Believe It or Not - For Everyone

Originally formed as a bluegrass trio, Frog Holler has evolved into a genre-defying, mostly electric sextet, releasing six full-length recordings and an EP since 1996. They have built their reputation on marathon live shows, loose but honest, emotional investments that have paid off with an intensely loyal fan base that far outreaches its Berks County, Pennsylvania home. Pretty amazing considering the band has toured cautiously throughout its career, preferring the quality over quantity route in an effort to stay sane, intact, and solvent. They remain independent, serving as their own manager, booking their own shows, and releasing their own records (ZoBird Records), sacrificing a wider appeal to remain in control, enabling them to continue making music and functioning as a band in the truest sense of the word.

Every Tuesday night, Frog Holler convenes at a local Berks Co. Musical enclave known as the Moonlight Forest to hang out, have a meal, and play some music. Holler drummer, Daniel Bower, lives at the house, and with the help of Ben Longenecker, built a pro tools studio in 2007, opening the door for Frog Holler to do something it had always wanted: make a recording in the comforts of its home surroundings. With Longenecker co-producing, the band spent most of 2008 fleshing out the songs upstairs in the rehearsal space and then walking down to the basement to put them to tape. The result is "Believe It Or Not", ten brand new songs from Frog Holler available Spring 2009 on ZoBird Records.

Pigs are considered to be good luck, and green cabbage a symbol of wealth. For that reason, the Pennsylvania Dutch combine pork and sauerkraut for a traditional New Year's Day meal. No one wants to scratch for their meals or their livelihood, so it is best not to eat chicken on January 1. It might be a silly little anecdote to base so much thought on, but in early 2009, with the historic popularity of hope and possibility in a virtual stalemate with the reality of hard economic times, it's something to hang your hat on.

On "Believe It Or Not", Frog Holler sings songs spun with hometown pride, but from the voice of a tweener generation, old enough to remember "when the mall wasn't there" but young enough to try and shake some of the old stubborn conventions of your hometown. "Believe It Or Not" champions the independent thinker willing to go out and take a chance on something real while still keeping your head above water. This sentiment is best exemplified in the chorus of the album's first single, "To Turn Back Now", as the band sings, "It's too late to turn back now/ I wouldn't know how anyway/ I'll promise you the world again/ but I don't know how and I don't know when."

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