Artist description From the opening “How to Breathe,” with it’s chorus of, “Another road, another time/ Another misspelled ‘God Savs’ sign” to the newspaper chronicle-like album closer “Six ft. OverGround,” Health & Happiness Show's new album SAD & SEXY plays like an audio travelogue of America - imagine a deviant National Geographic set to music. Feel the vastness of Texas in “Continents” and “Noise of Her Name.” Stare out a NYC hotel room window in “Love Sounds like Rain,” wich features haunting vocals by Syd Straw. Walk the banks of a Wisconsin lake in “Some Stay Broke,” or Disappointment river in “What’s a Road For?” (the band’s tribute to another of their heroes, Ronnie Lane). “We were everywhere and called 'honey' by every waitress in every Waffle House that’s out there.” recalls H&H frontman and former Bongos member James Mastro, speaking of their two years on the road in support of INSTANT LIVING, their critically successful '95 release on Bar/None. And truly they were everywhere, touring the States with the likes of Wilco, Golden Smog, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, the legendary Johnny Cash, Syd Straw, pulling double duty as openeing act and backup band for Texas great Butch Hancock and what sadly turned out to be the final Beat Farmers' tour with Country Dick. During all these travels Mastro filled his notebook with thoughts and stories about everything he was seeing; these eventually became the wellspring for the songs on this record. “People ask what we’ve been doing lately," says Mastro, "and all I can say is decompressing. Spending two years in a van moving at 60 miles an hour is comparable to being an astronaut in a capsule, hurtling through the wide open spaces. Viewing things from your window at that speed, sometimes what you see doesn’t register until much later.” decompressing meant anything but sitting still for the H&H band members once they took a break from the road. In their homebase town of Hoboken, NJ Mastro built a studio (named the Pigeon Club, because it's located in what is a still finctioning homing pigeon club, famous for supplying the pigeons in "On the Waterfront.") He then produced records for many artists, including Jill Sobule, Debby Schwartz, and fellow Cropduster act Julia Greenberg. He also opened a vintage guitar/amplifier shop/performance space called Guitar bar, which has the communal feeling of Floyd's Barbershop from the old Andy Griffith Show. Housed in what had been Hoboken's preeminent florist for 80 years (suppliers of the flowers in "On the waterfront,") with chandeliers and coolers still intact, it has become the hangout and epicenter for the always thriving Hoboken music scene, and the place for out of town touring bands to stop and resupply. Vincent Denunzio, Cofounding member of H&H Show and original drummer for the Feelies, was involved in the recording and performing of IT'S ONLY A DREAM, a CD collection of dream-inspired songs by some of NYC’s finest songwriters. And along with the latest H&H cover, Vincent has been busy designing CD artwork for others. Bassist Dave deCastro went right back out on the road, touring extensively in Europe and the States with Steve Wynn and Amy Rigby. When Health & Happiness Show was first born from late-night jamborees around DeNunzio's kitchen table, the idea was to keep the songs as musically uncomplicated and poetic as one of their idols, Hank Williams (the band takes it’s name from an old radio show that Hank hosted).They wanted to make it easy for anyone to be able to sit in and join the band. Continuing with that tradition, Sad & Sexy features some great artists who sat in on the sessions, including: Syd Straw - vocals on “Love Sounds Like Rain.” Jane Scarpantoni - (REM, Ben Folds Five, to name a few) on cello. Ivan Julian - (Matthew Sweet, Richard Hell) on organ and guitar. Erik della Penna - (Joan Osborne, Natalie Merchant) on guitar. Andy Burton - (Curtis Stigers, Tiny Lights) on organ. As the new songs started coming, the band would work out the arrangements in the back room of the Guitar Bar, and then immediately head into the studio to record them. This approach allowed Mastro to look down the road at the next musical destination of songs and see where they were heading, keeping a common thread throughout the songwriting. These new songs are real places with true characters (some “truer than others,” Mastro says), whose features and stories often match the terrain in which they take place. The songs are sad and sexy, but almost always with a glimmer of hope or redemption. So whether you’re listening in your car, or just doing some “virtual traveling” at home, Health & Happiness Show’s Sad & Sexy is the perfect road map to help you get lost.

Group Members Health & Happiness Show is: James Mastro - vocals and guitars, Vincent DeNunzio - drums and vocals, Dave deCastro - bass and vocals, Ivan Julian - guitars

Albums Sad and Sexy, Instant Living, Tonic

Press Reviews Been something like four years since these guys released a record, but what a comeback - the alt,country album not of the month, but the year. It's everything Wilco have aspired to, but seem unable to reach. They can be electric, even poppy, but never lose touch with that essential root. After this there's no doubt that James Mastro is one of the very best songwriters in America. Sad And Sexy doesn't genuflect at the grave of Gram Parsons (although one track does commemorate Jeff Buckley); this is the sound of people who lived and played long enough to become themselves. Nothing is overstated. The guests, staples of an NJ/NY scene like Ivan Julian, Syd Straw, and Jane Scarpantoni, keep trimly in the background. And, in many ways, the band members themselves keep their personalities out of it, to let the songs and the arrangements shine. At the risk of hype, this is a tremendous achievement, a real postpunk country album, and one which sets a new standard for everyone else to reach. The only drawback is that, since this is on a small label, which likely can't afford too much advertising, this won't reach the wider audience that really needs to hear it. Stunning. - Request Magazine

Location Hoboken, NJ - USA

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