Ink and Nicotine, the newest album from The Red Idle Rejects will soon be available on Oak Honest Records. This exciting mix of Americana, Rock, Blues, Country, and Alternative showcases the Rejects on a different echelon than ever before, in my opinion.
The Cincinnati based outfit has been featured many times on my website, but not since their 2019 album “Genus Americanas”. So I was pleasantly surprised to learn of their new album here. As a recovered addict myself, I was enamored to hear they released an album which focuses on the opioid epidemic in America.
“Way Down Deep In The Jar” spoke to me as a view of life under the influence of moonshine. When we get shine drunk in Lick Skillet Ky we call that way down deep in the jar. Every song on this album was recorded well, and the songs were well arranged well.
The three part “Ink And Nicotine” I had to listen to a few times to get the whole picture. It seems to encapsulate the ever growing opioid epidemic in the eastern regions of the United States especially West Virginia and Kentucky. Now, mind you these three songs are quite lengthy, and you have to listen close.
The song “Shades Of Blue” was a good slow break from the three part upbeat story. This song spoke to me toward previous relationships, and the feelings behind them. The color Blue holds many meanings to different people, and you can interpret this song in many ways. “Our Courtyard Tiles” is a great toe tapping song…it’s kind of psych Country stuff..with some terrific twang guitar work.
The Red Idle Rejects formed in 2012 as a vehicle to play the original tunes of Steve Bowling, who is the primary vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the band. Steve was the front man and primary songwriter for rock band Red Idle when he brought a batch of newly-penned country-influenced tunes to the other members of the group. The other members deemed the tunes “too country” and thus the new band and new band name Red Idle Rejects was put into place.
The Rejects enjoyed immediate success with these tunes, signing to Colt Records of Nashville and playing shows from Ohio to Florida. The first single from the first Rejects CD (Where the Lonely Reside) Mean Dry County charted at #38 on the Americana music charts for 2015.
The second Rejects CD Room With a View, released in 2017, enjoyed similar success, receiving rave reviews from Americana and Country Music reviewers nationally and internationally. The third CD, Genus Americanas, was released in 2019 to similar success.
The latest album, Ink and Nicotine, releases March 27, 2021 through Oak Honest Records, and it is the best work yet by the Rejects. Pre-release copies sent to reviewers have received sensational reviews, and radio stations both within the USA and internationally have begun putting tunes from the album into regular rotation. Three of the tunes on the album are a trilogy about the opioid crisis in Appalachia that has filled the void created by the waning of the coal industry, and Appalachian-Studies professionals are raving about the authenticity and the importance of this music as it relates to this crisis in middle America.
Other members of the band are Jeff Boling on electric guitar, Grace Bowling on vocals, Daniel Parker Ferguson on bass guitar, Derek Johnson on drums, and Kurt Kaufman on drums, guitar, and vocals.
