liam grant: amoskeag

"It's my great pleasure to introduce you to guitarist Liam Grant and his debut album, Amoskeag... It's one of those records that critics, fans and musicians alike will look back at and say, 'This is where it all started'... [Liam] has since played with folks like Mike Gangloff, Glenn Jones, Trevor Mackenzie, Buck Curran, Dave Shuford, Joseph Allred... the list of heavy-hitters is already long and continues to grow. Every song on this album taps into raw, rich veins of sound that are simultaneously dense but easy to enjoy; vintage and modern; new yet timeless. The album kicks off with a monster track entitled 'Stratton-Eustis' -- one of those complex yet flowing tunes that makes you think overdubs were involved or the player has grown an extra set of limbs. Then there's 'Kenduskeag,' a raga-esque group recording in an abandoned New England Conservatory building with Ethan WL and the long-standing anonymous drone collective The Suncook Symphony that showcases his already masterful skills for composition and band leadership. The title track, 'Amoskeag,' is a powerful, overflowing whiskey glass full of deep, raw soul, drawn from ages past and times present. The closer, 'Androscoggin River Ragg,' is exactly that, an old-timey blues rag sucked straight from the ether of hundred years past, with Grayson McGuire on banjo and Mike Gangloff on jaw harp. This old, worn-out dog can't begin to express what an honor and privilege it's been to work with Liam and the other various musical misfits and mysticks that he's drawn into his circle. This album captures all that magick and then some. It's not just a good album... nor just a great one... it's a fuckin' important, much-needed beacon in the dark seas of overproduction, ephemera and watered down, easy-to-sell dullness of today...." --Rob Vaughn, 2023