In a modern musical world made of loops, grids and plug-ins, honest, organic songs played live might be as relevant now as ever before. Roman & the Long Haul is the kind of outfit that almost accidentally brings you to reflection right before enticing a knee slap, then finding a partner and jumping to your feet. The five and sometimes six piece wears the kind of life experience that comes from hard work and many nights playing on dimly lit stages in small town bars. Roman’s unmistakingly raw, emotionally charged stories leave little doubt of authenticity. It’s music reminiscent of a time when it wasn’t so simple to tell the difference between blues and country. When it was all, as Hank Williams used to say, ‘folk’ music. It was around the same time when Leo Fender started boosting electrical signals with vacuum tubes and speakers in pine boxes wrapped with tweed. That’s who these guys are. Not nostalgia, worn like a costume, rather a kinship to the past and respect for a type of storytelling we might be careful to keep around.

Roman’s first record was cut in 2019 with the help of Nick Champeau (Drew Parker, Gary LeVox) In it you hear trucker country song turned rock & roll through the fingers of guitarist’s Rob Talbot’s tele as Giberson proudly pronounces being not just a son, but a grandson of men who toggled’ engine brakes and avoided ‘city kitties’ for a living. Or the vengeful fantasy in the recurring dream of Sinner’s Waltz, as he describes a ‘cold blue iron, striking the night like a flame in hell,’ or the father, in the regretful, yet sanguine Belle’s Song to his daughter, promising to finally ‘get it right.” Champeau’s guitar guitar elevates beautifully along with Giberson’s baritone in the grit filled Big Joe, about a WWII era farm boy and his penchant toward hell raising .The record was engineered and produced by Giberson and Jon Oistad of LB3 Studios in Portland, Oregon.

Whatever the future holds in modern music, let’s hope there’s always a place for this kind of authentic human honesty. It’s a little loud and rowdy, it’s American as hell, a little like country and blues had a baby.