Warren Winter's Band - Crossbar Hotel LP (Sophomore Lounge, 2019)
"Five years ago. I was aimlessly perusing my neighborhood record racks for lesser-loved musics when I stumbled across a rather unassuming album donning an amateurly rendered portrait of a long-haired man in white pencil on stark black backboard. The portrait was illegibly signed, lacking any band or album title, with little more information on back and no evidence of a label's involvement. From what I could decipher, this was an album by the CONNECTICUT DUST BAND, recorded during the late '70's in, well, Connecticut of all places. A quick googling provided further fruitless in terms of any context or clues as to what the music might sound like. So, naturally, I anted up the $7 and went home with it.
Upon first spin, the musical stylings were somewhat to-be-expected. Simple, American classic garage-folk of the private press variety. Not home-recorded, but not high budget by any standards. Not as cracked as a MARK A. MCINTYRE, nor as psychedelic as a SIMON FINN, nor as beautifully pained as the great BOB DESPER (perhaps a less-sparse GARY HIGGINS is getting warmer). But nonetheless, easy-going on the ears, and memorable enough in its own subtly off-kilter charms to warrant repeated listens - leading me to dig deeper, if not just for my own entertainment, toward any semblance of biographical answers.
One thing led to another over an afternoon of attentive clicking, and I had soon discovered that the band's lead singer/songwriter, Mr. EDWARD WINTERHALDER, a motorcycle man by trade, had flown his Northeastern nest for the open roads of OKLAHOMA. Here, an hour east of Tulsa in a town called TAHLEQUAH (where he established his in-house SHOVSTER label), he not only came in close ties with the BANDIDOS -- a legendary "one-percenter" motorcycle club w/ over 5000 members worldwide, whom at the time referred to Winterhalder as "Connecticut Ed" -- but also went on to form his very own outlaw-biker musical unit under the WARREN WINTERS moniker.
My interest in the mystery of Mr. Winterhalder continued to grow. I needed to hear more, but both of the WARREN WINTER'S BAND LPs proved high-dollar items online. I spent a few months asking around for more info and/or leads on more reasonably priced copies, when further research eventually led me to the virtual doorstep of Winterhalder, then (and somewhat still) based in Michigan by way of his publishing company BLOCKHEAD CITY. Once there, I was forwarded to my target by his personal secretary, at which point he responded directly, thanking me for my interest and generously offering to mail me LPs from his nearly dwindled personal stash in exchange for physical releases of my own music. Of course, I agreed, and in turn received pristine/sealed copies of the band's debut full-length "AS I WAS" (SHOVSTER, 1984) as well as its 1988 master-slab "CROSSBAR HOTEL."
Fast forward a few years of regularly listening - I re-approached Winterhalder with the idea of reissuing 'Crossbar' as a 30 YEAR ANNIVERSARY type thing, not necessarily expecting anything to come of it, but confident in my own enthusiasm, if nothing else. To my surprise, he accepted my proposition. And after a year or so of various snags, primarily related to some unexpected damage that occurred to the original master tapes in storage, we're proud to finally re-offer the album in all of its original glory - eleven thoughtfully arranged, moderately produced prison hymns centered around un-uplifting lyrical themes that ride the range of drug abuse, soiled love, lost friendships, self-doubt, boredom, guilt, and all-encompassing solitude, sung through the proverbial bars by way of our pleasantly tuneful narrator." - RD / SL
Warren Winter's Band's "Crossbar Hotel" reissue is available in a LIMITED EDITION pressing of 500 black vinyl records, housed in full-color inner sleeves (scanned from both original and alternate versions of the 1980s artwork) and painstakingly stickered / HAND-CUT / SILK-SCREENED JACKETS (manually printed in Charleston, WV by the off-duty goon squad TROPICAL TRASH). The album was mastered for vinyl repressing by CARL SAFF in Chicago, IL and was released on APRIL 5, 2019 via the SOPHOMORE LOUNGE label.