Following years of being ground up by the gears of the music biz, New Jersey native Gregg Sarfaty intended to lay out for a bit, but the songs just kept on a-comin’. He put together the stunning Stewboss debut, Wanted A Girl, with a patchwork band made up of pals from other bands, then headed to Los Angeles to shop it around.
Somehow, Wanted A Girl landed in the hands of BBC Radio2 jock Bob Harris, who boosted “Fill Station” as his track of the year. The ensuing grassroots support in the U.K. and Europe necessitated that singer/guitarist Sarfaty assemble a tour-worthy band.
Adding bassist Luke Storey and drummer Jano Janosik, Stewboss headed overseas, where the group’s deft Americana blend of Neil Young and Springsteen/Petty heartland rock (with a mondo slice of Stones’ hip-shake as a kicker) garnered serious raves.
Sweet Lullabye presents eleven more Sarfaty-penned nuggets, variously augmenting the vigorous, agile playing of the core trio with graceful touches of fiddle, mandolin, and Hammond B-3 and Fender Rhodes keys.
Granted, this path has been trod before with varying degrees of success, but rarely has such lofty intent been matched by the inspired level of songwriting evident throughout Stewboss’ two efforts to date. Sarfaty’s earnest, reedy vocals deliver the goods with unselfconscious passion, and the band boasts more than enough firepower to drive it all home.