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Grease and Dust and Blood (EP)

by Gerry Stanek

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1.
Brakeman 03:26
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2.
Gravity 03:17
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3.
Goodnight 02:32
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4.
Red Haired Girl 02:27
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5.
Here or There 04:32
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6.
Ozona 03:41
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about

The title of this new EP comes from the third verse of Gerry Stanek’s “Brakeman,” a straightforward murder ballad set to a pretty melody. Grease and Dust and Blood seems an apt metaphor for the themes that run through this collection. So, the hammer literally falls in “Brakeman” when the titular character kills the conductor. As train songs go, “Brakeman” has some key ingredients, with references to The Little Engine That Could and Jack Kerouac’s “The Railroad Earth” chugging by in three-and-a-half minutes.

Gerry Stanek’s mind was wandering through books and women, through trains and Sir Isaac Newton when these tunes appeared. How do you make gravity analogous to a relationship that can’t be escaped? The answer comes in a song where wishes collapse into black holes, where book smarts won’t do much good in matters of the heart because we’re all held down by something. The singer finally asks, “Is Newton’s Law a tragedy?”

There are several avenues to dilemmas of the heart in Grease and Dust and Blood, and there’s plenty of atmosphere that’s more analog than digital. Something unmistakably real lives in these songs, all of them recorded on a Tascam 4-track cassette player. Something would be lost if this recording was polished and shiny. Gerry Stanek thinks in analog terms, what some might call old fashioned. You might find something analogous to your own dilemmas in the warmth of this collection. You can settle into it like a well-worn couch and find your own perfect spot. There might be some sad subject matter here, but somehow Gerry Stanek makes it feel comfortable, like he’s risen above it.

credits

released September 21, 2022

All noise by Gerry Stanek. Recorded on a Tascam 234 cassette 4-track. Mastered by Gerry Stanek in Greensboro, North Carolina.
All songs copyright 2022 by Gerard Stanek (BMI).

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Gerry Stanek Greensboro, North Carolina

Raised in Pennsylvania's coal country, Gerry Stanek earned his stripes in VFW's and American Legion halls. Then he pounded the bass for major label acts in NYC and performed solo in the city. Now he writes songs in Greensboro, NC.

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