Nov9

ALBUM RELEASE PARTY - HOUSTON, TX

Dan Electro's Guitar Bar, 1031 E 24th St., Houston, TX 77009

Grifters & Shills release their NEW ALBUM, 'Pretty Little Secrets'. The first all-original album since 2014, 'Pretty Little Secrets' is a return to the fire, the energy, and the rock 'n' roll roots that Rebecca and John Stoll shared when they first started writing together about ten years ago. . The album was written, recorded, and produced by Rebecca and John Stoll, and will be available on 12" vinyl, CD, and as a digital download/stream on your favorite app. . Joining Grifters & Shills for the album release party are their friends and local favorites BRIGHTWIRE, and their friends from the nationally-touring Hillbilly Swing act URBAN PIONEERS. . . BRIGHTWIRE: Brightwire is an Americana duo born from a household of musicians and hailing from southeast Texas. Combining elements of folk, rock, country, punk and whatever else they happen to get interested in, they weave tales of lives lived in our world today. For them, music is about inclusion and letting others know they are not alone in their struggles.

Samuel Barker (Vocals/Guitar) has come up through the Houston Americana/Alt Country scene with bands like The Wayward Sons, The Dragliners and his own solo endeavors. Kimberly Barker (Vocals/Organ) spent her youth as a member of various choirs, honing her vocal chops.

After helping with the recording of Samuel’s solo album, These Lonesome Nights, Kimberly hit the road to help promote the release. A couple of years later, the duo was married and writing songs together. The product of these adventures is A Place to Call Home. . . URBAN PIONEERS: Mix one part Texas fiddle and one part Tennessee banjo, add doghouse bass and a splash of guitar and you have a delicious cocktail for your ears known as the Urban Pioneers. This string band hammers out a variety of original songs that encompass old time hillbilly music, western swing, rockabilly, and even a few gypsy type songs for good measure. . The band stays on the road all over the world for over 250 days a year playing anywhere from large festivals to backyard parties to goat farms. . . GRIFTERS & SHILLS: His was hard rock and heavy metal. Hers was the classic sound of the East Texas piney woods. Theirs was a fiery collision, bearing forth a sound that was at once novel and instantly familiar--nodding to roots seated deep in high lonesome harmonies and back porch blues, while peering out at a scorched path bound by modern assertions and contemporary commentary.

Behind Grifters & Shills is John and Rebecca Stoll, native Texans who met in a classic rock/blues jam band in 2008. Between them they discovered a magnetic chemistry that manifested not only in music, but in all aspects of their relationship. When they began playing as a two-piece band, they found a unique voice in the combination of Rebecca's East Texas vocal stylings and John's formidable guitar work. They immediately began writing their own songs, while testing the waters of vocal harmonies and adding an array of instrumentation to their arsenal. A typical show will feature a delightful range of electric instruments, including John's archtop guitar, Rebecca's bass, a driving stomp board, a couple of cigar box guitars, a handful of harmonicas, and an occasional kazoo.

They call it high lonesome heavy metal, and together, this two-person, dozen-instrument act provides a show full of sound a fury, punctuated with raw, quiet vulnerability, forging new trails and shining new light on familiar ground.