[Cover photo credit to Matt Costa]
Southern California jam band The Great North Special have revealed “Love Service Devotion” along with a video directed by Matt Costa. “Love Service Devotion” is the first new music from The Great North Special since their debut self-titled EP in 2020. Written in lockdown during the summer of 2020, the heaviness of world events at the time inspired the band to turn inward.
Songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Russell Long explains:
I wrote ‘Love Service Devotion’ as a sort of reminder to myself…A reminder that Love is all around and possible at all times, and that sometimes the only thing lacking is an openness to it, or a shift in perspective. There are all kinds of ways to shift ourselves and our perspective to a place where we become more open and receptive of the way things are, and then begin to truly experience and share Love. The way the chorus and outro jam developed, with a kind of bubble and jubilance, definitely created a realm in which LOVE was the first thing that came to mind when it came time to write lyrics, the words kinda just fell into place around that.
All 7 members of the band have spent years playing in various bands from California before coming together and forming this new band that ties together elements of the history of California music that they each individually pull from: From the psychedelic sounds of 60s/70s San Francisco, the country hybrid known as the “Bakersfield Sound”, the rhythms and sounds of Latin America, to the many incredible songwriters who have recorded music in LA.
The ensemble features Russell Long (Guitar/Vocals), Andrew Corradini (Guitar/Vocals), Kevin Bleitz (Drums), Anson Ditt (Bass), Ben Wagner (Guitar/Lap Steel), Max Vega (Percussion) and Albert Margolis (Keys/Vocals), who before joining The Great North Special played for 20 years with Leo Nocentelli of The Meters.
