“When punks get old they pick up acoustic guitars and play country” – anonymous
Billy Edwin spent his younger years playing in punk rock bands throughout southern California. But we all need to slow down at some point I suppose. In 2020 Edwin released the excellent “New American West” album, which with songs like “Zion is Burning” and “Charm of the City” kept the punk rock protest vibe strong with mellow instrumentation – acoustic guitars, lap steel, piano and more. There were a few uptempo songs on the album but for the most part he kept it pretty slow.
For Valentine’s Day this year, Edwin released “I’ll Sing With You“, which sets itself apart from his previous work with the very first drum hit. That’s thanks to drummer Kevin Ruggeri, who Edwin previously teamed up with in the SoCal skatepunk band Ten Foot Pole. Ruggeri’s drumming brings a whole new intensity to Edwin’s work – this song could have been a tender soft ballad but the duo turned it into a solid punk/country rocker along the lines of the Old 97’s early work.
“I’ll Sing With You” is an ode to a long-term partner (his wife, I’m guessing) and describes challenges they’ve had to face together and how they overcome and continue to stay together, and sing together. It’s a punk rock love song that only someone who has mellowed out and settled down could write. While the problems he describes (having a flooded hallway rot and have to be replaced, the wind knocking your full trash cans all over the neighbors lawn) might not resonate with the younger crowd, as an old punk who settled down and holy hell have I had my trash cans blow over and have to run all over the neighborhood picking up dirty diapers and beer cans while seething at my wife for not securing the trash better (even though it was probably my fault), I can say that Billy Edwin GETS me.
“I’ll Sing With You” is available on Spotify, Apple Music and all the other streaming platforms.
