The Waywards return with Underground

After five years, Johnny Miles is back with his band the Waywards for a new full-length album, Underground. When the Philly/Jersey singer-songwriter released the Waywards’ last LP Everything Is Contagious in 2014, he couldn’t have anticipated what the world would be going through in 2019, but took the time to channel those feelings of discontent and uncertainty into work that speaks to this moment in time.

Recorded live over just two days at South Jersey’s Gradwell House, the album’s 10 tracks pack in the kind of scrappy rock ‘n’ roll energy that you only get with with live recording, coupled with the restless energy and need for change that motivates the songwriter. Intended as a musical call to action, Miles writes that Underground “invites you to start over, be new, keep that love in your heart, and (maybe) even have that good time again.”

Miles is joined by Ross Bellenoit on bass and guitar, Carl Cheeseman on guitar, Alan Gibson on drums and Nate Gonzalez on keys to round out the Waywards. Listen to the new album below via Bandcamp.