Rock Paper Gary: “American Mixtape LP” is full of great songs
Gary Reid started his solo project ‘Rock Paper Gary’ during the winter of 2014. Previously Reid had toured all over the country with national acts serving as a guitar tech and/or bass guitarist. Once worked dried up Gay went through various experiences, including working on his father’s drilling rig and working in Nashville as a songwriter. Not satisfied with the results, Gary returned to his origins in Oklahoma where he began to write and record new music. His one-man project, Rock Paper Gary released its first EP “Talking Trees” in the winter of 2014. After landing a couple of national tours and earning a few spots on local radio, Gary released “Everything’s Different Now.”
Though the record sounded great, he decided it was time for a kinder voice to be featured in Rock Paper Gary. Gary reached out to good friend and cousin, Elijah Petty, who was eventually named the lead singer of Rock Paper Gary in January of 2016. They have just released their latest 9 track “American Mixtape LP”.
Don’t you just love it when you discover one of those “perfect” albums? You know the ones, those that have no bad songs on them. The ones you can listen to over and over and not get tired of either the songs or the singers or players? Well, this wonderful disk will blow you away, for sure!
It is just such a pleasure and delight to pop this into the player and listen to these guys lay their thoughts on the line, have a good time, and rock! They cover a wide range of sounds from indie rock to Americana and will keep you entertained with something new and different with every cut here.
You may find yourself remembering quite a few distinctive groups from the past, but Rock Paper Gary are not quite the same. For sure they will get you toe tapping and rocking in your seat as they deliver their melodic rock anthems, from track one, “American Neon”.
Song after song here is just what sounds like the best of their repertoire – jangling guitars, textured keyboards and slamming drums. All done within a robust, almost live sound setting, these guys know how to play, sing, and entertain.
They can be dead serious, for sure, but they also keep a twinkle in their eyes and irony in their words. Listen to these brilliantly varied themes and sounds in standout tracks like “Mostly Irish”, “Ruby”, “Hotel”, “La Gansa”, and “Hollywood Hills”, and you will see what mean.
Ultimately “American Mixtape LP” is full of great songs that just grow on you the more you hear them. Rock Paper Gary can also grab your heartstrings and pull, as they do on “Mixtape (feat. Graham Colton)” and “Hefner Park (She Said)”, and are absolutely amazing at doing it, without the use of any sappy melodramatics.
This mixtape provided exactly what I was expecting – an eclectic mix of rock and Americana, with an indie twist – excellent musicianship, honest lyrics and a boisterous, muscular all-round, often acoustic-driven sound.
Rock Paper Gary can be streamed and listened on SPOTIFY.
OFFICIAL LINKS: WEBSITE – SOUNDCLOUD – YOUTUBE
