Limited Edition by Bascom Hill

Throughout the Midwest, from intimate coffeehouses to sprawling outdoor festivals, they've chiseled a unique niche for themselves with a sound that nods toward Jack Johnson but with more aggressive vocals, Dave Matthews but with a tighter pop focus, plus a shot of Radiohead's willingness to take chances. Fans that range literally from six into their sixties connect with their songs, each of which bristle with catchy hooks and rides on a rush of melody.

All this is clear throughout Maybe, the band's debut release on Arrival Records. "Stained," a swirl of exotic riffs and unanswered questions about love's illusions; "Angels Weep" whose searching lyric's and ringing harmonies won it a perfect 5.0 rating among listeners on garageband.com and "Day After Day" with its soaring invitation to "open my eyes" -- these and all of the other tracks on Maybe capture the sound and spirit that Bascom Hill has built through years of work, going back to their blue-collar roots as kids in Kenosha.

But this album is also about a band at the crossroads, sequestered in a Texas studio, with just four days to strip everything they've done down to its essence and build it up again. Most artists would have dodged that challenge, but these guys met it head-on, ate it up, emerging as a band reborn and ready for everything the future has to offer.

Maybe, in other words, confirms what Bascom Hill's fans have known all along: This is the rare kind of band that can speak across demographic and generational lines, that knows how to tear it up for thousands of bikers at Sturgis and then deliver for a handful of rapt listeners at a living room concert. There are great bands that speak to one or another group. There are headliners that work best before a sea of screaming fans. And there are others that spin magic in a candlelit café.

But there's just one Bascom Hill, whose music taps into the lives we all lead, whose songs are shaped to endure beyond the passing fads. All it takes is one stroll through Maybe and you'll know: These guys are for real.

September 6th 2005 was the "official" release of Maybe, which is available online at the band's website www.bascomhillband.com. Songs have been featured on America's Next Top Model, Alternative FM Radio, and independent internet radio stations across the country.

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