church cordial: why this why now?

church cordial: songs of tanner evans - the humble blues band origin story

Having explored the edges of sonic noise and avant-garde rock with Humble, Thee Humble Blues Band, Kiama's own musical journeymen, return in 2025 with homespun tales and heartfelt blues from their sophomore LP Church Cordial: songs of tanner evans.

Combining elements of classic southern rock with Dylanesque psychedelic folk and spiritual soul, it’s a progression more than a departure. Informed from the beginning by collaboration, blues impresario and longtime friend of the band, Frank Sultana, gun guitarist and folk savant CJ Stranger, local journeyman Dane Overton, celebrated vocalist Shelley Harland and many others add their cream and sugar to this strong brew. It’s musical dense and lyrically diverse, but the narrative thread of Jonathan Franzen’s 2021 family saga Crossroads runs through it like a muddy river.

“I was really moved by the novel. It’s about growing up in a community of faith and having to find your own place in it. It’s a tome partly because Franzen takes the time to really articulate each character’s voice, without relying on you-know-the-type narrative short cuts. You have to commit to each point of view. I immediately knew I wanted to make a record like that; character studies that add up to greater than the sum of each part.

“So each song is both set in a familiar world, but is also entirely fictional. Cultural appropriation blues, oldy worldy nonsense that sort of reminds you of an experience you’ve never had.” Rambles songwriter Stephen Holmes.

“Ryan’s drumming is ideal for it, Charlie Watts backbeat with flourishes that bloom around Darcy’s heart-thumping, melodic bass lines. We talked a lot about a kind of simplified E-street/Heartbreakers sound that kicked and dragged you places you didn’t know you wanted to go.”

At times catchy and buoyant, frequently surprising, it’s blues but in a broader sense.

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