Alberta & The Dead Eyes is the giant-sounding band that in reality is the majority work of one real-life carpenter, David Boone (or D. Boone as he often signs off, evoking another literal and figurative giant of musical history, D. Boon of The Minutemen.)

In fact, Boone’s songs contain that same ramshackle joy and conversational, inclusive tone that Boon’s do. It’s the sound of a natural talent letting it fly.

“I’m a carpenter by day and sometimes even by night,” Boone says. “A fine carpenter at that, but a better musician.”

You may want to leave the page now to find out more about Boone, but don’t bother. He made the right choice. The choice that none of us made and many wish we had. Boone is nowhere to be found on social media. 

He lets the songs do the sharing.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes will release its new 11-song album Give or Take on March 15, 2024. The album will be preceded by “Ghost Kitty,” a four-song EP of additional songs on Dec. 22, 2023.

The songs on Give or Take represent a man in withdrawal from a two-packs-a-day cigarette habit that went on for 15 years.

“Mama, did it fuck me up more than I expected,” Boone confesses. “I wrote the entire record pretty much curled up in a ball.”

Grieving his relationship with nicotine while composing, Boone kept company with his influences, numerous and varied. So numerous and varied that mentioning a handful isn’t going to help you any more than looking for Boone online will.

“I love Billie Holiday. And The Stooges. And The Band. And Outkast. And Duke Ellington. And Cole Porter. And David Sedaris. And Bill Watterson. And the Detroit Pistons. And John fucking Prine.”

Boone doesn’t mention The Minutemen, but likely would, if prompted.

“I mean Jesus, should I keep going?”

Get it?

The thing about Boone as musician that isn’t likely is how much Boone as carpenter makes it into his music. He doesn’t mention the Grateful Dead either, but the steadfast focus that underpins Boone’s freestyle nature is kinda Alberta & The Workingman’s Dead Eyes.

“I’m a complete ‘no one is coming to save you’ type of person,” he explains. “Keep your head down and
do your job. Musician schmoosician. Do what your supposed to fucking do. Write good songs. Play good
shows. Show up on time. Be humble and be fucking nice.”

A real-life carpenter keeping it real-life real. Refreshing.

It should be even less surprising now that musician Boone rejected Instagram squares for T-squares just like he painfully swore off smokes cold turkey for the clean lungs that arrived with the songs, or as Boone sees it, he arrived to them.

“The songs are just there, hanging out, waiting for someone,” he says.

Now that someone is you.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes will release its new 11-song album Give or Take on March 15, 2024, preceded by “Ghost Kitty,” a four-song EP of additional songs on Dec. 22, 2023.

Alberta & The Dead Eyes - So Cool

Jared Putnam is one of the most prolific songwriters in Texas, and he earns that distinction in his second act.

Having already flirted with the danger of major labels when his young band The Conversation was a national next thing, in the past decade as The March Divide, Putnam has basically done it all on his own, self-releasing a barrage of singles, EPs, and albums at a seemingly non-stop pace during that time.

cinq – his fifth album (Slow Start Records, April 23rd) – was conceived as a full-length, but has mostly been released throughout the pandemic as a series of singles, with the last two arriving surrounding the album’s release date. 

With Putnam’s successful regional touring business at a stand-still, he recorded cinq at home, sending tracks to friends to add bass and drums, and tending to his expanding business managing social media ad campaigns for other artists, a skill he learned while systematically building a fanbase for The March Divide that has sustained him, even during lockdown.

Barely.

“I am very much looking forward to forgetting and moving on from the wrath of what still might end my career,” Putnam says, voicing the frustration of many musicians with vulnerable cottage businesses on the line. “Recording these songs was something I was able to do to get my mind off of all that. What came out is a real hodgepodge of who I am as a writer.”

This “hodgepodge” is a boon for fans of Putnam’s songs that are personal, but always safe-effacing, and with a sly humor underneath their rich production and get-to-the-point style. Think a slightly less angular Spoon with work boots on instead of pointy tips (but not too worn out!)

“I was able to revisit my rock roots in a meaningful way on this record,” Putnam explains, “but still expand and experiment with the acoustic-based pop ideas I’ve been obsessed with the last few years. I even incorporated some of the hokey melodies that have popped into my head lately by finally taking the time to go back and listen to all the ridiculous phone recordings I’ve made of them.”

One of these “hokey” melodies, that a less humble musician might just call “catchy,” became one of cinq’s two yet-to-be-released singles, “The Funk That You’re In,” a number Putnam thought would remain in his phone graveyard.

“That’s usually where my ideas go to die! It’s not that I don’t like them,” he says, “I usually just forget about them, but like everyone else, I had a lot of time to burn last year. Once I picked up my guitar and started messing with the idea, the whole song just kinda fell out of me. The kazoo solo is probably worth mentioning.”

On the other side of the conceptual spectrum from “The Funk That You’re In,” is what will be cinq’s final single and video. “I Believe,” is one of the most personal songs in Putnam’s catalog.

Written in a stream of consciousness style, and backed up by a promise to himself not to change the words, Putnam plans to work in this style more going forward.

“It’s pretty satisfying to just say what you wanna say, without worrying about how cool it sounds,” he confesses.

cinq, the fifth full-length album by The March Divide arrives on April 23rd via Slow Start Records.

cinq

The March Divide - The Funk That You're In

Fanatic is a music marketing company established by Josh Bloom in 1997 to build fan-to-fan connections between artists and the media. For 25 years, Fanatic has continued to help launch and maintain careers through the strategic advocacy of creative talent.

The March Divide - The Funk That You're In

Fanatic Promotion

Related tracks