Michael Young (WFPK) Quote

"Between Two Lions has enormous potential. Put This City On My Shoulders is my favorite Americana debut of 2006. It has all the beauty and desperation that Whiskeytown fans will love."

- Michael Young, host of Roots n' Boots, WFPK Louisville

Louisville Music News Review

February 2007

Kind-Hearted Country

Between Two Lions
Put This City on My Shoulders (Independent)

By Tim Roberts

There's a quote, attributed to Elvis Costello who said he borrowed it
from Martin Mull, which goes, "Writing about music is like dancing
about architecture." That must mean we music critics are wasting our
time and could put our meager typing skills to better use by doing
something more constructive: creating pithy essays of social
criticism, composing political tracts, writing dirty instant messages
over the Internet to lonely housewives.

Okay, for now let's use hobo symbols to describe music.

Back when the Kings of the Road stowed themselves aboard boxcars to
get from one town to the next, they would communicate with each other
through a set of primitive symbols scrawled on rocks at deserted
campsites, on railroad trestles, on sidewalks. If a combination of
circles and lines that looked like a cat was drawn on the ground in
front of a house, it meant that a kind woman lived there. An upended
rectangle with a line struck through the bottom, the shape of a top
hat, meant that a kind gentleman lived there.

So to describe Put This City on my Shoulders, the second release from
New Albany's Between Two Lions, draw the hobo symbol for a kind
gentleman and draw a quarter-note in it.

This is alt-country music done with kindness.

The songs in City are overall low-key, full of loneliness and longing
(due largely to the understated pedal steel guitar work from Tim
Corley), yet there is no apparent variation in theme or tone. But
that's good because it means there is a consistency throughout the
work: straightforward with no surprises.

However, the messages in the songs are positive and speak of bearing
burdens and owning up to mistakes, such as taking someone's love for
granted in "Madeline," where lead vocalist Brent Engle sings "[you]
Stowed your love in an overhead bin / Just above my heart / Told
myself one day I'd need it / But I forgot." Or of the murderer full of
regret, doing hard time in prison in "From the Inside," where he says
he'd return his victim's life if it meant he could be free. That's
appropriately followed by "Rain Parade," where a man pleads to be
buried next his parents and that the heart of his one true lover is
protected.

Punctuating the lessons learned in the previous tracks is "Mouth Full
of Magic," a song about the support a community, or even a home, can
give to a person and the simple gesture of reciprocation that person
can make. One verse contains the CD's title, stating, "I know I can
lean on this town / And when the time is right / I'll put this city on
my shoulders."

While the entire work of Put This City on My Shoulders has a musical
and lyrically- thematic consistency, it doesn't make its point baldly
with melodrama. A lot like life, its messages are subtle. They hit you
when you're least ready - sort of a twist on the Buddhist saying that
when the student is ready, the teacher appears. More like the teacher
appears right when the student is still in his boxer shorts and
t-shirt scrounging for pencil and a piece of paper while the TV's
still on.

Get ready for your life lessons at www.betweentwolions.com.

Music Morsels Review

January 2007

Between Two Lions - Put This City On My Shoulders
BTL02

by Mark Waterbury

Maybe if the Velvet Underground grew up in small town Indiana instead
of New York they would have sounded like this New Albany group. The
music is edgy in a retro, avant garde way intertwined with more
tempered and simplistic applications of alt folk and country. The
lyrics are thought provoking and delivered in clear, emotive fashion.
Predominately mellow, the music still has an underlying intensity that
snares you.

30music.com Review

January 2007

Between Two Lions
"Put This City On My Shoulders" (CD)

released in 2006
Label: self-released
http://www.betweentwolions.com/

A lot of great music was released in 2006 and the accolades were well
distributed, but let's hope that the recognition and praise was doted
upon those who truly deserved it. Between Two Lions' sophomore release
is among the albums which honestly warrants this praise. The record,
titled Put This City On My Shoulders, blurs the line between
alt-country and rock to find a happy, retrospective sound much in the
way of Wilco or Son Volt.

Lyrically, the album presents a solid storyline, indicating the depth
and emotional connection that Between Two Lion's lyricist and
vocalist, Brent Engle, has to his music. Rather than poorly
paraphrasing the lovely description on their press release, it makes
more sense to allow the words to speak for themselves: "The album
tells the story of someone growing up in a small town; leaving to
explore the world; then returning, resigned to the fact that he can
never truly leave; and finally embracing that fact." Put This City On
My Shoulders has a relaxed, twangy sound that immediately sedates the
listener to cozy into the world that Between Two Lions has created.
The music is eclectic and well delivered within the confines of the
alt-country genre; it fits comfortably into an indie alt-country
category but still plays around with the conventions.

Engle, along with Eric Moore, and brothers Tim and Todd Corley all
hail from New Albany, Indiana, giving their sound that small town
texture, adding intimacy where you might not find it in a major
"Nashville" release. With the lyrical connectivity amidst the tracks,
one feels the spirit and wholeheartedness of the entire album, and the
transitions are smooth and keep the album from feeling jerky or
interrupted.

Since each track has its place in the storyline that Put This City On
My Shoulders carefully and creatively narrates, it's hard to find
individual tracks to label as "stand out." The familiarity that one
has with the album while listening to tracks like "Rain
Parade,"Controlled Burn," and "No Parachute" almost feels as though
innermost insecurities and personal problems are being divulged in
trust. In that regard, the album is very relatable. Each of the tracks
provides something tangible for the listener to emotionally grab a
hold of and squeeze tightly, finding comfort knowing that someone else
has had the same experience in trying to find their place in the world
outside of a notion of home.

Between Two Lions has done an excellent job of placing the human
experience to music. There was no better style to convey this with
than the one that they, along with producer Duane Lundy, have so
specifically and thoughtfully created.

-30-

Review written on 2007/01/02 by Anika Henrikson

Independents Only Review

Between Two Lions "Put This City on My Shoulders"
Self-produced

On my first listen, I was overcome with the feeling I had when the
whole alt-country thing was just being noticed. But, after listening
to more I realized that Between The Lions couldn't be pinned down that
easily. On "Put This City" they deliver a one-two punch with an
outstanding, full recording, amazing songwriting and a bit of a knack
for building a song. BTL brings a unique brand of Southern Folk Pop to
your player and seem to have all the right components in place for a
lengthy career. From the harmonica fueled "Blessed Steamroller" to the
pedal steel balladry of "No Parachutes"… this here is road trip music.
Give this one a shot!

R.I.Y.L.: Whiskeytown, Todd Snider, Josh Ritter

Photo archive

We just published an archive of pictures of the band that we have been
collecting over the past couple of years. Enjoy.

http://picasaweb.google.com/betweentwolions

Online-Rock.com Review

November 2006

Online-Rock.com
November 7, 2006
Between Two Lions - Put This City On My Shoulders CD Review
By KRIS LARSON

Scented ever so slightly with eau de Toad the Wet Sprocket and
smelling more than a little like the Gin Blossoms, Between Two Lions
hum and harmonize their way through their latest release, Put This
City on my Shoulders. It's a much more thoughtful album than their
self-titled debut two years ago, dealing with the challenges and
rewards of returning to small town life after your big city
adventures.

How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Par-ee?
When Brent Engle sings "Save me a place next to the plots of my mother
and father, and lay me gently to sleep in this town," he's both
mourning and celebrating his roots. The band uses vintage instruments
and rough guitar sounds to generate a nostalgic, country-flavored
noise; listening, you feel like you're standing on Main Street in
Small Town, America. Ultimately, it's that love of their tiny Indiana
burg that keeps the band singing and sighing. "We're a far cry from
Nashville and miles from the west coast," Engle sings, "but I've got a
mouth full of magic." He certainly does.

Favorite Track: Track 11, "A mouth full of magic"

Indie-Music.com Review

November 2006

Indie-Music.com
November 4, 2006
Between Two Lions ~ Put This City On My Shoulders
By STEPHANIE JOUDREY

Between Two Lions are pretty much the classic case of a band with a
lot of talent and good intentions but missing that certain knack that
will bring them stardom. I usually find that if you dig deeper into
these bands, it is their integrity holding them together, assisting
them to play their heart and soul to fans. They write albums that they
truly believe in, regardless of how many will sell.

Put This City On My Shoulders is a safe album in terms of its sound.
It sits on the fence between country and rock. I have applied the term
Alt. Country very loosely, as there isn't much Alt. about it. This
band can mix up any song to fit the bill of where they are playing.
Any number of the tracks on the disc could be rocked up if needed. I
imagine that diversity has gained them many a fan when people see them
playing a mellow set one night and a full-on rock gig the next week.

Lead singer Brent Engle has a calm voice that can only come naturally
from singing with his family or a number of bands since he was a kid.
His vocals are never overpowering. Actually, it seems that each member
has taken care not to hold the spotlight too long. They all meld
together, creating songs that feel complete.

The calmness of Engle's voice does seem to hold the mood of the entire
disc though. You aren't going to get too many ups or downs from this
disc. I know that doesn't make it sound all too appealing, but
sometimes you don't want to listen to music that has crazy highs and
lows. This would be the perfect album to listen to while you were
cooking Sunday morning breakfast.

Put This City On My Shoulders is a solid album. I would be interested
to hear what else they've done in order to hear what happens when they
jump right out of the box.