The Days Before Toler Gibson

• 1 Dead End Lady 04:22
• 2 Country Queen 02:39
• 3 The Murder Will Fly 04:13
• 4 Harlingen 05:41
• 5 Firewater Gambling 03:52
• 6 Next Time We Meet 05:20
• 7 No Time Too Soon 03:45
• 8 I Want a Dog 04:08
• 9 Never Go Home 03:00
• 10 Mountain Room 04:39
• Total Runtime 41:39

Info for The Days Before

Toler Gibson is a group of mountain dwellers living high above the clouds in California.

The project started when Kenneth Gibson, a Canadian born, Texas raised Angeleno moved from LA to the mountains of Idyllwild and met Gavin Toler, a Seattle born and raised Angeleno who had moved to Idyllwild from LA, three years prior. The two bonded on their love of country, folk, & psychedelic music and immediately started pickin’ and singin’ their favourite classics in one cabin or another. Toler Gibson was born.

The two have been in multiple other known bands such as Bell Gardens, Furry Things, Winter Flowers, Old Gold, as well as releasing solo material. TG started by playing their favorite old country tunes in the bars and roadhouses in Idyllwild but eventually turned into a fully-fledged band. The band expanded when drummer Charlie Woodburn and bass player Rob Hume landed in Idyllwild from LA, then adding Drew Manne as their main pedal steel player. The band played their first original set at Grand Ole Echo in LA in 2018.

The boys started slowly tracking The Days Before in Gibson’s Heavy Meadows studio through 2019. They found a home with London based indie label Rocket Girl Records (Bell Gardens, The Lily’s, Robyn Guthrie).

Toler Gibson’s vocal harmonies are the main focal point threading the album. They weave their way through a tapestry of acoustic, electric and steel guitars that recall elements of country, folk and psychedelic rock. The Days Before possesses an almost cinematic quality that tips it’s Stetson to classic country influences while simultaneously going far beyond them.

Songs like “Murder Will Fly” and “Mountain Room” render a portrait of darkness and isolation, a feeling of solitude that is never far away when winter settles in on the mountain. While “Country Queen” and “I Want A Dog” reflect on domestic discontent with self deprecating comedy…”looks like daddy’s drunk again”. The opening track “Dead end lady” moves the listener down the road at a nice pace and like much of the material on this album it tells a story of life’s past experiences meeting the present. Though (as noted later on the album) “we can never go home again”.

Toler Gibson’s debut paints a picture with many colors and sets itself apart from your typical California Country release. Maybe because it comes from a higher elevation where the snow falls in the valley and the pines grow tall? A place you might happen upon if you head west from Texas or south from the great northwest.

Gavin Thomas Toler, vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Kenneth James Gibson, vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, percussion, organ, piano
Charlie Woodburn, drums, percussion
Rob Hume, bass
Lee Miracle, bass
Drew Manne, pedal steel
David Cuetter, pedal steel
Jeff Watson, pedal steel
Don Reed, lap steel, dobro
Bobby Rodriguez, piano
Lawrence Menard, piano
William Russell Wallace, piano, harmonica
Stephan Anderson, fiddle, mandolin
John King, fiddle
Clare Quinn, additional backing vocals
Margo & Mark Gusick, additional backing vocals
Mikele Kreitner, additional backing vocals

Toler Gibson
is a group of mountain dwellers living high above the clouds in California.

It started when Gibson, a Canadian born, Texas raised Angeleno moved from LA to the mountains of Idyllwild and met Toler, a Seattle born and raised Angeleno who had moved to Idyllwild from LA, three years prior. The two bonded on their love of country, folk, & psychedelic music and immediately started pickin’ and singin’ their favourite classics in one cabin or another. Toler Gibson was born.

The two have been in multiple other known bands such as Bell Gardens, Furry Things, Winter Flowers, Old Gold, as well as releasing solo material. TG started by playing their favourite old country tunes in the bars and roadhouses in Idyllwild but eventually turned into a fully fledged band. The band expanded when drummer Charlie Woodburn and bass player Rob Hume landed in Idyllwild from LA, then adding Drew Manne as their main pedal steel player. The band played their first original set at Grand Ole Echo in LA in 2018.

The boys started slowly tracking “The Days Before” in Gibson’s Heavy Meadows studio through 2019. They found a home with London based indie label Rocket Girl Records.

This album contains no booklet.