Free Riff Raff and Benjamin Booker

ATO Records has released a sampler of its releases for free download, including Hurray for the Riff Raff, Benjamin Booker, and unreleased Two Gallants and Brandi Carlile.

Two of the biggest stories in New Orleans this year were Hurray for the Riff Raff and Benjamin Booker. When Hurray for the Riff Raff's Small Town Heroes was released this spring, we talked about the album and the song "The Body Electric" for American Songwriter.

I’d been a news junkie at the time,” she says. “I was reading so much about violence against women all around the world. I’d been reading about this gang rape of a woman in Delhi in India, and people have the response of, ‘Oh, this has been happening forever. You’re just hearing about it now because there’s the Internet.’ I’m glad we have the Internet and I’m glad we’re hearing about this. I’m glad it’s making me feel crazy, and I can’t keep existing in a world where this is happening so frequently. The song means a lot to me. It’s my breaking point. I can’t keep singing songs in this world and not say something about it.”

The song appears on a sampler from the band's label, ATO Records, along with a track from "Wicked Waters" from Benjamin Booker's debut album, also on ATO. When Booker played Voodoo this fall, we talked about his punk rock roots in Florida.

“It blew my mind as a kid that these 14 and 15-year-olds have saved their money and made these seven-inches,” he said. “That was very exciting—to have something your friend made and you can take it home. That’s all I wanted—to make a seven-inch. That was my dream.”

The ATO Records Winter Sampler includes tracks by bands on the label including Jessica Lea Mayfield, Old Crow Medicine Show, Mariachi El Bronx, and songs from upcoming albums by Brandi Carlile and Two Gallants. Download it for free here.

Songs

1. Brandi Carlile - The Eye
2. Benjamin Booker - Wicked Waters
3. Fly Golden Eagle - Horse's Mouth
4. Mariachi El Bronx - Wildfires
5. J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Sweat Shock
6. Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Body Electric
7. Two Gallants - We Are Undone
8. Stars - No One Is Lost
9. SOJA - Easier
10. Old Crow Medicine Show - Firewater
11. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Torito
12. Jessica Lea Mayfield - Standing in the Sun
13. The Belle Brigade - Metropolis