Rusted Root released Stereo Rodeo, their first studio album in 7 years, on May 5, 2009. On March 13, 2009 the
album became available online. "We named our record Stereo Rodeo after a song that I started writing back when we were
recording our last studio record. It’s really just a great name,” says band founder/leader Michael Glabicki. “We were all just
so into the music,” says vocalist/percussionist Liz Berlin about the recording process, “the synergy and excitement on this
album is so fresh and energizing.” “It is one of the most powerful albums we have ever recorded,” agrees bassist/vocalist Patrick Norman.
“Stereo Rodeo is filled with all the different styles you’ve come to expect from Rusted Root, definitely having all the elements you want. From the energetic dance euphoria that Dance in the Middle evokes to the powerful epic sound of Weary
Bones,” writes Evan Levy (CBS Radio), of the long awaited eleven-song collection. “We are getting a lot of positive feedback from fans,” says vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter, Michael Glabicki, “We are definitely heading in a lot of different directions with this new CD.”
Patrick Norman says about the invigorating energetic track that leads off the album, “Dance in the Middle is one of those tracks that once we first started working on, we knew we had something.” The title track, Stereo Rodeo brings a cinematic, wide-open and intimate style to the album that is captivating. The one cover on the album, Suspicious Minds, made famous by Elvis Presley in 1969, is reworked with new and vitalizing Latin rhythms and has become a powerful favorite at the band’s incendiary live shows. Glabicki states that the political track on the album, Bad Son, “is about George Bush’s
accomplishments, {as his fellow band members laugh} talking about his childhood insecurities that you can see were prevalent in how he ran the country.” Filling out the album, the last track Crucible Glow was an obvious conclusion, as it’s
about change and the uncertainty of the future, adding horns and a heavy groove to the polyrhythmic flow of the album.
Songs like Driving One & Driving Two “came about musically by hanging out playing on stage, just improvising, and a groove just fell together,” relays Patrick Norman. Other tracks on the album such as Weary Bones, Animals Love Touch and
Garbage Man are songs Glabicki has been playing solo over the past few years that have been restructured by the band. “What I like about our band is that I might write a song and have a certain idea for it but then we start playing and the group comes together, they often come up with different ways to express the emotions of the song,” says Glabicki.
