Enough already about Jim Reilley Jim Reilley was co-founder of the late-lamented folk-rock “gangstas”, The New Dylans. Along with songwriting partner Reese Campbell, Reilley roped in friends John Lombardo and Jerry Augustyniak of 10,000 Maniacs to record The New Dylans’ six-song debut ep in 1986. Earning praise from Village Voice rock critic Robert Christgau (who placed the ep in the top five albums of 1986 in the prestigious Village Voice “Pazz and Jop” poll), and R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe (who called it his fave album of that year), things were certainly rolling for the boys. Confused by their instant success, Jim and Reese capitalized swiftly and decisively-they broke up. Once confronted however with the workaday life that until then had eluded them, the boys soon realized their mistake and reunited. Soon after, the lads inked a deal with Minnesota-based Red House Records who subsequently allowed two New Dylans albums to escape their folky clutches in the mid-1990’s. The New Dylans barnstormed the country playing to anyone who would listen (and many who wouldn’t) sharing stages with The Band, Townes Van Zandt, Shawn Colvin, The Fleshtones, Superdrag, Syd Straw, The Silos, Steve Forbert and even old pals 10,000 Maniacs. The New Dylans received glowing reviews from Rolling Stone, Musician, Mojo, Dirty Linen, Audio, Stereo Review, Pulse and Spin just to name a few. AAA radio also fell hard for the boys with generous airplay and feature spots on Acoustic Café, World Café, NPR’s All Things Considered, Idiot’s Delight with Vin Scelsa, and even a handful of appearances on ex-Partridge Family imp Danny Bonaduce’s WLUP show in Chicago. MTV also featured The New Dylans on 120 Minutes and The Cutting Edge. Reilley broke up The New Dylans and moved to Nashville in 1998. After a brief and near disastrous stint as fashion consultant to Porter Wagoner, Reilley signed a deal as a staff songwriter with Curb Publishing. In his 8 years at Curb, Reilley’s songs were recorded by Jack Ingram, Vince Gill, Hal Ketchum, Tim O’Brien and Sam Bush, Cowboy Crush, Lisa Brokop and Ronna Reeves. In 2001, Reilley recorded his first solo album “The Return of Buddy Cruel” released in 2003 on Silent Planet Records. Produced by Grammy-winner Don Henry, the album was added to 28 AAA stations and lingered for 12 weeks in the top 25 of the Roots Rock Album Chart in the spring of 2003. Reilley paid a return visit to Acoustic Café, and the album also garnered airplay on BBC Radio 1 in UK, BBC Scotland, Radio Golden Flash in Belgium, Real Roots Café Network in central Europe, and BRTO’s Crossroads in Bergen, the Netherlands, whose host Jos Van Den Boom also placed the album in his top 10 albums of 2003. Performing Songwriter and Paste both ran feature articles on Reilley’s return, and “The Return of Buddy Cruel” also earned rave reviews from Billboard, Puremusic.com, Exclaim! magazine in Canada, Ctrl.alt.country in Belgium, and Glitterhouse in Germany. Nashville’s local newspaper The Tennessean proclaimed “The Return of Buddy Cruel” one of the top 10 albums of 2003 and the track “Won’t Let You Make A Fool of Me” as one of the top 10 songs of 2003 in their year-end critic’s poll. Reilley recorded a second solo album (“Thank God I’m A Contrary Boy”) in 2004 with Grammy-winner Robert Reynolds (The Mavericks) co-producing and featuring a band consisting of Ken Coomer (Wilco/ Uncle Tupelo), Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick), Jen Gunderman (Jayhawks), Audley Freed (The Black Crowes), Al Perkins (Gram Parsons/Manassas), Paul Deakin (The Mavericks) and David Mead. As of this writing, the album remains unreleased. Reilley also contributed an original song to the film “The Canyon” in 2008. In January 2010, Reilley’s song “The Man Who Had Everything” was named to BBC Scotland tastemaker Karen Miller’s “Best Of The Decade” list. In May 2010, Reilley started a new band with Ken Coomer, Michael Webb (Poco/John Fogerty), Paul Deakin, Geoff Sprung and Charlie Rauh called Swimming With Jeff. Contact: Rob Baker 615.329.0900 www.reverbnation.com/jimreilley www.jimreilley.com www.facebook.com/jimreilleymusic Jim Reilley/The Return Of Buddy Cruel (Silent Planet) Full of well-written alt-country/alt-rock tunes about love and life. Fun rock 'n' roll with a cynical sense of humor. -Randy Peterson KXCI 91.3 FM Tucson, AZ "...poignant, empathetic and blazingly literate." -Craig Havighurst/The Tennessean Top 20 albums of 2003 "...great line after great line: 'Hard times in the kissin' booth'; 'I may be dumb but I ain't stupid'. Somebody hurry up and make this guy famous." -Peter Cooper/The Tennessean Top 10 songs of 2003 "THE RETURN OF BUDDY CRUEL is a sensational collection of powerful folk-pop" -Jason Killingsworth/PASTE Magazine July, 2003 "Intricate narratives poetically rendered, these songs have the makings of offbeat classics." -Paul Evans/ROLLING STONE Magazine of The New Dylans album WARREN PIECE "My first reaction to hearing THE RETURN OF BUDDY CRUEL was to send a copy to Jacob Dylan with a note saying, 'This is what The Wallflowers are supposed to sound like'. Reilley has crafted an irresistable roots rock sound and if there is any point in calling someone a 'new Dylan' anymore, Reilley certainly fits the bill in the best possible sense." -Jason Schneider/EXCLAIM! June 2003 "Jim Reilley has re-emerged with a wonderful solo album called THE RETURN OF BUDDY CRUEL. The album actually sounds a bit like the Wallflowers, only with better lyrics and less chance of mass success...although this stuff is pretty accessible to be so cool sounding. Jim Reilley's built a better Wallflower." -Peter Cooper/The Tennessean April 2003 "One bummer after another, but exquisitely written bummers at that. Terrific and heartbreaking." -The Backslider 1050lb musicblog