A couple of new reviews/mentions have rolled in:

1) The All Ages Zine, which says "The Chicago duo known as the Spares have found a way to combine a whole lot of influences and wrap them up into a modern pop sound and pull this off. You can call them Americana, roots rock, bluegrass, etc… but all in all they bring it on home and created a great sound. The music is simple enough and makes you listen while it holds a pop edge, but the vocals are the shining portion of this album. The female leads will suck you into this record and keep you listening to their sophomore effort. I call this great pop rock with an influence stamped in America's past. Good job. A unique sound on an older influence and well worth a spin if you are looking for something a little different than you get from the mainstream."

2) At the music blog "Can You See the Sunset From the Southside?" Eric said nice things about us. Specifically, "Do you like female-fronted alt-country/roots rock that (to me at least) recalls Emmylou Harris, Allison Krauss, and Mindy Smith? If yay, then check out The Spares. This Chicago duo has a new record called Beautiful And Treacherous Thing full of twangy guitars, melodious songs, and the lovable vocals of Jodee Lewis. Even my wife likes this."

3) And from the blog Mrs. Dude: "Jodee Lewis has the most amazing voice. Her vocals are tough and tender. Vulnerable and fierce. I don't normally like female singers, but I love her voice. I feel like I could listen to their discs, Beautiful and Treacherous Thing and Hand Me Down, a hundred times and never fully understand their rich complexity. If indie, acoustic, alt-country, roots, Americana rock is your thing...check them out. Even if it's not, give them a chance."

We're featured on a podcast at hickorywind.org. Here's the link.

The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune did a nice write up in advance of our show at the Blue Note on Saturday. Mary Nguyen says, "it might be their Midwest heritage that allows them to write the character-driven songs they do. The combination of Hendershot's guitar rhythms and twangs, Lewis' gliding vocals, and the harmonies of voices and instruments creates a musical landscape evocative of simpler days in the Great Plains. . . . Beautiful? Yes. Treacherous? You be the judge." Here's the link.

Tom Lynch of Newcity Chicago wrote a nice preview blurb for the CD Release show:

Alt-country duo The Spares roll through town this week, an injection of folk and roots rock, based in acoustic guitar and Jodee Lewis' pure vocals (a former chemical engineer, she and partner Steve Hendershot can sure engineer a harmony. That was lame.) "Beautiful and Treacherous Thing," the group's second record after debut "Hand Me Down," is filled with fun, energy-filled and smart folk, twangy and positive, sunshiny and often gorgeous. "Chapel of the Winding Road," anchored by Hendershot's fine finger-picking and the two's gentle voices and harmonies, is the album's best—sad, nostalgic and smooth. The duo plays with additional musicians while on tour, and while that might add some depth to the material, I almost wish it was just Lewis and Hendershot, just the voices and a guitar, simple and aching and hearty.

Here's the link.

That means we'll have CDs available at our CD Release Party at Schubas on Tuesday, December 19. (Which is good, because, really, the show would've been awkward without them.)  The show starts at 7 p.m. with the fabulous bluegrass band Tangleweed. There's a fair chance the show will sell out, so get there early to be safe -- or you can order tickets online. They're $8, you have to be 18 to get in, and Schubas is located at 3159 N. Southport in Chicago.

We'll have CDs and cool new T-shirts at the show. If you can't make it, but want to get a copy of the CD before Christmas, the best bet is the store on our website. We're working with other online retailers, too, but they probably won't be up and running in time to ship before Christmas. In fact, there's a chance we won't hit iTunes until February. So if you're a downloader and need instant gratification, you can get three 99-cent songs here.

See you Tuesday!

First up is the Illinois music blog songs:illinois. Here's the new post. And here, for fun and in the interest of complete publicity disclosure, is what they said about us a while back.

More songs from the new CD are online -- now there are two here at MySpace, "Waiting for the Smoke to Clear" and "You and the Moon;" there are three at thespares.net: those two and "Chapel of the Winding Road."

"Mexico," from Hand Me Down, is still up at both sites.

The new version of our website is up at thespares.net, and you can hear three songs from the new CD there.