New Relics continue W.Va.’s music tradition with new album

By Marc Basham

Despite being a small, rural state, West Virginia seems to consistently produce some of the most talented country music entertainers in America.

With renowned acts like Brad Paisley, Bill Withers and Little Jimmy Dickens calling the Mountain State home, musical talent seems to flow through this state like Natural Light flowing through a Mountaineer football tailgate participant.

One band (whose roots delve deep into the Morgantown landscape) attempting to get its name listed among the likes of Paisley, is The New Relics.

The New Relics have been performing in the Morgantown area since its inception.

However, the group has yet to reach critical and commercial acclaim in the rough and tumble Nashville music scene.

The group is hoping to change its fortunes with its latest release, "Monongalia."

With a title paying homage to their home county, "Monongalia," The New Relics attempt to bring its down-home country sound to mainstream audiences.

The final result is a pleasant country music effort.

Showcasing country sounds reminiscent of modern day acts like Pat Green and Keith Urban, The New Relics have thrown out all stops on this album – at least in regard to perfecting its sound – and it really shows.

One song I believe showcases The New Relics better than most is "Middle America."

Describing U.S. small towns as "four churches, three stoplights and a bar," The New Relics show signs of a group on the rise in the song.

With lyrics one would expect in a John Mellencamp album, the group really makes the song true to its title, utilizing an interesting choice of lyrics that conjure up images of small town life.

Another song that really seems to jump to the top on this album is "Shotgun," a simple country/southern rock anthem that takes into account the American tradition of long road trips with somebody you love.

"Shotgun" stands out to me the most as a possible breakout single for the group. With a catchy melody, great lyrics and an impressive concept, it is a song you should be hearing on the radio soon enough.

The New Relics seem to encompass every section of country music – from the slow, catchy ballad "Fast Lane," to the high-tempo "Shotgun" and everywhere in-between.

While the album has its flaws, – there are overused cliches throughout, and a few songs sound extremely similar to one another – "Monongalia" is an impressive effort for the local group.

A few more performances like this and who knows how successful The New Relics will be.

It’s just another success story based in the hills of "West By God Virginia."

New Relics gain national attention

Morgantown band releases 2nd CD

By Mackenzie Mays

The New Relics win Music Row Discovery Award

The New Relics, West Virginia based country group, win the Music Row DisCovery Award for the week of Sept 7th, 2009.

The New Relics are currently promoting their debut single “Beautiful” to country radio nationwide on the Spinville/Blues Alley Record Label

Robert Oermann, veteran reviewer for Music Row, the news and information publication for the country music industry, called the single “Jaunty, sunny, and young sounding”.

The DisCovery Award is given out each week to new up and coming artists to look for and listen to.
The band was extremely surprised by the review and the award. “We are really honored to be reviewed in such a well known industry news outlet, and to win the
DisCovery Award is even a bigger honor” says Mike Arbogast, singer for The New Relics.

The band was also in a great company of artists last week. Other acts reviewed were Gloriana, Phil Vasser, Brooks and Dunn, Buddy Jewell, Miranda Lambert, John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen and Hank Williams Jr.

“To be in a review of your music with name like Brooks and Dunn and Bruce Springsteen is kinda crazy. Its just an honor to have your named mentioned with those monster groups” says Arbogast.

To learn more about The New Relics, visit www.thenewrelics.com or find them on Facebook and Myspace.

Okay Hurricane Bill--you got us. We thought we could be sneaky and get in a fun show on the beach, but you rightly smacked us down. A proper defeat, but we'll be back.

Here's how it all went down: we pile up on Gertrude the Bus at about 7am Saturday morning, drive the 7 1/2 hours to Delaware to play this awesome little bandstand on the beach. We get there a few hours early, so Bryan (who had never been in the ocean before) and I decide to take a little swim. In the 12 foot, riptide laden waves created by Hurricane Bill. After about 20 minutes of Bryan getting drug face-first in the sand and me getting pummeled and cartwheeled, we crawl what remained of our bodies back up onto the beach (we later found out that all the other beaches around us were closed completely due to dangerous waves and riptides).

We quietly rinse the sand from our unmentionable locations and head back to the bus to see what the plan is. Turns out that Bill is riveled by ANOTHER nasty storm coming in from the mainland, and they're about ready to meet...right over our heads. oi.

You ever see the movie "the perfect storm?" If so, then you have an idea of what's coming our way.

But we're from West Virginia, by God, and no littel bit of rain gonna keep us from playing! We think "you know what? We came all the way out here to play--let's give it a shot!" so we start setting up as the clouds getting increasingly darker and uglier. As we tear into our first song "Real Love," I see lightning bolts crisscrossing the sky--it's like Zeus is playing target practice with our heads. The crowd isn't waivering, so we just keep on going, hitting our second tune of the night, "Home."  By about the second chorus, the sky opens up and it just starts DUMPING rain. We get the sign to get the hell off the stage and into safety, so we unfortuately had to cut the performance short.

Yep. 2 songs...about 8 1/2 minutes. and a 15 hour round-trip.

Well played, Bill.

Hello All,

   take a read at the Examiner.com a review on the band this summer. Here is the link

http://www.examiner.com/x-12376-Charleston-Indie-Music-Examiner~y2009m6d9-The-New-Relics-bring-old-memories-and-upcoming-entertainment

Its great coverage on the band and the new CD. We thank the Examiner.com for the kind words.

Enjoy

TNR

Hey all,

So we've had a hectic start to summer, and I thought that I'd give y'all a quick update on the happenings in our world.

On Wed. May 20th, we performed to a sold-out crowd at the Metropolitan Theatre in Morgantown, as support for the Zac Brown Band. We got a chance to hang out and have a beer with the guys, and they were very cool. The show was fantastic, the crowd was very welcoming and energetic, and we had a GREAT time.

This night also marked the very first opportunity to pick up our brand new album, titled "Monongalia." The disc is named after our WV county (which was aptly misnamed after the Monongahela River, which runs through our county), and it has been met with a LOT of positive attention. We feel that this is our best music yet, and those who have heard it agree.

Our hometown 50K watt radio station WKKW has been spinning "Real Love" from the new disc for several weeks now, and they are taking requests (hint, hint: give 'em a call and bug them to death). They also recently devoted an entire weekend to TNR with a "New Relics' Free Music Weekend."

If you haven't heard the music, check it out on any of our websites, or better yet, come out and see us play! In just a few days, "Monongalia" will be available worldwide on iTunes, so keep checking in.

Last but CERTAINLY not least: you may have noticed that our tour schedule is a little lighter than usual--we're taking it easy for a few weeks because we're expecting a new addition to the TNR family...a little mini-relic, if you will--details to come!

Until then, keep yourself occupied with new videos, music, and random chatter by me and the guys. Much love to all, and we'll see you soon!

~Mike, Josh, Bryan, and Jim

So our new album “Monongalia” is almost ready to be released, and I thought that this would be a good time to talk a little about where each song came from and what they’re about... you know, for those of you that are interested in that sort of thing. The overall concept for this album was to create a collection of songs that reflect where we come from (hence the title being the name of our little West Virginia county), and the lives of the people we're lucky enough to surround ourselves with. Each song has a different perspective on this theme, and if you pay attention to the lyrics, the album tells a story about retuning to your roots and finding your place in the world and community that embraces you. That being said, let's take it track by track:

Home:
We’re on the road a LOT, and at the end of a long trip, there’s nothing sweeter than cresting the hill and seeing Morgantown come into view. There’s just something about West Virginia—the water’s sweeter, the trees are greener, and you can just breathe a little easier.

Shotgun:
This is my barn-burner. Think about what would happen if you got a phone call at your office on a sunny summer Tuesday morning that went a little like this: “Hey baby, get your stuff and meet me out front—we’re going mudding.” I’ve got this old jeep that’s constantly a work in progress, and every sunny day just makes me want to shirk any responsibilities I have and just find a dirt road.

Real Love:
This is maybe my favorite song on the album—it’s about love after the fairy-tale, when life starts getting real. Money may be tight, and you may not be able to perform the obviously-romantic gestures…and maybe you’re not that good with words, but you can always find a way to tell someone how much you love them.

Fast Lane:
This one’s about my family—they are nothing but supportive in everything I do, and I remind myself every day that they are the foundation for every success I’ll ever have. This fast-paced world has us racing each other to our graves, and it’s just so important to remind yourself to slow down and smell the roses.

Hard Road:
Here’s an older tune that we re-worked, and I think we really got it right this time. It’s basically about marching to your own drummer and following your dreams. Kudos to our friend Ryan Snyder for the stellar banjo work.

Falling:
There were a few songs from “Chasing Venus” that we felt just needed to be on this record, because the vibe just fit. This tune (along with Beautiful) has a much more organic feel than the first time around, and I think that’s due to a few years of playing it out in front of audiences. Again, check out the banjo in the background—it’s just beautiful.

Clean Up Good:
This is my love song for all the Tomboys. Those flashy, fancied-up girls may turn heads in the clubs, but the real keepers are the girls that don’t mind getting their hands dirty.

The Way It Is:
Bryan’s debut as a songwriter—he told me “I’m not trying to solve the world’s problems…but it’s all a state of mind. If you decide that life’s too hard, it will be. If you decide to be happy, you will be.” It’s just that simple.

Middle America:
We’ve done this tune so many times in so many different ways, and it’s one of our favorites to play live. A great friend and founding member of the Relics, Davin Seamon, wrote this song a long time ago about a small West Virginia town named Shinnston, but the story is so good that you’ll probably think it’s about your own home town. Davin, by the way, graced this album not just with this writing credit, but also with the prodigious keyboard tracks all over the record.

One Too Many Heartaches:
I always feel like I manage to write one song for each record that’s an anthem—For Monogalia, this is that song. I’ve had a lot of friends fight in this ongoing war across the pond, and I’ve been very fortunate to have them all come back unharmed; unfortunately, many others haven’t been so lucky, so this is my best interpretation of what it might be like to get that kind of news. It would be a wonderful gift if this was as close as anyone ever got to a pain like that.

Guardian Angel:
Another Bryan Martin creation, and a really cool semi-traditional arrangement. It was Josh’s idea to turn “Angel” into a duet, and what a great call it was. Guest appearances include Davin Martin or accordion, Ryan Snyder on Banjo and acoustic guitar, Rick Cheney on Dobro, and the Ever-So-Lovely Jamey Lynn Buckner on vocals.

Beautiful:
Much like “Falling” and “Middle America” it just felt right to put a new version of “Beautiful” on this album. There’s a unified theme to this collection of songs, more so than any other record we’ve done, and “Beautiful” just fit with the theme.

Dream:
I actually woke up one night from a dream, went downstairs, and wrote this song. I brought it to our recording session the next day, and we laid this down in one take. I played it for them once, and the guys just felt their way through the tune. If you’ve ever seen us live, then you know that I spring brand new tunes on the band without rehearsal or even a heads-up…it’s kind of my way of keeping us on our toes. Well, this is the same thing—you are hearing the first time we ever played “dream.” I guess that’s the beauty of playing music with your best friends; sooner or later you just know what the other guy’s thinking.


I hope that this little ramble gave you all a little insight to our process, and got you excited to hear what we've been working so hard on for the past 8 months--I know we're excited to hear what you think!

~Michael J.

The New Relics are getting ready to start sending new music to radio. If you can take 5 minutes and go to the following website.

http://www. thenewrelics. com/radioplayer/radiojukebox. html

Can you survey the tunes and list the top three songs your could hear on country radio or radio. We want to get some outside perspective on what listeners, fans, and friends think of the songs and which songs they would like to hear or would be appealing to them via the radio.

All you have to do is listen to the songs and type in the name of the top three songs. Hit the submit button and that is it.

If you have friends that you think would like to take the survey pass along the message.

thanks

TNR

Hello Friends and Fans,

We wanted to let you all know that we have been given the great opprotunity to play a show with The Zac Brown Band in Morgantown, WV on May 20th.

For those of you wondering, The Zac Brown Band is running with their number one hit "Chicken Fried". One of the new up and coming bands in the country music scene, the Zac Brown band is making waves with some great new music.

The New Relics are looking forward to this great show. We hope that all of our friends and fans can come out and support the show.

Ticket Link

http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=1061024

Get your tickets Now only 25.00 and general admission.

WE hope to see you there

Mike gave you a preview of what to see when the new album coming out soon. I thought that I would attach a few more details of life outside of the album updates and such.

Videos

Many of you have noticed a bunch on new videos up on myspace and the website and around the web. We had the ability to film last summer at the Red Dog Saloon in Fayetteville, WV. We got some great video and audio. We are slowly gonna make a DVD of that show and others for you all. We thought we would put a few tracks up on the net for you all to enjoy.

The Wheeling Jamboree

We have been given the honor to grace the stage of the 75th anniversary year of the Wheeling Jamboree. The Jamboree is one of the longest country music radio shows in the US, a small footnote Brad Paisley grew up on the Jamboree stage. Its a great honor to be part of a long standing WV and national tradition as the Jamboree. When you play as many shows and events as we do its great to be part of a long standing music tradition.

Session Musicians

We took the opprotunity to work with some of our great musician friends on this new CD. Rick Chaney and Ryan Snyder are two great friends of ours from the band "From the Hip" Rick played dobro for us and Ryan did some Banjo and Flattop guitar picking. Davin Seamon, who used to tour with the band, brought his Hammond B-3 organ talents and accordion talents to many tracks. Jamie Lynn Buckner lead singer for the Hillbilly Gypsies sang a duet with Mike on a Bryan Martin written selection "Guardian Angel"

The beauty of guest musicians is the fact that we can explore some new sounds and work with friends that we would not normally get the chance to work with.

So stay tuned for more news and events as they unfold. We have some great shows planned for you all this summer in some new places and old favorites. We hope to see you out at shows across the land. Its the best way to say hello.

stay tuned

Josh