Oliver Buck, co-founder of the Kansas-based alt-country band, Percival, is stepping out on his own with a new solo record due out June fifth. The album, titled Rust Belt Blues, departs from the AAA radio-friendly sound of his former band in favor of more stripped-down arrangements and an old-timey feel.
The songs on Rust Belt Blues range from country-rock barnburners to Twenties-style country blues numbers, and draw deeply from the classic sound palettes of rural America. Buck's music--new originals with selected covers and traditional songs dating as far back as the Civil War--seems to divine inspiration from what Greil Marcus called "the old, weird America," the America that Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, and Bob Dylan wrote about.
Buck decided to go it alone after his band, Percival, called it quits at the end of 2006. "The break-up was unexpected, but proved to be a blessing in disguise," he explains. "In Percival, I started out as the musical director, the sideman. And while I enjoyed being the guitar player and helping to work out arrangements, it became clear before long that there wasn't going to be a lot of room for my songwriting, or for old-school country and blues material, in that project."
Buck says that initially he was disappointed when co-founder Justin Klinksick announced that he was leaving Percival to pursue a solo career, but he soon started thinking about a new project of his own. "After a while, it just seemed an obvious next step--to go back to the well to the music I loved the most, and build something out of it," Buck says.
Rust Belt Blues will be released on June 5, 2007 by Cuyahoga Records, and has been pre-released as an exclusive digital download on OliverBuck.com.
--Cuyahoga Records press release, April 2007
![[cover art]](../band_pictures/rust_belt_blues.jpg)