Amer·i·ca·na::
Musical genre consisting of a combination
of otherwise disparate American musical
styles, including country, blues,
folk, bluegrass, rhythm & blues,
and rock & roll.
Example Sentence:
"If the song
grabs you by the pants, tosses you
to the dance floor, tugs at your
heart but shakes your soul, and does
it all with the silky smooth, soulful,
lover’s touch, then you are
listening to Girls, Guns,
and Glory,
and that is Americana.”
Girls Guns & Glory are electric
and captivating with a high-energy
stage presence that immediately gets
people up on their feet and moving.
With lyrics of heart-ache and cleverly
hopeful perspective, backed by dynamic & impressive
drums, bass and lead guitar, GGG
become an outfit matched perfectly.
“Nobody
is going to walk your path for
you,” Girls
Guns and Glory founder and frontman
Ward Hayden states matter-of-factly
as he explains the inspiration
for the band’s name. “ I
was daydreaming in class one day,
and I realized that sitting around
talking about life isn't the same as living, and I was learning more about life
outside the classroom. Suddenly, I imagined an old schoolmarm pointing a shotgun
at the board, and the words ‘Girls Guns and Glory’ were scrawled
across it.
“Then it hit me that
all the excitement, the color and
flavor, of life and love – you
learn all that stuff by getting
out there and doing it. Wide open.
Laugh, cry, love, fall down, get
back up – that's living.”
To see Girls Guns and
Glory live is to experience what
Ward is talking about. His "get out there and live it"
attitude is as palpable in
the band's
stage presence
as it is in the artfulness of the music itself. Urgent. Honest. Real. This isn't
something you can get out of a can, it comes from the heart and soul. So naturally
the band turned heads at last
year’s Americana
Music Association showcase in Nashville,
including the head of Lonesome
Day Records, Randall Deaton.
Lonesome Day signed the band shortly thereafter.
The band's live performances evoke a rare combination of chemistry, artistry,
talent, and raw guts that transcend musical genres as well as generations of
musical styles. The Boston Globe said of the band’s AMA
performance, “Girls
Guns and Glory delivered a graceful, sturdy set of Buddy Holly-meets-Buck Owens
twang ‘n’ roll that translated to the night’s most sublime
performance. Singer-guitarist Ward Hayden has the pillowy voice of a ’50s
pin-up star — the constant comparisons to crooners like Chris Isaak and
Lyle Lovett are well-deserved — and his band’s amber-soaked melodies,
tight musicianship, and casual elegance were a tonic to an evening.” The
Boston Herald said “Imagine Lyle Lovett and Chris
Isaak paying tribute
to classic American rock n’ roll from Elvis, Hank Williams, Johnny
Cash,
and Roy Orbison.”
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Hank Tribute Show, 2012.
Photo by Elizabeth Ellenwood |
Heady comparisons, yet these exact
influences and more are apparent
as the band smokes through its
set with reckless abandon, effortlessly
combining swing jams,
punk beats, rockabilly stomps, mariachi trumpets and more into one cohesive
voice. A voice that grabs you by
the pants, tosses you to the dance
floor, tugs at your
heart but shakes your soul, and does it all with a silky smooth, soulful, lover’s
touch.
Ward, Mike, Chris and Paul confess to a roster of
musical heroes that reads like the Masters of American Music. Names like Johnny
Cash.
Hank Williams
Sr., Bob Dylan. Even the Beatles earn honorary American status here. As New England
natives, the members of Girls Guns and Glory pride themselves in being difficult
to pigeonhole into musical stereotypes.
“Who wants to look at a picture painted with just one color? Whether it’s
roots music, folk, blues, country, rock, jazz, or whatever, good music is good
music” says Ward.
With the comparisons to Chris Isaak and Lyle Lovett, it may seem odd that Ward
almost missed becoming a singer/songwriter at all. He was on his way to becoming
a teacher, in fact, when his life took a very different turn courtesy of an
Oldsmobile ’88
that had only a cassette player for entertainment. Driving across the country
in the car, Ward kept boredom at bay by listening to the only cassettes he had
available: his mother’s country music.
“I was into rock – punk and hardcore and noise you weren’t
going to hear on the radio – but when I heard Johnny Cash for the first
time? I was absolutely floored. I could not believe I hadn’t found this
music before.”
From the Man in Black, Ward expanded to Hank Williams, Junior. Junior became
Ward's gateway to Hank Williams Senior, and after that, Ward's addiction was
full blown.
“From a songwriter’s and singer’s perspective, Hank Williams
was the best I had ever heard. I became a student of what he did and was all
about, and there’s a certain amount of romanticism to his life and death
that I found magnetic. Like he says, ‘everybody loves to feel sorry for
themselves.’ I think I really connected to that attitude and his delivery
very deeply. Hank Williams wrote about the things he knew, so he was very true
to himself, and nothing about those songs was contrived or flashy. Every word
he sang rings true, because he delivered it all so well, so honestly, and made
it so real.”
The band’s formation was a happy accident born out of tragedy. Ward grew
up singing in church and school, but hadn’t thought about performing
music seriously until a friend of his tragically passed away after college.
Ward was
asked to write a song for the memorial service, and that turned into an entire
tribute performance. Taking what was good about that experience to heart, within
six months Ward had decided to make an entire record.
“In October of 2005, I did some handyman jobs for a guy in exchange
for some time in his studio, and Girls Guns and Glory released our first album,
Fireworks
and Alcohol, a few months later.”
After that, Girls Guns and Glory began performing steadily in the New England
club circuit, picking up steam when their second album, Pretty Little
Wrecking
Ball, was released two years later. Wrecking Ball got the band radio exposure,
and they earned two Boston Phoenix awards and a Boston Music Award for Outstanding
Americana Act of the Year.
The present-day line-up of Girls Guns and Glory includes Michael Calabrese on
drums, Chris Hersch on banjo and guitar, and Paul Dilley on upright and electric
bass. Currently
on
the
road
touring
their
fourth
album
titled Inverted
Valentine and in the studio recording their fifth,
the band has not only musically matured, but has a mountain of new material
to work
with, much of it inspired by the demise of Ward’s long-term relationship. “When
my relationship ended, all of a sudden I found a wealth of feelings and emotions
that I was able to tap into.”
And tap into them he did. Songs like “Keep On Calling,” “Only
One Thing,” and “Baby You’re A Dog” reveal a razor’s-edge
honesty and wit that suggest Ward slashed a vein more than once to bleed all
over this record. The album was the last one made in his hometown before moving
on and is full of the reckless abandon that comes from telling it like it is
and then getting the hell out.
“All these songs came out of that tumultuous period… a lot of it
comes from small-town living and the experiences that come along with feeling
like you’re trapped, living in a confined environment. Some are about getting
out and getting over bad relationships as well as trying to find ways out of
bad situations. Pouring all that emotional energy into these songs is, well,
a great way to learn and grow from the experience.
“But good times or bad, I think our philosophy all comes back to our name,” Ward
says. “Being Girls, Guns and Glory helps me remember that vision of
the
schoolmarm and her shotgun. So I guess the band's name is sort of my version
of carpe diem, it reminds me that if we don't get out there and live our lives,
wide open, then we're going to miss out.”
Boudreau Feret
|
"Frontman
Ward Hayden displays some impressive
pipes as he croons
and
cracks his way through eleven tracks
with a dose of Elvis swagger.
Ward's
songwriting deals with matters
of the heart, heartbreak and hard
livin'
but avoids slipping into
the drunk whiskey cliches that
litter country music.
If life was
fair you'd hear these tracks on
country radio..."
No Depression
“ The
combination of Ward Hayden's
heartthrob voice and matinee
idol looks is
a killer.
On top of that, he's
got an ass-kicking band and great
songs. Conclusion: knockout."
Sarah Borges
“ Girls
Guns and Glory delivered a graceful,
sturdy set of Buddy Holly-meets-Buck
Owens
twang ‘n’ roll
that translated to the night’s
most sublime performance.
Singer-guitarist
Ward Hayden has the pillowy voice
of a ’50s pin-up star — the
constant comparisons
to crooners
like Chris Isaak and Lyle Lovett
are well-deserved — and his
band’s
amber-soaked
melodies,
tight musicianship, and casual
elegance were a tonic to an evening.”
The Boston Globe
“ (Girls Guns & Glory)
had a smooth, authentic Honky Tonk/early
Rock & Roll
vibe that was incredibly endearing.
The group won over the packed house
at Mr. Pitiful’s “in
less than half a verse, no lie,”"
City Beat (Cincinnati, OH)
“ Girls, Guns and Glory
just might re-ignite the whole
country-rock
scene in New England…
GG&G
has some serious country music chops,
but they also kick it up with rock ‘n’ roll
abandon.”
The Patriot Ledger
“ Imagine Lyle Lovett and Chris Isaak
paying tribute to classic American
rock n’ roll from Elvis,
Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and
Roy Orbison.”
The Boston Herald
“ Bourbon’s doesn’t
feature chicken wire around the
stage or
peanut hulls on the floor, but
the new venue felt like a Southern
roadhouse
on Friday night when Girls Guns
and Glory rocked the joint, roots
style.”
The Wire (Portsmouth, NH)
“ Girls Guns and Glory
isn’t
your typical rock n’ roll
band. They burst into their first
set,
treating a capacity crowd to lick
to tunes that would even make Charlie
Daniels and Tom Petty tip their
hats.”
The Noise
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