Wooden Dinosaur is the recording project of Michael Roberts from Brattleboro, Vermont. Roberts recently rallied his band members and recorded Wooden Dinosaur’s eleventh album, Working Weather, which is due later this year on Lost Honey Records (who also released Sam Moss’ Fable, a record Roberts played on).
It’s an album that means a lot to its creator. Born during a struggle to fight off the demands of real life (which for Roberts means caring for animals and tending the garden of his homestead), it was a task just to find some time to create, especially as he was relying on the help of twelve (!) other musicians too. Add young children to the mix and it’s understandable that music might take a backseat. But Roberts obviously still believes it’s important to create, to express himself. As he explains:
“When the responsibilities of adult life start tugging at your limbs from all sides, you need to prove to yourself that this thing called music is still worth your time and money. In the past few years, I’ve had to work at this music thing harder than ever before in my life. I’ve sacrificed sleep to simply find a few minutes to sit down with a guitar and write, to make it to a gig or rehearsal.”
Today we’re delighted to unveil the first single from the album. ‘Room For Love’ is what the label describes as a “big band, rollicking, Americana-y thing”, which is pretty accurate as descriptions go. Roberts fronts the ensemble that also features percussion, fiddle and pedal steel, providing all the zip and bounce needed for a late-summer slice of romantic country. What’s more, like all the best folk music, Wooden Dinosaur manage to conjure that peculiar nostalgia related to rural living, stimulating the part of the brain or soul that still yearns for honesty and simplicity – working with our hands and living from the land.
“So I took your hand and you took mine,
hey I’ve found someone to work side by side.
We laid our prayers aside for the hammer and glove,
we built a room of love.”
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Working Weather is set for release on Lost Honey Records on the 30th September. You can pre-order it on vinyl, CD or download from the Wooden Dinosaur Bandcamp page. The band are also playing some album release shows in October, so be sure to head along if you are in the area:
14 October | Peterborough Historical Society | Peterborough, NH*
15 October | Spotty Dog | Hudson, NY (solo)*
16 October | Parlor Room | Noho, MA*
*with Sam Moss, Trevor Healy
Photo by Hart and Sol Photography