After delivering a pretty-close-to perfect third album in 2011’s “Needle, Feather, and a Rope,” I figured there was no way San Francisco-based indie folk collective Blind Willies could top themselves. But damn if they don’t come tantalizingly close on long-awaited follow-up platter “Every Day Is Judgment Day,” a ridiculously good gathering of tunes the band has dedicated to the departed Pete Seeger, Maurice Sendak, Lou Reed and Polish social worker Irena Sendler.
The band says the 15 songs that comprise “Every Day Is Judgment Day” are “about freedom and whatever the opposite of freedom is, within ourselves and in our relationships with others.” Whatever the inspiration, there are so many keepers — “Cremo Tango,” “Dig a Hole,” “Potential Bag,” “Break Free,” “I Need a Woman,” “The Possible World,” “Carry All You Can” — you can’t help but fall for this band all over again.
Jeffrey Sisk, Pittsburgh In Tune
2014
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Like The Band? Like Jack White? Then you’ll love Needle, Feather and a Rope, a majestic alt-countrified horn-driven take on the universe and everything in it . . . the new album is a shot in the arm, with the primordial sounds of Leadbelly and Lomax filtered through New Orleans blues, Randy Newman pop, Rolling Stones rock and roll, grandiose indiefolk, and just about every other genre that has followed.
Boyhowdy, Cover Lay Down
An utterly ambitious album, and one that follows through with a massive emotional impact. This'll put you through the wringer, but in the best of ways.
Jon Worley, Aiding & Abetting #329
2011
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Imagine the White Stripes driven by the fevered folk of Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie, and you might get some idea of where the Blind Willies are coming from.....It's this sound, of traditional music being seized by musicians with new, fiercely held ideas of their own, that makes this album so invigorating.
Keith Laidlaw, KQED
All too often, musicians take the path of least resistance in an attempt to be
universally 'popular' so it is refreshing to come across an album that has something
to say that is worth saying. The greatest gift of Everybody's Looking For A Meal is that each time you return -and believe me you will - you'll discover a completely different album in front of you.
Michael Mee, Americana UK
2008
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. . . these ten tales explore the darker side of life with word play that is evocative of a quiet desperation, a cool loathing of unavoidable situations or perhaps a pitiful yearning for redemption. Take this as an example: "There's something in the night/even when you're blind/taking drugs to cancel time/that keeps your eyes wide open/and your heart clenched tight." (There's Something in the Night), or the near genius of: "Marie was born in Santa Fe/with saxophone and pretty lace/she'd play for food or spread her thighs/depending on the moon/and on its hollow bones of solitude." (Marie). There's plenty more where these gems came from and with scarcely a track less than five, six or seven minutes long there's plenty of scope for developing the themes.
Paul Villers, Americana UK
2007
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SOLD OUT
"It's at once sexy and full of natural langour." --Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen
"The contrast of colors is gorgeous: the great white underbelly, the red gaping maw, and the spider's meal suspended in a black abyss. It's the sense of things being done not merely well but with remarkable precision that gets under your skin."
--Burberry Prorsum
"It's how you want to dress." --more than 1 spectator, Fashion Week NYC
"Makes a good dishrag." --Whiz Burger
sizes S and M, 100% pre-shrunk cotton, 4.5oz
