PHOTO: JIM NEWBERRY | “’Saturday’s Child’ is a track I cut with the full intention of including it on Medium Cool. In fact, it struck me as super-catchy, but just didn’t end up ultimately fitting into the sequence. It’s nice to give the 45 something special that the full-length doesn’t have…I always try and do that. Regarding the song, it struck me that a young, confident woman is like the “star” of the local bar or club on any given night, in any given town—and there’s a power in that. This song is a rumination on that, and the rites of passage we all go through when we first get out into the world in our various social scenes. These rituals are innocent, fun, yet important. And it’s all part of Rock & Roll.” —Luther Russell
A fresh single often signals the direction of a new album. That may be the case with Luther Russell’s “The Sound of Rock & Roll” 7″ out today on the Portland imprint Fluff and Gravy—providing a stately, engaging, heartfelt introduction to his upcoming LP Medium Cool, due out in February.
But how good can an album be if it tosses off to a B-side something as splendid as “Saturday’s Child,” the track we’re proud to be premiering here today at The Vinyl District. To be available only as the 45’s B-side, “Saturday’s Child” is an upbeat, ringing reverie to a girl in tight jeans, who like her clothing, doesn’t want to fade away.
The delectable cut has some agreeable echoes with Russell’s other current project, teaming with Big Star’s Jody Stephens in the duo Those Pretty Wrongs. Russell, a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, singer and writer, has also been working with Robyn Hitchcock and wrote a couple of songs for Weezer’s 2016 “white album.” Inspired by the Replacements, Russell once fronted The Freewheelers, which had a couple major label albums out and before that, was once in a pre-Wallflowers trio with their Jakob Dylan and Tobi Miller.
Russell indeed has American music in his blood—he’s the grandson of Bob Russell, the lyricist who died the year Luther was born in 1970, after providing the (English) lyrics to standards from “Babalu” and “Brazil” as well as “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.” He’s also the grand nephew of Bud Green, who wrote “Alabamy Bound,” “Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy),” and “Sentimental Journey.”
Having returned last month from his first tour of Japan where fans have long appreciated this kind of top-notch rock, you can catch Luther stateside at a special in-store performance at Burger Records in Fullerton, CA on December 15th.
Purchase “The Sound of Rock and Roll” b/w “Saturday’s Child” vinyl 7″ from Luther Russell’s upcoming February 2019 release, Medium Cool here. A special limited edition cassette single via Burger Records is available here.
