Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle's NORTH OF HOUSTON Now Available

By: Nov. 19, 2013
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Popular Broadway star and frequent screen presence Michael Cerveris also fronts a band called Loose Cattle and the band's new album NORTH OF HOUSTON is now available as a digital download and CD release.

The official description of Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle's NORTH OF HOUSTON is as follows: "When the snazzy 54 Below Supper Club asked Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle repeatedly to play, the band dragged their boots in typically disorganized fashion. What was this shabby downtown bunch going to do uptown in such plush surroundings? Well, the same ramshackle thing they always did, as it turned out. At least it was literally underground. And then, on the eve of their residency, Hurricane Sandy made the psychic distance between New Orleans and New York seem very small indeed. After 5 days spent in the cold and dark, it seemed unlikely the shows would go on. But all the same, they carried instruments and walked miles across bridges, rode bikes, huddled in cars to practice with a heater on and squeezed on top of each other into a Broadway dressing room to keep playing--and to keep their minds off how creepy it was in pitch black lower Manhattan and how precarious this whole civilization thing was after all. And the shows did go on. The first one was the Friday post-storm. A surprising number of hearty souls braved the lack of transportation and power. The night started heavy with the weight of what friends, families and neighbors in the Rockaways and Jersey Shore were digging out from under. Just being around people felt good, and songs like "Get Down River" and "Evangeline" got added to the set and took on more meaning. They learned (ok, half learned) Electricity at sound check as a kind of ode to wishful thinking. And Lo and Behold, by the end of the set, word trickled in that power was coming back on slowly in their homes downtown...not saying they made it happen, but.... By the end, worry and uncertainty was giving way to relief and resilience and a commitment to celebrating community...there may even have been Skynyrd played at some point. The next night was a rowdy show for a full crowd that carried on well past the allotted time, ending with an utterly unrehearsed, countrified "Pinball Wizard". Followers of Michael Cerveris' stage and screen work may be surprised by the lack of Broadway crooning and pretense on hand here. But then, Cerveris' fans know the only thing to expect from him is that expectations will be confounded. What is here instead is a document of a band at a moment in time, friends just playing together and making music they were raised on regardless of where they were born and how they pay their rent these days. "North of Houston" was recorded live, clams and all, at 54 BELOW, NYC, and mixed by legendary producer Mark Bingham at Piety Studios, New Orleans."

The track-listing for NORTH OF HOUSTON is as such:

1. intro
2. Get Downtown
3. Gasoline And Matches
4. mandolin instruction
5. Backwater
6. Electricity
7. Jolene, F**k You
8. dedication
9. Dog Eared
10. Lost In New Amsterdam
11. Raise Hell
12. Ghost Of Virginia
13. longfellows and shortcomings
14. Evangeline
15. Get Down River
16. Run That By Me One More Time
17. band intros
18. Walking Down The Line
19. Hard Luck Story
20. Wagon Wheel
21. Pinball Wizard

More information on Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle's NORTH OF HOUSTON is available at the official Facebook page here. Also, order the album here.



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