Songs From The Road Band has released a third single from their upcoming album, one called Molasses, about a romantic relationship that is slow to develop.
This group of experienced touring pros has an interesting pedigree. Each member had established themself performing with modern, more progressive bluegrass acts, but came together in 2004 at the urging of Charles Humphrey, then bassist with Steep Canyon Rangers, to record an album of more traditional bluegrass he had written. A second album followed, still as a side project, before the impetus began to grow for them to be more than an occasional band.
So in 2018, Charles left the Steeps, and put a full time group together featuring several of the rotating cast from the SFTRB albums. Schimick came aboard to play mandolin, with Sam Wharton on guitar, and James Schlender on fiddle. Initially, Ryan Cavanaugh joined them as well on banjo, but nowadays they use a number of different five stringers.
That resulted in their Road To Nowhere album. 2020, with its lack of touring opportunities, has found Songs From The Road Band in the studio completing a followup.
Schimick says that this latest single, which he co-wrote with Humphrey and Marty Dodson, came in a flash.
“This was my first time helping Charles write a song in Nashville, with our hit-making buddy Marty Dodson, who I met before at the Station Inn when we played there. Seemed it was just a song waiting to happen, as it didn’t take that long to finish…and we were laughing while writing it, so I figured that was a good sign. Ha!”
Molasses is available now for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music.
