“THE TIME TRAVELER TRILOGY” – New Worldwide Release

  WILLIAMSPORT, PA - 01/30/2018 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

As the backbone of the second of The Front Porch Country Band’s five new albums (all slated for release during the next 18 months), their epic new three-song, 17-minute recording – “The Time Traveler Trilogy” – sets the tone for this world-traveled band’s most conceptually ambitious collection of songs yet. And it’s just one of twelve striking new creations on their breakthrough new album: “Time Traveler.”

This band is no stranger to the telling of conceptual tales. In 2001, their unique “North Country” sound launched their international career with another concept album, “America Standing Tall – The American Trilogy.” Released in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks, that suite was a clarion call for Americans to unite behind our compassion for fallen heroes and a determination for America to endure. More recently, “The Christmas Trilogy,” from The Christmas Album explored the many moods of our most cherished season.

Now this newest trilogy has even loftier aims – to take on universal, cross-cultural questions that defy the boundaries of time itself. “We wanted to set the mark high and really challenge our song styling,” says guitarist and songwriter Rick Buck. “We went into these recording sessions determined to create something new – something thoughtful – and maybe something more expansive than other things we’ve done up until now. The passage of time is a heavy subject. We wanted to keep things balanced. We ended up utilizing our studios like a musical creative laboratory.” 

The balance they’ve achieved here is masterful. Astonishing, really. Which, considering the subject matter, is no small feat. What makes this work so special is the band’s ability to take a hard, mature look at the darker truths of human existence without lapsing into morbidity or bitterness. On the contrary, they strike this listener as marvelously buoyant, uplifting, and, overall, astonishingly life-affirming. 

The effects are achieved through thoughtful musical framing and expert production—something the band’s long-time fans will find unsurprising. The trilogy is peppered with any number of haunting lyrics with striking lines like, “I’m trapped in an old man’s foolish dreams – while a young man sits inside me staring blindly back through time – reliving lives I’d long since left behind...” Yet the sting in those sentiments is blunted by a backdrop of warm acoustic and pedal steel descants which, like a soft summer breeze following a lightning storm, gently remind us of deeper truths. 

Yes, time is fleeting. Yes, it inevitably steals our dearest possessions. And yes, from our mortal perspective, all our efforts are ultimately fruitless. But at the end, we’d prefer to look back and celebrate a life well-lived, rather than mourn its loss. 

The Time Traveler Trilogy opens with an acapella ode to time in pristine six-part harmony, as the vocalists cascade through a series of crisp major movements. Assured. Upbeat. Confident. They implore: “Time will slowly fade away – just time enough to say, I love you.”

Augmented by sparkling spoken-word narratives from Alison Rupert, the lyrics frame the unsettling and mysterious tale of young lovers who fall passionately in love, only to be tragically parted by an untimely death. The heartbreak of loss permeates this opus. Yet each iteration of the trilogy’s pervading themes closes with the same affirmation: “Just time enough to say – I love you.”

The songs usher us through the tragic love story amid lush, fabulously layered soundscapes of intertwined melodies and counterpoints. Beneath it all, the arrangements project an effortless acoustic aura, lending the lyrical reflections an unexpected serenity. Imagine relaxing on a white sandy isle surrounded by palm trees and shimmering blue-green water – contemplating the nature of time itself. 

Standout vocal performances from Kim Reichley, Alison Rupert and Joseph Paul Hauserman breathe life into dramatic and poetic lines like, “He who would cling to what’s come before, must struggle to hold it now,” and “No man is so rich he can buy from the past what heaven must never allow.” The band’s artistry reflects the trilogy’s mystic overtones, as the impassioned performances bring to mind the finest storytelling of 60s-era icons like Simon & Garfunkel, Richard Harris, and Joni Mitchell.

The impressive vocals are expertly underscored by the instrumental mastery of lead guitarists Rick Buck and Richard Rupert. Utilizing a full array of flat-picked acoustics, crying telecasters, and soaring pedal steels, the pair provide a brilliant tour de force, supplying an aural majesty evoking other technically demanding gems from the likes of The Doobie Brothers, America, and The Little River Band. The soulfully interwoven guitar lines and richly-layered production elements are reminiscent of some of the greatest sounds in the history of rock and pop. ’Bridge Over Troubled Water' and ‘MacArthur Park’ come to mind.

With its elegant, mysterious storylines and riveting instrumentals, discerning listeners who cherish astute storytelling and songwriting combined with brilliant musical production, “The Time Traveler Trilogy” from The Front Porch Country Band is a must-listen. 

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“ ’The Time Traveler Trilogy’ is the sprawling new three-song, 17-minute opus 

from The Front Porch Country Band – and grapples exquisitely with the 

baffling impermanence of life’s most mystic conditions:

Time and Immortality.” – Dr. Eric Wallace

“We returned from The World China Tour

and went into these recording sessions determined to create something new

…we ended up utilizing our studios like our own creative laboratory.” 

– The Front Porch Country Band

View The Popular Video 

From The Band’s World China Tour: 

“The World China Tour”