Rocking roadhouse country pop

10 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Americana, COUNTRY: Country Rock



Details:
The Delafields formed in 2000 around some of the core players of Milhous, a Chicago rock band whose 1999 full length "The Influential is Coming" caught the attention of fans and critics alike. Chicago Sun Times rock critic Jim Derogotis included the disc in his annual look back at the best of the local scene that year. When shortly after the release front man Fraser Cole left the band to make a home in Ottawa, singer-songwriter Paul Quaintance, who had played with New Mexicoâs The Cartwrights, joined with Milhous founder, guitarist and writer Scott Anderson to form The Delafields with Chris Anderson on Drums, Wayne Berquist on Bass and Ed Torrez on keys.

The bandâs first recording, the unpackaged five-song "Demostration", recorded at Atlas Studio by Matt Allison, was well received. Richard Milne of WXRT 93.1 Chicago said that he was so enamored with the band that he would play a song from the disc despite not even knowing the title of the track. That song turned out to be "Dog Tired", which rocks Delafieldsâ audiences to this day. The poppy twang of those first five songs provided the foundation of a developing sound rich in harmonica, accordion, piano, guitar and percussion.

In the months that followed the release of that demo The Delafields played the clubs of Chicago and took up a residency at Andersonvilleâs Simonâs Tavern, developing a strong fan base and exploring their sound. In addition to playing originals they covered Aretha, Zevon, Hank Sr., Jimmy Dale Gilmour, pre-turn of the century proto-blues, hopped up bluegrass classics, The Meat Puppets, Gram Parsons, REM, Traveling Wilburys, Talking Heads, The Cure, The Clash and Tom Waits. Soon the band was ready to produce their eponymous full length debut.

The Illinois Entertainer called "The Delafields" a masterpiece. Tom Jackson made the disc a staple on Other Peoples Troubles, his 11:00am show Saturdays on WLUW, 88.7 Chicago. The rave reviews, airplay and exposure to larger audiences at events like The Chicago Country Music Festival, International Pop Overthrow, Fitgeraldâs American Music Festival, Hankfest, MOBfest, and the Andersonville Midsummer Fest kept the fan base growing. After capping a tour to support the CD with a packed show at New Yorkâs Areleneâs Grocery in the winter of 2003 The Delafields returned to Chicago to begin rehearsing for their next studio sessions.

The Delafields are pleased now to offer "Delightful", their second full length CD, ten exciting songs recorded at the all new Atlas Studio by indie punk producer Matt Allison. While the disc does include re-workings of two songs from "Demostration", "Moo" and "One More Second", most of the pieces are previously unreleased. The band continues to weave surprisingly diverse influences into its sound with the disc sounding at once like Dylanâs "Modern Times", and Lollapalooza. The single "Sunday Afternoon" has a progressive pop feel with a rhythmic bounce and lush vocals that compare well to The Jayhawks. Fraser Coleâs classic "Bridges of St. Charles" gets a sort of grown-up Dead Milkmen treatment, and the earthy, metal sound of "Black Mountain" is both mathy and medieval. Certainly the twang is still there in songs like "Saved", "Moo", "Wreath", "Cave In" and the ecstatic take of Hank Sr.âs "Sing Sing Sing", but in the new arrangement of "One More Second" and the all new "Yellow Grass Path" the Delafields sound like theyâre growing accustomed to city life, and flourishing in maturity.