This new single by The Paranoid Style is dedicated to the late Mark Lipsitz of Bar/None Records. I never met the guy but I certainly interacted with him a bunch of times and he was genuinely enthusiastic about the music he was putting out. For that reason alone, this new song would be Track of the Week here.
However, "Tearing the Ticket" also offers up lyrics referencing D.C.-area greats Danny Gatton and Roy Buchanan, so there's that too. Having worked in a Maryland record store a few miles over the D.C. line when Buchanan died, I can remember the sudden outpouring of love for the guy as customers flocked in to get Roy sides. The British Walkers featured Roy and that's a band my mom, an employee of WPGC radio here in the Sixties, saw in Georgetown a lot as a young woman, and she passed that love of the music of that era to me. This song is awash with nostalgia for the musical past, and a longing for the places where magic happened.
The Paranoid Style is centered around Elizabeth Nelson, journalist, and also the writer of the liner notes for the upcoming reissue of Let It Be by The Replacements. While "Tearing the Ticket" sounds a little like very early The The to me, the presence on this track of Matt Douglas from the Mountain Goats earns this one a comparison to those indie legends. Add in the fact that Peter Holsapple (The dB's) is in the band, and I'm apt to dub The Paranoid Style practically American rock royalty. This number, with those nods in the lyrics, and the dedication to Mark Lipsitz of Bar/None Records is one of the most heartfelt tracks I've featured lately, and I dig it, and hope you will too.
"Tearing the Ticket" by The Paranoid Style is out now via Bar/None Records.
You learn more about The Paranoid Style via their Bandcamp page.
[Photo: Tad Unreasonable]