On June 4th 2021, Night Beats – the Texas-born brainchild of Danny Lee Blackwell – will release their fifth full-length, ‘Outlaw R&B’, via Fuzz Club Records. The album arrives following the 2019 ‘Myth of A Man’ LP (produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and released by Heavenly Recordings) as well as last year’s ‘That’s All You Got’ 7”. Made during the height of the California wildfires (where Blackwell currently resides), rioting in the streets and a nation in lockdown, the raucous technicolour rock’n’roll of ‘Outlaw R&B’ is a call to rejoice in some sorely needed post-apocalyptic hedonism.
The album arrives following the 2019 ‘Myth of A Man’ LP (produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and released by Heavenly Recordings) as well as last year’s ‘That’s All You Got’ 7” single. Made during the height of the California wildfires (where Blackwell currently resides),
Blackwell says of the album: “Outlaw R&B” is music for the borderless, the free, the outcasts and the forgotten. The outlaw is the runner. Those whose minds aren’t sold by perfect pitch and clean fingernails. Through this medium you can escape the confines of mental feudalism and bask in the euphoric glow of psychedelic R&B.” Where the last Night Beats LP was a distinctly polished and soulful affair, ‘Outlaw R&B’ sees the band return to their natural habitat: riotous, acid-fried rock’n’roll to lose your head to.
Danny Lee Blackwell of Night Beats has shared a video of him performing an intimate, stripped-back version of the recent single ‘That’s All You Got’
The ‘That’s All You Got’ 7” – featuring Robert Levon Been of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club across both tracks – is out now
Night Beats anticipated fifth album of original material Outlaw R&B, which sees the Texas-reared band shift gears from 2019’s Southern rock tinged ode to Nashville—which followed three LPs riffing on Roky Erickson’s psych-rock legacy—to reflect band leader Danny Lee Blackwell’s relocation to Southern California. The record’s early singles straddle the line between both influences while sounding indebted to the blown-out, Wall-of-Sound rock of the ’60s and the bluesy sounds revived by Myth of a Man collaborator Dan Auerbach, all with a dose of acid Western imagery.
Blackwell took to LA’s Elysian Park for his recent “Neighbourhood” set, where he played an acoustic rendition of album opener “Stuck in the Morning” with some moody dusk lighting. Beforehand, he took an introspective trip to the strip mall that once housed the iconic Gold Star Studios to reminisce on the city’s musical legacy
Blackwell says of the album: “Outlaw R&B is music for the borderless, the free, the outcasts and the forgotten. The outlaw is the runner. Those whose minds aren’t sold by perfect pitch and clean fingernails. Through this medium you can escape the confines of mental feudalism and bask in the euphoric glow of psychedelic R&B.” Where the last Night Beats LP was a distinctly polished and soulful affair, ‘Outlaw R&B’ sees the band return to their natural habitat: riotous, acid-fried rock’n’roll to lose your head to.
The Fat Angel Sings 