Title: Thistle Sparrow & the Tall Tall Grass
Artist: August
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 878090000350
Genre: Folk

'Thistle, Sparrow and the Tall, Tall Grass ... a breezy brand of melodic country, reflects these naturalistic roots, with it's collection of casually swinging tunes.' - The Chicago Tribune - 12/08/2006 'Listening to the August is like listening to old Johnny Cash tunes on modern radio: The sound is nostalgic-country complete with it's own special twang, but it carries with it a folksy storytelling value that contemporary mainstream rock can't maintain, aside from that of maybe Sufjan Stevens or Andrew Bird. It could be just what Chicago needs -- or doesn't know it wants.' - The Daily Herald (Chicago) - 12/06/2006 'Chicago roots rock group The August plays folk-rock that porch rockers could groove to. An easy on the ear sound married to coasting melodies is just what the doctor ordered. It's not everything you might expect out of a young group but it's a whole lot that you might want.' - Smother Magazine - 2/2007 'A Midwest four-piece that loosely fits into an alt. Country bag, the August mainly explore relationship issues on this impressive full-length album debut. Charlie Piper and the band produced the album, and it's an often-beautiful collection of songs, with plenty of exquisite musicianship from the group and from guest players.......Heartfelt lyrics, soul-tinged vocals and solid instrumentation from a talented new band.' - Maverick Magazine (United Kingdom)- 6/2007 'While inherently uncomplicated, Chicago area's The August fuses folk, country and a clean brand of roots rock. On 'Thistle, Sparrow, and the Tall, Tall Grass,' the band's debut, a slide guitar rules the show, while the other instrumentation hovers pretty close to pop-country, and even the vocal harmonies, male and female, hits the Western notes....this is a pleasant affair, made with, if nothing else, a remarkable consistency so absent from most of these types of records.' - New City Chicago - 7/2007 '[An] unsigned country-rock band from Chicago...thier smart catchy confessionals will surely appeal to fans of the Band as much as Jack Johnson and Neko Case.' - CMJ - 7/2007 -BIO- The August's members include a dog walker, a substitute teacher, a South African professional arm wrestling champion, and the great-great-grandson of a deep-sea Arctic fisherman. Everyone brings something different to the band's laid-back mix of roots rock, folk and country. 'We all have different styles and tastes, but our differences are complementary,' says the band's singer and rhythm guitarist, Jacky Dustin. The Midwest quartet - Dustin, Wojtek Krupka (guitar/vocals), Petey Kapp (bass/vocals) and Tim Good (drums) - came together in a northern suburb of Chicago, where they developed their sound in a local bar filled with a mix of hard-to-please regulars who weren't afraid to speak their minds. Within these walls, The August perfected it's distinctive folk-rock songs tinged with a Nashville patina. Within the year, the band was playing to capacity crowds in some of Chicago's most famous venues. The August's debut, Thistle, Sparrow, and the Tall, Tall Grass, unwinds gracefully through an emotional, 12-song journey colored by bittersweet three-part harmonies and timeless songwriting resonating with heartache and desire. The album opens with the wistful pedal steel melody of 'Gatsby' and his 'washed up dream for two,' written when Krupka's longtime friend and bandmate abruptly left town. 'The lyrics are like the kind of letter you write when you're mad, but never send,' Krupka explains. 'I was bitter at the time - mostly because I was losing one of my best friends - but in the end it worked out for both of us. We're still friends and his leaving helped put this album in motion.' An early version of the song was featured on Aware Records' Aware 11 Compilation in 2005. The rest of Thistle, Sparrow, and the Tall, Tall Grass covers the full spectrum of Americana, including a regret-filled waltz ('Mr. Right'); a jazzy torch song ('Call You Up'); a cathartic rave up ('Drunken Picture'); a mellow groove about a fresh start ('On Your Way to Gone'); and a tight South African-influenced rhythm ('Don't Worry.') The emotional songs about life's twists and turns that populate Thistle, Sparrow, and the Tall, Tall Grass build to a poignant crescendo with the last track - 'Single Room House.' While Dustin's vulnerable voice laments a broken heart, her sadness is carried away by the transcendent swell of a gospel choir, an addition dreamt by Kapp. 'I'd imagined their voices,' Kapp recalls, 'but standing in the studio hearing them bring my dream to life gave me chills.' After months in the studio, the members of The August share a burning desire to hit the road. The stripped-down ballad 'Outside' encapsulates that yearning with the lyric, 'We gotta get out, we gotta leave here and see what's outside...see just how far this guitar can take us.' 'We believe in what we're doing and are passionate about these songs,' says Good. 'Making the record was a lot of fun, but now that it's done we can't wait to get back on the road and put some miles on these songs.' The August will tour extensively to support Thistle, Sparrow, and the Tall, Tall Grass.

Tracks:
1.1 Gatsby
1.2 Drunken Picture
1.3 Heartbreak on My Palm
1.4 Katie
1.5 Alone
1.6 Sugar Mama
1.7 Outside
1.8 On Your Way to Gone
1.9 Mr. Right
1.10 Call You Up
1.11 Don't Worry
1.12 Single Room House