Wes Burdine & the Librarians

Minnesotan by way of Allentown, Pennsylvania and some Texas, Wes Burdine’s song-writing had been forged in confusion, a little country music here, a lot of rock ‘n’ roll there. After escaping music for years, Wes finally returned with his 2004 solo album, This is How I Discovered Gold. The record’s patchwork quality stood nicely with the songwriting—a stop and go collage of short melodies woven together. It was recorded with borrowed equipment, in numerous locations and with the arrangements often written on the spot. An album emerged, spanning genres and moods, described by The Pulse as “poking at listener’s gray matter or tugging on their heart strings.” After Gold’s release, Wes put together the band to bring the music alive. The Librarians were formed from with the husband/wife team, David and Charissa Osborn, on drums and keys/vocals, Don Osborn on bass and Ross Piper playing guitars. The band began to abandon the slow-paced melancholy and add some vitriol to their melodies. With the addition of thick harmonies and teeming guitars, Wes Burdine and the Librarians began to reshape a thickly arranged rock outfit. Now, with the release of The Jose Canseco EP, Wes and the Librarians have thrown their chips on the table and made an aural entrance into rock ‘n’ roll. Described as “the sunny pop music day that follows This Is How I Discovered Gold’s long and tormented night,” the EP pieces together hand claps and overdriven guitars with five part harmonies and imaginative story telling. Seemingly incongruous, the band now pieces together country backbeats with Beach Boys-esque harmonies over a well-placed tube amp. I told you, magic.