The Walcotts

"The Walcotts take a broad approach to their own brand of roots music, mixing twang, brass and bombast" - Rolling Stone

The Walcotts are an American Rock'n'Roll band that captivatingly distills roots music, soul, blues, and country.

Armed with a large line-up, their sound is fueled by male-female vocal harmonies with the accompaniment of horns, pedal-steel, fiddle, and piano. While the Los Angeles band draws inspiration from more than a half century's worth of American traditions, the music of The Walcotts is contemporary and fresh. 

As the band’s debut album, Let The Devil Win (Local Hero Records via Kobalt/AWAL, September 2016) illustrates, The Walcotts play big-sounding, genre-bending music with deep roots. Their sound is as energetic in a live setting--where The Walcotts have been known to swell their lineup to as many as nine members--as it is on the band's album which abounds with such highlights as “Should’ve Been Me,” “Let The Devil Win,” “Hanging Tree” and “Coalinga.” Their self-penned songs spin stories and melodies that take aim at the heart as well as the head.

The Walcotts aren't some revivalist band, stuck mimicking the retro sounds of an era that's long since past. With songs recorded at the legendary FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Rami Jaffee's (The Wallflowers/Foo Fighters) private Fonogenic Studios in Los Angeles along with a co-written song with John Alagia (known for his work with Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer) the sound is unmistakably WALCOTTS: both familiar and fresh, old and new, fine-tuned and broadly appealing.

Formed in 2012, The Walcotts began spreading their music through multiple TV and film placements, while also earning a well-deserved rep as a powerful live act. They’ve opened dates for Chris Stapleton, Steve Winwood, LeeAnn Womank, Chris Isaak, Honeyhoney, and more. They’ve also performed at major festivals like Stagecoach (2017), San Diego’s KAABOO (2016) and backed up Caitlin Rose at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (2014). Live, The Walcotts bring the nuances of their recorded material to life with every show, building upward toward an explosion of horns, organ, guitar and dual vocals. 

"The Walcotts take a broad approach to their own brand of roots music, mixing twang, brass and bombast"  - ROLLING STONE

"I tried to liken The Walcotts to another band, or artist, but there are no direct comparisons. They are unique and cross over into multiple genres. Rock'n'Roll, Folk, R&B, and Country melt together, backed with the full energy of a big band"  - NO DEPRESSION

“The Walcotts dig up a retro blend of rootsy rock & roll that mixes a bit of funky R&B with just a hint of saucy, horn-pumped jazz. Tom Cusimano’s vocals might purposefully evoke the folksy blues-rock phrasing of Leon Russell, The Band and Dr. John, but his rusty, rustic ruminations are balanced by co–lead singer Laura Marion’s homespun, countrified delivery on their debut album, Let the Devil Win. The local group’s arrangements are embellished further with Devin Shea’s lonesome, winsome streaks of violin.” - LA WEEKLY

“It might seem impossible to update sounds rooted in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but The Walcotts are the band that could do just that. Combining country, ragtime, soul and R&B, the band has an old-timey feel but writes in a fresh-sounding manner on its album Let the Devil Win, which could make Dr. John a fan of choral rock or an emo addict a fan of Leon Russell.”
- Rob Cullivan, PORTLAND TRIBUNE (Portland, OR), September 7, 2016

“The Walcotts…play perfect driving-on-the-freeway music. The band’s rootsy, rollicking soulful sound is reminiscent of Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen, but is entirely the Walcotts’ own. The boy-girl harmonies, backed by horns, pedal steel, fiddle, and piano, feels familiar but altogether new.”
- Lilledeshan Bose, MYSPACE.COM, August 12, 2016

“…the Walcotts have quickly established themselves as a band to watch.”
- PUREVOLUME, August 11, 2016

“Los Angeles-based the Walcotts blend traditional American roots-based instruments into a raucous party for all, with male-female harmony singing, various acoustic string instruments, horns and an all-out attitude for fun.”
- Brett Bush, MUSIC CONNECTION MAGAZINE, September 2016 issue
 
“Tim, Laura, Jim, and Devin make up The Walcotts, a rootsty new take on country-rock… fans of contemporary country-rock, will certainly be delighted. The album starts off with the paunchy ‘Should’ve Been Me’ which plays with creole notes sounding like something that could have come right out of New Orleans. It’s the kind of feel-good track…that illicit feelings of sitting on a back porch sucking down a Hurricane. From there, the album moves on weaving in and out of heavier country sounds and bluegrass stylings. It’s clear that The Walcotts, who formed in 2012, are apt musicians and thought out instrumentalists. Their success is heard when they follow a country, bluegrass, even bluesier path…‘Let Me Take You Home Tonight’ sounds like a track that would have an entire southern America pub hooting and hollering.”
- Danica Bansie, PUREGRAINAUDIO.COM, September 16, 2016
 
“Filling the main stage room of Hotel Cafe with a mighty sound, the L.A.-based ‘genre-bending’ Americana band The Walcotts performed a vigorous and robust set of music off their just-released, debut album Let The Devil Win…The 12-song album features lyrical themes that are both personal and universal aimed at both the heart and mind…The nine-piece live band…featured a melodic sonic explosion of guitars, horns, rhythm section, violin, pedal-steel and organ. The pacing, timing and arrangements were perfectly executed live and intricately coordinated but with a loose and spontaneous feel giving their high-energy set that dynamic, gritty edge throughout.”
- Harriet Kaplan, SOCALMUSICTODAY.COM, September 20, 2016
 
“Large L.A. band…carries on more like a New Orleans band, or a bowl of New Orleans gumbo, stirring up many flavors of American music into a spicy party.”
- Jon M. Gilbertson, JOURNAL SENTINEL (Milwaukee, WI), September 15, 2016

“The Los Angeles-based, baseball team sized sonic carnival known as The Walcotts is a nine-piece unit that skillfully weaves a tapestry of tasty influences into a delicious gumbo of great music.”
- Jim Villanueva, ALLACCESS.COM, January 20, 2016

“The album features their fun as well as mature sound that blends folky rock vibes with jazzy sax solos to create a take on Americana music that is truly their own.”
- McKenna Cardwell, What‘s Up Magazine (Bellingham, WA) September, 2016

"Dr. John and Tom Waits spend a night drinking together somewhere between New Orleans and Los Angeles. A great cross-pollination of R&B, Soul and Country.” -
- Terry Roland, NODEPRESSION.COM, December 11, 2012

"If you are missing the music of Levon Helm, look no further"
- -Debbie Del Grande, LA RECORD, February 25, 2013

"The Walcotts know what they’re doing. Raise a glass to the late Levon Helm — in fact, make it strawberry wine — and be thankful the Walcotts aren’t making emo with a banjo."
- Kevin Bronson, BUZZBANDS.LA, August 22, 2013

- "Sings like the ghost of Levon Helm, and songs like “Should Have Been Me” mix six or seven instruments together playing a great hook, without crowding one another out."   
- Frank Kocher, San Diego Troubadour (San Diego, CA) January 2013

"The Walcotts channel Dr. Teeth & The Electric Mayhem, if not Dr. John and Tom Waits with their special blend of Americana. The band excel at musical composition, crafting catchy riffs and fortifying them with a full range of tones"  -Music Connection

- "It’s the essence of true L.A. Americana music where country, blues, folk, gospel, jazz and country come together with an unforced, spontaneous and un-contrived feel." 
 - Turnstyled Junkpiled  (Los Angeles, CA) December 2012