CITY FRITTER (US)
From the Ocean to the Desert

See You
It Took So Long (To Fall in Love)
Travellin' Moon
Standin' by the Door
Tawdry Motel
Before Too Long
Don't You Know
Not Your Girlfriend Anymore
Everything's Right Here
I Know What to Bring

From the Ocean to Desert is the debut album of Topanga Canyon’s City Fritter. The band combines the best from country and folk with classic rock!  Full of influences coming from bands like CSN&Y, Bob Dylan, Buck Owens, the Death, and many others this duo makes music like many bands did in the mid seventies powerful, with catchy refrains and a lots of power chords!  Not exactly Psychedelic Country, but something that comes close to it. Leader of the gang is Johnny Nation, who earned his stripes during his time at the cow-punk band The Joneses. Jewels background comes from her career as a stage actress! Singing & entertaining people since she was a kid, she is very confident in front of the audience and knows how to entertain them.  Together this twosome is the core of the band!  

“Opener See You” is one of those catchy tunes a talked about earlier. It immediately sets the tone for the album full of up-tempo moderate tunes.  It took so long takes us even more into the direction of the aforementioned Psychedelic Country. “Standin’ By the door” turns down the tempo a little bit and this is of course a great opportunity for both Jewels & Johnny Nation to practices their close harmony vocals. Very catchy is “Tawdry Motel” a tune that is drenched in classic country but is a much a part of their influences as “Before to long” with and opening riff that is reminiscent to the birds.  “Don’t you know” checks out once more old time country music but by the time the refrains kick in a more modern approached is use.
Closing tune “I know what to bring” takes us once more to the country outfits of the seventies, with some interesting instrumentation like a six-string banjo, pedal steel guitar, harmonica and mandolin.

The songs on “From the Ocean to Desert” are like a road movie. The story of Jewels and Johnny Nation as they came together in music and in life is told in ten self-penned tracks that were written on places far from their local habitat. The result is a well-crafted album that clocks in just under the 40 minutes!  An enjoyable experience for sure! Take a dip in their world and listen to some clips on www.cityfritter.com.

Mr. Blue Boogie