The Ivory Bills
Rhythmic Jet Ear Games (2009)

The Ivory Bills have a great new full-length CD. It’s available at CDBaby, or IndepenDisc. Check out song samples at either site.

Gary Vollano of IndepenDisc sez, “Tight & Tasty. Truly honing the power trio concept with balance, not bombast”

Brian LaRue, of The New Haven Advocate adds: “James Velvet and friends masquerade as a simple, salt-of-the earth bar band. . . They almost get away with it, unless you listen closely and hear how Velvet’s expert sense of narrative plays out; how the sing-songy verses build into broadly tuneful choruses; how the band’s kinda-bluesy chug reveals a sharp knowledge of rock ‘n’ roll traditionalism. The Bills’ moderately-rockin’ drive frames well the stories Velvet tells here, often of characters on some kind of edge — a restless long-distance driver, a handful of New Haveners on the fringes of society, an aspiring singer pinning his hopes on getting his CD into a rock star’s hands, even Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Velvet, per usual, can be wry one moment and grave the next without sounding forced, and with straight-ahead arrangements and few overdubs, the Bills’ dynamic never stomps on his vocal. If you know Velvet’s stuff, this is what you might expect from him in rock mode — and it’s just as inspired, human and humane as you’d hope.”

Pat Ferrucci of The New Haven Register picked RJEG as one of his top ten local faves for ’09. “You know a James Velvet song: expertly crafted lyrics featuring witty turns of a phrase sung over a nuanced and driving backing layer of instruments. Lately, Velvet’s been doing his thing on record in a minimal, acoustic way. With The Ivory Bills, Velvet, longtime musical partner Johnny Java and guitarist John L. take a group of polished tunes and turn them into bar-band climaxes. This is a well-oiled set of rockers.”