King Wilkie Return on April 28 with Cinematic Concept Album "King Wilkie Presents: the Wilkie Family Singers"

Long-awaited third album features special guests David Bromberg, Robyn Hitchcock, John McEuen, Sam Parton (Be Good Tanyas), Peter Rowan, and Abigail Washburn.

NEW YORK, NY – King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers, the new album from the ever-evolving King Wilkie, will be released on April 28 on the newly minted Casa Nueva imprint. The ambitious and evocative work is set against the backdrop of the fictitious Wilkie Family: a household containing the six Wilkie children, their shipping magnate father and matriarchal mother, a pair of housepets, a distant cousin, two family friends, and a music therapist. These are the songs they sing – to each other, to themselves, to no one in particular. There is no plot, no dialog, no storyline: only an imaginary context acting as a setting for the music. “You aren’t supposed to know that much about these characters,” says King Wilkie founder and principal songwriter Reid Burgess, “and you shouldn’t need to in order to listen to the album.”

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2003, King Wilkie has defied expectations at every turn. Their 2004 debut Broke, presented them as a young, furiously hard-driving bluegrass band. They won endless acclaim, a coveted Emerging Artist of the Year from the International Bluegrass Music Association, and a wide audience for their conviction and dedication to the form. With 2007′s Low Country Suite, it became readily apparent that their music was expanding outward into a more idiosyncratic and personal style that incorporated influences ranging from pre-bluegrass American music to British Invasion art song.

Now relocated to New York City, King Wilkie retains their devotion to unpolished, rustic sounds on King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers. “This is still dusty, hand-made music,” Burgess explains. While brass and drums enliven some of the songs, the core sound of the band is still expressed through acoustic instruments, through low-tuned archtop guitars and fiddles. The impressive array of guest vocalists and musicians add to the record’s wide-reaching perspective. “This album,” Burgess concludes, “is not as cerebral or menacing as Low Country Suite. It’s a lot more fun. We tried to shake things up with more whimsical numbers – the Muppets were a persistent influence. If it runs the gauntlet a little bit stylistically, that’s because I was thinking of things more cinematically, and thought there should be almost separate scenes or separate auras coming from different characters’ perspectives.”

King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers is the first release on Casa Nueva, a new label based in Watertown, Massachusetts, founded by writer, musician, and music industry veteran Brad San Martin, who has toiled behind the scenes for over ten years as a product manager, publicist, staff writer, and radio promoter at the venerable eclectic indie Rounder Records and at the insurgent Nashville indie Compass Records.

Submitted by Casa Nueva Industries

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