Robbie Jay Band to release first album

By GUY D’ASTOLFO

dastolfo@vindy.com

It takes most bands an album or two before they find their sound, and some never do.

But the Robbie Jay Band seems to have nailed it on its first try.

The Youngstown quartet will release its self-titled debut album this week.

RJB straddles some musical lines: Southern rock, alt-country and a dash of old-school Nashville. The result is a sonic mix that lies somewhere between the Drive-By Truckers and Merle Haggard.

The typical RJB song includes gravelly-voiced frontman Robbie Jay delivering set-you-straight lyrics about life and love, and the lead guitar of Jay Hinrichs blazes a path through the underbrush.

The Band will have a record-release party Saturday at the Wonderbar in Girard.

Jay discussed the band with The Vindicator last week. The confidence that comes through on the recording, he noted, is the result of two years of perfecting the songs at live shows.

The debut disc cherry-picks the best songs from a typical RJB set. “In a weird way, it’s like a greatest-hits record,” said Jay.

The album was recorded by Pete Drivere at Ampreon Recorder in Youngstown. “Pete understood our sound and wanted the record to sound like we sound live,” said Jay.

RJB released a three-song sampler last year, which included “When You Were You.” That song has become the band’s anthem, and it leads off the new disc.

Work will begin in a few months on a second album, according to Jay. “We already have 75 percent of the songs ready for it,” he said.

Jay comes from a musical family, but he never picked up a guitar until after he graduated from Thiel College.

That late start might have something to do with the band’s maturity.

“In a perfect world, I’d have been doing this since I was 14,” said Jay. “But I am more focused now.”

Although Jay writes the songs, the whole band — which also includes bassist Ryan Rexroad and drummer Dan Dominic — is meticulous about the final version. Practice sessions often are used to fine-tune certain aspects of a tune to get it just right, said Jay.