On the Rise: Castle Creek
The blues may be mostly associated with the Deep South, but there are bands who aren’t Southerners who continue to prove that this is a genre understood by all. New York duo Castle Creek certainly is deeply in touch with the blues, blending age-old cherished sounds with the rhythms of modern day rock to create their own musical style.
Hailing from Syracuse, New York, lead vocalist Kim Monroe and guitarist Chris Eves have merged in a perfect combination of pitch-perfect vocals and on-point guitar skills. Eves studied at the prestigious Berklee College of Music, so it’s no surprise his musical stylings only intensify the band’s character.
Both Eves and Monroe together claim multiple awards on their own and with the band, having also opened for some of today’s biggest names like Eddie Money and Gregg Allman. They will be performing in Japan and Ireland this fall, bringing their talent on up to an international scale.
I caught the band at a quick stopover show here in Nashville recently, where they were performing alongside their college friend and my coworker (recent On the Rise feature) Maureen Murphy on their way to SxSW in Austin. They played all three songs from their recent EP, and even though the set was short, they left quite the impression on the audience in the tiny local venue The Basement. All three songs performed, “Burning Bridges,” “Glass Heart,” and “Brand New Blues” had nothing but two guitars, a bit of percussion to keep the beat, and rich vocal work, yet the crafted sound soared above that simplicity to weave into something that would have seemed far more complex if the listener was not watching the band in person. I look forward to seeing what other plans these two have up their sleeves; their first studio album The Only Life is available to purchase now.
Check out Castle Creek on Facebook and Kim Monroe on Twitter; check out the video for their song “Burning Bridges” on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyURLYctKaA
