Dorchester, Massachusetts, native Bryan McPherson has spent the better part of the last couple decades touring the country and producing solo music that brilliantly melds traditional folk-influenced storytelling with an aggressive, punk rock playing style and work ethic. After moving to California and touring relentlessly across the country and back over the course of the last couple of years in support of his last full-length, 2015’s stellar – and criminally underrated – Wedgewood, McPherson returned home to his native Massachusetts to woodshed material for a new album.
When he got here and saw first-hand the devastating impact that the opioid epidemic of the last several years has had on his hometown, McPherson changed his mind. He decided to go back into his own personal archive to rework old tracks that never really saw the light of day commercially. Many of the songs were written when McPherson himself was in the throes of his own issues with substance use. Now sober for years, McPherson retooled the old material, approaching it from a person with an extra decade-and-a-half of lived experience. The result is Kings Corner, named after the Dorchester street corner that McPherson and his friends used to hang out on (and, coincidentally, a solid fly ball from my own old apartment).
McPherson has launched a Kickstarter campaign to help Kings Corner see the light of day. Head here to check out the unique pledge options!