Great Peacock Display their Musical Colors on New Album, Premiere “One Way Ticket”
Tara Joan
Posted On January 15, 2018
“A peacock has so many colors, and that’s what we want our sound to be like. It’s clearly rock ‘n roll. It’s clearly country. It’s clearly folk. There’s definitely blues and elements of R&B in there, too,” says Nelson.
With their forthcoming sophomore release, Gran Pavo Real, Nashville’s Great Peacock⎯⎯ Andrew Nelson (lead vocals and guitar), Blount Floyd (guitar), drummer Nick Recio (drummer) and Frank Keith IV (bass)⎯⎯ obscure the lines between rock ‘n roll, folk, blues, and Americana while tackling the universal themes of heartache, loneliness, and desperation with a striking emotional precision.
Recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, the breadth of Gran Pavo Real is apparent on first listen. Produced by Dexter Green (Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cooke), who aided the quartet in fusing varied sonic elements, the ten tracks lead the listener into songs both heartbreaking and brittle to those more desolate and uneasy. Enlivened by their nimble musicianship, lyrical insight, and Nelson’s soulful vocals, the band’s grooves run thick on “Rattlesnake,” cut to the bone on “Oh Deep Water,” and emit a palpable yearning on “All I Really Want Is You.” Today, the band shares their first single from the project, “One Way Ticket.” A solid drumbeat lays the foundation for the sweeping, hymn-like track that is supported by alluring key-work, dynamic guitar solos, and Nelson’s hypnotic vocals which tell the story of a free soul who’s reminiscing and finding his path.
Blount Floyd had this to say about the album,
“I’m sure most bands deal with the same trials and tribulations in what is best described as the journey of making a record, I am here to tell you our story of how Gran Pavo Real came to fruition. It always begins and ends with the songs, which some have been kicking around for quite a while. We started writing for the record before our last record came out and have been playing some of them on the road for a long while, while on the other hand a few of the tracks were written or arranged weeks/days before going in the studio. When we were searching for someone to help us get the record recorded, we asked the opinion, of who we lovingly refer to as our “rock sage”
Kevn Kenny of Drivin n Cryin, about producers he thought might get it and he connected us to Dex Green. He’s been producing bad ass records in Nashville for a while, but we had actually never met. He really understood what we were going for as far as the “vision.”
Our last record, which I love, was very layered, had a lot of things going on as far as instrumentation. Over the years we have really become a 4 piece rock and roll band and we wanted that to shine through on this record. For the most part, it was done live in the studio with very minimal overdubs, it feels alive, like 5 folks sitting around playing the songs. Dex brought on, who I would call the MVP of the record, Mr. Ralph T Lofton, to play piano and organ. He is a very accomplished gospel player who is just incalculably good, as in you can not measure how much soul comes out of his fingers.
At the time, we didn’t have a bass player, so it was a bit of a surprise to us that Tom Blankenship (My Morning Jacket) agreed to come in and play a song or two with us, he just wound up staying two days and recorded the whole record with us. That dude is just amazing, his level of musicianship is astounding, he has this quiet confidence that pervades a room that really brings out the best you can give.
Joe Costa was brought on to engineer and help mix, I’ve always wanted to work with him and he exceeded his stellar reputation with not only getting the sounds but also his production ideas. I do have to give a shout out to Zach Panacoast, who was our staff assistant engineer, from setting up to break down, he was an unsung hero as assistants usually are. I can’t wait to hear the stuff he does in the future because he was amazing.
We did the main tracking at Sound Emporium’s Studio B, a super vibey room. Once we had the thing done, we knew we did not want to necessarily self-release, so we searched for a partner to put it out with us. We eventually connected with Ropeadope, who thankfully fell in love with the record and offered to put it out. We are super excited to work with such a well-respected label and for them branching out to put an Americana/rock record out, so cool.
Lastly, Crowdfunding is the reason this whole record exists. We would have never been able to press the record without the generosity of our fans. It has changed the game in how records can be made. We resisted doing it for a long time, but yeah, it helped us do it, and we have amazing fans that helped us, the biggest “thank you” we have is to them!!”
On Gran Pavo Real, Great Peacock displays their varied colors as they navigate into bolder territory without sacrificing their artist stamp. For all the information, visit HERE.
