The Alex Leach Band Tells a Vivid Story with "October Fall"

If The Alex Leach Band's debut single for Mountain Home, "Take The Long Way Home," was a brash, sunny slice of progressive-leaning bluegrass, the quintet's second Jim Lauderdale-produced release reveals a different side of the group and its leader. Written by Leach and Georgia musician Evan Rose, "October Fall" is a veiled, yet intensely evocative study of memory and loss, all the more powerful for its enigmatic lines and restrained accompaniment.  

"I was hanging in Georgia with a fellow musician and good friend of mine, Evan Rose, about 11 or 12 years ago when he sang a song for me that he was working on," Leach recalls. "I could tell it had a deep meaning with him, but wasn't sure of the whole story behind it. I carried the words and melody with me for many years before I brought it back out and added another verse to it. The writing of this song spans over a decade, and I hope it will hit home to listeners who may have dealt with losing a close friend in their adolescence."

"I was remembering the times I had with a good friend," explains Rose. "She and I always hung out during the October festival in Guyton, Georgia. When we were both in our teens, her life was cut tragically short. This song reflects some of our special adventures together."

Introduced by an appropriately sparse, yet melodic introduction on two guitars, "October Fall"'s first verse sets the song's tone in an intimate, plain-spoken yet almost mysterious way:

"Blue skies in these eyes of mine
They remind me why you're not still alive
And I keep getting left behind
By the world and everyone else in line 
But they won't listen why
No they won't listen why" 

And as the arrangement slowly adds more instruments and textures, Leach adds detail upon detail to paint a picture at once misty and blurred, yet achingly precise in its emotional truth. For those who know Alex only for his mastery of the quintessentially bluegrass Stanley style - and, indeed, for just about everyone - "October Fall" is bound to be a revelation that, for all his devotion to bluegrass tradition, The Alex Leach Band is firmly planted in a thoroughly modern musical world.  

Listen to "October Fall" HERE. 

About The Alex Leach Band
Hailing from the mountains of East Tennessee, Alex Leach is no stranger to the world of music. Just 30 years old, he has already been in the business for more than two decades, earning two "DJ of the Year" awards from the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America by the time he was 15, and appearing on CMT's "Big Ticket," the BBC, and Peter Jennings' "ABC World News Tonight."  

Yet even as he was building his reputation as one of the premiere radio voices in bluegrass, Alex was honing his skills as a guitarist and banjo player. He began his professional career as a musician at the age of 19, and was recruited a few years later by Ralph Stanley II, the son of iconic bluegrass pioneer, Ralph Stanley, with whom he had the opportunity to play banjo on the Grand Ole Opry in 2014. In the years that followed, he toured widely with "Two," earning critical accolades for his playing, his compelling lead and harmony vocals, and for his additions to the bluegrass canon with songs like "Mountain Heartache."  

 

 

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