Rocking and TWANGING San Diego Since 2005
Three time San Diego Music Award Nominees the High Rolling Loners are the original lonesome heroes of Rock and Roll. What does that mean?
Handlebar Moustaches? No.
Vests? No.
Fedoras? No.
Twangy guitars? Yes.
Original Music? Yes.
Sincere? Yes.
Fun? Yes!
Give us a listen.
WATCH OUR VIDEO FOR THE SONG "MEXICO"
Venues PLAYED
SAN DIEGO COUNTY
Adams Avenue Street Fair
OB Street Fair
Ramona Rodeo
Soda Bar
House of Blues
Whistle Stop Bar
BNS Brewery and Distillery
Canes Bar and Grill
Kensington Club
The Merrow
Winston’s
Blind Melons/710 Beach Club
Saddle Bar
Portugalia Bar
Gallaghers’s Pub & Grill
The Leucadian Bar
Rosie O’ Grady’s
Riviera Supper Club
Chico Club
O’Connells Bar
Thornton’s Irish Pub
Zombie Lounge/Radio Room/The Eleven Bar
Dream Street
The Balboa
Tin Can Ale House
OUT OF TOWN
Pappy and Harriets (Pioneertown, CA)
The 5 Spot (Nashville, TN)
The Vault (Redlands, CA)
Peri’s Silver Dollar (Fairfax, CA)
Johnny V’s (San Jose, CA)
Brainwash Café (San Francisco, CA)
The Old Western Saloon (Point Reyes Station, CA)
Johnny B’s Diner (Medford, OR)
Ash Street Saloon (Portland, OR)
Conor Byrne Pub (Seattle, WA)
JJ’s Bohemia (Chatanooga, TN)
Star Bar (Atlanta, GA)
Puckett’s Farm (Charlotte, NC)
Hideaway BBQ (Raleigh, NC)
John and Peters Bar (New Hope, PA)
Hank’s Saloon (Brooklyn, NY)
Kenny’s Castaways (NYC)
Nate n Wally’s (Bowling Green, OH)
The Uptown (Rolla, MO)
Cicero’s (St Louis, MO)
The Outland (Springfield, MO)
Mojo’s (Columbia, MO)
The Pizza Shoppe (Omaha, NE)
Conor O’Neill’s (Boulder, CO)
Bender’s Bar (Denver, CO)
The Summit (Durango, CO)
PRESS
San Diego Troubadour, June 2006
by Tom Paine
The High Rolling Loners aim low and hit hard. Garage rock aesthetics and an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it production style land this debut EP hard in the dirt at your feet like a wayward horseshoe at a biker picnic. Grounded deep in roots rock and flying high on broken wings, the High Rolling Loners sound like the Band, Marshall Tucker, and mid-seventies Dead rolled in a Zig Zag and passed from the left, half wet, and smoking. You can almost see the hippie chicks twirling in the dust out behind the barn. Lead vocalist and guitarist John Verruto sings with such a pronounced drawl you’d swear he’s faking it, but I bet he isn’t. Southern rock never sounded so southern. The EPs best song, “She Can Love Me,” features the other guitarist Ryan Bartell on vocals, whose rough-around-the-edges sound and unaffected sincerity make him stand out. If they work a little harder, Verruto and Bartell just may be the best one-two punch in local roots rock, right up there with Peat and Cady of the Truckee Brothers. Finesse junkies might be a tad disappointed by the slap happy guitar work and thrown-together feel of these undernourished compositions. And don’t come looking for any lyrical depth or goosebumping melodic reverie. This is meat and potatoes country rock straight from the trailer park, and it ain’t apologizing for nothin’. The thriving San Diego alt-country scene is a perfect home for the High Rolling Loners. A hippie might dream that some day there’ll be an outdoor concert on a ranch in Ramona with the Truckee Brothers, the Coyote Problem, Gully, Dead Rock West, Golden Hill Ramblers, Bartenders Bible, Citizen Band, Whiskey Tango, and all the other great San Diego Americana rock outfits. Maybe it’ll be called Weedstock or Ramonapalooza. Thirty Coors kegs, pulled pork sandwiches (on Bread & Cie rolls of course — we may be hicks but we have good taste), hippie chicks dancing in chicken wire cages, and the High Rolling Loners banging out the righteous clamor you just can’t get in those tedious hook-up bars in PB. The last thing you’ll remember before you pass out face down in the dirt is the smell of straw, purple sage, and barbecue, and the sound of Mountain Girl whispering in your ear, “Honey, are you all right?” Now you’re a High Rolling Loner too.