Richard Laviolette & the Oil Spills

All Your Raw Materials is Laviolette’s fourth album, and his first with The Oil Spills. Originally released independently on CD in September, 2009, the album was recorded live-off-the-floor at the legendary House of Miracles in London, ON the previous summer.

The Oil Spills are Geordie Gordon (The Magic, Barmitzvah Brothers, the Islands), Meredith Grant, Greg Denton, Mike Brooks (Kae Sun), Lisa Bozikovic, Matt Reeves, Jenny Mitchell (Barmitzvah Brothers, The Burning Hell, Jenny Omnichord). This highly talented cast step up to the plate and deliver a darling country album inspired by a childhood full of waking up on weekends to country, gospel, and bluegrass records blasting from the living room, records such as George Jones, Tammy Wynette, The Judds, Dolly Parton, Roger Miller, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Bob Wills, Neil Young’s ‘Old Ways’, and The Nitty Gritty Dirtband’s ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken’.

Richard Laviolette has previously released Aging Recycling Plant (with the Hollow Hooves, Independent 2009), Hands and Feat(s) (Burnt Oak, 2007), and A Little Less Like a Rock, A Little More Like Home (Burnt Oak, 2006).

The whole record displays a musical liberty – every arrangement feels spontaneous as sounds appear tastefully and peel off respectfully from the opening moments of the disc (“Snuck Right Up”) until the last notes of aptly titled, “Yes, I Mean it All” – and benefits from spirited group vocals that will put a smile will on the face of the most melancholic malcontent.

MP3: “Funeral Song” from All of Your Raw Materials:
http://pigeonrow.com/http://pigeonrow.com/RichardLavioletteFuneralSong.mp3

High-Res photo of Richard Laviolette (1):

http://pigeonrow.com/Richardpic1.jpg

High-Res Photo of Richard Laviolette (2):

http://pigeonrow.com/Richardpic2.jpg

Richard Laviolette & the Oil Spills: “Funeral Song (live)”
Courtesy of Random Pictures on YouTube