Two award-winning singer-songwriters deliver an EP of melancholic Americana written and recorded during a series of Brooklyn-to-Nashville-and-back road trips.

Bryan “Park” Miller and Christopher “Preacher Boy” Watkins first started writing songs together in the early 2000s, and began making regular trips between Brooklyn and Nashville shortly thereafter.

Together and separately they’ve achieved significant success. Park is a two-time Nashville Songwriter’s Association honoree. Preach has earned a Gold Record for his work with Rick Rubin and Eagle-Eye Cherry.

In between outside projects, they made some time to record something for themselves. Nicknamed “Sally”—and now officially titled "Drive In"—you might say this EP has been more than a decade in the making.

Following in the footsteps of The Band, Bob Dylan, and Townes Van Zandt, the album’s sound is kindred spirit to artists such as Alejandro Escovedo, Steve Earle, and Lucinda Williams, while comparisons to contemporaries like Old Crow Medicine Show or Gillian Welch wouldn’t be far off the mark.

Park’s pure tenor sits at the center of the alternatively buoyant and melancholy sound, while Preach’s unmistakable slide work on National Resophonic leads a multi-instrumental chorus that includes Telecaster, mandolin, harmonica, piano, and more.

Ultimately, the “Drive In” EP is an expression of the magic that can happen when two veteran singer-songwriters who’ve logged a lot of miles together take the time to record a handful of their own poignant and powerful songs. For those who like their Americana spiked with a bit of pathos and poetry, take a trip to the Drive In.

Drive In, the new EP from Park & Preach, is available for download now from Coast Road Records.

“Everyone is honest about fearing clowns and the sky, and the soil, are the same shade of brown and all the new brides share the same off-white gown and baby, there ain't no right side of this town” —from “No Right Side of this Town”

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Original album artwork by Bartolomeo Argentino

Trippy, funky, atmospheric instrumental electronica layered with live electric guitars.

Patches is the brainchild of a former Italian soccer player turned producer-composer, who spends half the year in a villa outside Florence, and the other half in California wine country. The album is a collaboration between Patches and Alt-Blues artist Preacher Boy, who provides live electric guitars to the album's 12 tracks. Patches counts as foundational influences albums such as The Beastie Boy's Ill Communication, Massive Attack's Mezzanine, Moby's Everything is Wrong, Daft Punk's Homework, Tricky's Maxinquaye, UNKLE's Psyence Fiction, and Portishead's Dummy.

Few acts are as willfully underground as Comedy Why Scream. No one really knows who—or where—they are. All that is sure is that their music emerges from a room that overlooks a train yard. That said, something is known of their process. It involves a 4-track cassette recorder and an Akai S-950 sampler. As to the songs on "Nausea," imagine Ministry recorded by Guided by Voices. This is music for fans of Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Laibach, Nitzer Ebb, Front Line Assembly, Lard, and more.

*Note: Album contains explicit lyrics.

Remastered and reissued, it's the debut release from Brooklyn's original disruptive alt. country legends! The Useless Bastards: "Songs you love, on instruments you hate."

Spawned from the bowels of Park Slope's Cafe Steinhof, and fueled by copious amounts of Il Bastardo wine, The Useless Bastards emerged as Brooklyn's original disruptive alt. country act. After 15 years, the wait is finally over, and the classic debut is now available—remastered and fantastic! 14 original songs from 5 multi-instrumentalists and singer-songwriters, each a successful bandleader in their own right. The Useless Bastards are:

Jonathan "Captain Ahab" Dryden - accordion, vocals J. Walter "Bullpork" Hawkes - ukelele, trombone, vocals Bryan "Park" Miller - mandolin, banjo, banjolin, vocals Christopher "Preacher Boy" Watkins - 12-string, nylon string & slide guitars, harmonica, vocals Jim "Sinnerman" Whitney - doghouse bass, vocals

The Useless Bastards: "Songs you love, on instruments you hate."

Hyper-literate garage rock.

Think of it as San Francisco’s answer to Lou Reed’s “New York.” Hyper-literate garage rock that comes from the head, hits you in the gut, and wears its heart on its sleeve.

“Black Rain,” the debut release from San Francisco’s Nob Hill Mariners, is sonically as raw as can be—straight up rock n’ roll. Drums, bass, guitar, vocals. It’s not just garage rock by genre—it was recorded in a garage. One glance at the song titles, however, and it’s immediately clear there’s something different happening here. “Jesus in Bed Between Us.” “Afternoon by the Carousel.” “Cyanide Lake in an Old Mining Town.” These are just a few examples of the rock n’ roll poetry on offer.

The Nob Hill Mariners is in fact a collaboration between singer/songwriter/musician Christopher “Preacher Boy” Watkins and the poet Robert Lavett Smith. The titles, words, and themes are largely Smith’s, refactored to become songs in Watkins’ hands. The result is something raw, beautiful, and unique. “Black Rain” is for every listener who digs everyone from the MC5, Neil Young with Crazy Horse, and The Sonics, to early Kinks, the Count Five, and Patti Smith. Imagine Motorhead performing Simic, The Ramones doing Dickinson, or Joan Jett delivering Rilke, and you get a sense of The Nob Hill Mariners’ sound. 8 songs, and not one over 3 minutes.

When Dylan Thomas exhorted us to rage against the dying of the light, surely this was the soundtrack he envisioned. Get your copy of “Black Rain” today. And turn it up.