Both venues have a capacity of around 2,000, much bigger rooms than the local bars Rob Aldridge & The Proponents usually play. Like 10 times as big.
The band met the moment though. Songs they played off their upcoming album went over well with audiences The Props were warming up for Americana superstar Jason Isbell, as the opening act for Isbell’s concerts last fall at Montgomery Performing Arts Center and Mobile’s Saenger Theatre. “The tunes felt like they belonged there,” Proponents bassist Matt Ross says. “On a big stage and in front of a big crowd.”
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Now, The Proponents are releasing songs they played on those shows with Isbell, a four-time Grammy-winner known for his songwriting, as part of their sophomore album “Mind Over Manners.” Out Jan. 21, “Mind Over Manners” is the sound of a Muscle Shoals-based rock & roll band staking a claim at the next level. A seamless multihued set that takes the listener through haunting cinema-folk (the title track), funky pop (“Little Lou”), cosmic-country (“This Time”), slinky rock (“Explaining To Do,” “Twisted Blanket,” “Want It More”) and echoed epics (“Ball of Yarn”).
After The Props’ raucous 2018 self-titled debut, singer/guitarist Rob Aldridge streamlined things for their new album. “I wasn’t trying to write math-y guitar licks or be too weird,” Aldridge says. “I was trying to keep it strummy and stuff that translated well acoustically. To bridge that gap between our abilities, what we cand do as a band, but also I didn’t want people to have to think too hard ... at least on every song.”
That said, Aldridge’s lyrics are far from knuckle-draggers. Themes on “Mind Over Manners” include female-empowerment, Black Lives Matter and nuanced takes on complicated modern relationships. The songwriting’s just the right mix of twisty and accessible.
With his warm malleable vocals, Aldridge could sing a collection-agency notice and make it sound soulful. “He’s a very strong singer,” Proponents drummer Nick Recio says. “And being strong vocally and lyrically lends itself to making better overall band parts. Because everybody wants to support that and make sure the song comes across.” Recio’s drumming is another upgrade this time around. He joined The Proponents a while after the band’s debut. While the band had solid drumming previously, Recio’s feel and energy are perfectly in tune with Aldridge’s songs.
Influenced by drummers like Queen’s Roger Taylor, Recio never misses a beat or plays too many of them. A songsmith’s drummer. Having also worked with touring acts like Nashville band Great Peacock, he believes The Proponents’ new songs will help the band “reach a lot more people.”
Proponents’ lead guitarist Rob Malone’s guitar solos on the new album are often songs within the songs. It’s a tasty approach that calls to mind the work of Mike Campbell from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. During preproduction for the new Props album, Aldridge would email rough demos of songs for the band to absorb and help arrange. Later they’d play through the material together to refine and breathe life into it.
For Malone, devising his guitar lines on “Mind Over Manners” was more akin to sculpting than shredding. “I ended up subtracting parts,” Malone says. “As we play and play the song, I’m like, well, this is obviously too much.” Aldridge says on the new album Malone is “doing more melodic stuff than he’s ever done before.” Ross calls Malone “a master of playing for the song without sacrificing emotion.”
Although they went back and did some overdubs later, much of “Mind Over Manners” was tracked live in the Green Hill studio of producer Jay Burgess, singer/guitarist with Shoals band The Pollies. Burgess pushed The Props to “get sounds that we don’t normally go for,” Malone says, “which I’m happy about. I love working with Jay.” Burgess’ Pollies bandmate Clint Chandler contributed keyboards on “Mind Your Manners,” and the strings were courtesy of cellist Caleb Elliott and violinist Kimi Samson. Rising Shoals songstress Wanda Wesolowski – who fronts another top band with Recio on drums, called simply Wanda - duets with Aldridge on the song “Poor Taste.”
Burgess previously worked with Aldridge on the singer’s atmospheric 2020 solo EP “All Along After All,” which featured instrumental backing by The Pollies. “Mind Over Manners” mixes the pow of The Props’ bare-bones debut with the more 3D sound of Aldridge’s Pollies collabo.
In addition to sonics, another key Burgess production contribution was insisting Aldridge keep vocals instinctual as possible. “Jay taught me that my best vocal track is usually a live take,’ Aldridge says. “I was just overthinking it, and he really kind of took me out of that space and made me trust myself more.”
For a while, Aldridge was struggling with sequencing the album’s running order. At one point it was actually keeping him up at night. Then inspired by the BLM protests and reactions to the movement, Aldridge penned what became the spinetingling title track and album opener. After that was in place, the other 11 tracks’ order “flowed from there.”
The “Mind Over Manners” album was largely finished about a year ago. A lot’s happened since then. Most significantly, the loss of bassist Stone Anderson, a beloved talent who died last year at age 27 from an accidental drug overdose. Anderson played all the bass on “Mind Over Manners.” Ross, a skilled player and consummate pro, was brought in so the band could continue. “He kind of saved our asses,” Malone says of Ross. “I hate that the circumstances dictated this, but that’s the way it is. This might be a cliche thing to say, but I really think Stone would have wanted us to keep on trucking, man. I miss him desperately.”
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Malone and Ross had previously played together in eclectic popular Shoals band The Fiddleworms. Ross joining The Props now echoes how Malone came to join Fiddleworms after Fiddleworms guitarist Chris Quillen died in a car accident. “It was almost the same damn situation. The parallels are insane,” Ross says. “Rob was friends with Chris and (taking his place in Fiddleworms) wasn’t an easy thing to do. I’ve always loved him for that.”
There’s no getting around it. It sucks really bad Stone Anderson isn’t here to be a part of the release of “Mind Over Manners” and everything else in life. Beyond his musical gifts, he was smart, kind, funny and a great friend to many in Huntsville, where he resided, and beyond. Anderson was particularly psyched about The Props opening the Isbell shows, originally scheduled for 2020 but postponed during the pandemic’s uncertain early phase.
When the shows finally happened in 2021, Isbell made it a point to stop by The Proponents dressing room before the first show in Montgomery. “Everything was a little tense,” Aldridge says. The weight of Anderson’s absence and the fear the pandemic could cause these big gigs to go away again loomed heavy in the air. “Jason came and hung out with us for half an hour, 45 minutes or something, and we just talked and cut up and it defused the whole thing.”
There are some notable Proponents and Isbell connections. Isbell and Malone were each members of Southern rock band Drive-By Truckers at different times. Aldridge’s wife Nicole was previously married to Matthew Conley, a U.S. Marine who was killed while serving in Iraq and the lyrical inspiration for Isbell’s now-classic song “Dress Blues.” Over the years, Isbell, who resided in the Shoals before moving to Nashville about 10 years ago, had tapped Aldridge as a local support act a couple times before their bigger 2021 shows together.
Aldridge and Anderson, the son of Brother Cane/Atlanta Rhythm Section guitarist Dave Anderson, weren’t just bandmates or friends. They were closer to brothers. Even long after Stone’s death, Aldridge will think of something funny to text him and reach for his phone only to remember there’s no one to text back now. “It sort of comes over me in weird times,” Aldridge says. “It’s never a predictable thing. Nothing really has to happen. One minute I’m going about my business and the next it’s like a ton of bricks and everything reminds you of him.”
During the last part of his life. Anderson was roommates with Recio. Away from the band, they spent many hours together, watching random TV shows, playing disc golf or having a few drinks at a bar and talking smack. To this day, Recio says Anderson is always with him.
Although Anderson had only just taken up the bass when he joined The Proponents, he was a natural on the instrument. And his spirit gave the music a subtle punk edge. “The fact that Stone was also a drummer, a guitar player and a singer,” Recio says, “that’s what makes him such a great bass player because he can see the room from every perspective.” On the new album, Recio says Anderson “really did play his ass off, man. He really did. He gave us a lot.”
Ross, whose musical inspirations include Jimi Hendrix bassists Billy Cox and Noel Redding, was a fan of Anderson’s playing. Now that he’s playing bass in The Proponents, Ross stays as faithful as possible to Anderson’s original lines, particularly the grooves. The band’s given Ross carte blanche to add his own fingerprints to the sound. When he does so it’s usually a fill here or moving a first verse fill to the second.
“There was an honesty to Stone’s playing,” Ross says. “He had a good melodic sense, but he didn’t overplay.” Since Ross joined The Props he’s given the band dexterous-go onstage and a spiritual lift. Aldridge tells me, “Matt’s doing a great job. We’re never going to be the same band as we were with Stone, but that’s OK. You just sort of have to roll with it. This is the hand we were dealt and this is what we’re gonna do.”
Rob Aldridge & The Proponents are playing an album release show Jan. 20 at Electric Belle, the new venue at Stovehouse, 3414 Governors Drive in Huntsville. The band Wanda opens the show at 7 p.m. and The Proponents go on at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 via bit.ly/EB-RobAldridge. “Mind Over Manners” hits streaming services Jan. 21. You can order vinyl copies of the album at robaldridgemusic.com/mindovermanners.
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