Massy Ferguson Going Soph

Delivering plenty of rock steeped in roots traditions, "Hard Water" continues where their debut, "Cold Equations," left off. Though, where "Cold Equations" owed more to Springsteen, "Hard Water" is a bit more twangy, closer in sound to Son Volt and Drive-By Truckers.

"The record content really was born from playing a ton," comments front man/bassist Ethan Anderson. "Shows are such a paradox. You're playing a packed room one night and an empty one the next. Doing international touring, you get used to being in places for just a short time, having an experience, good or bad, and then having to leave for somewhere else. It makes you see the world from a different point of view, it gets you in a different kind of headspace where you feel like a bandit, coming in and taking what you can get, getting paid, and riding off into the night. I can say it's the exact opposite of working a 9-5 job."