DeSoto Rust Expands American Roots Music 

With the release of their third album, Highway Gothic, Philadelphia-based DeSoto Rust takes their interpretation of American roots music to a new level.  Produced by Joe Carroll (Tom Gillam, Ben Arnold, Joseph Parsons), the album takes its title from the typeface used by the Federal Highway Administration on highway signage since the 1940’s. The studio renderings of the eleven new original songs preserve the energy and spontaneity of the band’s live performances. They made several well-received appearances during the 2010 South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas (part of their Southern Bound 2010 Tour), including a shared billing with guitar legend Bill Kirchen.  Plans are in place to return to Austin in 2013.

The band frequently performs with guest musicians on keyboards, pedal steel, and other stringed instruments.  Beyond its dynamic original material, DeSoto Rust also performs an extensive catalog of classic and contemporary country & western covers.

DeSoto Rust formed in early 2004, recorded its debut album over the following summer, and, without the benefit of a label or promotion engine, made its first showing on the Freeform American Roots (FAR) chart the following year.

Some of the band’s accomplishments:

·        Continuous airplay on broadcast and internet radio across the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand

·        Inclusion on several DJ’s “best of” lists for 2005, 2006 and 2009

·     Ten months on the Freeform American Roots (FAR) chart (as high as #11) in 2005 and 2006

·     Five months on the Euro-Americana chart (as high as #12) in 2005 and 2006

·     Nominations for song and CD of the year in 2005 by contributors to the FAR chart 

·       Songs featured on RaceHour, a syndicated radio program dedicated to NASCAR

·       Shared stages with Bill Kirchen, David Allan Coe, Commander Cody, and Dickie Betts

·       Appearances during the 2010 SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas

Here’s what the critics have said about DeSoto Rust:

“[Highway Gothic is] a quantum leap ahead of where the roots rockers were at after two previous albums, and by all rights should signal their emergence into the top ranks of America’s rock ‘n’ roll bands.” – David McGee, The Bluegrass Special, January 2010

“With the unusually high quality of the material, confident identity and assured musicianship, DeSoto Rust now remind me more of Austin’s late, lamented The Highwaymen/Loose Diamonds than, as they did on their earlier albums, of The Band or CCR. – John Conquest, 3^rd Coast Music, December 2009.

“It’s a rock solid collection of eleven originals and one well-placed cover that’s well produced, well played and well written.” – Reb Landers, The Alternate Root, November 2009.

“The band also have that seemingly effortless simpatico that comes from playing together forever.” – Jeremy Searle, Americana UK, November 28, 2009

"Everything your parents don't want you to get into as a teenager – that’s what DeSoto Rust makes you feel. Everything you love about the night, about love and desire, sex and retribution. All those sides of us that the highway calls up.” – John Shelton Ivany, National News Bureau, JSI’s Top 21, November 2009

“The lost art of blue collar rock is alive and well here." – Chris Spector, Midwest Record, October 28, 2009

“Great road trip music!” – Shayne Hollinger, Program Director, Mandatory FM, Stephenville, Texas, April 2009.

Discography:

DeSoto Rust: