Common Courtesy

There is a room in the house, somewhere past the attic, where you keep the more eccentric pieces of your life, the whimsical things that hold a strange place in your heart and that you just can't seem to throw away. The ham radios and phonographs, antique pinwheels, figure skates, and marbles. Perhaps somewhere way in the back there's a beat up old guitar. This is the room where Rusty Belle lives - a trio of musicians who play music that is already familiar to your heart and soul, you just haven't heard it yet. (James Hamel, Composer) Rusty Belle was founded in 2006 when brother and sister Matt and Kate Lorenz moved into an old school house in Amherst, Massachusetts with Zak Trojano and an indeterminate number of other artists. They thrived in this fiercely creative environment that often frightened the neighbors and sometimes alarmed the police. Inspired by the constant stimulus and activity of their home, the band crafted a unique sound and writing style. They're a little bit country, a little bit rock n' roll, a little bit old-timey and a whole lotta weird, says Seven Days Vermont, but in a good way. Rusty Belle mashes genres as if they were tasty little sonic potatoes. Lorenz, Trojano and Lorenz are true connoisseurs of American music. They were raised on the Beatles and the Band, went to high school with Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, dated Miles Davis and Tom Waits in college, and keep a Lightnin' Hopkins, Kinks, or Mama Cass record within arms reach at all times. Their sound is like a musical patchwork quilt made from scraps of old, sewn with a new thread. (-Vermont Musician). Common Courtesy is Rusty Belle's sixth full-length album. It was recorded over seven days, under a full moon, and in the midst of a hurricane, at Sonelab in Easthampton Massachusetts. Produced by David Goodrich (Chris Smither, Jeffrey Foucault, Peter Mulvey, Cold Satellite) and engineered by Justin Pizzoferrato (Dinosaur Jr., Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon, the Pixies), Common Courtesy is a record that effortlessly pulls you into a world teeming with their unique mosaic of whimsy, subtlety, and surprising emotion. It is an undeniably strong effort from 'a band that can hand you your ass, or make you miss your mom. (Thomas Friedmann, the Message) Common Courtesy will be released on September 10, 2013 Vin Scelsa of Sirius FM radio says that Rusty Belle is one of my favorite under the radar bands. The trio is rising fast having played over 150 shows last year to growing audiences up and down the East coast and into the Midwest at such notable venues as: the Iron Horse Music Hall (Northampton, MA), Joe's Pub (New York, NY), Caf Lena (Saratoga Springs, NY), One Longfellow Square (Portland, ME), The Ram's Head (Annapolis, MD), Eddie's Attic (Decatur, GA), the Higher Ground (Burlington, VT), and many others. They are quickly gaining the praise and attention of other bands and musicians having shared stages and made recordings with Chris Smither, Kris Delmhorst, Peter Mulvey, The David Wax Museum, The Low Anthem, Jeffrey Foucault and Cold Satellite. The band was recently invited to New Orleans to play and arrange music for Chris Smither. They will be on his retrospective record along with Grammy Award winner Loudon Wainwright, New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, and the members of Morphine. The record is due out next fall. Chris had this to say about the band: Rusty Belle...this is some clever shit...clever both musically and lyrically...

If that's all there was to it, you could leave it. But it's like clever with a sledgehammer and a knife. I love it.