Steve Westfield & The Slow Band/Scud Mountain Boys Split 7"

A Northampton split single full of slightly twangy slow stuff. Steve Westfield seemed to play the Baystate Hotel regularly. He recruited an all-star band for this single, with Murph from Dinosaur Jr, Lou Barlow, and some guy named Jim Joe Greedy. It's OK, but my hopes were set a bit higher than this.

The B-side features The Scud Mountain Boys, a band that went on to much bigger and better things. Signed by Sub Pop a year or so after this, they released Massachusetts, a brilliant alt-country album that was at least near the forefront of that whole movement. Joe Pernice is still recording with the Pernice Brothers.

There's a personal connection as well. I got to know Scud Mountain Boy Stephen Desaulniers a little bit during my time out there, as he was a housemate of a co-worker of mine, and he lived right down the road. He's the guy in the pine box on the album of that name. I have fond memories of drinking whiskey, playing cribbage and listening to Bill Monroe with him. A lot of what I know about early country music came from him and his housemate, whose name suddenly escapes me.

A: Steve Westfield & the Slow Band, "Sittin' On The Bottom Of The World"
B: Scud Mountain Boys, "Television"
Enjoy!