The Builders and the Butchers - Hell & High Water (2022) [Hi-Res]

The Builders and the Butchers were formed in the fall of 2005 in Portland, Oregon - The band's first two years consisted of busking, playing house shows, and showing up unannounced anywhere around Portland where people were gathered. Folks began to take noHce and the band transiHoned slowly, going from playing on the floor of venues unplugged to gradually adding a mic here, an amp there, unHl they organically grew into one of the most exciHng live acts in the Pacific Northwest. Even when plugged in, a cornerstone of almost every builders show is playing on the floor at some point during the set. The Builders wrote their sixth studio album Hell & High Water (Badman Recording Co.) together as a band in a boat house in the marina where bass player Willy Kunkle lives. Frontman Ryan Sollee explains further: "Through the fall and winter of 2019, we would gather weekly, make a fire, drink beer and whisky and try to find some cohesiveness in these tunes. This gathering place was the most inspiring we have had in any creaHve process for any album up to that date." It ended up being a stark contrast to the year that followed. AZer laying down the iniHal studio drum tracks with Badman label head Dylan Magierek for the album in February 2020, the band was forced to create remotely - which was a massive challenge, and pushed the band way past its usual comfort zone.

Touring relentlessly from 2007-2012 The Builders gathered a cult dedicated fan base across the US and Europe. Playing dozens of music fesHvals like Sasquatch and Lollapalooza, as well as supporHng arHsts like Portugal. The Man, Amanda Palmer, Murder By Death, and Heartless Bastards. The Builders have scheduled their first US and Europe tours in several years to support Hell & High Water. They hope to make music that brings people together for many years to come. Their albums combined SpoHfy streams are over 30,000,000. You Tube views are over 25,000,000. "For more than a decade, the members of The Builders And The Butchers have specialized in a kind of white-knuckle Americana: Their acous:c folk-rock sound is shot through with nervy, hellfire-and-brimstone intensity. The Portland-born band's hometown brethren in The Decemberists provide a useful reference point singer Ryan Sollee has a wide-open bellow and a giZ for vivid imagery." - Stephen Thompson, NPR All Songs Considered