need comfort through the depths of loss, heartache, and grief, are looking for a soundtrack to your summer, or just want to dance, you will find it in the grooves of So Long. Brought together by luck, fate, and destiny, this band of seasoned professionals and unproven hotshots upends stereotypes and breaks paradigms as it brings a message of love, honesty, empathy, and infinite possibility to the world, one song at a time.
So Long is available for pre-order at iTunes and Bandcamp. Be sure to follow Bob Marston & the Credible Sources at the links below for all the latest news and updates.
SO LONG TRACKLIST
BY THE WAY
DIAMOND A DAY
REAL MAGIC, GOOD PEOPLE
RIGHT BY YOU
PICK UP YOUR GUITAR
SO LONG
SUNDAYS
LYIN’ EYES
PICK YOU FIRST
FAR & WIDE
