J Roddy Walston and The Business refuse to play it safe. In this age when mobile phone apps have replaced recording studios and the term “badass” rarely describes modern music, J Roddy furthers the proud legacy of unrelenting rockers from Little Richard to Janis Joplin to KISS, shredding eardrums and stirring souls with scrappy, All-American anthems. J Roddy Walston and The Business return to Cincinnati to perform at The Ballroom at the Taft on April 30th!
J Roddy Walston, diarist of the dispossessed, patron saint of the rough and tumble. His songs celebrate the more colorful parts of this and, that gritty slice ignored by polite society: Places where the air hangs thick with cigarette smoke and desperation. Where whiskey is a blood type and beer gets drank straight from the can. Where everyone is working an angle. Where a high school education means you’re no longer welcome. Where trouble finds you. Where they don’t even try to sell whitening toothpaste.
Some call it Johnny Cash country. This is J Roddy Walston’s America.
Raised in the gospel tradition in one of the lesser known Clevelands– Cleveland, Tennessee; a town renowned for the most churches per capita in the USA — J Roddy learned piano from his God-fearing grandma. But it soon became clear no church could contain his reckless spirit, threadbare vocal chords, and titanium fingers pounding chords with the force of ten jackhammers.
“I just enjoy creating situations in which people can have fun and be accepted, and I think that our music has that common thread in it. People hear the first chorus and, by the second chorus, they’re singing along.”
So J Roddy moved east, settling in Baltimore where The Business was called to order in 2006. First came the challenge and compliment of guitarist Billy Gordon, a musical mirror-image of J Roddy. Next was Steve Colmus, a sportly southpaw with a heavy snare hand. And Logan Davis’s bass provided the pugnacity of a prize fighter’s sparring partner. J Roddy describes this harmonious merger as one in which “raw power met story and neither would compromise.” The result is an energetic, blue collar rock ethic the Baltimore City Paper once said “makes James Brown look lazy.”
Due to their breakneck tempos it is physically impossible to observe posted speed limits while listening to J Roddy Walston and TheBusiness. If the Bible Belt had soccer hooligans, J Roddy would compose their hymns. Imagine Animal the Muppet playing piano and you’re getting close.
Legions of “J-Rowdies” scattered throughout the Continental US eagerly await the arrival of Roddy Walston and The Business to the local roadhouse for a one-of-a-kind religious experience, one known for its redemptive atmosphere, melodies that all but dare women to keep their tops on, and adrenaline-fueled grooves which can even get the toes tapping on a tone deaf corpse.
Decades ago a crack team of cardiologists called Huey Lewis and The News confirmed the vitality of Rock & Roll’s ticker. Today J Roddy Walston and The Business not only reaffirm that diagnosis but offer conclusive proof Rock & Roll’s rollicking soul continues to thrive. J Roddy Walston and The Business, advancing America’s quintessential rock tradition in this digital age…just when we need it the most.
