Joe Thompson’s new LP, The Hunting and the Hope,
is like summer in a small town: a smooth, refreshing
cocktail of country, folk, and rock and roll. But there’s
also a hint of New York City attitude in these 11 songs
that come straight from the gut of an exciting new
singer-songwriter. Using the concrete canyons of
New York City and the blue-collar values of his native
Western Pennsylvania as a backdrop, Joe Thompson
combines a passionate, lyrical urgency with toe-tapping
rhythms, wide-open hooks and lilting melodies. With the
help of Brooklyn’s GaluminumFoil Productions, the songs
on The Hunting and the Hope unearth the melancholic details
of love, loneliness and yearning, all from the vantage of a
well-worn bar stool. Thompson gives us a glimpse into the
ghost memories of disappearing yesterdays, where bottles
of Rolling Rock are just $1.25 and time’s unrelenting march
never obscures the hope of nostalgic dreamers.