Photo Credit: Timothy Norris/Getty Images for Big Machine Records
NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA (August 25, 2020) – By the time Midland swept into their double Grammy®-nominated “Drinkin’ Problem” at the legendary Palomino Club last October, the beer was gone, the lights were low and the dance floor was once again gently churning with knots of people two-stepping to the trio’s harmony-driven country music. If the bar on North Lankershim no longer served as Southern California’s refuge for old school honky-tonk and classic country fans, for one night only Midland brought it back with a sound that was equal parts Laurel Canyon, Dripping Springs and Lower Broadway. The live show gathered hipster and roper-sporting cowboys, 20-somethings, old guarders, former Pal cocktail waitresses and the team from the Valley Relics Museum who brought the original neon sign in with a crane to reign over the parking lot one more time.
After releasing their second critically acclaimed album LET IT ROLL last fall, Midland was intent on re-opening the storied club joint in North Hollywood, who’d hosted Haggard, Charlie Rich, Jerry Lee Lewis, Commander Cody, Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, kd lang and Lone Justice, as well as served as a pop-up play for Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, George Harrison and Willie Nelson before shutting in 1995.
Their idea was deemed a success by fans and critics alike with Billboard calling the show a “smoke-filled neon night of music” while Variety left the night asking “would it be too much to ask Midland to give up its burgeoning-country-star status and move west to become the humble house band at a newly reopened Palomino club in L.A.?” and stating “In the kind of show that gives publicity stunts a good name, Midland took over the Lankershim Blvd. space Tuesday night for what will almost certainly be the space’s most high-profile revivification any time soon.”
The music – and magic – of this LIVE show becomes available on vinyl this Saturday, August 29 as part of the first RSD Drops dates, a re-working of Record Store Day, celebrating the people who make up the world of the record stores and the special role these independently owned stores play in their communities. Midland’s LIVE at the Palomino LP, whose cover art features an original illustration of the North Hollywood haunt, will be available at select stores across the country. On the night before the limited edition vinyl’s release, Record Store Day will premiere Midland LIVE at the Palomino concert special on its Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/RecordStoreDay) 8:00 PM Eastern on Friday, August 28.
“You think about who’s been on that Palomino stage,” said bassist/vocalist Cam Duddy, “you can’t help but feel connected to so much greatness. We draw on the past for what we do. So to be able to go out there to return the Palomino to what it was meant to be – even for one night – was something we will cherish forever.”
The special vinyl features 17 LIVE tracks that are an unapologetic hybrid of Midland’s classic country’s embrace of grown-up themes of drinking, cheating and seduction. Whether the rockabilly jilted girl fixer “Mr. Lonely,” the set-opening, tone-setting “Playboys,” or the lush “Cheatin’ By The Rules,” Midland show themselves to be a ragtag group who plays it with the same verve that marked Cliffie Stone’s legendary Talent Night or Ronnie Mack’s Tuesday night Barn Dance.
“We are thrilled to be the first to premiere Midland’s concert special for their fans the night before Record Store Day,” said Record Store Day co-founder Carrie Colliton. “I’m so glad this special night was captured on camera, and now on vinyl, and that we’re able to highlight it at indie record stores.”
Touring bible Pollstar deemed Midland the “21st Century Honky Tonk All-Night Band” in a cover story and there is no second guessing that declaration after watching the half-hour concert special which includes a performance of the band’s current Country radio hit “Cheatin’ Songs.” On Thursday, August 27 at 4:00 PM Eastern, Pollstar Contributing Editor Holly Gleason will host a Facebook live conversation with Midland at Facebook.com/Pollstar.
To locate your local record store, visit www.recordstoreday.com.
