Breaking Artist: Harlan Pepper

Do you ever have a day when you wake up and everything just goes wrong? Say your alarm doesn't go off and you miss class, or you have to dig your car out from an encasement of snow, or you ate too many delicious grapes and feel slightly nauseous. Maybe, just maybe, it's a day of all of those options and more.

So when I go into my email and find a bunch of spam about how I've won a large sum of money from some dead relative and another email about the possibility of a little magic pill that can make everything bigger and better, I worry that checking my email is going to make everything even worse in Morgan's terrible, no good, very bad day.

Well, thank you, Harlan Pepper. Your picking banjos, rich vocals, and full sound have made my day (which I thought was just going to stay awful) into a good one.

Hailing from Hamilton, Canada, the four piece band isn't too far out of high school, but their sound, both musically and lyrically, make them sound like they've had years of experience under their belts.

Comprised of Jimmy Hayes (guitar, pedal steel, harmonica), Dan Edmonds (banjo, keys, vocals), Thompson Wilson (bass, vocals), and Marlon Nicolle (drums, vocals), these guys have taken folk and combined it with the best parts of blues, country, and rock, perfectly mixing soulful organ pianos, head shaking harmonicas, and creeping guitar licks.

On the band's website they write that, "We grew up listening to music on dusty record players, and hissing radios. Those sounds have been channelled into these songs. It’s an album that we think encapsulates our love for raw roots, rock country, blues, and folk music, seen through our own 21st century kaleidoscope." And I couldn't have described their sound better if I tried.

Feel free to check out their song "Great Lakes" below:
Harlan Pepper - "Great Lakes"