Named for the highway suspended between Bakersfield and the Kern River Valley, The 178’s reimagines classics from Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson through cloaks of electronic flourishes and dreamlike arrangements. I had the pleasure to visualize this connection from one city to the next, one genre to another, by deconstructing a familiar roadside landmark with an abstract approach that speaks to the album’s quirky sensibilities. On their rendition of “Crazy,” the vocals scatter like broken radio frequencies, the type you’d expect to find in-between AM stations, chirping through the gaps. With elegant instrumentation and production, The 178’s handful of new classics illuminate the connections between the past, the present and every side road along the way.
Album personnel:
Evan Calbi: Nylon-string guitar, electric & double bass, pedal steel, vocals
Pat Dietz: Electric guitar
John McClung: Pedal steel arrangement on “Silver Wings”
Bill Severance: Drums
Rich Wenzel: Hammond B3 organ, keyboard
Win_go: Backing vocals
Recorded at Ardent Audio Productions, October 2018
Mixed by Rich Wenzel
Produced by Evan Calbi & Rich Wenzel
Released November 18th, 2018 on Bandcamp and other streaming platforms.