White Denim

In his 1942 essay The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus wrote that “All great deeds and all great thoughts have a ridiculous beginning. Great works are often born on a street corner or in a restaurant's revolving door.” 15 years later Richard Wayne Penniman wrote “Wop bop a loo bop a wop bam boom”, an undeniably powerful vocalization that on any given Wednesday in any given situation, civilized or otherwise, is still fully capable of setting somebody’s stuff aflame. Over ten years and seven long players into their career, White Denim are still in the relentless pursuit of a thread - in other words, a wick. 

The Austin, Texas band have carefully and continuously studied the greatest records ever made, but they write songs just dumb enough to drink, dance, and fight to. Theirs is a music that aims for the whole body, while equally satisfying the mind. While it has morphed, expanded, and even burst apart, White Denim’s sincere and human drive and ability to spark true rock & roll exhilaration have been unerring constants of the band’s 10-year existence.  

“White Denim are one of the best live bands you will ever see if you live to be a million. That’s not excitable hyperbole, merely a bald statement of undeniable fact...” — Time Out

“The last great rock & roll band!” — The Guardian

Founded and fronted by singer-guitarist Sean Walsh, The National Reserve mines an archetypal musical seam, pulling together from countless influences to form their own timeless brand of American music. Walsh and the band have spent nearly every Friday night of the past decade lighting it up at a Brooklyn bar, establishing themselves through the lost art of the weekly gig. Endearing their regulars and winning over boozers and barflies with epic three hour sets showcasing remarkable breadth of songcraft and showmanship, if you are a fan of live music in New York City, there is a good chance you’ve seen The National Reserve at some point over the past ten years.

“Look at The Band.” Walsh says, “Guys like Taj Mahal, Leon Russell, and the E Street Band, they cut their teeth doing what we call residencies now but were just a gig back then. You’d play three weeks at one club and then move on; play three weeks at the next club. You basically holed up somewhere and learned how to entertain people. And that, in my opinion, is something that has been lost.”

They’ve left their mark, and in the process Walsh has worked some of the top talent the City, and country, has to offer. Once bemoaned as “just a bar band” by a popular NYC radio host, they have traveled to Europe and back, toured half of the United States and this bar band has opened for the likes of Tedeschi Trucks Band, Jason Isbell, Margo Price, Marcus King, Lukas Nelson, Amy Helm and Brent Cobb. They released three EPs during the pandemic months following 2018's Motel La Grange and are presently in the studio working on the next full length release. In the meantime The National Reserve continues to build a following as they take the sound they’ve built in Brooklyn across the country.