Great Lakes: "Fear of the Fear" video

American folk rocker Ben Crum has unveiled a video for Fear of the Fear, the title track from the new album by his band Great Lakes on which he is trying to get to grips with the death of his close friend Ryan Trammel. He is not haunted by demons on this one, but the feeling of "being haunted by twenty hounds" is scary enough. It is a rambling rocker with a purpose: to find some kind of closure as he mourns the loss of his pal.

Great Lakes: Why Did My Love Go Away

American folk rocker Ben Crum concluded that most of the songs on the new album by his band Great Lakes are about trying to get to grips with the death of his close friend Ryan Trammel. Loss is the main theme of Fear of the Fear and lead single Why Did My Love Go Away, a gentle swaying song with an early 70s vibe, pictures him as "feeling like a stranger to your side". As a musical challenge he did not use a bridges in the track, which works wonders for the urgency of the lyrics.

Great Lakes: Don't Swim Too Close

American folk rockers Great Lakes have released a steady flow of well-received records since their inception in 1996. Led by singer and main songwriter Ben Crum they cover the middle ground between early REM and Neil Young, with a side order of country and Tom Petty melodicism. Their latest full-length Don't Swim Too Close is an introspective collection about aging and lost dreams, and how to cope with that.

The lyrics are peppered with dark yet funny observations - the future’s out there, waiting like an open grave - and they are delivered with an aloof, devil-may-care attitude. Imagine The Band being sarcastic for a change and while the subject matter is mostly highly personal and close to home, the songs can also serve as metaphors for the current state of the land of the free.

Great Lakes: Don't Swim Too Close

Ben Crum, leader of Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes, sings about mental health issues on the new single Don't Swim Too Close, the title track from their forthcoming album. It is heartfelt piece of top-shelf Americana, wrapped in lush guitars. The subject matter is pretty damn serious, but Crum's dry wit gives it a lift, a consolation for anyone facing highly unfair odds.

Great Lakes: "Easy When You Know How" video

Watch the new Great Lakes video for Easy When You Know How, a track from their latest album Contenders: "The main theme on this album is longing for the carefree attitude of youth, when taking risks is the rule of the day and being convinced that the world is your oyster. Those days of the Born Frees are long gone, but that is OK. Crum and his longtime fellow members Kevin Shea (drums) and Suzanne Nienaber (vocals) are the axis, with the other musicians circling and swirling around them to create a starting kit for anyone who is looking for a gateway drug to get into superb, melodic Americana".

» Great Lakes on Facebook

HCTF review of Contenders

Great Lakes: Contenders

After being in the business for more than twenty years, the band's leader Ben Crum has a firm grip on where to go next with his folk rock band Great Lakes. On Contenders he switches between glacier riffs a la Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Eclipse This, Your Eyes Are X's), West Coast pyschedelic pop (Way Beyond Blue, Born Frees) and toe-tapping roadtrip songs (Baby's Breath, Last Night's Smoke).

The main theme on this album it is longing for the carefree attitude of youth, when taking risks is the rule of the day and being convinced that the world is your oyster. Those days of the Born Frees are long gone, but that is OK. Crum and his longtime fellow members Kevin Shea (drums) and Suzanne Nienaber (vocals) are the axis, with the other musicians circling and swirling around them to create a starting kit for anyone who is looking for a gateway drug to get into superb, melodic Americana.

HCTF premiere - Great Lakes: Last Night's Smoke

Great Lakes have been flying the folk flag over the Brooklyn skyline for more than 20 years. Band leader Ben Crum and longtime members Kevin Shea (drums) and Suzanne Nienaber (vocals) are the core on Last Night's Smoke, a track from their forthcoming new album, Contenders, out on February 4 on Happy Happy Birthday to Me records. It is a slice of classic Americana, with stacked vocals, a shimmering synths part and a guitar solo straight out of the songbook of The Band.

Great Lakes: Dreaming Too Close to the Edge

Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes go back to their rock and pop origins on their new album Dreaming Too Close to the Edge. It is an album about trying (and failing) to connect, rocky relationships and hoping for a Hollywood ending. For anyone who has been half of a miss-matched duo the record contains many "I have been there" moments. Band leader, singer and lyricist Ben Crum takes it all in stride, being older and wiser now helps.

Despite the highly personal content of Dreaming Too Close to the Edge the music is more edgy and rock 'n' roll than the country vibe that ran through its predecessor Wild Vision. Exposing hurt through noise and even a bit of feedback make it an album that can cross-over to rock and Americana fans, a recipe followed by Neil Young and John Hiatt. Deceptively pretty songs about nasty things tend to make a lasting, even scathing impression and that is what Great Lakes have achieved with flying colours.

HCTF premiere - Great Lakes: Bury The Hatchet

Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes have a new album coming up, Dreaming Too Close to the Edge. HCTF is premiering Bury The Hatchet, a gently swaying melancholic plea for making things right again. If a guitar could weep, this is what it would sound like. Great shared vocals by Ben Crum and Suzanne Nienaber.

Dreaming Too Close to the Edge will be released on April 6 on Loose Trucks Records.

» Great Lakes on Facebook

HCTF review of Wild Vision.

HCTF's best of 2016 (15-11)

Where's ...
David Bowie, Radiohead, Nick Cave? Or that album that you liked so much?

Simple. HCTF picked the 20 best albums that were actually reviewed on this blog.

HCTF lists the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come.

2016 was a memorable year for music lovers.

• Vinyl is back.
• The majors are still running around in circles, trying to keep their cashflow alive.
• streaming is now big business (for the artist not so much).
• "Self-released" has become a regular tag. Even big time acts go for crowdfunding to cover the costs of making an album, sometimes aided by a small network of indie labels to carry the load of distribution.
• Software is catching up with the studio as a means of home recording - untrained ears will have a hard time to hear the difference.

One thing will never change: independent music is where it's at when you are on the look out for something interesting to listen to.

Sadly some of the greats are no longer with us - David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen as well two of the finest sidemen - Scotty Moore and Bernie Worrell. As 2016 drew too a close underrated Stus Quo rhythm guitarist Rick Parfitt and singer George Michael also checked out.

Today: countdown from number 15 to 11.

Go here for 5-1 | 10-6 | 20-16.

Great Lakes: Wild Again (HCTF exclusive)

Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes have a new LP, Wild Vision. HCTF is premiering Wild Again, one of the tracks form the new album. Main man Ben Crum provided a little background:

“Wild Again” is a song about longing for a life more connected to the natural world, but settling for some form of metaphorical wildness within. It’s about living in New York City and feeling a pull towards open spaces and a simpler, slower paced existence. Over the years I’ve had many friends who had this same feeling, like a magnetic pull to move upstate, back down south, to California (or wherever) or to find a simpler, more basic kind of life, and to get away from the often hectic experience of life in big, crazy city. When we play this song live people tend to assume it’s a song about wanting to be young, wild and free of responsibilities. While I wouldn’t discount anyone’s take, that wasn’t what I intended when I wrote it.

Wild Vision will be released on vinyl (limited edition of 327 copies) via Loose Trucks Records. Release date: January 22nd.

Live date:

• 01/22 Brooklyn NY @ The Rock Shop (album release show)

» Great Lakes on Facebook

HCTF review of Wild Vision.

Great Lakes: Wild Vision

BEST OF 2016
14
HCTF

Brooklyn based folk band Great Lakes have been through countless line-up changes, with singer and guitar player Ben Crum as a constant. Nearly six yeas have gone by since the release of their last full-length Ways of Escape. They did release two singles, but things were awfully quiet.

Crum has overcome the composing drought and has come up with nice stack of fresh tunes for the new album Wild Vision and for once the bulk of the musicians of the last album is still there. Crum hails from Athens, GA and that explains why the nods to Americana and college rock the plentiful - those two genres that have been in force down there since the early Eighties.

Great Lakes: Ways of Escape

You can't escape break-ups in life, but you can write great songs about. and that's what Ben Ceum did for his band Great Lakes, an album that is basically a collection of songs about coming to terms with the falling out with his former lyricist and Great Lakes co-founder Dan Donahue. No points for guessing who the protagonist is in songs like Ghost Brother and Chosen Enemy.

Crum found out that he could write the word to his songs, creating his own way of escape as it were. Donahue contributed lyeics to just one song, the melancholic, strings driven Summer Fruit. With a cover of John Prine's Sour Grapes it is obvious where Crum went to look for inspiration. And as a respected musician he had no trouble finding people to play with him. Put them all together on a stage and you have a dectet that can play up a storm.

Great Lakes:
Ben Crum: lead vocals and all guitars
Kevin Shea: drums
David Lerner: bass
Jay Israelson: piano
Joe McGinty: organ and electric piano
Phil Sterk: pedal steel
Linda Rosenbury: violin
Heather McIntosh: cello
Jon Natchez: bass clarinet, baritone and tenor saxophones
Suzanne Nienaber: backing vocals

Ways of Escape is released on Orange Twin Records.

Tracks:

1. Rev War
2. Ghost Brother
3. Summer Fruit
4. Chosen Enemy
5. A Good Day to Die
6. Wind Horse
7. Sorrow and Woe
8. Sour Grapes
9. Old Ways
10. Half Your Life Gone
11. Ways of Escape

Live dates:

• 10/20 Philadelphia PA @ The Fire
• 10/21 Rosendale NY @ Market Market
• 10/22 Frederick Md. @ TBA
• 10/23 Washington DC @ The Velvet Lounge
• 10/24 Brooklyn NY @ The Rock Shop (CD release show)

» myspace.com/greatlakesband