Check out this review of our band and Ocean Born Mary on Fuck Yeah! Queer Music!
So! Since I moved to Brooklyn yesterday, I figured it was only right to feature a Brooklyn based band to celebrate. Right above is Karen and the Sorrows, and they make legit country that would make your 87 year-old grandpa from Texas happy.
Well, not happy, because Karen and the Sorrows, as their name suggests, don’t write happy. They write lost and heartbreak, and goddamn are they good at it. Their latest release, a four song cycle EP called “Ocean-Born Mary,” and it covers the gamut of break ups and love gone wrong. The songs are quiet, but devastating, with a good mix of dirty electric guitar and absolutely haunting pedal steel. (And OH MY GOD the pedal steel. Elana Redfield just kills it). The drums and bass are subtle, but provide a solid, toe tapping drive, which all good country must have.
Song writer and vocalist Karen Pittelman has a delicate voice that just bleeds heartbreak in a classic 60s and 70s female country artist way. Seriously, if you’re a fan of Dolly or Loretta, you need to start listening to Karen and the Sorrows. If you’re in the New York City area, Karen organizes a queer country monthly (where I saw Humble Tripe) at Branded Saloon. The next one is this coming Saturday, the 7th, and this awesome band will be playing along with a bunch of other great acts!