“Left of the Dial” by the Replacements & “Everybody Knows this is Nowhere” by Neil Young
Recorded, mixed and mastered (Chris Peet, you legend!) last winter in Wales during our UK tour. All in one night, in the same studio where we had just recorded a live performance for a local TV and where we were gonna sleep.
There are a thousand reasons to love these songs and those who wrote them. They smell of independence, fearlessness, dreams, tiredness, bad luck and courage … but most of the all they smell of road. The road travelled and the one yet to cover … together, alone … this is for you, for us, for all those bands who are out there trying to find their way out there.

This is just a little tribute to those who came before us and a good luck note to all those who are out there right now!

Here is the video for Left of the Dial. Special thanks to Ermanno Cohen and Millelire for making this video!!!

After over a decade (and nearly 80 songs) of shopping demos to labels and producers in London and then Australia and having failed to get anything worthwhile started…I gave up.

I Spent a whole winter living on various living room floors around London. In the end I run out of everything, money, time, sofas to sleep on, ideas…and wound back in Pavia, a town I had left 10 years before promising I would never ever go back.

I spent that winter and the following spring writing new songs. I didn’t tell anyone I played, nor that I had new songs, but then one day I met Simone, a fantastic double bass player with a punk attitude, and he had a friend who played guitar, and I had a friend who played drums, then I called Stefano, someone who had recorded with me in London and one of my oldest friends. We found an old semi abandoned spot and we started playing.

Then someone asked me to contribute a track to a Gourds Tribute coming out in Texas…I picked the song “Lowlands”…more lilkey it picked us. I played a Em7 chord and we were a band. We played a little and put some money away and went into the studio and recorded in one day my latest song: “In The end”. The last song written was the first one recorded!

Then we put a little more money away and in one other day we recorded “The Last Call” “38^th & Lawton” and “Like a Rose” and so on…we got stuck as our first guitar player, John Prunetti, left the band.

We got our mate Lebowski into the studio and he helped us finish it. Great guitar work on “What can I Do”, “Leaving NYC”, “You Can Never Go Back”

We did some overdubs and Chiara joined the band bringing her outstanding Violin sounds which would define the band for many years. Rock Royalty Chris Cacavas sent us his love and his keyboards, Australian legend, Nick Barker came into the studio to sing a verse on “In The End”, Richard Hunter howled through his harmonica as if he were a whole horn section, we got through 3 (three!) drummers before the album was made…we met a quiet studio engineer called Roberto Diana while doing some voice overdubs in Milan. He would later join the band for the live dates and become our guitarist first and co producer after…it all came together very gradually, slowly..and secretly.

We told no one about the record. My family and friends didn’t even know I had a band…let alone a record out.

With just a stamp and a post office and no clues we sent it abroad…and by magic it became a top 10 seller on “Miles of Music” in the USA. In the UK Maverick gave it 4 stars and Americana UK a big fat 9/10. The BBC played us (That’s me on the Page), it became record of the week on a FM station in Holland, then Brisbane, then we made it onto US FM radio in San Francisco first (KALX) then onto Seattle, and then the record sort of came home to Italy. By sheer luck we got our 0.2 seconds of fame as we landed on the front page of Italy’s most important newspaper: Corriere.it (right beneath an article talking of Bob Dylan’s toilet…I kid you not..and no, the irony is not lost on me!). All of a sudden even Italy seemed to take interest as we were played on RAI, Radio 101. Gibson called us to offer us a hand (or two!). In the end, all 12 tracks were played on the radio from the USA to New Zealand! In Italy, Buscadero magazine and Rootshighway were the only ones over here to have the balls to say it was a good record before all of this happened. A few journalists had to wait for someone abroad to say it was good…and they joined the parade.

It was a magic little moment…but like other times after this, the band that made the album collapsed just as we released it. We had spent more than a year making it (These days I insist on making records in 1 week!). It took us a few more months before we could tour the album.

I remain grateful to all those who helped make this record and to these little songs who creeped into me that winter and told a story about a guy, his last call and every little hope he had left.

5 years gone by…6 records released, thousands of KMs, a gig or two, from Galway to Stockholm to Rome and back to London.

It feels like 20 years…I feel lucky. Of course this band is still struggling, gigging, writing, recording, existing. That’s more than we would have hoped for back then.

Anyway folks…here it is for a week, for free, hope ya enjoy it. If you want hard copies…we have’em for sale as a few other alcohol drenched tunes…

But this download’s on us…grab it for free:

DOWNLOAD CLICK LINK BELOW

click here: Download The Last Call (88)

See ya Out There

Lowlands

The Last Call (Song by Song):

1 Ghosts in This Town

Written in London, on St George’s day, when I was too far away from a funeral I should have been at. I looked for trouble and found it. Steven Berrevoets drums is way through this one as Slo Mo plays the solo. The Violins you hear on this were the very last thing we recorded for the album

2 What  Can I Do

Another song with Steven drumming. Slo mo gives us the killer riff and lebowski makes it shine. Handclaps courtesy of Simone Fratti. It started out as a slow finger picked piece but it took off as soon as I fed it to the band!

3 You Can Never Go Back

A song I wrote while…well…going back. I wrote it the same day I wrote lately. Love the violin and lap steel solos and lebowski is superb on acoustic. Paolo Maggi drumming on this one setting up the first solo nicely. Lovely mix by Edan Cohen here. This was the first song of the record I played to anyone…in a london flat to the girl that would become my wife. She liked it…I figured I’d keep on trying.

4 Like a Rose

Recorded on a freezing January 3^rd along with 2 other acoustic songs (38^th & Lawton and The Last Call). Engineer insisted I use a click track…I was unable to…and didn’t want it…the song IS crooked…take it or leave it. Richard Hunter’s solo still stops me in my tracks

5 In Between

The song used to be called “Pavia” like the town it was written in. It’s about being frozen, stuck, immobile, on the outside and being torn apart within. I had two fantastic solos. Chiara on Violin and Slo Mo…I could not choose so we used both of them. That solo is my favourite part of all this record.

6 Leaving NYC

Written while leaving NY on a Greyhound on the 4^th of July. Headed to Canada and back to Europe after that…I had been travelling for a year and my time as a backbacker was up…little nod to Bruce on this song and to the Replacements (achin’ to be) you gotta pay your debts..and I was glad to show my heroes

7 Lately

This one I wrote one afternoon thinking about a Bob Dylan concert in Sydney (with Paul Kelly opening) and old bookstore in Newtown, me in Tasmania following the ghost of my grandfather and thinking of my mum, a little 5 year old, on top of the hill in Portsmouth looking out at the harbour wondering when and if her dad would ever come back. He died in Tasmania and I got there one year too late. Stefano Speroni picks his way through this magnificently.

8  38^th and Lawton

Written on St Patrick’s day in San Francisco while staying with a friend who lived on well…38^th & Lawton. I woke up in her flat and I had the whole song done, in my head, so I wrote it down immediately and hummed it out to the phone message machine. Love Stefano Speroni’s 2^nd guitar on this one, beautiful riff and Richardf Hunter’s harmonica sound like 2 sea gulls flying over the beach.  That day, that song, that city…shelter from the storm. The “oldest” song of the album. Written a long time before “that” winter.

9 Friday Night

Friday Night…and all that comes with it! The hope and the desperation. A few pills and the city lights.

Richard Hunter’s harmonica sounds like a full horn section. Simone’s bass and Paolo’s drumming elevate the song.

This track was mixed by Chris Cacavas (who also played keyboard on it!) and marks the beginning of our relationship with this wonderful human being and musical hero of ours!

We play this in a totally different arrangement on our acoustic shows….check out the free downloads (Live in Wales, brfm & The Radio & Kitchen Sessions

10 That’s Me On The Page

This song wrote itself. I sat down one Friday night. Hit record on my 4 track cassette player (these days I use an iPhone!) and just played it and sang it straight…straight from the heart. The person I wrote it for heard it and understood it was all over. Slo mo’s solo is beautiful.

11 In The End

This was the last song written for our debut album “The Last Call” and the first track recorded for the record: we got the whole song down in a one day session in September.

I guess it’s a pagan hymn, an ode to late night calls, friendship, music, drinks, love & lust…our mate Nick Barker (The Wreckery, The Reptiles) from Melbourne was kind enough to sing on it and brought the whole song to another level.

David Henry and Rod Picott mixed this one in Nashville!

12 The Last Call

This is me as a ghost. At the end of the road. Ready to break or to explode. But not without a fight and one last call. Simone Plays a musical saw and Richard Hunter sounds like a freight train in the night. Over and out.

The Band:

Edward Abbiati: Lead Vocals & Acoustic Guitar

Mike “Slo Mo” Brenner: Lap Steel, Dobro

Simone Fratti: Bass, Double Bass, Musical Saw, Backing Vocals, handclaps

Chiara Giacobbe: Violin

Richard Hunter: Harp

John Prunetti: Electric Guitar

Stefano Speroni: Acoustic Guitar

Francesco “Lebowski” Verrastro: Electric & Acoustic Guitars

Steven Berrevoets & Paolo Maggi: Drums

Chris Cacavas: Keyboard on Friday Night

Nick Barker: Vocals on In The End

James Cruickshank: Piano

Mixed by Edan Cohen. Additional Mixes by Chris Cacavas and by David Henry & Rod Picott

Mastered by Jim Demain and Alex McCollough

Produced by Edward Abbiati

THE PRESS

The Last Call

«Edward Abbiati shows that he is a songwriter of exceptional talent… “The Last Call” is an extremely good debut album by a band who on this showing could have a very bright future.» 9/10 Steve Wills – Americana UK

«Drawing on the sublime aspects of Nebraska-era Springsteen, and the country-dabblings of Green On Red. It’s a Cracker!» Jeff Weiss – Miles of Music (USA)

«Music with a lot of Soul. Do not listen to this record if you are depressed» **** Maverick Magazine (UK)

«…A whole lot more convincing than most American Americana. With excellent, varied songs, well sung and well played, Lowlands prove that you certainly do not have to be from the US to make fantastic Americana.» ***½ Heaven Magazine (Holland)

«One of the best Roots Albums of 2008» 7,5 out of 10 Fabio Cerbone – Rootshighway (Italy)

«The strength and beauty of Edward Abbiati’s compositional talents show up in all their glory… beautiful, melancholy songs. The Last Call an album that should not be missing in the CD collection of the connoisseur» Hugo Vogel – ALTCOUNTRY.NL (Holland)

«This CD is first rate musically. Grungy Roots rock and Americana of a really high standard!»Rootsville (Belgium)

«Beautiful, intense songs. Think of something that connects Marah, Green On Red, Uncle Tupelo and Soul Asylum» Sandra Zuidema – Lucky Dice (Holland)

«Driving, guitar-led alt-country, albeit with a harder edge than straight Americana… sparsely desolate… minor masterpieces in small-town atmospherics… emotionally-convincing… As a debut offering, “The Last Call” has a lot to commend it» David Kidman – NetRhythms (UK)

«Grunge on the outside, Roots on the inside… all energy» Le Cri du Coyote (France)

«Lowlands have a strong personality. A small prodigy of independent production – highlight CD of the Month» Paolo Carù – Buscadero Magazine (Italy)

«Recorded with real passion and commitment» Tom Fahey – AmericanaOK (Scotland)

«An album of unusual bravery» Ben Lazar – 10th Avenue Music (USA)

«Packed with energy!» 7/10 Indie Rock (Italy)

«Crazy beautiful record!» Chris Cacavas (Green On Red)

«Authentic Roots rock… leaving a pleasantly hung over feeling and hopes for another serving.» All About Jazz (USA)

Download The Last Call:

Download The Last Call (88)

Steve Wynn & Chris Cacavas -  Tour of the year?

Chris Cacavas – My new favourite song!

Django Unchained – funniest scene

Bruce by Pete Carlin – Reading now

Marah -  We miss’em!

Neil Young – What a song

Alex Cambise – A brother in arms

Mojo Filter – our mates from Bergamo have a new album out

Miami & The Groovers – live DVD / CD event

Ryan Adams plays Whiskeytown

1. Shenandoah by Tom Waits & Keith Richards

2. Buscadero Magazine

3. The Great Malarkey

4. Snow

5. Jack White 

6. Guinness

7. The Pogues live in Paris

8. Stovepony Records 

9. The Bamboos Feat. Tim Rogers “I Got Burned” 

10. Ray Tarantino ”A silver line”

I argued with Beyond, I fought with this album because it wasn’t what I wanted it to be…but the love for music always prevails and my guts, the place where I reason and take all the real decisions, showed me that I had finally and totally fallen in love with it. Absolutely the best Album by Ed and Lowlands, born out of nothing, a few days, scrawny, essential, rough and edgy, fascinating and stupefying.  Backstreets.it (Italy)      

You can feel the growth of the band in this record. It rocks harder, it has more body, it is more solid…ultimately it is yet another reason to keep on loving this band. Recommended Cd of the Month. *** ½  Buscadero (Italy)            

With Beyond, Lowlands have certainly reached artistically a different level. All Italian radios should be playing “Keep on Flowing” continuously if they only had any brains. Il Popolo del Blues (Italy)     

This 2012 seems to be an important year for Lowlands. If the Mayan prophecies were to be true (let’s knock on wood), Edward Abbiati’s band could boast of having reached an absolute level with two amazing record releases within the last calendar year available, with no regrets, before the imminent end of the world. Enzo Curelli Blogspot (Italy) 

An beautiful and innovative album…masterpiece. MiaPavia & Strumenti Musicali         (Italy)  

Lowlands have outdone themselves on this record. A tracklist that literally will glue the listener to the speakers…ten tracks, ten bright gems, ten feelings that work time, love and the endless skies of America as if you were trapped within a memorable destiny, with no chance to leave it. Rockambula (Italy)     

One of the most interesting roots rock bands to come out of Italy. A watershed album…they burn their bridges here, while firmly maintaining their roots in the past. Rootshighway (Italy)              

The quality of the songwriting, of the performances and Joey Huffman’s “yankee” production provide the album with outstanding expressive force.  Mucchio Selvaggio – Fuori dal Mucchio (Italy)

The Third Lowlands album I review this year leans strongly to being their best. Ikon Magazine               (Sweden)

One part E Street Band, one part Richmond Fontaine… Stirring stuff. 7/10  Americana UK         (UK)     

Despite sounding melodic, the sound is combining elements of Classic Rock and Indie Pop/Rock. Sometimes laid-back and at other times rocking out, but always keen on strong melodies that stick in your head. Good Album that sounds like a mixture of the American bands producer Joey Huffman usually works with, yet with a typical European sounding singer songwriter. 8.2/10  Strutter Magazine (UK)       

The British-Italian band ‘Lowlands’ surprises heavily after ‘Better World Coming’, their excellent tribute album to folk legend Woody Guthrie. The ten songs on their latest record ‘Beyond’ are blending folk and rock music into a fresh and dynamic sound which pleases from the beginning to the endRootstime  (Belgium)       

Lowlands prove that they have a lot of potential even without Woody Guthrie in their ranks, serving a subtle blend of hard rocking stuff and humble folk songs. ****  Muziekvenster         (Holland)

A multi faceted album, full of details. (The band) is ready to shake off any of the many labels that have been too often attributed to them. As they say “The future is unwritten. 7/10 Indie Rock (Italy)

Lowlands shows us once more that we can’t ignore them and there is no reason why we should do so!! Reminding us of Wilco or even better Green on Red.. a  good album with a handful of great tracks. Produced by Joey Huffmann from Soul Asylum, the band gives away their always-flirting position with punk rock, folk and Americana. ****  Billy Bop (Belgium)

Lowlands are one of those rare bands that keep delivering the quality time and again.  Chris Phillips BRFM (Wales)

The album was recorded over 6 days in Northern Italy. Featuring Lowlands’ regular guests Mike “Slo Mo” Brenner (Marah, Magnolia Electric Co.) and Harp virtuoso Richard Hunter.

The album traces the arc of the band in its darkest days and heralds the end of a story which had begun to being told with their debut album “The Last Call”.

The stunning cover shot (photo by Andy Bitterer) is a clear reference to one of the album’s understated themes:  how the night is at its darkest right before dawn.

Formed in 2008 in Pavia outside Milan by British-born singer-songwriter Edward Abbiati, LOWLANDS quickly established themselves in mainland Europe with their debut album The Last Call, and have made a number of friends on the international scene leading to a co-write with Tim Rogers of Australia’s You Am I, a duet with the lovely Amanda Shires (Jason Isbell, Rod Picott, Justin Townes Earle, Matthew Ryan) and guest appearances from ex Soul Asylum Joey Huffman, and ex-Green On Red organist Chris Cacavas, who also mixed their 2010 album, Gypsy Child, which was widely praised in Europe and the US and picked up substantial airplay in the UK.

Having toured heavily throughout late 2010 and half of 2011, on return to their hometown the band splintered, with a nucleus of Abbiati, guitarist Roberto Diana and keyboard player and accordionist Francesco Bonfiglio eventually recruiting one of Italy’s best and most experienced rhythm sections Antonio Rigo Righetti and Robby Pellati (who have literally played every bar and every stadium in the country) to record the third album Beyond (released in Italy on Oct 4^th 2012).

BEYOND follows “Better World Coming” a tribute to Woody Guthrie recorded in downtime from the BEYOND sessions and widely praised across Europe as one of the best releases of 2012 (featured on many Radio Stations acrosso Europe including, Ireleand’s RTE1, the BBC and Radio Popolare in Italy).

The Band will tour in Europe between October and December 2012

I was 10 years old, I liked red indians, cowboy stories and trains. I also liked big pictures and I had very little money to spend. I came across a beautiful (to me!) vinyl box set which contained 3 LPs. On the cover, a group of Indian braves assaulting a train somewhere in the wild wild west. On the back cover a list of weird names and song titles and one that stood out: Home on the range…just about the only tune I had ever learnt to play on the recorder at school. Of course they were basically giving it away for free….it was mine within minutes.

I took it home and played the records while admiring the cover…the recordings were old and shaky and I was disappointed at the sound, the lack of a big noisy band and modern sounds…but back then, when you bought a record…you listened to it forever…and so did i.

One by one those names became heroes of mine over the years, Pete Seeger, Johnny Lee Hooker, Lightning Hopkins, Leadbelly…and of course Woody Guthrie (side A of LP#3) About 6 years later, listening to a Springsteen live album he mentioned that name and Joe Klein’s book. Off I went to read it…and I learnt about the unions, the great depression, the women, the rambling. I was hooked.

I remember buying a 3 cassette interview of Woody where he spoke and played songs …..then I found James Talley’s album which went in heavy rotation, then of course Billy Bragg and Wilco gave their spin to the Woody story. A few more years came by and Joanna Serraris gave me Joel Rafael’s second cd of woody songs. One of the most beautiful albums I have ever listened to.

Fast forward to November 2011, I am in the studio with my band recording our biggest sounding record ever. 6 days in the studio of magic….followed by 6 months of mixing and mastering hell. While stuck in a limbo, and feeling pretty frustrated we decided to record a couple of Woody tracks for a record store day EP…but the 2 track session turned into a magic very smooth weekend where we laid down 9 tracks…and decided to push on to make a record.

I didn’t choose necessarily my favourite Woody tracks, but those I felt we could make our own, feel our own. Most came from Woody but Heaven my Home and Two good men for instance were picked because we loved Joel Rafael’s versions so much. Some songs we struggled to make our own and we decided not to record (Vigilante Man, Do Re Mi for example).

We were so excited with our little record we decided to ask for a little some help from our local community of musicians. Members of bands we love and respect (Mandolin’ Brothers, Green Like July) musicians we admire (Franco Limido, Alex Cambise, Gnola) and a host of singers to help us convey the sound and the soul of a community of musicians (rather than a music scene) that with a lot of love and soul and some foolish arrogance have taken their songs, instruments and voices all over Italy, Europe and the States. From Nebraska to Memphis, From London to Rome.

Every voice, sound and person found their space and all were mixed with loving care by the one and only Stefano Olla, the enginEAR behind the “Fathers & Sons” album (with Donald MacNeill .2011) and many others. We recorded this record all over the place: in my kitchen, in a barn yard, in a couple of studios from the centre of Milan to the hills of Pavia.

Everyone worked for free. We are grateful to all. We played Woody’s songs treating them as if they were written this morning, not as set museum pieces, but as noisy, as dirty as fresh as new born babies. We hope they keep on growing as they have for the past 100 years (some songs here pre date Woody!) We hope they make you smile and hope and feel….we hope they make you feel and trust that there’s a better world coming.

See ya out there

Edward

Produced: Edward Abbiati & Roberto Diana

Mixed and Mastered: Stefano Olla

«Art & Heart…loving and deeply passionate…a beautiful tribute…with rich instrumentation and a rare sense of music. One of the best things we have heard this year. Anywhere.» Recommended CD of the month Buscadero Magazine (Italy)

« A stunning, lo-fi and heartfelt reappraisal of the great man’s songs…sweet and harsh in equal measure, this is clearly an album born in and built for hard times. *****» Recommended CD R2 Magazine (UK)

«Woody Guthrie’s shadow is present on almost each track, but fortunately a sufficient dosage of Lowlands remains to make it a real Lowlands CD. It very much has a similar feel to Eric Clapton’s tribute to Robert Johnson» **** Keys & Chords (Holland)

«There  are still many more Fascists to kill ( a lot in the music industry) but with an  album this good promoting Woody’s legacy then a few of us can sleep more  peacefully in our beds. An absolute Triumph» Chris Philips – BRFM & Q Magazine (Wales)

«Ultimately, the album is a celebration of the universality of Guthrie and Lowlands are to be congratulated for their skills in capturing his spirit; we’d be proud if they were a UK band delivering such sounds. Overall a very fine tribute and a very fine listen – 8/10» Americana UK (UK)

«Reccomended CD: A tribute that comes from the heart and definitely a convincing effort» Mescalina (Italy)

«The major achievement of the British singer-songwriter Edward Abbiati aka ‘Lowlands’ and his italian friends on the tribute album ‘Better World Coming’ is that they have not just copied the old Woody Guthrie-songs. Instead they put lots of energy and dynamics in their effort to transfer these songs into marvellous contemporary ‘Lowlands’-versions»  Rootstime (Belgium)

«Better World Coming a Woody Guthrie tribute album from Lowlands & Friends when played that was a special treat celebrating 100 years of Woody. This is a sensitively & beautifully produced tribute, on the sleeve it say’s ‘ by permission ‘ and I would think Woody’s family will be very pleased with this package. Lowlands music is part of the better world that surely is a-coming» Barry Marshall Everitt / House of Mercy (UK)

«A compelling work from A to Z. The strenght of this album is its authenticity….grandiose» Rocktimes (Germany)

«A great album…one of the best things to be released so far this year. Woody will be proud of it…he’ll talk highly of it to Tom Joad! All the musicians who gave life to this wonderful tribute are the essence of a story who did not get lost along the way, but instead chases and pursues the broken dreams of many generations» L’isola che non c’era (Italy)

«I might as well admit it directly, I’m not so fond of Woody Guthrie …but when Italian Lowlands takes on Woody’s songs on this tribute disc called Lowlands & Friends, then it is not hard to listen. The Songs’ inherent strength comes more into its own with a full band» IKON magazine (Sweden)

«Italy’s number one roots-rock band Lowlands return with a surprising tribute album ‘Better World Coming’ to mark the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie…13 great tracks make up this great tribute» Muziekvenster (Holland)

«When a delight like this comes from leftfield …(it’s) a welcome reminder that evocative music can come from anywhere» **** fRoots

«Stunning Album. A masterpiece of Collaboration. This deserves to be in many end-of-year lists» ***** R2

«I had not heard such a pure album in a long time. 12 stories about the island, on solitude and time passing by» Recommended CD of the month. Buscadero Magazine