'Tis the Season for the Long Winters

CC at Charity Chic Music had a fantastic post earlier this week on a 2002 sampler Seattle-based Barsuk Records put out called 'Treats'. This was the label's salad days, and the stable of stars included Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, John Vanderslice, Death Cab for Cutie and many others. My favorite from that era, however, was the Long Winters, and I was shocked to learn today the band had never featured here.

The Long Winters centered around the work of singer-songwriter John Roderick, and he had a knack of surrounding himself with talent, mostly from Seattle, including Chris Walla and Michael Schorr of Death Cab, Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger and even Nabil Ayers, former owner of Sonic Boom Records, a great shop I often frequent. There would also be help along the way from legends like Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of the Posies, as well as Scott McCaughey.

Early on, some compared the Long Winters to R.E.M., and I never really heard it. Before today, I had not listened to them for a very long time. I put this one on and, well, I have to admit I did hear a little of the fellas from Athens, Ga. Of course, it helps that Peter Buck plays mandolin on it. This song can be found on the 2003 album 'When I Pretend to Fall'.

"Cinnamon"

After three terrific albums and an EP between 2002 and 2006, we were promised another long player. In 2016, word was Roderick was getting close. That's an awful lot of long winters between albums, but I bet it will be worth the wait.