Tornado is the first collection of songs Matt Paxton has released with his new band, The Pintos, consisting of bassist Carrie Clark, drummer Robin Pirson and pedal steel player Chris Altmann. The Tornado EP arrives on September 15th, 2023, and ahead of that, the band have revealed the single “Southside of the West Town”.
We’re very pleased to premier the live play video “Southside of the West Town” here today at Wildfire Music + News. The song speaks to where the band comes from, and the part that music has played in their lives, motivating their determination to continue on a creative path. With its focus on setting a scene, it conveys the deep importance of place to creative impulses and suggests a groundedness behind the “six string dreams” of teenage aspirations.
However, the gradual pace of the song and hypnotic pedal steel also paints another picture, one with a certain sense of being held back or contained by the very place that offers inspiration. It offers shelter and familiarity but that may come with its own emotional baggage. That dual sense is a relatable feeling for many, particularly those with creative goals, and is summed up by the lyric, “What’s the point of singing, if you can’t free your mind?”
Matt Paxton comments:
‘Southside of the West Town’ is about not letting go of the urge to write and sing. It’s about growing up in a musical city with a vow to never stop creating.
This new video was made by the Canadian production company Southern Souls, and it captures the band performing the new song, with a particular spotlight on pedal steel solos.
Recorded in Paxton’s hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada with Producer Tim Allard (singer/guitarist in The Redhill Valleys), Tornado focuses on a “high and lonesome sound that harkens back to alt-country’s golden age of the late ‘90s.”
Over the past few years, Matt Paxton has performed his Folk-Rock and Alt-Country repertoire across Canada. Paxton’s body of work now includes five albums, and a handful of singles and EPs.
Paxton has also made live appearances with the likes of Daniel Lanois, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Astrid Young and Evan Dando. Forming The Pintos has been part of Paxton’s plan of moving further into Americana, and will be releasing new music courtesy of his own label, Down By The Point Records.
