The Pink Stones over to tour the Benelux and Scandinavia

Athens outfit The Pink Stones launched into view with a barroom-born country that was bound to haunt a jukebox or two for years to come. They refine that reputation on their sophomore album, an LP full of heartbreak, humor, whiskey and wine. The band’s sound effortlessly endears itself to lovers of golden-era country favorites like George Jones and, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, and Buck Owens.

Last time out, there was a more ingrained ripple of cosmic country in the mix, and while they still pull a few stems and seeds out of the Commander Cody school throughout "You Know Who", the band plays it a bit straighter on the record. This time the focus falls more on the bruised and battered pool hall ballads — the will they/won’t they of “Baby I’m Still (Right Here With You,” the bar rag romp of “Where We Have To Say,” and the winking, “Who’s Laughing Now.”

The record also darkens the door of heartbreak more often than the last, pulling up an empty bottle of regrets on “Without You, With You,” and “Someone You Can’t Move.” They work well on both ends of the pour, though. Heart full and hummin’ or with the wolf of woe barking at their door, The Pink Stones thread yarns like seasoned vets.

The record finds The Pink Stones coming into their own, cutting out the fat and wiping the haze from their eyes. The band returns to a bit of their cosmic past with an ode to solo smoke that rolls in its own dose of heartbreak on the way out the door, stringing a bridge from Introducing… to You Know Who, but the record doesn’t spend too much time wading through the weeds. The LP is the band at their best. Over the dozen tracks here there are more than a few that will haunt speakers on repeat. 

In March and April the band will be over in the Benelux and Scandinavia:

26/03: Venlo, NL - Keizerin
27/03: Oud-Turnhout, BE - De Djoelen
28/03: Utrecht, NL - TivoliVredenburg 
29/03: Zwolle, NL - Eureka
30/03: Groningen, NL - Aa- Theater
01/04: Malmö, SWE - Medley
02/04: Linköping, SWE - Babettes Kulturhus
03/04: Halden, NO - Råhuset
04/04: Ringebu, NO - Arnemoen Gard
05/04: Trondheim, NO - Moskus
06/04: Östersund, SWE - Studioscenen
08/04: Uppsala, SWE - Katalin
09/04: Oslo, NO - Abelone
10/04: Karlstad, SWE - Gränden
11/04: Falkenberg, SWE - Rootsy Falkenberg
12/04: Göteborg, SWE - Pustervik
13/04: Uddevalla, SWE - Folkets hus
15/04: Ljusdal, SWE - Holännapaviljongen
16/04: Stockholm, SWE - Twang
17/04: Visby, SWE - Hotell Börs
18/04: Örebro, SWE - Schreibers Garage
19/04: Borlänge, SWE - Broken Dreams