Rivertown Rats
"I first heard of the Rivertown Rats through Pete Rivard, who was humbly (who knew he was such a genius?) taking the songwriting class that I teach with notorious rocker and demagogue Chris Osgood. To be fair, that class is usually made up of quite a mix of talents, from the greenest neophytes to up and coming songwriters already out playing the field. But Pete surprised me. He and his buddy Steve and their group of friends from a distant and exotic place called Hastings had quite a cool thing going. So when they asked me to help them get their sound down on tape I gladly came aboard. "Their 'sound' was (still is) a kind of storytelling folk steeped in history, fleshed out with the most traditional of acoustic instruments and plain, pure-sung voices, but also with a clever, more contemporary folk/rock spin. These guys aren't afraid to rock, or have a laugh. Still, the resonance of Pete and Steve 's lyrics ring through. All of the original songs are true sto