mr curran, ledgeman studios, DTLA

In the early 2000s, Los Angeles had a roots scene hiding in plain sight — from McCabe’s and The Cinema Bar to El Cid, Taix, Spaceland, Echoplex, and the high desert reach of Pappy & Harriet’s. 

Away from the major-label machinery, songwriters like Randy Weeks, I See Hawks in L.A., Tony Gilkyson, and Gram Rabbit helped define a loose, unvarnished LA language: alt-country, desert noir, music for apartments, rented houses, and long drives home.

mr curran was not at the center of that scene. He was in the mix: musician, singer, songwriter, architect, DTLA pioneer. From his Skid Row rooftop studio, the Ledge, he wrote 40+ songs, watching Los Angeles before downtown became brand language.

Songs So Far gathers eight original recordings from that archive, remastered with new technology. Rough-edged, literate, wry, wounded, these are recovered transmissions: love, loss, brothers, entrances and exits, and dreams half-broken before morning.

Songs So Far is flawed, human, and worth hearing.