Joey Frendo (from the E.P. Stone Mason’s Son

Joey Frendo  (from the E.P. Stone Mason’s Son available as a self-release) (by Mason Winfree)
Country music is stitched into the fabric of working-class culture. It rose up from the need of everyday Americans to tell their stories. Over the years, the genre has continuously evolved, incorporating new sounds and adjusting with each passing decade. With the release of his debut EP, Stone Mason’s Son, Tulsa-based artist, Joey Frendo, demonstrates how the genre manages to circle back on itself. Featuring six original songs that exhibit the pain and resilience of the human spirit, Frendo’s EP is an ode to the extraordinary lives that everyday people live.
Recorded entirely during the pandemic, Frendo paints vivid accounts of working-class culture, nostalgia, death, addiction, and fleeting dreams through his songs. Mixed and mastered by Jason Weinheimer of Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, Arkansas, and featuring an all-star line-up of brilliant musicians, Stone Mason’s Son is as sincere as it is evocative. In a time when the commercial country music industry pumps out pop-laden material for mass consumption, Joey Frendo proves that sincerity is the quality that makes a great country record. With an acute approach to narrative and a strong, emotive voice, Frendo’s musicality shines bright on his debut release and his songs stay with you long after the record has stopped spinning.
Joey Frendo’s writing takes inspiration from the various people and places that he has encountered and inhabited; from the industrial decline of the Rust Belt in his home state of Michigan, to a reflection of the relationship he shares with his father, these stories find themselves captured in Frendo’s insightful lyricism. Kicking off the EP is “Lordstown”, a song that details the plight of workers who are consistently left unemployed when their jobs are transferred overseas. Packing an emotional punch and drawing on the deindustrialization Frendo has seen firsthand, the tune sets the stage and showcases the impactful writing contained throughout the entire collection as well as the chops of the greater ensemble including Patrick Lyon’s smooth pedal steel and electric guitar, Jake Groves’ melodic harmonica, and Preston Wait’s weaving fiddle. 
The second song on the EP came out of a collaboration with Michigan based artist, Alex Austin, who sent Frendo an original piano riff that became the foundation for “Loose Gravel”. Tapping into the notion of possibilities yet discovered, Frendo examines the feeling of burgeoning independence that often plagues the minds of rural Americans – the idea of trading in the familiar for the unknown at breakneck speed. Questions of uncertainty when examining the future and the consequences of our past actions dominate the track that is brought to life with a beautiful vocal accompaniment by Mallory Eagle. Interestingly enough, the song “I Talk Too Much” was inspired by an interview Frendo heard with legendary country performer, Tanya Tucker, where she remarked ‘I talk too much to be an alcoholic’. Rooted in the desire of finding one’s place in the world and holding hope that there is still time to be something more, “I Talk Too Much” is a poignant glance into a character’s fleeting dreams.
Arguably the most heart wrenching song of the collection is “Black Tar (Daily Habit)”, a tune that sheds light on the lingering effects of war when a young man lacking in opportunity joins the army only to get addicted to heroin in order to cope with his PTSD. Joey Frendo’s writing recalls the work of the great John Prine, delivering reality in his own confessional way. The minimalistic instrumentation allows the message to resonate on a deeper level leaving the listener entranced by Frendo’s beautifully arresting performance. Perhaps the most personal song on the EP is the title track. “Stone Mason’s Son” serves as an autobiographic evaluation overlaid by a story created by Frendo examining his own relationship with his father. With an arc that assesses roles of masculinity and the conditions that position us in our current spaces, the song encompasses the major themes weaved throughout the entire EP making it a fitting choice to bear the collection’s name. Closing out the EP is an exploration into the mind and heart of a character looking back on his glory days before life played out and left him back where he started. As proven by “Glory Days” and all the other songs contained on this stellar debut EP, Joey Frendo has a way of making listeners live his stories rather than just hear them, elevating Stone Mason’s Son as a fine collection of storytelling revealing just how profound a country record can be. (by Mason Winfree)
For more information, please visit the Joey Frendo website

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