SweetLou is a Seattle based Americana band formed in 2001 by singer-songwriter Bryan Cohen and bassist Paul Christofferson, and later joined by drummer Matt Carr and keyboardist Andrew Nelson. Recently SweetLou added Dave Patterson (Christy McWilson’s solo band) on lead guitar to flesh out the band’s live sound. After their 2003 pop record American Singles and the introspective 2006 record Good Morning Wherever You Are, SweetLou was itching to plug in, play live and rock. Singer Bryan Cohen wrote a bunch of club ready songs that celebrated rock n’ roll; the band recruited Terry Davison to play Pedal Steel on as many songs as he could; Bassist Paul Christofferson reteamed with Dave Dysart to lead the recording and production at London Bridge Studios; and SweetLou’s new record, The Year of the Rock, was born. For SweetLou, rock n’ roll is obsession. Guitars, drums, amps, best gigs ever, sh*t gigs, vans, heroes, has-beens, almosts, drunks, f**k ups, dreamers, failures, haters, doubters, lovers, players, the grunge, the pop, a lust for twang, Wilco, Keith Richards, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Steve Earle, The Replacements, Tom Petty (pre-‘Free Falling’), the Pedal Steel, Dicks Drive-In… These are all part of the rock n’ roll universe that The Year of the Rock celebrates. The Year of the Rock is a return to full-tilt roots rock, and features up-tempo rock rave ups such as Whiskey World, Test Patterns, St. Paul and Sleeping Around; slow twang cookers like Gravity’s Pull; and a few off-beat pop tunes like Ugly Business and AA Snowflakes. Each of these tunes in some way uses rock n’ roll in its story arc: sometimes a mention or sometimes an entire story line. The Year of the Rock is almost a concept album about rock n’ roll, but not nearly as awesome as Bat out of Hell. Embodying the never-quit work ethic, SweetLou has released and promoted all of its records independently. To date SweetLou’s songs have been played on KUOW-FM, KEXP-FM, KMTT The Mountain in Seattle, and on KINK in Portland. In 2006 the band’s song Doubter was featured on NPR’s Open Mic. SweetLou has played at the Crocodile, The Tractor, The Sunset, The High Dive and Nuemo’s, as well as numerous outdoor festival gigs. Instrumentation Bryan Cohen - Guitar, vocals Paul Christofferson - Bass Matt Carr - Drums Dave Patterson - Guitar Vocals