Hello reader,
Welcome back to SWT.
Today, we’re going to delve into Pert Near Sandstone’s newest album. Back in January, we shared one of the album’s lead singles here. We have also covered the band a few times regarding the awesome festival they helped create, curate, and co-host, Blue Ox, and for the essay and excellent cover of The Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait”. The band consisting of four songwriters J Lenz (Acoustic Guitar), Justin Bruhn (Upright Bass), Nate Sipe (Mandolin, Fiddle) and Kevin Kniebel (Clawhammer Banjo) has exquisitely blended their own songs of bluegrass, roots, and folk music with a punk spirit in the best ways, as they’ve put a Midwest twist on Appalachian sounds for over two decades.
If you haven’t heard of the Minneapolis/St Paul based band yet, I recommend that you explore their fantastic discography consisting of Live: Just Outside of Sandstone (2005), Up and Down the River (2007), Needle & Thread (2008), Out On A Spree (2009), Paradise Hop (2011), The Hardest Part of Leaving (2014), Discovery of Honey (2016), Live at Blue Ox (2018), Rising Tide (2020), and Waiting Days (2023). There’s no bad place to start delving in, but I would suggest starting with a live album, such as the stellar Live at Blue Ox.
And on Friday, February 27th, comes the band’s newest studio album, Side by Side, for your listening pleasure. This is their ninth studio album.
Giving credit where it’s due. Besides the band, additional album credits:
- Patrick “Patty Buttons” Harrison plays accordion in “Side by Side”
- Chase Rabideau plays baritone guitar on “Last Call Man”
- Joe Haessly co-wrote the chorus on “Last Call Man”
- Ryan Young (of Trampled by Turtles) – recorded, engineered, and co-produced the album.
And for now, some hype for your ears and eyes via Pert Near Sandstone’s YouTube channel:
The official audio in the video for the opening song, “Pipe Dream”:
(All credits and rights to Pert Near Sandstone)
Reminisicent of a irish ballad, the friendly titular song, “Side by Side”:
(All credits and rights to Pert Near Sandstone)
Examining youth in the song, “Shooting Star”:
(All credits and rights to Pert Near Sandstone)
Overall, listening to the entire Side by Side album is a pleasant experience. There’s a lot to like. A good place to start is the consistently crisp vocals, regardless of who the songwriter or lead singer is. Along with the moments of choral bliss. The guys are extremely talented musicians and, as usual, employ more than a handful of perfect instruments for the moment within the songs they’ve crafted. Beautiful melodies are commonplace. Paired with that, at times traditional and other times modern instrumentation, is their excellent songcraft, which blends exploratory lyrics with impeccable musicianship. A uniting theme throughout Side by Side is optimism and hope despite the situation. At times throughout the album, the optimism is more cautious and addresses realities. But optimism prevails as the lyrics explore the past, present, and future, with a persistent focus on progress. Kudos.
Looking at some individual songs, the album opener “Pipe Dream” does a great job of establishing unity and a mindset of adventure. Songwriter Justin Bruhn states in the album’s press release, “We are social animals. It feels so good to gather. Maybe that is reason enough to keep on going. This sets the tone for the rest of the album.” To me, the song feels like a warm hug while you listen to this album. There are a few earworms.
The next song is the title track, “Side by Side,” a wonderful love anthem to Irish folk music tradition. A song complete with Nate Sipe on Irish tenor banjo and Patrick Harrison on accordion. J Lenz says, “It’s something I feel very strongly about right now in the divisive world we live in today. It’s an anthem about overcoming adversity and looking at the world in a new light as a new day dawns.” If the opening track was a warm hug, this is a group hug with messaging about getting it right together. Complete with some earworms. It is, after all, a fierce anthem. It’ll quickly become a standard within their set. One ballad that I think the audience will love to sing along with the band.
The third and fourth songs share overlapping themes. The first, “Shooting Star,” employs even more reflection than the first two songs, as its lyrics look to days of youthfulness. Looking towards the sky and stars. Sipe creates plenty of space for instrumentation, and the band shines. The result is another memorable song to open this album. The next song adds some reverb, tenderness, and vulnerability via lap steel and Kevin Kniebel’s vocals. The lyrics also explore seeking guidance from the stars about becoming a better human within a more just and equitable world. One line reads, “Your heart could burst, but maybe that’s what it takes.”
The halfway point on the album is “Chuck Will’s Widow,” a good song that showcases each band member’s pure talent. It’s an instrumental that bursts out of the gate from the opening note, without stopping until the closing note. Sipe opines in the album’s press release that it, “first took flight for us around a campfire while the bird that it was named after sang along from the darkness in a far-off tree.” The band slows down with their most country music honky tonk genre song on the album, “Last Call Man,” which features some serious twang off baritone guitar and more. All the while, transporting you to a barstool at some small town bar while you listen.
Picking up the pace with the next song, “Racin’ to the Grave,” and it’s time for Justin Bruhn’s matter-of-fact, at times cynical lyrics and purposefully weary vocals to shine. The musicianship is quick from start to finish, and the lyrics examine what it means to be human. Further exploring being human in modern America is Sipe’s song, “Grace,” which, as the album press release states, is a “testament to modern America, with concerns for the urban homeless population and future generations adapting to the economic and social realm, along with a plea for tolerance and compassion.” After listening, I feel that the song accomplished what Sipe set out to do above. And did so well. In addition, there are some great moments of banjo and bass within the melody.
The last two songs have anthemic moments to them. The ninth song on the album, “Rise and Shine,” balances an optimistic message, refrain, and resulting spirit with a melody heavy on lap steel. The words came from Kevin Kniebel’s mother and are now entrenched in song for all time, for many to hear and remember. The last song on the album is a nod to Nate “Sonny Boy” Sipe, featuring Sipe on fiddle and vocals, with band members adding vocals to his origin story. This back-and-forth, crafted by J Lenz, is good-natured, loving, and appreciative, and adds to the Sipe’s origins, which are almost fable-like and two decades in the making. To me, this has to be one of their favorite songs from the album to play live. It feels like a fitting way to end the album.
Side by Side gets 4 out of 5 Scum Drops from me. There’s a lot to like for new fans of the band. There’s more than enough for everyone with good listening ears, especially those who appreciate well-crafted songs of any sub-genre. But especially more traditional melodies that are very accessible. I think long-time fans will rank it highly within Pert’s discography. I feel it’s well worth 4 Scum Drops relative to all new releases in 2026. Add this album to your collection on the format of your choice. Get the vinyl first!
I’ll always advocate that you take the time to listen to every album in its entirety. The listening process with Side by Side will take less than 40 minutes of time from start to finish. Along the way, you’ll discover your own favorite songs without the influence or bias of others. After several listens, I found the songs highlighted in green below to be my favorites on this album.
More insight about the painting that adorns the album cover from the album’s press release, “The album artwork was painted by renowned Minneapolis painter Dan Mason. Dan’s original painting, Water and Stone XIII, was selected to represent the natural beauty that shelters within stark and hostile natural landscapes of the great North. Where lakes reflect by shattering into a million skies; where majestic white pines contain secrets and testimony, tales omitted from books that can spark into wildfire.”
The track list for Side by Side:
- Pipe Dream (3:49)
- Side by Side (3:25)
- Shooting Star (3:44)
- Quiet Hours (5:03)
- Chuck Will’s Widow (3:36)
- Last Call Man (4:06)
- Racin’ to the Grave (3:21)
- Grace (4:28)
- Rise and Shine (3:16)
- Sonnyboy (2:56)
Total run time: 37:46
For more information on Pert Near Sandstone, including where to get the album or when they’re on tour, visit their website or Linktree, follow them on Instagram and Facebook, and listen to their music on TIDAL, Spotify, and YouTube. And check out their Podcast Road to Blue Ox.
Thank you for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site: scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions!
Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
