Peep This: The Old North “Southbound” Stone Cow Live Session

The Old North is a New England folk band made up of singer/songwriter Andrew O’Keeffe, Hayes Cummings on lead guitar, and Max Liebman on bass. There is something raw, yet refined, about The Old North’s approach to music. The swing and vibe of “Southbound” has a dancing feel, hints of Brown Bird in the throbbing rhythm, but Andrew O’Keeffe’s whispy, gravely voice stands out high above the mix as its own thing. He tells us of the track, ““I love songs that tell a good story. Something I enjoy in the Americana tradition is the use of certain songwriting cliches like trains, booze, drifters, outlaws, etc. I think it’s a fun exercise to use those classic ideas as starting points for more contemporary work. That was the foundation of this song, a first person narrative of a death row inmate giving his side of the story while he still can. The song is dark in that way, but it also manages to be lighthearted in its flow and style.”

Simple and effective harmonies, a trio that sounds greater than the sum of its parts, everyone having their structured role, but allowing for each’s creative spirit to shine. It has a noire feel brought to modern times. Catchy, but not overly. Its an ear worm, but with a grit and feel that lingers on the skin in a way that isn’t poppy or bubbly, despite a certain buoyancy in the tracks feel. An urgency that keeps you hanging on.

He continues, “As the music came together with the band it took on a heavy gypsy jazz kind of vibe so we leaned into that as well. Our guitarist, Hayes, is trained in jazz performance so it was a great opportunity for him to bring that to the table and nail down the effect, especially during his solo. The whole thing is anchored by our bassist, Max, who drives that killer upright line and handles the backup vocals to round it all out. I think it’s a great example of how much energy our trio can bring and what kind of skill each of us offers.”

The band has some upcoming shows this month, I’d highly suggest getting out to catch them.

8/21, 6pm – Charlestown Navy Yard, Boston, MA

8/27, 8pm – The Stomping Ground, Putnam, CT

8/29, 2pm – Stone Cow Brewery, Barre, MA

More from O’Keeffe: Fun little fact about the Navy Yard gig, we have a song on our EP from last year called “Ironside” about the battle in the war of 1812 where the USS Constitution got the nickname Old Ironsides. The current Commander of the ship heard it and invited us to be part of their summer concert series with the Parks Service. Doesn’t really get much more New England than that!