darkcountry

Dark Country was formed in 2000 by Jay Molnar and Paul Ortega who met in Los Angeles through mutual friends and musicians in the early 80s. Over the years they've played in various cover bands and backed other aspiring song writers. In 2000, after realizing that they themselves had a knack for writing dark southern rock with a jazz/blues edge, decided to put their writing abilities to the test and formed Dark Country. They have spent the last 6 years working on their craft and putting together a catalog of original songs. In 2005 they took a stab at whittling their catalog down to a 13-track list of songs which includes the title track "Dark Country" an introspective query into the present "Dark" state of our country and its somewhat apathetic constituents, it introduces you to the band and subtlety prepares you for the other 12 songs. Their music is described as "warm / blue, inviting, dark and smoky" reminiscent of the early warm analog sounds coming out of Asylum Records in the seventies. They take you back to a time (pre-FM) when getting stoned with your friends while listening to great vinyl from Hendrix, CCR, Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Bros. and the Dead on your Dad's stereo, was the highlight of your day. Jay was raised in Los Angeles where as a teenager he studied guitar, played in garage bands and had aspirations of being a blues player. Paul also raised in Los Angeles, started off on guitar, and as many other bass players will confess, he started playing bass because the neighborhood band already had a guitar player. Dark Country's self titled cd is a celebration of over 25 years of friendship and a mutual love for great music. Jay and Paul can be seen playing the local L.A. acoustic scene (Room 5, The Roxy and Genghis Cohen) working on their craft. "We're looking for people who can remember paying $5 to go see a great band and are appalled at the idea of paying $500 to see a "musical icon", and are tired of hearing about the "new" box set from so and so on sale just in time for Christmas for only $300, how about some new music with a familiar and welcome sound?, in the meantime kick back and take a listen" —Paul