Project Description
Similar Artists: Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Billy Strings
The four members of Providence, Rhode Island’s Jake Hunsinger & The Rock Bottom Band are self-described “history nerds to the extreme.” It’s no wonder this historical influence would inform a sound that often looks back to move its American roots forward in an inventive, progressive form.
Jake Hunsinger (lead singer and writer), Andrew Donnelly (lead guitar), Zack Wedge (drums), and Jamie Doyle (bass), make a focused effort to understand music history to create something entirely new. Hunsinger says, “I use unique chord patterns, melodies, and song structures based around generations of American songwriting while focusing on saying something inherently young and Gen Z/Millenial.” His singing is an attempt to deconstruct and understand how country music has been sung, tracing a line from Vernon Dalhart and Jimmie Rodgers, to Hank Williams and Lefty Frizzell, to George Jones and Garth Brooks. Wedge is a jazz drummer who behaves much the same way as Hunsinger about his craft, trying to understand the cultures and history of the art of drumming as well as the people who played it.
News
RELEASES
Jake Hunsinger and the Rock Bottom Band releases their upcoming Americana album, Wrapped Around the Axle, on September 23 through HoboCastle Records. The album explores loneliness and isolation from people, complicated feelings of identity and social pressures, and the processing of pain through anger, sadness, and poor decisions, all leading to the hope of enlightened inner peace. It’s not a concept album but an album of similar concepts often revolving around Plato’s “The Cave.” Read more
“Lorelai” contains references to Gilmore Girls and Letterkenny, the former for character traits and the latter for wordplay. It explores the deep exhaustion within loneliness and the absolute rejection of it in order to give yourself to another, to be vulnerable and ultimately happy. Hunsinger wrote the lead single off the album after watching Gilmore Girls with his mother. Hunsinger says, “I’ve always loved the name Lorelai and in the show, her push and pull relationship with Luke was really touching and as beautiful as it was humorous. What I strive to do in my songs is to lock into the natural humor that exists alongside intense emotion, which is key to human nature.” It plays out as a mostly one-sided conversation between the roving lonely character and Lorelai, who has to listen to him. Pairing the album title with the Letterkenny quote, the last verse encapsulates the album: “You’ve got me wrapped around the axle, but as sure as God wears sandals, I’ll be staying in your bed instead of mine.” Lauren King provides the backing vocals while essentially playing the role of the character “Lorelai.” Read more
Bio
The four members of Providence, Rhode Island’s Jake Hunsinger & The Rock Bottom Band are self-described “history nerds to the extreme.” It’s no wonder this historical influence would inform a sound that often looks back to move its American roots forward in an inventive, progressive form.