Lord Nelson "Transmission" Record Release Party

Lord Nelson Bring Their Stage Show To The Studio On New Album Transmission

January 21, 2022 - Charlottesville, VA - Virginia-based rock and rollers Lord Nelson knew exactly what they needed to capture when they entered the recording studio to track their third album Transmission; a taste of their infamous, burn-down-the-house live show. Now, on the day of their new album’s release, the members of Lord Nelson are confident they’ve achieved their goal with this new batch of road-tested songs bridging the gap between the studio and the stage. And they’re not the only ones enthusiastic about Transmission. Glide Magazine praised album single “Drag Me Down,” writing, “Injecting the tune with a Southern rock twang reminiscent of the Drive-by Truckers, the band maintains a strong momentum that complements the lyrics that urge the listener to push on through dark days,” and Entertainment Tonight included the tune in their favorite New Music Friday roundup. JamBase premiered “Country Desperation” and Nashville’s roots-forward NPR affiliate, WMOT, invited Lord Nelson to perform on their Finally Friday segment, which airs today. PopMatters noted, “The music resonates with the echoes of late 1970s country-rock (think Tom Petty and Neil Young), where the noise and feedback become beautiful in and of themselves," and Sound and Soul summed it up best in a recent interview with frontman Kai Crowe-Getty, noting, “The result is an honest and elemental record full of first-take audacity." After months of lead-up, fans will finally get their chance to hear the whole of Transmission, which can be purchased or streamed now at this link. 

For the first time, this Lord Nelson record features three writers and vocalists, with brothers Henry and Calloway Jones contributing to Kai Crowe-Getty’s set of songs. Rounding out the group are Andrew Hollifield and Niko Cventanovich on bass, Johnny Stubblefield on drums, and Dave Pinto on pedal steel and harmonica. The collection of songs marks a wide range of stories and characters, but there is a creeping lightness that settles around the edges of what could be darker themes in other hands. From car crashes, murder, bank robberies, devotion, trucks in lakes, drug busts, and relationships, to hope, triumph, and overcoming the odds, this record engages a wide view of the human experience.

Using a converted barn to track the record, guitarist Calloway Jones and collaborator Ivan Barry engineered two sessions across a few weeks, and the bones of an album were fitted into a suit. Lord Nelson initially worked to move through recording quickly as to release Transmission and get back on the road. Like the rest of the world, those plans came to a sudden halt with the pandemic. The band wondered, “Does the world need this music now? Will it ever see the light of day?” But finishing vocals in blanket forts, tracking guitars in an old farmhouse, and sending the sessions to friends to record parts enabled this process to grow and change slightly with the enforced break from touring. It allowed the band to pause and take in the songs and choices with a bit more thought. It changed the work and brought a reexamination. But ultimately, this record intends to bring people together—to dance, sing in the car, hum along, crank up on the stereo, and to stop taking life too seriously for a few minutes.