Alden Sawyer - Drinking & Driving

The California troubador's latest is full of tales about winners, losers and the rest of us.

featuring I Like Drinking & Driving & North Hollywood

Dedicated to The California Dreamer, John Stewart, and Bloodliners everywhere

EXCERPTS FROM DRINKIN' & DRIVIN':

All tunes written by Alden Sawyer, aldenspond- BMI

Produced by John Hoke and Alden Sawyer

The El Coyote House Band

Glynnis Campbell John Hoke

Dave Batti Dennis Kenmore

Tom DeLisle Greg Jorgenson

Richard Campbell

For bookings & Info: Dashiell Presley dashiell.presley@gmail.com

Song lyrics can be found at aldenspond.com

“On behalf of myself and the band, I hope we passed the audition.”

Correspondence: aldenspond@gmail.com

Homecoming Records, PO Box 5368, West Hills, CA 91308

Homecomingrecords.com

I met Tom DeLisle in Scottsdale in the summer of 2008 at a gathering of Bloodliners and Kingston Trio aficionados…life hasn’t been the same. He was so gracious to write the liner notes, but I must warn you…it gets pretty thick at times. Alden

And now comes Alden Sawyer.....

In this time of general discontent and mass musical confusion a new brand of cowboy arrives ... just back from chasing tailpipes under western skies . .. the most unlikely of rock heroes ... brandishing a quirky collection of amazingly mesmerizing song hits ... the new fastest gun in HollywoodLand ... firing off three-minute fusillades that tear into everything he loves, embraces, and abhors across the vast southern California landscape he rides.

To the Point:  I cut my teeth to the unique singer-songwriter visions of John Stewart and John Phillips, two giants of the folk-rock turn of acoustic music in 1969 and '70.  Back-to-back within about ten months time in that period came "California Bloodlines" (Stewart) and "Wolfking of LA" (Phillips), two legendary ... and also quirky, also mesmerizing ... collections of personal genius and musical art.  I never heard any album that registered up thar with those two beauts ... until the unexpected "I like Drinking and Driving" by the unexpected Alden Sawyer, hit me between the eyes in 2008, leaving me with now a trio of all-time-favorite-intensely-singular musical works.

Be forewarned -- Alden ain't the greatest singer you ever heard.  And "Drinking and Driving" isn't the brainchild of some hotshot recording moguls who threw the resources of a monster record label into the project -- as happened when Stewart and Phillips could parlay their big time experiences in the Kingston Trio and the Mamas and Papas into their first individual releases.  But none of that matters when there is true genius at work; and that's what makes this recording the triumph it is.  Low budget magic is magic nonetheless; and what shines through on each of the 17 astounding cuts here is the talent of determined individuals who made great music on their own terms, and in their own time.

First and foremost, of course, is Sawyer ... whose kinky vision and wiseass wordplay is wonderfully wrapped around the best 'hooks' I've heard this side of Brian Wilson's "Beach Boys" singles of the early and mid 1960s.  The guy has got it ... whatever "it" is.  And his unpolished yet affecting vocals only serve to deliver the kind of grit and irony these amazing tunes deserve.  His Ohio-born boomer genius, then, was squared by the production ear and aural gymnastics of Dave Batti and John Hoke, the "No Glitter Twins," two jack-of-all-trades who put the musical muscle into "Drinking and Driving."  The guitars, keyboards, bass, horns, background voices, cool twists are almost completely theirs; with the exception of Alden's acoustic guitar and the drum work of Dennis Kenmore.  And one figures that while big time albums are measured by the months of studio time invested and bundles of money expended, the work that went into "Drinking and Driving" was punctuated by beers consumed (boilermakers in Alden's case) and tacos semi-digested.

Batti and Hoke, along with Kenmore, are the staples of the John Stewart Band -- yes that guy again -- and their brilliance in taking these great songs to the level achieved here is worthy of note.  Just as this nova of an album announces the arrival of one Alden Sawyer, so does it herald the production savvy of his two benefactors.

More Truth in Advertising:  This is not my first time as a Liner Notiste.  (That's the preferred spelling of the International Brotherhood of Liner Notistes; I'm a member of the Michigan IBLN Local, #714.)   I was fortunate to write album notes for several of the brilliant recordings of John Stewart, who left an unfillable hole when he passed away in January of 2008.   And in August hundreds of Stewart fans attended the Ninth Kingston Trio Fantasy Camp in Phoenix, a terrific musical gangbang and get-together that John created as a way for amateurs to meet and play with their music favorites back in 2000.  And it was at FC9, held as a memorial to Stewart, that one Alden Sawyer rose from relative anonymity to captivate the imaginations of many at that Camp.

John Stewart had been exposed to some of the early recordings of "Drinking and Driving" before his passing, and the verdict from that master songwriter was "This guy knows how to tell a story."  And the stories Alden tells, and the way he tells them, had people singing snippets of "North Hollywood" and "Drinkin' and Drivin'" and "Montezuma's Revenge" all over Fantasy Camp.  Sawyer and his guitar held forth in the hospitality suites of the Camp's hotel into the small hours, and the impact of the songs was telling, and electric.  A fellow member of the IBLN, the Minnesota Local, a musical journalist of note, was floored by the tunes, declaring Sawyer a major find, and immediately remindful of John Hiatt.

I figure Alden, though, as a whacked-out original, a majority of one; and I could make the case that there is a major and memorable hook, and a unique twist, to each of the 17 tunes presented here.  Even that crazy ass Huell Howser song, describing a walkabout LA television interviewer, wormed its way into my subconscious.  Toss that in among the beautiful and infectious choruses to "Malibu" and "Christmas Eve" and "Walkin' on Water" and "Come Monday" and "Mercury Falling" and "Irish Holiday" and "You Are Everything to Me" and ... aw hell, take a listen, every damn ONE of them will pull you in at your lapels and hold you captive to their magic. You'll be singing them in your sleep. Like most great albums, each song stands on its own, yet seems tied thematically to the others via Alden's singular style and vision.  

"Drinking and Driving" and its 17 too-cool songs:  It is amazing; they are amazing.  And I haven't even listed my favorite cut -- "Postmark Argentina."  Any song that counsels, to a  beautiful tune, that "Albert Einstein said it best ... always wear tennis shoes and get your rest" is bound to score with me.  (Yup ... easily the best rock song about Einstein I've heard in a long while...)

Just put this baby on, and let the magic overtake you.  The terrific musical flourishes grab hold amid lines like ...  "You know I've been to Paris, and I've been to Rome, but there's no place like her place, when her husband's not at home"  ... and "Me and Shaquille drinking champagne wine, in the California sunshine" ...and "North Hollywood ain't Hollywood, it's just north of Hollywood" ... and the south-of-the-border identity theft involved in "There's a Mexican walking around with my name, says he's from Ohio, and looks extremely good for his age" ... and "Have you ever been lost by the side of the road, you don't know if it's rain or snow, the ATM ate your plastic card" ... and "I've been longing for Laguna, and that cool Pacific Breeze, me and Sally at the ocean, drunk on our knees" ... and on and on.  Each song hits you with a loopy lyric, a loopy logic, a remarkable blend of words and images set to unforgettable music; each is testament to the soaring accomplishment that is "Drinking and Driving." 

The Monday morning or Tuesday afternoon that beckoned Alden Sawyer westward was no siren call to crash on the rocks of LA; it has served up his destiny in the form of this memorable song collection.

And oh yeah, one more note, you're not hearing things --- the perfect cut that is the SO politically incorrect "Drinkin' and Drivin'" (don't try it at home, kids, this was done by professionals) does end with "....and I like Richard's wife."  Alden explains that he has several friends named Richard, each attached to a comely Mrs.  Leave it to him to cap off a classic with a quirky line like that.  So you have nothing to worry about. 

Unless you know Alden Sawyer. 

And your name is Richard.