NASHVILLE SCENE (weekly) – Critic’s Pick
Glossary w/Telegraph Canyon
It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what Glossary does, and that’s a great thing — each time a different influence appears in their music, it’s like finding another present hidden under the Christmas tree. In their 15-year career, they’ve soaked up college rock, old-school rock, country, soul and many more, and distilled them into what is best defined as Glossary music. Frontman Joey Kneiser and his crack team approach the pinnacle of musicians’ aspirations on their latest album, Long Live All of Us, delivering unforced songs that speak to universal hopes and fears on a very personal level, from the gospel-tinged slow dance of “Nothing Can Keep Me Away” to the Equals-y rager “Heart Full of Wanna” to the loping Randy Newman-inflected “Under a Barking Moon.” They bring along Fort Worth’s Telegraph Canyon, which crafts rootsy, primarily acoustic anthems around leader Chris Johnson’s powerhouse vocals.
—STEPHEN TRAGESER
The Stone Fox
Fri. 2/15/13 – 9:00 PM
http://nashvillescene.getn2.it/event/detail/1731947
ATLANTA EXAMINER (Atlanta A&E site) – Positive show review with photos from show
Glossary supplied the soundtrack for a Wednesday night
By: Chris Martin
Wednesday is never the choice night to stay out late and enjoy live music, however, when a line-up presents its self like last night at the Basement a sacrifice must be made. For the brave souls that chose music, sacrificing a good night’s sleep or getting to work on time, they were treated to one damn fine night of tunes.
Out on the road covering all corners of the U.S., Murfreesboro’s favorite sons Glossary made a stop in Atlanta. Closing out the evening, the veteran band delivered a set of tunes pulling from their vast catalog of music that had the folks at the Basement tapping toes, shaking hips and singing along. Driven by the dual guitar attack of Joey Kneiser & Todd Beene (who also share vocal duties), their songs exploded from the speakers filling the intimate room with some of the best Southern music this side of the Mississippi. Bingham Barnes effortlessly set the tone with his bad ass bass playing supported by Eric Giles and his thunderous drums. It was Kelly Kneiser’s sweet Southern harmonies that gave the songs that something extra that distinguishes them from other Southern rock bands. Glossary’s albums have always showcased their musicianship and writing abilities, but when you hear them live you can truly understand how good these guys are. Wednesday night they showed Atlanta what good music was all about, and the folks who were there for the show went home pleased.
Telegraph Canyon out of Texas delivered a set of tunes that found the equal mix between rock and country. Front man Chris Johnson’s emotion filled vocals painted a mental picture as the band laid down a beautiful musical canvas that transported the listeners into their soundscape full of banjos, fiddles and guitars. The addition of keyboards gave their music a bit of Southern soul which took things to another level. They closed the night stepping out into the crowd for an unplugged tune complete with claps and stomps supporting Johnson’s guitar. I suggest you check these guys out.
Beginning the evening was the local band Brother Hawk. These guys started a little slow but by the third song they had channeled the Allman Brothers and went on to deliver a set of tunes that was smooth and bluesy. JB Brisendine flat tore it up on guitar as he moved from calm & cool to a man possessed at the drop of a hat. Live is where their music needs to be heard and the intimate room at the Basement was the perfect place to hear them jam.
Wednesday nights don’t always draw the largest or the most energetic crowds here in Atlanta, so it was nice to see a decent amount of people jamming to all the bands. Each group brought something different to the table and they all kicked ass treating the folks who didn’t care about how early they had to wake up to a mighty fine night of tunes.
http://www.examiner.com/review/glossary-supplied-the-soundtrack-for-a-wednesday-night
THE DELI NASHVILLE (Nashville A&E site) – Brief show preview with Joey interview to follow the week of 2/18.
The Deli Nashville’s Weekend Itinerary
Friday…
On the other side of the river at The Stone Fox, Glossary are taking the stage with Telegraph Canyon. We recently had the chance to catch up with Glossary frontman Joey Kneiser and will give you the rundown on that next week, but seeing them live tonight would be a fantastic way to warm up to that.
http://nashville.thedelimagazine.com/12753/deli-nashvilles-weekend-itinerary
WDVX RADIO / BLUE PLATE SPECIAL (Knoxville, TN Americana Radio) – Live studio session schedule for Feb 14th at noon.
http://www.wdvx.com/programs/blueplate.html
METRO PULSE (Knoxville wekly): Simple show listing with band photo
Glossary with Cory Branan and Telegraph Canyon
When: February 14, 2013 | 9 p.m.
Where: Well – Knoxville, TN
Long-running Murfreesboro indie rock.
http://www.metropulse.com/events/2013/feb/14/41731/
THE DAILY BEACON/KNOXVILLE (UOT/Knoxville college wekly): Show preview
The Daily Beacon Weekender
Who: Glossary with Cory Branan and Telegraph Canyon
Victoria’s Take: Murfreesboro indie-rock band Glossary has a familiar sound and a speakeasy sort of feel. Lovers of more fast paced music may not enjoy this band’s easygoing tunes, but for those looking for a chill show, these guys will do just that. Check them out on YouTube and get a feel for this Middle Tennessee group.
http://utdailybeacon.com/arts-and-culture/2013/feb/14/daily-beacon-weekender/
BHAM ROCKS
Glossary-Long Live All of Us
At risk of sounding like a low-grade movie review I’m going to say this album is a feel good hit! To further progress the clichés, I would describe it saying (as they said on American Band Stand) I really like the beat! It’s easy to dance to!
With songs like “A Shoulder to cry on” and “The Flood” Glossary creates this harmonic album, which supports the collective conscience holding us all together. They sing about being supportive of each other in hard times, being the proverbial shoulder to cry on when someone just needs a friend, and about jumping into a human-race-erasing flood (as long as their loved ones jump in along with them). “Nothing can Keep Me Away” employs a gentle tickling of the ivories as well tasteful jazzy brass instruments. Glossary really put themselves up to a challenge by including a collection of instruments, voices, and talents and it sounds like music should sound! Good! And inspiring!
5.0 / 5
http://www.bhamrocks.com/reviews/read/glossary/
BIRMINGHAM MOUNTAIN RADIO (Birmingham, AL online radio) – Stripped-down studio session schedule for Feb 12th at 2:30pm.
http://www.bhammountainradio.com/
BIRMINGHAM OBSERVER / AL.COM (Alabama daily online A&E site) – Positive feature / show preview with Joey interview and band photo.
Glossary brings blue collar attitude to BottleTree
Glossary, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, will share the BottleTree Cafe stage tonight with Telegraph Canyon and Birmingham’s own Great Book of John. Doors open at 8, while Telegraph Canyon is set to take the stage at 9. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $10.
I had a chance to speak to frontman Joey Kneiser about the incident that happened on the band’s last trip to Birmingham, his love of William Gay and his love of boxing.
Blake Ells for Birmingham Box Set: I’m told you have somewhat of an obsession with William Gay. How did that love develop?
Joey Kneiser: It’s a Southern rock thing. And he was a contemporary from Tennessee. Most things he wrote about took place in Tennessee in places I was familiar with. For me, he was up there with Cormac McCarthy as far as writing goes – one of the greatest of all time. He just died recently, and he had only written four novels. He was a dry waller and a roofer, and he never had anything published until later in his life. Very blue collar.
BE: And you also are a big fan of boxing?JK: It’s the last great sport – where a poor kid can become somebody. It’s two people fighting. It’s controlled chaos. It’s kind of a metaphor for life – two men enter a ring, someone wins, and someone has to lose. You have to stand in front of a guy that you’ve tried to figure out for months. Some guys can get there quickly, like a Sergio Martinez that’s never really been in a ring. I like guys like Nonito Donaire and Manny Pacquiao – there’s several I enjoy watching. It sucks now because it’s a promoter driven sport. You have to have HBO or Showtime just to be able to keep up – you have to have money to keep up with the major fights. The sport has done so many things to hurt itself. BE: You studied the music industry at Middle Tennessee State. Is it true that you’ve said you wish you could give away your music for free? JK: I wouldn’t say that I’d give it away for free, but the way people make their money in this business now has changed. People used to rely on one or two big checks. You got a mechanical check and made money playing live. Now it’s a bunch of small checks: you make money touring, a little mechanical, a little on licensing, a little on iTunes and so on. That’s one of the biggest changes in the era of a middle class band. You can be as successful as you want to be. It’s kind of entrepreneurial. There are no rules – it’s the Wild West. With that, there’s greater freedom, but then, there are also no real guidelines.BE: You had a little incident on your last trip to BottleTree – what happened?JK: It was 2008 – we were out with Lucero. Ben Nichols played an Epiphone and some girl had come to the show planning to steal his guitar. When she realized she had stolen mine, the left-handed one, she threw it out. So a homeless person found it and a guy sees them walking down the street with it in a shopping cart and buys it for $20. Someone [with the band] saw that he had it and bought it back for the same $20.BE: You made your solo release yourself at no expense. Tell me about the process.JK: I recorded it all in my house and mixed it myself – the only money spent was $50 for a Facebook promotional post. Last Chance released it on CD and there will probably be a 10″ by Summer. BE: Is that something you are excited to see? The resurgence of vinyl?JK: I think it’s awesome. There are people that are music fans starting to realize how crappy mp3’s sound. That’s helped, and it’s helped that people realize it’s a tangible product. You have to interact with it. You have to get up and flip it over. Over time, it’s gotten to where mp3’s are killing me. I got to where a 192 (compression) was the worst I could listen to, but I preferred 320. Hardcore fans are now getting that way, too.BE: A mutual friend of ours, Wess Floyd, asked me: Is there a softer place to lay your head than [bassist] Bingham’s beard?JK: [laughs] Nope. Bingham’s beard is the softest. It’s like a heavy pillow made of clouds.BE: Who are the top five American bands of all time?JK: I’ll say The Band. You know, even though The Stones were British, they always kind of sounded like a band from Alabama, didn’t they? Bruce Springsteen, obviously.BE: I would have expected nothing less from our blue collar conversation.JK: Right. And I’ll add The Replacements. And all of us are big fans of Dinosaur Jr.
http://blog.al.com/birmingham-box-set/2013/02/glossary_brings_blue_collar_at.html
ATLANTA EXAMINER (Atlanta A&E site) – Positive show preview.
Glossary at the Basement this Wednesday night
By: Chris Martin
This Wednesday night Tennessee’s Glossary returns to town for a night of music. Their sweet Southern tunes are the perfect prescription for the middle of the week. They will be sharing the stage with a couple other bands and the intimate room at the Basement is an ideal setting for all three of them.
Glossary draws from multiple influences, their music has evolved and matured as they have perfected the right blend of rock, country and soul. While the complimentary vocals of Joey & Kelly Kneiser give Glossary their signature sound it is Bingham Barnes and Eric Giles soulful rhythms and Todd Beane’s pedal steel twang that makes their music go. Live shows are where the magic happens, veterans of the road they have honed their skills and kick things up a notch in front of a crowd.
Joining them on stage is Telegraph Canyon (TC) and Brother Hawk (BH). Mixing the right amounts of country, folk and rock TC delivers some of the finest Americana music your ears will enjoy. Their non-stop touring has led to a devout fan base and a damn good fine tuned live show, so expect a good night of music. BH brings some local flair to the evening as they kick things off. Full of soulful Southern rhythms these guys know how to rock and should set the bar high for the rest of the bands playing Wednesday night.
There you have it a line-up full of bands that will deliver a killer night of music. So start your weekend off early and don’t be late to the Basement because you do not miss out on a single note, if you do, you will be sorry. If you see me there be sure to say hi.
WHO: Glossary, Telegraph Canyon, Brother Hawk
WHERE: The Basement
WHEN: Wednesday. February 13th, 9:00 p.m.
http://www.examiner.com/article/glossary-at-the-basement-this-wednesday-night
THE TUPELO COURIER (Tupelo weekly) – Positive show preview for Oxford show with band photo
Homage to humanity soulfully rocks
By Jim Clark
Published: Thursday, February 7, 2013 1:07 PM CST
Glossary recognized the majority of headlines and sound bites focused on all the bad things happening in the world. They decided to make a possitive record – a homage to humanity, if you will.
“In the end,” Joey Kneiser, vocals and guitar said. “when everything around us is constantly reminding us of what we’re doing wrong, we just wanted to remind us of what we’re doing right.”
The Murphreesboro, Tenn. band is made up of Kneiser, his ex-wife Kelly, vocals and percussion; Eric Giles, drums; Bingham Barnes, bass and Todd Beene, pedal steel, guitar and vocals.
Their seventh full length album, Long Live All of Us, has brought some new sounds to the alternative rockers. They added piano, some haunting pedal steel and some horns which give the album an R&B feel at times.
The songs were recorded in about a month in a house in Rockvale, Tenn. The house sat between a church and a ram-shackle residence, wrapped in police tape, where a meth lab was once in operation.
“That’s the rock & roll dream…to live in a house and write and record together all day,” Kneiser said. “It allowed us a chance to experiment, and if you really wanted to do something you could take the time to make it happen. It was really one of the greatest creative experiences that I’ve ever had.”
The band will be playing the Hi-Tone in Memphis on Feb. 10 and at Proud Larry’s in Oxford on Feb. 11.
These are some great southern rock folks you don’t want to miss.
I also admire the band’s stance on trying to remind us there’s more good news then bad, it’s just not reported as often.
“The best thing that we have going as human beings is each other,” he said. http://www.leecountycourier.net/articles/2013/02/07/calendar/entertainment/doc5113fb33bcedb613959429.txt
DALLAS OBSERVER (Dallas weekly) – Positive show preview on bothe bands (same one that ran for the Jan. Denton show.
The Five Best Concerts In Dallas This Weekend, February 7-10
By Rachel Watts
Telegraph Canyon, Glossary, Quiet Company
Saturday, February 9, at Live Oak Music Hall & Lounge, $12
Fort Worth’s Telegraph Canyon are heading out on the road with Tennessee’s Glossary for much of January and February, and we can’t think of a more inspired pairing. The local Southern folk group is working on finishing up a new single in the new year, as a possible taste of a new album to follow 2009’s The Tide and the Current. Glossary are still rocking jams from 2011’s Long Live All of Us, but frontman Joey Kneiser just released an excellent new EP, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart. Add in Austin pop-rockers Quiet Company, lather, rinse, repeat. — Audra Schroeder
http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2013/02/best_concerts_weekend_what_to_do.php
THE OXFORD EAGLE (Oxford, MS daily) – Positive feature/show preview with Joey interview with band photo.
[Brief preview here with feature in print edition)
Glossary set for Proud Larry’s
Murfreesboro, Tenn.-based band Glossary will take the stage at Proud Larry’s on Monday night in support of their latest album, “Long Live All of Us.” To read more on the show, as well as all the other arts and entertainment activities taking place in the LOU community, turn to today’s Oxford Town section.
http://oxfordeagle.com/2013/02/glossary-set-for-proud-larrys/
Link to print:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/49802966/OxfordTownGlossary.jpg
MEMPHIS FLYER (Memphis weekly) – Positive feature/show preview with band photo.
Glossary at the Hi-Tone Café
by Chris Herrington
While they’ve never been as well-known as scene compatriots like Georgia’s Drive-By Truckers or Memphis’ Lucero, the Murfreesboro-born Glossary belongs in that company as a long-standing Southern-rock institution that brings its own character, soul, and musicality to the sub-genre. Glossary, which returns to Memphis this week, drew from the city on its most recent album, Long Live All of Us, an R&B-influenced collection that features horn arrangements from Memphian Jim Spake and performances from Spake (sax) and fellow Memphian Nahshon Benford. The soul feel of Long Live All of Us — most prominent on slow-burners like “Nothing Can Keep Me Away,” “Under a Barking Moon,” and “Some Eternal Spark” — was an easy transition for a band that’s always had more space and movement in their sound than most on their scene. The album also has a reflective tone. It’s interesting to listen to a song like “When We Were Wicked” in relation to the first album made by the band’s current lineup, 2003’s How We Handle Our Midnights. That album, made nearly a decade ago, was one where the genre’s latent romantic rootlessness was pinned down by a post-collegiate specificity: newly minted adults working on their night moves along vagabond highways connecting small towns to small cities, trying to figure out what’s next. “When We Were Wicked” looks back on those days with the hindsight of experience: “Four bands at a house show/On a three-band bill/Five dollars got you in here/Now George Dickel’s gonna make you feel” leading to “So come on out/I know we’re older now/But I’ve still got the fire in me.” Glossary plays the Hi-Tone Café on Sunday, February 10th, with Telegraph Canyon and Alex da Ponte. Doors open at 8 p.m. Admission is $8.
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/glossary-at-the-hi-tone-caf/Content?oid=3343338
METRO PULSE (Knoxville, TN weekly) – Positive feature/show preview with Joey interview.
Long-Running Murfreesboro Band Glossary Rediscovers the Mythology of Rock ’n’ Roll
By Matthew Everett
Joey Kneiser, the frontman for Murfreesboro rock band Glossary, had big plans when he started thinking about the group’s most recent album. It was 2011. The band had been together for nearly 15 years; they’d long since traded in the youthful promise of their 1998 debut Southern by the Grace of Location for hard-working journeyman status. So Kneiser and his bandmates decided to take their time and make a record that reflected the band’s maturity, and all that they had absorbed over their time together. Kneiser wanted to make an album that mattered.
“I feel like a lot of modern rock ’n’ roll is very cynical and apathetic,” Kneiser says. “It used to be, in the ’60s and ’70s especially, that rock ’n’ roll was much more powerful and uplifting. I still believe in the old mythology of rock ’n’ roll, that it can somehow lift you up and save you and has this almost spiritual power to pull you out of the dark. As I’ve gotten older, I go back and listen to Sam Cooke and great rock ’n’ roll bands that have that spirit of rock ’n’ roll, like Bruce Springsteen, the Drive-By Truckers, the Hold Steady, My Morning Jacket, that kind of represent that old mythology of rock ’n’ roll, that it’s you and your girl against the world.”
So Kneiser and his bandmates holed up inside a rented house outside of Murfreesboro and spent a month writing, rehearsing, and experimenting before committing another full month to recording.
“We’d never spent that much time in a studio,” Kneiser says. “The records were really about pre-production and rehearsing and rehearsing and getting all your parts down so you could go in there and knock it out really quickly. This one, we decided to get a place of our own and have enough time so that if somebody had an idea that didn’t pan out, it was fine. We didn’t have any restrictions on time. Somebody could try something and we could just keep doing it—we could waste six hours and not feel horrible about it.”
The result, Long Live All of Us, released in October 2011, is another stage in Glossary’s development from scrappy indie rock to a classic rock ’n’ roll band. Guitarist/pedal steel player Todd Beene, who has played with Glossary for a decade, also plays with Memphis’ Lucero, and helped recruit Jim Spake, a Memphis saxophonist who has played with and arranged horn sections for Lucero, Alex Chilton, Solomon Burke, and Southern Culture on the Skids. Spake’s horn arrangements on Long Live All of Us expands on Glossary’s blueprint of country-flavored indie rock with adding R&B, soul, and blues overtones. It’s a next step for the band, but not necessarily one that anyone following the group’s career would have predicted.
“We’re wedged between three major Southern musical meccas,” Kneiser says. “We have Muscle Shoals two hours south of us, and then Memphis three hours west of us, and we’re obviously about 40 minutes from Nashville. That plays a lot in the band. We’d always wanted to absorb all the things we like about American music and make them our own. We came from punk-rock and indie-rock backgrounds and over time just started taking things that we like and putting it into the band somehow, trying to squeeze it in where it makes sense.
“Every time we’re recording one of the records, we’re like, is this too eclectic, because we like so much stuff. But in the end, all the bands we really love are bands like that, like the Band or the Rolling Stones or the Clash—bands that were really eclectic.”
Unfortunately, the horn section from Long Live All of Us won’t be accompanying the band on its upcoming Knoxville date. But the positive message behind the album was also directed toward the band itself, and that should come through.
“We’ve been playing together so long, and everybody’s designed their lives around doing this,” Kneiser says. “You go through a time where you have to give yourself a pep talk, because you’re playing music for a living, which involves no money, no security or anything like that. You have to convince yourself that there’s a bigger thing than you. That’s one reason, too, that I didn’t want the band to come off as selfish—it was trying to encompass a community around the band, that there was no line around the people who listen to it and the people who made it. It’s like being a professional musician, or any artist, you live in a constant state of a midlife crisis. You have to wonder if you’re doing the right thing, but you find that crazy chaos where you do the best stuff.”
Glossary with Cory Branan and Telegraph Canyon 9 p.m. Feb. 14 at The Well, Knoxville, TN
http://www.metropulse.com/news/2013/feb/06/long-running-murfreesboro-band-glossary-rediscover/
THE SCOOP 303 (Denver A&E site) – Show preview (from press release)
Glossary at Hi-Dive in Denver tonight!
http://www.thescoop303.com/hi-dive-and-sputnik/
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS (daily) – Feature/show preview
After 16 years, Tennessee’s Glossary is ready for its big break
By Matt Sullivan
This is my fourth winter in Alaska. I grew up in Tennessee and spent my college years in a town called Murfreesboro, about a 40-minute drive southeast of Nashville and home to a monument marking the geographic center of the state and what’s claimed to be the world’s largest cedar bucket. That’s the town Glossary is from, and this weekend will be the band’s first taste of winter in Alaska.
Well, not everyone in the band. Guitarist Todd Beene also plays in the Memphis-based group Lucero, which played Girdwood a couple times in late 2011 and early 2012. I showed up at that first show wearing a Glossary shirt, knowing those guys would recognize the logo because they used to play the same coffee shop and dive bar scene in the early 2000s. I didn’t know that Beene was also playing in Lucero.
So when I saw him sitting at his pedal steel on stage right, I wrestled my way to the front and stuck out my chest. After the song he leaned into the audience and asked, “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked him the same thing.
During the four years and change I lived in Murfreesboro, the local bands were coming to terms with the fact that the Next Big Thing status that publications like Billboard magazine had thrown at the town’s indie-rock scene in the late ’90s didn’t stick. This wasn’t Athens, Ga., or Chapel Hill, N.C., and bands like Self, Fluid Ounces, The Katies and The Features never exploded like everyone expected.
For those of us who started bands in that wake, the scene politics dictated that those groups were either put on a pedestal or openly disdained. Glossary was different — from the metal to punk to hip-hop to the experimental noise-making corners of that scene, the reverence other bands gave the country-ish rock combo was universal.
“We’ve been lucky because we became one of those bands that’s other band’s favorite band,” Glossary front man Joey Kneiser told me over the phone. “Bands like the (Drive-By) Truckers, Lucero and Against Me have kind of kept us alive over the last few years from just helping us.”
Glossary started out in the late ’90s as an indie-rock outfit with a penchant for Southern rock-isms. Southern rock and country later became the main reference points, and on 2010’s “Feral Fire,” the band reinvented itself as an E Street Band-Thin Lizzy hybrid.
At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it’s criminal that not every single person reading this has heard of Glossary. Admittedly, nostalgia plays a big part (I spent my 21st birthday at a Glossary show, for example), but the nearly 16 years the band has toiled in relative obscurity make it hard not to complain about how underappreciated they are. Of course, I’m biased. While I mostly haven’t been in touch with these guys since leaving Tennessee, they’re still friends.
So don’t take my word for it. From a former colleague at the Nashville Scene in 2006: “There are local bands that build a buzz and a following until they get a crack at going national, and then there are local bands like Murfreesboro, TN’s Glossary, that keep at it year after year because there’s something that needs to be expressed, even if no more than a few thousand people ever hear it.”
That same year Kneiser was interviewed by Paste Magazine about what was then the recently released “For What I Don’t Become”: “I wanted the songs to represent where we were as a band and try to answer whether or not I’m doing the right thing by pursuing something as crazy as a life in music.”
As Kneiser and I caught up over the phone while the band was winding its way through California, he told me things are finally starting to work out for Glossary.
“We always had to — because we could never get a good booking agent — we always had to basically be smart about what we did,” he said. “The band couldn’t support everybody.”
Friends like the Drive-By Truckers regularly asked the band to open tours, but until recently, Glossary had a harder time booking its own tours.
Venues out west had been contacting the band for years, but the five-piece didn’t have the resources to make it work. Then the band finally found a decent booking agent, which has the group playing in Alaska this weekend and leaving for Europe next month.
“Going out on our own as a headliner, obviously it’s rougher. Now we’re to the point where we’re starting to do a lot,” Kneiser said. “The band’s been getting a lot bigger.”
Just this past Wednesday, the band announced that it signed a deal with the London-based label Xtra Mile Recordings. Last week, Glossary was the guest on the popular Sklarbro Country podcast. (Kneiser said Randy and Jason Sklar have been fans of the band for years after a fan sent the two comedians a mix tape with Glossary songs.)
Glossary had every reason to wonder if it was doing the right thing in 2006, but that existential crisis didn’t seem to carry over to the albums that followed “For What I Don’t Become.”
On “Blood on the Knobs,” Kneiser reaffirmed his pursuit no matter how crazy it is: “Shake up the future and rattle its cage / roll down the road to the next show that doesn’t pay / I’m still holding on to rock and roll.”
And on last year’s soul-inspired “Long Live All of Us,” Kneiser was purposefully upbeat. A common refrain from the album: If you’re doing what you love, it’ll work out in the long run.
“I wanted to try and write a more positive record,” the songwriter explained. “I was getting annoyed with how apathetic and cynical indie-rock has become.
A lot of the great rock and roll that I love does have some positivity while it still is a little bit darkness.”
http://www.adn.com/2013/01/31/2772887/after-16-years-tennessees-glossary.html
THE BACKSTAGE BEAT (Atlanta music site) – Interview with Todd to preview Atlanta Show with band photo and bio.
http://atlanta.thebackstagebeat.com/2013/02/glossary-at-the-basement-february-13th/
SALT LAKE CITY TRIBUNE (Salt Lake City Daily) – Brief show mention
Glossary
The Tennessee-based, five-piece band Glossary is touring to promote its latest album, “Long Live All of Us.” Lady Murasaki will open the show.
When • Tuesday, Feb. 5, 9 p.m.
Where • Bar Deluxe, 666 S. State St., Salt Lake City
Tickets • $5 at 24Tix.com
http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/nightlife/sltrib/entertainment2/55718292-223/tickets-sheeran-music-feb.html.csp
NASHVILLE SCENE (weekly) – Best Local Rock Songs Ever, Part Three [Glossary, Velcro Stars, Eureka Gold, All We Seabees, Heartbeater]
Glossary, “Shout It From the Rooftops”
In 15 years, Joey Kneiser and low-notesman Bingham Barnes have made seven records together with great bands, and I could easily pick a track from any one of those to exemplify Joey’s near-supernatural ability to write a song that speaks on a deep, personal level to just about anyone who listens. Glossary’s 2007 record The Better Angels of Our Nature (grab a download here or here) saw the group coalesce into its current form, with Joey’s then-wife Kelly singing and playing percussion as well as anyone on Motown’s staff, Todd Beene (also of Lucero) on steel and second guitar, and Eric Giles on drums, augmented just for this record by Matt “Mr. Jimmy” Rowland’s prodigious keyboard skills. At the center of the album is “Shout It,” with its dead-simple chord progression from the roots of rock ‘n’ roll and its unforced, un-preaching, universal message of hope, which I’ve seen put crowds of 100 to 1,000 into a full-Beavis head-bang.
[News flash: Yesterday the U.K.’s Xtra Mile announced they will release Glossary’s 2011 record Long Live All of Us in Europe, ahead of their April tour.]
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2013/01/31/best-local-rock-songs-ever-part-three-glossary-velcro-stars-eureka-gold-all-we-seabees-heartbeater
DAILY HERALD (Salt Lake City Daily) – Brief show mention
GLOSSARY — Tennessee-based Americana rock band’s tour with new album “Long Live All of Us.” 8 p.m. Tues. Bar Deluxe, 666 S. State St., Salt Lake City. (801) 532-2914.
http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/music/musical-performance-listings-for-jan/article_8a3b2f3a-4a43-5e29-9366-b61fbbd6cf16.html
L.A. RECORD (Los Angeles, CA weekly)
GLOSSARY + THE BRIXTONES + CHRISTIAN LEE HUTSON + TALL TALES & THE SILVER LINING @ THE SATELLITE
Photos and words by Abby Linne
Tennessee was kind enough to lend Los Angeles some of their finest this week when Glossary hit the stage at Satellite. With a sound that is equal parts southern sunshine and rock and roll, they kept the crowd smiling. Also playing were SoCal’s Tall Tales & the Silver Lining, the sparse and graceful Christian Lee Hutson, and The Brixtones, who played a scrappy backwoods blues set.
http://larecord.com/photos/2013/01/27/glossary-the-brixtones-christian-lee-hutson-tall-tales-the-silver-lining-the-satellite
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS (daily) – Positive feature/show preview.
Glossary to play Sitzmark in Girdwood
By Matt Sullivan
Anchorage — Alyeska Resort has added a few Sitzmark shows to its calendar for the next few months, including former Salmonstock headliners Great American Taxi (Jan. 18-20), Celtic rockers Young Dubliners (Feb. 15 and 16) and the self-described “first Celtic pirate punk-folk rock band on the planet,” Potcheen (March 15-17). Those three are no strangers to Alaska, but making their first trip to the state is Tennessee-based Glossary, who will play the Sitz on Feb. 1 and 2.
Like I mentioned the first time Lucero played there, I went to school in Murfreesboro, which is home to what’s claimed to be the largest cedar bucket in the world and a monument marking the geographic center of the state of Tennessee. It’s also where Glossary got its start (the band happens to share guitarist Todd Beene with Lucero).
My guess is a lot of Alaskans aren’t familiar with Glossary – or Murfreesboro – but for myself and most of the people I know who were going to shows there at the time, a common complaint is that Glossary never got its due. The band started out as an indie-rock outfit with a penchant for Southern rock-isms. Eventually Southern rock and country became the main entry points, and on 2010’s “Feral Fire,” the band had settled into something of a Thin Lizzy / E Street Band hybrid.
The latest album is “Long Live All of Us,” which is more of a country-soul record. It also spawned a couple funny videos. You can stream most of the band’s catalog at glossary.bandcamp.com.
http://www.adn.com/2012/12/21/2731968/glossary.html
TURNAGAIN TIMES (Girdwood, AK bi-weekly) – Brief show preview.
Live at the Sitz
Another show to keep on the radar: Glossary, featuring Todd Beene, pedal steel guitarist from Lucero. Glossary will perform on Feb. 1 and 2. Tickets cost $12 in advance and $15 day of show. View the full entertainment schedule at www.thesitzmark.com.
http://www.turnagaintimes.com/current%20issue/2013-01-17/mountain-news.html
ANCHORAGE PRESS (Anchorage, AK daily) – Positive feature story with Joey interview and band photo to preview Girdwod shows.
Glossary performs Friday and Saturday Feb. 1-2 at the Sitzmark in Girdwood.
Rachel Drinkard
There is a popular music website called ninebullets.net. If you’re into the likes of Drive-By Truckers, Two Cow Garage, Lucero, and even our very own Jack River Kings, you may be familiar with it. At the top of the page is the line: “Because the world deserves something better than Mumford & Sons…” and along the side bar they feature a tag cloud of frequently used phrases in different font sizes to indicate how often the phrases are used (the more frequently a word gets mentioned, the bigger it appears). In a font slightly smaller than that of Lucero and considerably larger than Old Crow Medicine Show, you find the word “Glossary.”
This is not a glossary of bands that fit this rather nebulous genre of country-tinged rock ‘n’ roll. This is not a glossary of terms you might find utilized on the site. It is Glossary, a quintessential American rock and roll band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Quintessential? Yeah, I said it. Perhaps that’s bold, but here’s the thing… no offense to my Alaska band friends, but Southern rock and roll is where it’s at, ya’ll. During a call on a spotty cell phone signal from a van somewhere between Pheonix and Tucson, lead singer Joey Kneiser tells me about music and the way he sees it.
“The South has the origins of modern American music, it all was born in the South. Rock and roll, blues, gospel, bluegrass. [The band] had Nashville to our North, Memphis to the West, Muscle Shoals to the South… hillbilly music from Appalachia and a lot of bluegrass from East Tennessee where Bingham [bass player Bingham Barnes] and I are from.”
It is on these grounds—with such diverse influences of truly American roots music, and the humbly independent attitude of a band of determined musicians committed to their craft above all else—that I propose that “quintessential” label. These guys aren’t Aerosmith or Lynyrd Skynyrd, or some internationally celebrated U.S. equivalent of the Beatles. In fact, they aren’t well known at all outside of their genre and region, but they are all that American music should be.
“We all came from punk rock backgrounds, indie rock backgrounds. As you get older what you like expands, you go back to listening to things your parents used to listen to,” says Kneiser. “We would just all take the things we like and cram it into the band somehow—we’re really into eclectic music.”
It shows. The latest album brings in more of the horns and MoTown/Stax vibe we’ve been hearing in other Southern rock bands in the last year or so, including Lucero, who shares Glossary pedal steel player and guitarist Todd Beene. (Beene added pedal steel to Lucero’s Women & Work line-up, which took the Sitzmark stage last year.)
Kneiser talks about what he calls the “mythology of rock ‘n’ roll,” and how it can “change you, lift you up and be a catalyst for change in your life.” It’s a sentiment that clearly drove Glossary’s latest contribution to the world—their seventh full-length album, Long Live All of Us. The album, recorded entirely in a small house between a condemned meth lab and a church in BFE (some place called Rockvale, to be exact) Tennessee, is lauded as an upbeat, positive thing—a welcome turn from the more traditional doom, gloom and drinking prevalent in the genre—and serves as the band’s interpretation of “an all-inclusive homage to humanity.” In fact, Long Live All of Us practically effervesces some sort of good mood vibes, especially in opening track, “Trouble Won’t Last Always,” an appropriate anthem to tune in to during the evening news broadcast.
“I kinda’ feel like a lot of rock and roll has become pretty apathetic and cynical. I think there’s a lack of things that give people some hope in music and I think there used to be that when you look back at the music from the ‘70s… The things that you tend to go back to that you can listen to repeatedly are things that are more positive and upbeat.
“But [Long Live All of Us] still has those dark moments… it still has a little tinge of melancholy and brings out those themes of being vulnerable, relatable, and the human tragedy of being alive,” he adds.
Enough talk, though. If you want to get a real sense of what Glossary is all about, go to their website (www.glossary.us). They offer up links to free downloads of several albums such as Kneiser’s solo releases, including the considerably darker Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart which was released late last year, and the band’s 2008 full-length The Better Angels of Our Nature.
Glossary
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 1-2
Doors at 9 p.m., show starts at 10 p.m.
The Whipsaws open
$12 in advance, $15 day of show
21 and over
Tickets available at www.alyeskaresort.com
http://www.anchoragepress.com/arts_and_entertainment/music_article/glossary/article_33ec7e84-6679-11e2-9d47-0019bb2963f4.html
SALT LAKE CITY WEEKLY (Salt Lake City, UT weekly) – Positive “This Week’s Music Picks” show preview
This Week’s Music Picks:
Tuesday 2.5
Glossary
When a band has the luxury to write and record at home—rather than, say, during a stressful eight-day studio session—they have the luxury to let creativity work its slow, meandering course. In a studio situated in a house between a church and a condemned meth lab, Glossary spread out on 2011’s Long Live All of Us for a mixed bag of American music with hints of R&B swinging horns and rhythms, gospel soul swagger, twangy pedal-steel licks and nostalgic rock. It’s the best of the seven albums that this Tennessee-based band has recorded. Bar Deluxe, 666 S. State, 8 p.m., $5 in advance, $7 day of show
http://e.cityweekly.net/cityweekly/2013/01/31/#?article=1799583
DO 415 (San Francisco online A&E site) – Brief show preview (from press release)
http://do415.com/event/2013/01/27/before-the-brave-glossary-travis-hayes
SKLARBRO COUNTRY (popular podcast show) – Studio session
Tiny Hunk Episode 131
Murfreesboro’s southern indie-rock act Glossary and Sklarbro favorite Nick Kroll stop by the calming shores of Sklarbro Country! Glossary talks to Randy & Jason about their influences, the difference between playing a show in LA than the south, and play a couple of their songs live in the studio. Nick Kroll then joins us to talk about his new sketch comedy show Kroll Show, German cannibals, and playing Fantasy football this year. Plus, Randy Moss’ dog tells us if he’s going to the Superbowl and Mark Wahlberg drops by to promote some of the many movies he’s in right now. Be sure to pick up tickets to see Randy and Jason in Portland at Helium Comedy Club this weekend (January 24-26).
http://www.earwolf.com/episode/tiny-hunk/
SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS (Santa Barbara daily) – Positive feature story with Joey interview with band photo to preview Santa Barbara show.
IN CONCERT: Acclaimed Tennessee band Glossary returns to Santa Barbara, Thursday at Velvet Jones
By Josef Woodard, News-Press Correspondent
When last we caught the fine Tennessean band Glossary in Santa Barbara, they were opening up for their Southern friends, Lucero, a few years back. Next Thursday, Glossary returns, in the headline slot at Velvet Jones — and with Lucero’s pedal steel player Todd Beane in the ranks — and the timing couldn’t be more ripe: Glossary’s seventh and latest album, “Long Live All of Us,” is being touted as possibly the strongest yet in a discography going back several years.
This band, outta’ the small town of Murfreesboro, Tenn., a half-hour from Nashville, has hunkered down and delivered a rugged yet produced album. It has logically compared to the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” and music of The Band for its natural, wood-grained rock feel. On these 10 tracks, with nary a lemon or moment of filler, aspects of Southern rock, moving balladry and soul-fried, Memphis-style grooves blend in with sounds from the ’70s, suitable for the ’10s. It’s a winner, whether judged by the new Southern rock, Americana or whatever rock yardstick.
Lead singer and songwriter Joey Kneiser, gifted on both counts, was in the band van careening toward Lubbock, Texas, last week when we caught up with him for an interview.
News-Press: “Long Live All of Us” is really a strong piece of work. It has a great kind of feel, with a rich and produced sound but also a life and raw spirit. Was that your vision for this one?
Joey Kneiser: Yeah. We always want to come off sounding like a band that likes to play together, and has been playing together for a long time. For that record, we rented a house out in the country and rehearsed in it, so there’s a lot of pre-production involved, with playing together and coming up with parts and how we wanted to do the songs, tempo-wise. We started with that. We started recording and tried to take the initial structure of the songs and then expand on it with sounds.
Previously, we would record and it would just be us rehearsing and just go into the studio and play what you came up with in the rehearsal. This was done with so much more time. We had a month to record. Somebody could go on a whim, with a crazy idea, and we could follow it, even if it didn’t work out. We had enough time to try out things.
NP: You are a good songwriter. You seem to have that gift. Is this something that goes way back with you? When did you recognize that songs were your thing?
JK: That’s all I ever wanted to do, since I was a kid, be a songwriter. I fell in love with songs and the ability to make something out of nothing. As I got older, I started getting more and more into it and really trying to hone some kind of craft out of it that I could. I’m still in the middle of that, trying to get better at it and write different kinds of songs in different ways.
NP: That’s something I got from this album, the diversity of styles going on, but in a way that hangs together. Soul and gospel and blues and Southern rock-ish sounds all come together nicely. Are these all your roots, in a way?
JK: Yeah. I think it’s just that, for one, I think we always wanted to be an eclectic band that just absorbed all the kinds of music we liked and somehow regurgitated it back in the band. We like bands that are like that, like The Band or the Stones or Clash, bands that absorbed American music and somehow fit it together into their own thing.
We came from a punk rock and indie rock background, but as we got older, we progressed and started listening to more R&B music and gospel music, pretty much anything that we liked and tried to fit it somehow into the band, where it made sense. The idea of being eclectic like that is very much interesting to me, because I really like bands and records that is an obvious representation of the band, but that runs the gamut. You can tell that they’re listening to a lot of music and are actually music fans.
NP: I also detected echoes of NRBQ at times. Are you a fan of that band?
JK: Oh yeah, I love that band. We actually opened for that band in 2004 or something. That’s another band which is a prime example. They were a rhythm and blues band, but were also a little country, and they ran a gamut. You could tell that they were just music fans in the band.
None of us are trained musicians or forever groomed to be musicians. It was just five people who really like music who started a band. There was no grandiose intentions behind it, other than just being music fans and wanting to contribute to music in some way.
NP: Can you give me a thumbnail history of how and when this band came together?
JK: The band originally kind of started in ’97, while we were in college. We were just immediately thinking, “Nobody’s ever going to help us or do anything for us, so let’s just make a record.” While we were in college, we made two records. Then the band disbanded and changed a bit and around 2001, we came up with more of what the line-up is now and we put out “How We Handle Our Midnights,” which was the first record of this life of the band. That was kind of the beginning of the band that is right now.
There are five records since then, in 2003. That was the start of this.
NP: You were somewhat ahead of the curve in terms of going indie and doing it yourself. Now everybody is doing it, but that wasn’t the case back then, was it?
JK: We started in the late ’90s, and indie labels were still kind of around, before the digital age brought down a lot of that old label infrastructure. We just started doing it ourselves because nobody would do it for us. If you wanted to make it happen, it wasn’t that out of the ordinary to put out your own records. Now, it’s much more common for people to do that and never be on a label.
We had no idea what we were doing. I’d never made an official record before. I never wrote songs for an official record. We’d never done anything. This whole process has been an adventure of trying to figure out how to do it and make it work. Every step of the way, we understand it more and try to be better at it.
NP: You have a song on the new album, “When We Were Wicked.” Is that an autobiographical song or anthem, about the feeling of being in a rock band?
JK: Yeah. Actually that song came about because, about two years ago, my grandmother was dying. She was at hospice and I was with her. She was telling me a story about when she was 18 years old and she and her friend used to raise hell and get into all kinds of trouble. She prefaced the story by saying, “When we were wicked.” I immediately thought, “Oh, I’ve got to use that in a song.”
It basically wrote itself. I just filled it in with myself. It’s definitely an autobiographical song about growing up in a small town and not having anything other than your friends and rock ‘n’ roll, going to rock shows. When you’re young and really don’t have much responsibility, music seemed like a live or die kind of thing. It’s huge. There is a romanticism attached.
The thing is that that feeling never left me. I still have that romanticism about rock ‘n’ roll. I like the mythology of rock ‘n’ roll and the idea that it can lift you up. There is some kind of spiritual element to it. It can take you to places that other things can’t.
NP: There is a strong gospel underpinning to a lot of your music, and of course, that has been part of the story of rock ‘n’ roll through the Stones, Little Richard, Joe Cocker, and on and on. But is there a kind of spiritual message that comes through in your music, do you think?
JK: I think there is definitely like a spiritual kind of thing going on. But more so, I’m really interested in songs and narratives that celebrate the great attributes of human beings. That’s what I want the band to stand for. It’s not trying to be apathetic or cynical or anything like that. It’s trying to be positive. Even if it’s a little dark, there’s a little glimmer of light in there. Super simple things like that, people can relate to, no matter who you are.
NP: Speaking of the listener element, this music has the potential to cut across scenes and demographics, from indie to Americana to classic rock. Do you appreciate that flexibility of who you can ideally appeal to?
JK: Yeah, always the goal was just to be a simple, classic band. We’re like a pop band. They’re still pop songs. We’re trying to do what we can, inside of the little pop format. The reason why people love all those old bands, from the heyday of rock ‘n’ roll — even just the bands that I love — is that they kind of come to their audience with open arms.
They’re inviting people into the band and not just singing to them. It’s more like a community wrapped inside of the band. I remember something Bruce Springsteen said: He wanted a show to be part rock ‘n’ roll show, part religious revival, and part protest meeting.
I like the idea of going to see a band where somehow the songs aren’t being sung to you, but are being sung with you.
IN CONCERT
Glossary
When: 9 p.m. Thurs.
Where: Velvet Jones, 423 State St., Santa Barbara
Cost: $10
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=SCENE&ID=566636973196968019#.UQFF0-ikSHk
NIGHT OUT (online nightlife site & app) – Show preview for Santa Barbara show.
Wil Ridge, Glossary feat. Todd Beene of Lucero, Nate Lotta Thursday, January 24th!
Glossary
This band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, has taken their influences farther than ever before, adding piano, haunting pedal steel, R&B-influenced horns and more to their own style of romanticized rock & roll. The songs are well-intentioned narratives that emphasize the great attributes of mankind — mercy, redemption, forgiveness and second chances.
Todd Beene
Todd Beene who plays pedal steel for the Lucero, a band that has written plenty of songs about girls and guitars, and about life, love, drinking, and life, love, and drinking while on the road. They’re known for being a tried and true American rock and roll band.
Doors: 8:00pm
Show: 9:00pm
Velvet Jones
423 State Street
Santa Barbara, CA
93101
ÿ=‹fi (805) 965-8676
http://nightout.com/events/wil-ridge-glossary
SANTA BARBARA INDEPENDENT (Santa Barbara daily) – Brief show mention with Glossary photo
Wil Ridge, Glossary featuring Todd Beene of Lucero
Santa Ynez alt-country and Tennessee-based rockers will perform.
When: Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, 9 p.m.
Where: Velvet Jones, 423 State St., Santa Barbara
Cost: $10
Age limit: 21+
http://www.independent.com/events/2013/jan/24/28345/
KNBA RADIO (Anchorage, AK) PD Loren Dixon said they’d be making on-air show mentions.
NASHVILLE SCENE (weekly) – Show preview (from press release) with band photo and video featured on their website.
Glossary w/ Telegraph Canyon at The Stone Fox Feb.15th.
http://nashvillescene.getn2.it/event/detail/1731947
INSIDE FULLERTON (Fullerton, CA online A&E site) – Brief show mention.
Slidebar will be rockin’ all night this eveneing with a free, 21+ show from Glossary featuring Todd from Lucero with the Choronauts and The Shade.
http://insidefullerton.com/daily-post/1-23-2013/
DEAR BEN NICHOLS (online music/fan site) – Positive San Diego show preview.
Going to a Glossary Show
I’m going to go ahead and quote Ben Nichols here: Glossary is the best band in America.
If you don’t know who Glossary is, you should. They started up around the same time as Lucero, and if you’ve seen Lucero in the last few years and noticed that bearded guy in the Alabama hoodie sitting down in front of a pedal steel then you know Todd Beene. He’s been a member of Glossary far before he joined Lucero, playing guitar, steel, and even singing for the band from Murfreesboro. The two bands have toured together for years, one of Glossary’s records came out on Lucero’s ‘Liberty & Lament’ record label, and Ben plays Joey Kneiser cover “Bruised Ribs” all the time. It’s safe to say these two bands are intertwined.
It’s not always easy to find the similarity in the lyrical or musical content. Sure, there’s “Bruised Ribs” and rock and roll anthems like “Save Your Money for the Weekend” and “When We Were Wicked”, but Joey writes about drinking less than he mentions graveyards. He mentions graveyards a lot. Seething under the surface in his music is the knowledge of man’s mortality. If you haven’t listened to Glossary, you need to understand that this is not a ‘negative’ or ‘dark’ thing. Joey Kneiser has come to terms with death. He’s not trying to fight it, and it’s part of his music. Glossary isn’t a band united by death, it’s a band united by a love of life…it just happens to be his opinion that you can’t really have one without the other.
If you haven’t listened to “Long Live All of Us”, their most recent effort, you need to. Go do that, immediately. Groove along with the band, enjoy how fun the music is, get sucked in to the soft voices of both Kneisers. Listen to the album all the way through without trying too hard to figure out what he’s saying. Chances are your body understands it better than you do already.
That kind of emotion and energy is exactly what Glossary brings to their concerts. They play with the utmost sincerity, and no one more than Kneiser himself. Before I went to the show I was wondering if he was a writer in any other medium, thinking that his worldview and way with words would make him an excellent novelist. Finally getting to watch him perform live, it was clear that music is the best way for Joey Kneiser to tell a story. He puts everything into ir, riding the song’s highs and lows the same way that the crowd does. Eric Giles and Bingham Barnes, their drummer and bassist respectively, are so into what they’re playing that they seem to be in a different place than everyone else, keeping the heartbeat of the band thumping. Kelly Kneiser’s voice is ethereally beautiful, and Glossary’s songs just wouldn’t be the same without her tambourines or maracas.
Then, of course, we have Todd Beene. Some of you may not know this, but Todd was in Glossary for years before he ended up joining Lucero. He usally co-pens and sings a song or two per album with Joey, and if you’re a Lucero fan who hasn’t heard his stuff you’re really doing yourself a disservice. It’s fun to see Todd get to stand up, stretch his legs, and play a solo on a six-string guitar from time to time. He plays like that kid who’s spent years practicing his instruments, and I bet it’s because he has. His steel on Lucero songs is always fun and usually beautiful, but in my opinion he really shines in Glossary. Check out “Bend with the Breeze” and revel in Beene’s musicianship.
It’s hard for me to describe seeing Glossary perform. Everyone believes in what they’re playing and singing. Every person on that stage is enjoying themselves and having fun with each other. I saw them in a crowded restaurant, playing through folks eating their dinner, and everyone was pulled in. You can’t help but be. The tightness of the music took me by surprise- there were solos and breakdowns I knew were coming but still hit me square in the chest. Check out their website for their tour dates and some music downloads. Even if you don’t think you like their music, head out to a show. I guarantee this is one band that will win you over. After all, this is the favorite band of all your favorite bands.
http://www.dearbennichols.com/post/41102747025/guestpost
SAN DIEGO CITY BEAT (San Diego weekly) – Brief positive San Diego show preview.
Shows we’re jazzed about this week:
Sunday, Jan. 20
Glossary @ Soda Bar. You can’t get more genuine than Tennessee’s Glossary. Offering up a hodgepodge of rock, R&B, gospel and country, they burst with unconditionally good vibes.
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-11392-cannibal-ox-erik-deutsch-and-more-san-diego-concerts.html
DO 415 (San Francisco A&E site) – Brief show preview.
GLOSSARY with LUCAS OHIO
Sat. 01/26 | 8:00PM @ Armando’s.
GLOSSARY “Romanticized Rock & Roll” Presented by: Minor Chord Productions Bingham Barnes – bass Todd Beene -pedal steel/ guitar/ vocals Eric Giles – drums Joey Kneiser -vocals/ guitar Kelly Kneiser – vocals/ percussion The phrase “Long Live All of Us” is the title of Glossary’s seventh full-length album, but it’s also meant as an all-inclusive homage to humanity. Frontman Joey Kneiser says, in light of all the bad things happening in the world, the band just wanted to make a positive record. (less)
http://do415.com/event/2013/01/26/glossary
L.A. RECORD (Los Angeles weekly) – Pioneertown, CA show preview (from press release) with band photo and video featured on their website.
8pm From Tennesee, GLOSSARY!
Fri. 01/18 | 8:00PM @ Pappy & Harriet’s
http://larecord.do213.net/event/2013/01/22/glossary-christian-lee-hutson-tall-tales-the-silver-lining
KCRW (Santa Monica Public Radio) – Show preview (from press release) with band photo and video featured on their website.
http://events.kcrw.com/event/2013/01/18/8pm-from-tennesee-glossary
SALT LAKE CITY DAILY HERALD (SLC daily) – Brief show mention.
GLOSSARY — Tennessee-based Americana rock band’s tour with new album “Long Live All of Us.” 8 p.m. Feb. 5. Bar Deluxe, 666 S. State St., Salt Lake City. (801) 532-2914.
http://www.heraldextra.com/entertainment/music/musical-performance-listings-for-jan/article_a628d69b-4d04-5ef5-93f4-45dbfb9065f5.html
L.A. RECORD (Los Angeles weekly) – Show preview with bio from press announcement and band photo.
The Satellite presents Glossary, Christian Lee Hutson, Tall Tales & the Silver Lining
http://larecord.do213.net/event/2013/01/22/glossary-christian-lee-hutson-tall-tales-the-silver-lining
SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE (San Diego daily) – Positive feature story with band photo to preview San Diego show.
This Glossary is worth searching for
This earthy Tennesses band transcends Google, which is a good thing for a band named Glossary
By George Varga
Back in the pre-Internet days — you know, when record stores were abundant and flourishing, and all albums were made primarily on vinyl — some musicians spent considerable time thinking up band names that ensured their albums would be prominently displayed.
So, take a bow, ABBA, ABC and AC/DC! (As for the short-lived English band Aardvark, which featured two future members of Free, well — all right now — nice try, guys.)
But in today’s high-tech world, many wannabe rock stars are often more tech savvy, at least when it comes to hyping themselves, than they are musically skilled. So, you have to love Glossary, the gifted Tennessee band that chose a name which yields — ahem! — 49,100,000 results when searched for on Google.
Just where this rootsy, one-woman, four-man Americana group pops up in Google is still unclear. I gave up searching after the first 20-plus page views (10 listings per page), although I was intrigued to learn “glossary of sheep husbandry” is slightly more popular than “glossary of German military terms.”
But enough about Google.
Now on tour, Glossary performs here Sunday at the Soda Bar. The show is in support of its seventh and newest album, “Long Live All of Us.”
It’s an accomplished work, without sacrificing the earthy charm that fuels such earlier Glossary songs as the Lyle Lovett-inspired ballad “The Sweet Forever” or The Eagles-on-a-bender romp “No Guarantee.”
At this rate, it may not be long before Glossary moves up on Google, or vice versa.
Glossary, with Future You and Zozo Fiasco
When: 8:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20
Where: Soda Bar, 3615 El Cajon Blvd., City Heights
Tickets: $5 (must be 21 or older to attend)
Phone: (619) 255-7224
Online: sodabarmusic.com
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/jan/16/glossary-well-worth-exploring/
KUYI RADIO (Arizona Public Radio) – Phone interview with Joey Kneiser Mon. Jan. 14th at 4:30pm MST to preview Jan. 15th Flagstaff show. (with Richard Davis)
http://www.kuyi.net/listen-online
ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS (daily) – Brief show preview with band photo.
Glossary
Friday, Feb 1 9:00p
Sitzmark Bar & Grill Anchorage, AK
Join Glossary at the Sitzmark Bar & Grill in Girdwood, AK for a blues/rock party. These guys are up from Tennessee to check out what AK is all about.
The phrase “Long Live All of Us” is the title of Glossary’s seventh full-length album, but it’s also meant as an all-inclusive homage to humanity. Frontman Joey Kneiser says, in light of all the bad things happening in the world, the band just wanted to make a positive record.
http://events.adn.com/anchorage_ak/events/show/302915445-glossary
CONTRA COSTA TIMES (daily) – Brief Martinez show preview
“Romanticized Rock & Roll”
Presented by: Minor Chord Productions
Bingham Barnes – bass
Todd Beene -pedal steel/ guitar/ vocals
Eric Giles – drums
Joey Kneiser -vocals/ guitar
Kelly Kneiser – vocals/ percussion
The phrase “Long Live All of Us” is the title of Glossary’s seventh full-length album, but it’s also meant as an all-inclusive homage to humanity. Frontman Joey Kneiser says, in light of all the bad things happening in the world, the band just wanted to make a positive record.
http://events.contracostatimes.com/martinez_ca/events/show/297151665-glossary
EL PASO SCENE (El Paso, TX weekly) – Brief show preview
Glossary — The Tennessee-based band performs at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, at Lowbrow Palace, 111 E. Robinson, in support of their new album, “Long Live All of Us.” Opening the show is Telegraph Canyon.
http://www.epscene.com/epsweek2.html
BIRMINGHAM 365 (Birmingham, AL A&E site) – Show preview with band photo.
Glossary / Great Book of John / Telegraph Canyon
February 12, 2013
The phrase “Long Live All of Us” is the title of Glossary’s seventh full-length album, but it’s also meant as an all-inclusive homage to humanity. Frontman Joey Kneiser says, in light of all the bad things happening in the world, the band just wanted to make a positive record.
Long Live All of Us allowed the band from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to take their influences farther than ever before, adding piano, haunting pedal steel, R&B-influenced horns and more to their own style of romanticized rock & roll. The songs are well-intentioned narratives that emphasize the great attributes of mankind — mercy, redemption, forgiveness and second chances.
http://www.birmingham365.org/event/detail/441739515/Glossary_Great_Book_of_John_Telegraph_Canyon
ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
(Albuquerque, NM daily) – Feature interview with Glossary’s Joey Kneiser to preview show.
Living the rock ‘n’ roll dream leads to success
By Adrian Gomez
t’s been nearly two years since Joey Kneiser has toured the West Coast. But he and his Nashville, Tenn.-based indie rock band Glossary are ready to get back.
“It’s going to be a long five-week tour,” he says during a phone interview from Nashville. “But we’re excited to get back on the road.”
The band’s current tour will even include a couple gigs in Alaska….
“Alaska. Dead of winter. Need I say more,” he quips. “But we’re really excited to get back out on the road and bring our music to the masses.”
Glossary, which includes Bingham Barnes, Kelly Kneiser, Todd Beene and Eric Giles, is touring in support of its 2011 release “Long Live All of Us.”
Kneiser says for the past two years, the band hasn’t traveled west of Nebraska and this tour is the last push for the record’s cycle.
“It’s been way too long and a lot of our fans haven’t seen us live for a while out West,” he says. “After this tour, we’ll head on out to Europe and then when we get back in the spring, we’ll head into the studio for some new music.”
Getting the tracks together for “Long Live All of Us” was a journey for the band. Kneiser says it worked for nearly a year on the record.
“That’s the rock ‘n’ roll dream. To live in a house and write and record together all day,” he says. “It allowed us a chance to experiment, and if you really wanted to do something you could take the time to make it happen. It was really one of the greatest creative experiences that I’ve ever had.”
Kneiser says the result is a hodgepodge of American music, which has been compared to The Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” or The Clash’s “London Calling.” He says the band wanted to span various genres with the album.
“In the end, when everything around us is constantly reminding us of what we’re doing wrong, we just wanted to remind us of what we’re doing right,” he says. “It was important for us to push ourselves. The best thing that we have going as human beings is each other.”
Aside from working on music with Glossary, Kneiser also released his debut solo album, “Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart,” in 2012.
Glossary
With Telegraph Canyon
WHEN: 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14
WHERE: Low Spirits Bar & Stage, 2823 Second NW
HOW MUCH: $5 at the door
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/01/11/entertainment/living-the-rock-n-roll-dream-leads-to-success.html
VENUE
(Albuquerque Journal’s A&E weekly) – Brief positive show preview.
Rock ’n’ roll dreams. After two years of not hitting the West Coast, Nasvhille, Tenn.-based indie band Glossary will be back in the Duke City in support of its 2011 album, “Long Live All of Us.” The band will perform at 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14 at Low Spirits Bar & Stage.
http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/01/11/promos/friday-venue-45.html
SELECT EL PASO
(El Paso, TX A&E site) – Brief show preview.
Do Something! Calendar of Events: Jan. 11-17th
GLOSSARY — The Tennessee-based band performs at 8 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, at Lowbrow Palace, 111 E. Robinson, in support of their new album, “Long Live All of Us.” Opening the show is Telegraph Canyon. Information: 356-0966 or lowbrow.elpaso@gmail.com.
http://selectelpaso.com/?p=1140
THE SPEC/PHOENIX
(Phoenix A&E site) – Feature interview with Glossary’s Todd Beene to preview 3 Arizona shows next week!
What I Learned at Bandcamp: Glossary
by Alexis Getscher
Tennessee-based rock band Glossary got its start over 15 years ago. Although the group has switched lineups since inception, original members Bingham Barnes and Joey Kneiser remain, with Kelly Kneiser, Todd Beene and Eric Giles rounding out the current lineup.
The band has three upcoming Arizona shows, Jan. 15 at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, Jan. 16 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix and Jan. 17 at Plush in Tucson.
The Spec caught up with Glossary guitarist Todd Beene, read what he has to say and listen to some tunes below. Like what you hear? Check the band out during its three-show tour of Arizona.
How long have you been making music?
Long Live All Of Us is our 7th record. Glossary has been making records since 1997. Bingham, Joey, and I have all been playing in bands since high school, so for about 20 years or so. We got a head start on Eric and Kelly, they re young uns.
Who/what are your influences?
Obvious influences are Springsteen, The Band, Dylan, 90 2s alt country, etc. But our formative teens and early twenties were spent on Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, The Clash and the tail end of the college radio heyday. Joey and I first bonded over J Mascis and our desire to be able to solo like him.
How did you come up with your name?
To hear Joey tell it, they just liked the sound of it and it s a name that gives you no bias up front as to what the music is like. Band names are weird. Over time, the actual meaning of the word or words kind of slips away as a band becomes more identified by its moniker. I don t even think about the word Glossary anymore.
Upcoming projects, where do you want to go from here?
We want to keep doing what we re doing. When we finish this West Coast tour, we ll take a short break and then it s time for SXSW. From there we head east, jump on a plane, and tour UK and Europe for a month. When we get back, we ll start scouting places to record our new record and get started writing and recording by the middle of May. After we finish the record, we ll head north to tour the Midwest and Northeast. So we ve got our year mostly planned until fall when our 8th record (hopefully) comes out.
What inspires your music?
I think living and growing up in the South is a constant theme in our songs. People in the South are complex and there are lots of things to talk about when you think about the duality of living in a Saturday night/Sunday morning kind of world. For the latest record, Long Live All Of Us (2011), Joey was especially inspired to write an antithesis to our apocalypse obsessed culture a celebration of the good parts of the folks in all of our lives. 2012 was especially cynically hip, and popular culture reliant on empty perception. We wanted to offer something real and honest, devoid of irony that would hopefully make you feel good when you listen to it. We re completely aware that this is totally un-cool, but that s just fine. Attitudes will ebb and flow, but this record will always be there for anyone who wants to hear it and we are very proud of it.
Why do you make music?
We do this for a myriad of reasons from love of music in general to personal gratification to trying to be self sufficient through doing something we love. But after touring for years, my personal goals changed the first time somebody came up said Please keep doing what you re doing, you make a lot of people really happy.
Anything you d like readers to know that we haven t asked you about?
I like looking at pictures of cats on the internet, but in reality I find them to be selfish and uncooperative.
http://thespecblog.com/music-2/bandcamp/what-i-learned-at-bandcamp-glossary/
TUCSON WEEKLY
“Pick of the Week” feature story with Joey interview to preview Tucson show.
The Heart of Rock and Roll
by Gene Armstrong
In the middle of Long Live All of Us, the latest album by Tennessee band Glossary, is a galloping, soulful rocker titled “When We Were Wicked,” in which frontman Joey Kneiser reminisces about the freedom of young adulthood and going to see friends’ bands at house concerts.
In a succinct three minutes, the tune nails that rush felt by many of us when we were in our late teens and 20s—a combination of anything-could-happen abandon and a pure devotion to the joy of music.
In the song, Kneiser sings, “Don’t you want to feel like we did before/ When time it didn’t matter/ Dancing on the porch to the rock ‘n’ roll/ Made you laugh, made you sing/ Made you feel like you were someone.”
It’s an experience that many music fans may find familiar, even inducing nostalgia.
“It’s about being young and not really having responsibilities yet, being into rock bands, hanging out with your friends in a small town where there aren’t that many options,” Kneiser, 37, said in a recent phone interview.
“In our town, as I am sure it is in many others, that kind of scene is bigger now than ever, probably because of the bans on smoking in bars, and you have to be 21 and up in get in to them. When you are 18, 19, 20 years old, you need to create your own scene.”
Glossary is from Murfreesboro, and back when the band members were in that age range, most of them attended college at Middle Tennessee State University. Under the leadership of Kneiser—who sings, plays guitar and writes most of the songs—and bassist Bingham Barnes, the band formed in the late 1990s, pursuing music full time after graduation.
Kneiser and Barnes had grown up together in eastern Tennessee, in a much more rural atmosphere than Murfreesboro. Both environments partially influenced the music of Glossary.
“Just growing up in eastern Tennessee, I was wanted to make simpler songs about everyday-life kind of people,” Kneiser said.
“Then we came to a college town, and got opened up to a lot more music than I had experienced in the past. In the late ’90s, we were very much a summation of all the stuff we had been listening to: Pavement, the Pixies, all that ’90s indie rock. Then we started getting outside that indie rock bubble, listening to Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, all the troubadour singer-songwriters, and trying to integrate that into the college pop sound we were developing.”
Kneiser pointed out that Murfreesboro, in addition to being down the road from Nashville, is within driving distance of Memphis and Muscle Shoals, Ala., two important breeding grounds for soul and R&B.
“So we started picking up on the Southern R&B thing that is so strong here historically. The band has always been keenly interested in hearing all kinds of music as we have evolved and progressed, and then trying to absorb the things we like into what we do.”
Glossary has released seven albums and its lineup has remained relatively stable since 2000. These days, in addition to Kneiser and Barnes, it includes guitarist Todd Beene, drummer Eric Giles and singer Kelly Kneiser, Joey’s ex-wife, with whom he shares many delicious harmonies.
Kelly and Joey were together for 10 years and split up about four years ago, but their musical partnership remained strong, he said.
“We realized our relationship is about so much more than (being married),” he said. “We didn’t want to make each other ghosts. Ultimately, I decided I would never want to lose one of my best friends just because we stopped being a couple. And I also didn’t want to lose another important thing: one of the greatest feelings in the world is singing with her.”
Kneiser said he occasionally has written Glossary songs about his relationship with Kelly, but most of the compositions about their breakup appear on his 2010 solo album, The All-Night Bedroom Revival.
You can download that album free at the band’s website (www.glossary.us) as well as the 2010 Glossary album The Better Angels of our Nature and an EP of songs by Kelly Kneiser.
Long Live All of Us, released in 2011, is an homage to the positive, life-affirming nature of rock ‘n’ roll, Kneiser said.
“Anybody really into music knows it can have this almost religious power. It can take you to a whole new place, or enhance the place you’re in. … Anything can be a religion. All it takes is for it to answer three questions: where you came from, what you do while you’re here and what happens to you when you’re gone. The best rock ‘n’ roll does that.”
Glossary plays Thursday, Jan. 17, at Plush, 340 E. Sixth St. Telegraph Canyon, from Fort Worth, Texas, opens the show at 10:30 p.m. The price of admission had not been determined at press time. For more information, call 798-1298 or visit www.plushtucson.com.
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-heart-of-rock-and-roll/Content?oid=3616512
ALIBI WEEKLY (Albuquerque weekly) – Show preview on all three bands
Popular music and a Boys Choir
Folk sextet Telegraph Canyon will pull on your Americana and pop heartstrings on Monday, Jan. 14, at Low Spirits (2823 Second NW). Hailing from Fort Worth, Texas, the group’s sound is bright, jangly and not at all old fashioned. Southern rock fivesome Glossary combines slightly southern-fried riffs and the tropes of pop music for an alternately (and sometimes simultaneously) gospel, country and top 40 vibe. Albuquerque Boys Choir are always a charming and inspired sight and sound. The 21-and-over gig starts at 9 p.m. and admission is $5.
http://alibi.com/music/43852/Low-Culture-in-the-afternoon-Genre-palooza-at-Bur.html
CENTRAL TRACK
(Dallas-based A&E site) – Show preview on all three bands
Things To Do On Wednesday, January 9.
Telegraph Canyon, Glossary and Daniel Markham at Dan’s Silverleaf
Telegraph Canyon hasn’t put out a record since 2009’s long-adored The Tide and the Current, but that fact has done little to deter area fans, who still tend to pack their shows out regularly. They band’s currently on tour with Tennessee’s Glossary, who are supporting their 2011 album Long Live All of Us. On the other hand, Daniel Markham seems to be perpetually recording something new. His latest effort, currently being produced by RTB2’s Grady Don Sandlin, will be one to watch out for in the coming months.
http://centraltrack.com/Culture/3099/Things-To-Do-On-Wednesday-January-9/Shake-Your-Fist-with-Telegraph-Canyon-Tonight
MIX TAPES/HEARTBREAKS
(online music site) – “Keep It Coming” mp3 featured Jan 4th.
http://mixtapesheartbreaks.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/2012-mp3-roundup-part-two/
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT GAZETTE
(Little Rock, AR daily) – Feature story with band photo to preview Little Rock show.
Glossary lightens up; singer pulls shades
By JACK W. HILL
LITTLE ROCK — Glossary Opening act: Telegraph Canyon 8 p.m. today, White Water Tavern, West Seventh and Thayer streets, Little Rock Admission: $5 (501) 375-8400 whitewatertavern.com
Look it up in the glossary.
Or look up Glossary – a band from Murfreesboro, Tenn. (just south of Nashville, a city much better known for music) – in Little Rock’s White Water Tavern tonight.
Long Live All of Us is the name of Glossary’s seventh studio album. The band recorded the album in Rockvale, Tenn., in October 2011 in a house converted into a studio that was situated between a church and a condemned methamphetamine lab that was still surrounded by yellow police tape.
The band’s lead singer, Joey Kneiser, also is marking the release of a solo EP, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart, released Dec. 11.
Kneiser hastens to explain the contrast between the two projects.
“Glossary’s album focused on being upbeat in a pessimistic world, sort of an all-inclusive homage to humanity,” he says, “what with all the bad things happening in the world, we just wanted to make a positive record.”
The group added piano, pedal steel and rhythm and blues-influenced horns, since they had the luxury of time for once. Previous albums had been recorded in 10 days or less. Jim Spaake, who has worked with Al Green, Alex Chilton, John Hiatt and Lucero, added horns to the album, accompanied by Nahshon Benford, who has worked with Snowglobe and Lucero.
Kneiser decided to aim in a different direction when he recorded his latest solo CD: “I wanted something that felt dark without being macabre.”
As with his 2010 solo release, The All Night Bedroom Revival, Kneiser was the only songwriter, singer, performer and recording engineer on the album, which he recorded at his home.
Kelly Kneiser, Joey’s ex-wife, who sings harmony vocals and plays tambourine in Glossary, released her own self-titled album in 2010.
Other members of Glossary are Eric Giles on drums, Bingham Barnes on bass and Todd Beene (who is also in Lucero) on guitar and pedal steel.
Opening act Telegraph Road, based in Fort Worth, is the creation of singer-songwriter Chris Johnson, who started the band – which has eluded categorization as a folk band or an indie rock group thanks to orchestral arrangements – in 2005with Andrew Skates, Chuck Brown, Tamara Cauble, Erik Wolfe and Austin Green.
http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2013/jan/08/glossary-lightens-singer-pulls-shades-20130108/
DALLAS OBSERVER
(Dallas weekly) – Positive Denton show preview with Glossary photo. (Second posting – the week prior to show)
Freakin’ Weekday
The Five Best Concerts In Dallas This Week, January 7-10
Telegraph Canyon, Glossary
Wednesday, January 9, at Dan’s Silverleaf, Denton
Fort Worth’s Telegraph Canyon are heading out on the road with Tennessee’s Glossary for much of January, and we can’t think of a more inspired pairing. The local Southern folk group is working on finishing up a new single in the new year, as a possible taste of a new album to follow 2009’s The Tide and the Current. Glossary are still rocking jams from 2011’s Long Live All of Us, but frontman Joey Kneiser just released an excellent new EP, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart. Add in Denton up-and-comer Daniel Markham, lather, rinse, repeat.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2013-01-03/music/telegraph-canyon-glossary-at-dan-s-silverleaf/
NASHVILLE SCENE
(Nashville, TNweekly) – Positive review of Joey’s solo EP with tour news.
The Week in Fresh Tracks [Joey Kneiser, Forget Cassettes, Megajoos, DiscoFace, Bedroom]
Joey Kneiser, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart
Glossary frontman Joey Kneiser certainly has a gift for presenting personal, lovelorn and world-weary Southern tunes that aren’t a straight-up fuckin’ downer. “I wanted something that felt dark without being macabre,” says Kneiser in a bio. And that’s exactly what he’s created with his new five-song EP, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart, out now via This Is American Music. Like a Southern-fried Randy Newman, Kneiser is a storyteller and a pop balladeer — though his instrumentation and presentation are very much of a classic, Americana-slash-Southern rock ilk, these tunes are all just traditional pop numbers for the heartbroken. Stream Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart above or at This Is American Music’s Soundcloud page, where you can also purchase it for $4. Oh, and by the way, Glossary is kicking off an extensive string of tour dates tomorrow in Little Rock, and you can see the full schedule here. Tour brings ’em back home to The Stone Fox on Feb. 15.
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvillecream/archives/2013/01/07/the-week-in-fresh-tracks-joey-kneiser-forget-cassettes-megajoos-discoface-bedroom
KRTS RADIO
(Marfa, TX public radio) – Phone interview with Joey Kneiser Tue. Jan. 8th at 10:05am CST. Will air live and then again at 6:30pm, and will then be archived online as a podcast here: http://marfapublicradio.org
http://marfapublicradio.org/blog/talk-at-ten/glossary/
LUBBOCK AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
(Lubbock daily) – Positive feature/show preview with Glossary photo.
Glossary followed natural progression to uplifting music
By ERIC WOODS
We wanted to make a positive Rock record and when I came up with the name, I just thought it fit,” Glossary’s frontman Joey Kneiser said. “It was just kind of a positive thing
When the rock band Glossary set out to name the group’s most recent album, “Long Live All Of Us,” they wanted something that would appropriately tag the album’s positive vibe.
“We wanted to make a positive rock record, and when I came up with the name, I just thought it fit,” Glossary’s frontman Joey Kneiser said. “It was just kind of a positive thing.”
Glossary will perform 9 p.m. Thursday at the Blue Light.
“Long Live All of Us” was released in 2011 and is the band’s seventh full-length album. Kneiser said the album was meant to be positive and an example of how rock ’n’ roll can be uplifting. It’s also proof of how the band is progressing.
“It’s just a natural progression as a band and how we are just trying to get better at writing songs, better at singing and playing,” he said.
When the rock band from Murfreesboro, Tenn., set out to record “Long Live All Of Us,” members set up a makeshift recording studio in a rented house wedged between a church and a condemned meth lab. The band spent about a month in the house recording and self-producing the album.
Kneiser, who wrote all of the songs except one, didn’t pull from music he had written in the past. He instead wrote all the songs specifically for this album.
“I really just wrote the songs to be a record and specifically set out with the idea of what I wanted to write about and focused on that,” he said. “I’m much more of a batch songwriter, and I don’t really write songs all of the time and then choose 10 and make a record. I just always get an idea of what I want to have on the record, and what I want it to sound like, and I start working on songs as a whole to do it.”
And while Glossary’s album has a positive direction, Kneiser’s current solo EP, “Moonlight For The Graveyard Heart,” is a little on the darker side.
“It’s kind of this dark narrative about some down-and-out characters,” he said.
Kneiser said the EP’s cover, which depicts a girl standing in a vehicle’s headlight beams with shovel in hand, sums up the darkness of the five-song CD quite well.
“I wanted to make something that was kind of provocative, so I was like let’s put a girl in a dress and have her digging a grave,” he said. “It’s an interesting image.”
Kneiser said the band has been together since 1997 when members were students of Middle Tennessee State University. Since that time, the band has not only gotten better at writing, recording and performing, but it has also progressed and matured thanks to several musical influences.
“It’s just like playing with the same people for years and years,” he said. “You know, like everybody gets better and you listen to different stuff. When we were younger and had just started the band, we were into like ’90s indie rock, and then we got older and we found like Townes Van Zandt and stuff like that. It was just a natural progression of getting older and searching for new music and being inspired by new things.”
As for what is on the horizon for Glossary, Kneiser said they are getting ready to record another album and to continue the band’s hectic touring schedule that will include a European tour.
“We are just doing a bunch of touring and putting out a new record,” he said. “It is the same old thing that we have been trying to do, which is to play more shows and stay busy.”
http://lubbockonline.com/go/music/2013-01-03/glossary-followed-natural-progression-uplifting-music#.UObgqrbRyHk
DALLAS OBSERVER
(Dallas weekly) – Positive Denton show preview with Glossary photo.
Telegraph Canyon, Glossary
Wednesday, January 9, at Dan’s Silverleaf, Denton
Fort Worth’s Telegraph Canyon are heading out on the road with Tennessee’s Glossary for much of January, and we can’t think of a more inspired pairing. The local Southern folk group is working on finishing up a new single in the new year, as a possible taste of a new album to follow 2009’s The Tide and the Current. Glossary are still rocking jams from 2011’s Long Live All of Us, but frontman Joey Kneiser just released an excellent new EP, Moonlight for the Graveyard Heart. Add in Denton up-and-comer Daniel Markham, lather, rinse, repeat.
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2013-01-03/music/telegraph-canyon-glossary-at-dan-s-silverleaf/
SYNC WEEKLY
(Little Rock, AR weekly) – Feature story with Joey interview and band photo to preview show.
Songs of sound and fury: Glossary
Glossary’s narrative songwriting influenced by Southern literature and romanticized rock.
By Shea Stewart
Joey Kneiser doesn’t hide his rock ‘n’ roll heart. The songwriter empties it in the tunes of the Murfreesboro, Tenn., rock ‘n’ roll band he fronts: Glossary.
“When trouble comes around, don’t you be afraid. This world can take your life, but it can’t take the love you’ve shown away,” he sings late in the rolling, blacktop-boogie R&B of “Trouble Won’t Last Always” from Glossary’s 2011 release Long Live All of Us.
Elsewhere on the album, during the scattering guitar and horn groove of “A Shoulder To Cry On,” Kneiser notes,” I don’t want to live forever, but I don’t want to die tonight.”
But Kneiser’s songs aren’t just lines of words tied together by choruses. He writes narratives, short stories with a rock ‘n’ roll beat supplied by the band of Bingham Barnes on bass, Eric Giles on drums, Kneiser’s ex-wife Kelly Kneiser on vocals and percussion, and Todd Beene on pedal steel, guitar and vocals. (Beene is also a member of Glossary’s Tennessee rock ‘n’ roll brethren Lucero.)
Kneiser writes songs cinematically, painting scenes with his words that he and his bandmates buttress with music. In “Gasoline Soaked Heart,” a track from the band’s 2007 album The Better Angels Of Our Nature, Kneiser’s words are one of a narrator following rock ‘n’ roll dreams while his cynical friends are camped out in the suburbs. “From a bar stool, I was shouting out Bible verses to a ghost who’d been following me for awhile. And I couldn’t find the energy I needed to make myself smile.”
William Gay. Flannery O’Connor. William Faulkner. Cormac McCarthy. Some of the big ones of Southern Gothic literature are Kneiser’s influences when writing.
“I’ve always been a huge fan of Southern literature,” he says. “Dark, kind of Southern Gothic fiction. That plays a huge role in what I write. But a lot of it also is the mythology of rock ‘n’ roll. There are the car-crash songs and the weird, ghostlike side of rock ‘n’ roll that also always attracted me as well.”
Glossary has existed for more than a decade, releasing their debut This Is All We’ve Learned About Living back in 2000. But much like their friends Lucero, the music world outside of the small bars where Glossary often plays and die-hard fans has taken more notice of Glossary in the last few years. Releasing a string of albums filled with remarkable Southern rock ‘n’ roll as great as The Better Angels Of Our Nature, 2010’s Feral Fire and Long Live All of Us (all available on Little Rock’s Last Chance Records) only helps garner attention.
Calling the sound of Glossary Southern rock ‘n’ roll is easy. But with Long Live All of Us, the band’s seventh full-length album, Glossary opened their sound up a bit. The idea was let’s make a positive record. Songs of mercy, redemption, salvation. And while recording in rural Rockvale, Tenn., the band also tossed in piano, pedal steel and horns into their romanticized rock ‘n’ roll sound.
The house Glossary recorded Long Live All of Us in was located between a church and a condemned meth lab, and the album reflects those two extremes. The record is glorious, rollicking hodgepodge of sounds: the aforementioned R&B and horn-powered grooves (with horns by Jim Spake and Nahshon Benford), but also kicking-up-grit, full-on rock, and piano and pedal steel tunes straight out of the gloaming.
Beyond Glossary, Kneiser also released in December his second solo effort, a five-track recording titled Moonlight For The Graveyard Heart. (Kneiser released his solo debut, The All Night Bedroom Revival, in January 2010.) The tunes of Moonlight are darker in their tone versus Long Live All of Us, though not necessarily the music. “Goodbye Iris” bumps along lively enough with a piano-propelled rhythm, but Kneiser notes that “we’re all only here waiting to say goodbye.”
“I just wanted to write something a little bit darker,” he says. “I wanted to write these narrative, short story kind of songs about kind of downtrodden characters. I’d been listening to a lot of early Tom Waits records, and he has a lot of narratives about those kind of down-and-out characters. Even though they are kind of dark, there’s still some kind of silver lining in them somehow.”
The Glossary songwriter and frontman recorded the bittersweet ballads at his home in Murfreesboro by himself — writing the tunes, playing every instrument, singing each word and doubling his voice for harmonies, and engineering the complete EP. Moonlight was a solitary effort, but Kneiser says he couldn’t avoid it. He writes when the inspiration strikes.
“I’m constantly writing things,” he says. “I’m much more a batch songwriter at this point. Most of the time I’m writing a song based off of an idea. Long Live All of Us — I knew I had the title and I wanted the songs to be positive so I went into it writing all the songs together as opposed to individual songs throughout the year. I seem to work better when I have an idea to work under.”
Kneiser is already working on tunes for a Long Live All of Us follow-up, although it’ll be summer before Glossary starts seriously working on its new record. The songs will be rock ‘n’ roll, but perhaps with a twist or two. “We always try to push ourselves to do something different and get out of our comfort zone,” he says.
Glossary’s upcoming tour, which kicks off next Tuesday night at White Water Tavern, is a long haul, reaching across the empty middle of the country and hitting towns and cities along the West Coast and even into Alaska. So once more Kneiser and group head out under that big American sky, singing songs about shoulders you can cry on and reminding listeners that troubles won’t last always, and all the while searching for some eternal spark.
SEE THE SHOW…
Glossary plays White Water Tavern on Tuesday, Jan. 8. Also on the bill is Fort Worth, Texas-based band Telegraph Canyon, an outfit that blends epic Americana-flavored rock ‘n’ roll with gentle, violin- and mandolin-powered folk. The music starts at 10 p.m. with a $5 cover.
http://www.syncweekly.com/news/2012/dec/31/songs-sound-and-fury/
NEVADA SUNSHINE
(Nevada online A&E blog) – Phoenix show preview (older stock review) with related links.
TELEGRAPH CANYON – GLOSSARY – I WAS TOLD THERE’D BE WHISKEY
GLOSSARY
Some local bands build a buzz and a following until they get a crack at going national. Other local bands, like Murfreesboro, TN’s Glossary, keep at it year after year because something needs to be expressed, even if no more than a few thousand people ever hear it. Those bands are the rock equivalent of regional filmmakers, turning out low-budget, heartfelt stories that zero in on lifestyles and locations that the mainstream media overlooks.
Three years after knocking out the restless Southern-rock epic How We Handle Our Midnights, Glossary has scraped together enough money to make For What I Don’t Become, with the help of Centro-Matic studio whiz Matt Pence. Like the previous album, the new one is full of loud, anthemic songs sparked with plenty of twang and chug. It’s also another album about people who work hard and don’t seem to get anywhere. For What I Don’t Become’s centerpiece song is “Days Go By,” a sprawling, scorching twang-rocker that makes the title phrase more haunting by adding the words “even when we don’t want ’em to.”
For What I Don’t Become weighs its rootsy kick against a strong note of loneliness on songs like “Headstones And Dead Leaves” and the molten ballad “The Reckless,” but the dominant tone of the album is set by the opening song “Shaking Like A Flame,” which rumbles like a locomotive even as Kneiser sings about how it feels to rust. This may be one of the most exultant albums ever made about failure.
Glossary & Telegraph Canyon at The Rhythm Room, 1019 E Indian School Rd, Phoenix, AZ
http://nevadasunshine.info/telegraph-canyon-glossary-i-was-told-thered-be-whiskey/
SILVER PLATTER
(Phoenix online A&E site) – Positive show preview
Glossary w/Telegraph Canyon
Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013
Murfreesboro, TN band Glossary just released their 7th album “Long Live All of Us”. Frontman Joey Kneiser says, in light of all the bad things happening in the world, the band just wanted to make a positive record. Long Live All of Us allowed the band to take their influences farther than ever before, adding piano, haunting pedal steel, R&B-influenced horns and more to their own style of romanticized rock & roll.
http://www.silverplatter.info/shows/24713
EL PASO TIMES
(El Paso, TX daily) – Brief show preview.
Concert update: ‘Grease,’ Beach House, Art Attack, toy drive, Glossary
• Tennessee rockers Glossary, touring in support of “Long Live All of Us,” will headline a Jan. 13 show at the Lowbrow Palace.
Telegraph Canyon will open the show, which starts at 8 p.m.
http://elpasotimes.typepad.com/pullen/2012/12/concert-update-grease-beach-house-art-attack-toy-drive-glossary.html
HONEST TUNE
(online music site) – Top 10 of 2012 – Glossary’s “Long Live All Of Us”
10 of 2012: Team Honest Tune’s Top 10 Albums of the Year
Glossary : Long Live All of Us – Glossary continue to churn out soulful songs that showcase Joey Kneiser’s soulful songwriting and infectious harmonies he shares with wife Kelly. Long Live All of Us may have flown beneath the radar of the mainstream, but that in no way indicates the impact of this songset.
http://www.honesttune.com/10-of-2012-team-honest-tunes-top-10-albums-of-the-year/
ADOBE AND TEARDROPS
(online music blog) – Positive post on Joey and Glossary records with EP stream
Joey Kneiser — Moonlight For the Graveyard Heart
If you haven’t listened to Glossary’s most recent album, Long Live All of Us, you should. It’s a shot of measured optimism and a quiet celebration of life — something we could all use.
Shortly after completing that album, lead singer Joey Kneiser began work on his own EP, Moonlight For the Graveyard Heart.
The EP, in my opinion, picks up where Long Live All of Us left off. Kneiser has stated that he wanted to make something a little darker, yet with a “spark” of hope. Though Moonlight For the Graveyard Heart is certainly more muted, I don’t think it’s darker at all. Maybe a little sad, but never crushing.
My favorite song by far is “Dark Creek Bridge,” a meditation on a lost love. (You’ll notice that’s a recurring theme here this week. Sorry.)
Joey Kneiser — Glossary Official, Facebook, Download on This is American Music
http://adobeandteardrops.blogspot.com/2012/12/joey-kneiser-moonlight-for-graveyard.html
SUPAJAM
(UK online music site) – Positive post with band photo, and Keep It Coming mp3
New Glossary
Great moments in album recording number 3456. Glossary decided to live the dream and convert a house into a recording studio. But as they explained, there were two small problems “The house was sandwiched between a church and a condemned meth lab, which was still wrapped in police tape.” Okay, so not all that glorious, but the result is their seventh album with the completely positive title of “Long Live All of Us.” The track Keep it Coming is below, and it showcases their perfectly frazzled psych vibes.
http://www.supajam.com/news/story/New-Glossary
CAPTAIN’S DEAD
(online music blog) – News post on Joey’s new EP with cover art, various videos and related links.
sometimes when you think about shit, well, shit happens. just the other week i thought to myself whilst laying in bed that i wouldnt mind if joey kneiser, of glossary fame, put out a new solo record. not 3 days later i was informed that joey was indeed putting out a new solo record, or ep as it turned out. now if i could just think about things like say, money, and a few days later it come my way now that would be super. so, the new ep, which is due out today is entitled moonlight for the graveyard heart and being released via this is american music. if you, for some crazy reason, have not heard his release from a couple years ago, the all-night bedroom revival, i cannot recommend it enough. its definitely one of my favorite records from the past 5 years or so. ive given this one a more than a few spins, and love it long time. i purposefully held off putting up my top 20 of the year just to hear this, and yeah its gonna be on it. all the sounds you hear on this one were all played by joey, and if im not mistaken the same goes for …bedroom revival.
btw, you can download the all-night bedroom revival, glossary’s the better angels of our nature and kelly kneiser’s record for freaking free by clicking here. also, you can pickup all the glossary records for a measly 5 bucks via their bandcamp site.
http://captainsdead.com/stream-joey-kneisers-moonlight-for-the-graveyard-heart.html
MANKIND CHASING ITS TAIL
(online music blog) – Tour news with positive post, “Keep It Coming” mp3, tour dates, band photo, album art, various videos and related links.
Glossary Is Rock & Roll; Out On The Road
Glossary keeps going. A vastly underrated band that deserves recognition, that quite honestly may never come. While there are countless other bands like them playing for 25-250 people somewhere tonight, there are not countless bands with the songwriting chops and pure unadulterated joy and passion for rock and roll; the thing that makes some music great – doing what everyone can’t do.
If they’re not playing in your town tonight, they probably just left or they’re on their way. If you want to know about life on the road for the bands you love, there is no better song than Blood On The Knobs. There may be some equals, but none that surpass. Forget Turn The Page. Forget We’re An American Band.
This is rock and roll. This is the real shit. Two guitars, bass, keys, drums, and a kickass backup singer.
Long Live All Of Us is the 7th album from the Murfreesboro, Tennessee band. Is it the best Glossary album? Can’t say that. Every one of their albums has merit. I can say this has the same stuff that makes all of them great. Stories and music that connect. There is an additional Memphis/Stax vibe to this album a little more so than past full lengths due to Jim Spake’s (Al Green, Alex Chilton, John Hiatt) and Nahshon Benford’s horns.
From the backbeat rock of Trouble Won’t Last Always and Keep It Coming to the introspective (where Glossary is truly at its best) of Some Eternal Spark, this album is worth your attention.
Have you bought real music this month? Have you gotten out of your house to support music? When they come, go see this band. They are hitting the road this month. See below for details. And buy Long Live All of Ushere for $5.
Stripped down version of Blood On The Knobs…(here’s a free download of Glossary’s The Better Angels Of Our Nature)
http://mankindchasingitstail.com/glossary-is-rock-out-on-the-road-this-winter/
COUNTRY FRIED ROCK
(online music blog) – Brief news post, with “Keep It Coming” mp3.
Glossary On Tour!
By Sloane Spencer
Earlier this year, we featured Glossary’s new album HERE.
Now they’re hitting the road! Grab a free tune below. Enjoy.
http://countryfriedrock.org/glossary-on-tour/#.UM8j5bbRyHk
BROADWAY WORLD
(online music site) – Tour news , tour dates, band photo, and related links.
http://music.broadwayworld.com/article/Glossary-to-Kick-Off-2013-Tour-in-Jan-to-Support-LONG-LIVE-ALL-OF-US-Kneiser-Releases-Solo-EP-1211-20121210
