Rose City Band Invite You to Celebrate the Summer with 'Garden Party'

Ripley Johnson's group unlocks all of their cosmic country potential for their best record yet.

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When we last checked in with Rose City Band, the cosmic country project from Ripley Johnson (Wooden Shijps/Moon Duo), their record Earth Trip was very much of the time. Two years ago, things were a lot different for everyone, and the unhurried songs on Earth Trip encouraged the listener to return to nature and become one with the outdoors. Johnson recorded much of the record at home, also a product of the pandemic.

The version of Rose City Band found on their latest record, Garden Party, is ready to get back out there. With a good handful of tours under their belts, Johnson and his supporting cast are back to sunshine-filled good-time vibes of Summerlong, one which finished in my top ten records of 2020. While Garden Party is intended to celebrate “porch music,” according to Johnson, these songs are just as ready to spend a summer roaming scenery as they are sipping some iced tea and roasting a bone in the backyard.

The biggest takeaway from Johnson's continuing to collaborate more within the project is the ever-increasing natural magic between his ambling guitar work and Barry Walker’s pedal steel. Walker joined the Rose City Band fam on Earth Trip, but the duo’s live runs together really shine on Garden Party. Whether it’s the gentle shuffle of “Chasing Rainbows,” in which Walker lays down classic country textures for Johnson to riff over, or “Slow Burn,” which features a call-and-respond playfulness between the two, it’s clear that these two are firing on all cylinders.

There’s no better way to describe Rose City Band, and this new record especially, as the tightest, most enjoyable first set the Grateful Dead would perform in the late-70s - one in which we’re treated to the best freeform guitar interplay that’s still reigned in before the sun sets on a second set full of surprises. “Porch Boogie” invites the dirt churners to groove as Paul Hasenburg’s keys work (phenomenal throughout the album) fills the gaps of Johnson’s psychedelic solos.

Elsewhere, “Saturday’s Gone” embraces a gentle atmosphere with Walker’s washes that lays the groundwork for “Mariposa,” which opens up into the lushest version of the band yet, with a notable jazzy second half. “Moonlight” comfortably jogs along to a “Not Fade Away”-esque rhythm that journeys into unexpected territory with Johnson’s partner and Moon Duo bandmate Sanae Yamada adding synth textures before segueing into “El Rio” in classic jam band fashion. It’s a steady way to end Garden Party, as Rose City Band embraces their distinct live sound for what is the most definitive version of the project yet.

As much as Earth Trip fit the times in which it was crafted, Garden Party returns to the carefree picnic days of Summerlong and builds upon that feeling for their best record. Letting the Rose City Band catalog breathe on the road has opened the door to the complete capabilities of Johnson’s vision for the project, and his supporting cast is absolutely locked in right now.

With this barn-burning fourth record, it seems Rose City Band is only getting started.

Garden Party is available on Thrill Jockey Records.