ROLLING STONE April 2006

This Brooklyn Western-gothic sextet saves its true confession of roots – acid cowboy San Francisco – for the very end of Second Guessing: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “Cod’ine”, a popular Fillmore-era cover recorded by the Charlatans and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Oakley Hall revive the song – and dose their own – with a purple-prairie flair both vintage and modern, country and urban, as if Wilco now had John Cale on viola and Lucinda Williams in the lineup. [DAVID FRICKE]

VICE Magazine Feb 2006

Second Guessing (10 out of 10) – BEST ALBUM OF THE MONTH Amish

Jam much? This is some awesome country music by a couple of Brooklyn rock pros who just go and stick a psychedelic banjo freakout solo in the middle of a country song about a sad drunkard like it’s no big deal. Throw in some gung-ho harmonies reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac singing “The Chain,” and you’ve got yourself an epic country-rock jammer that makes me wish I was way more stoned than I am right now (which is actually pretty stoned). [KELLY AMNER]

UNCUT REVIEW March 2006

Oakley Hall
Second Guessing AMISH
4 out of 5 stars

Barnstorming psych-country from Brooklyn rambunctious collective Oakley Hall’s second album wouldn’t look out of place in a rundown of Cosmic American classics (p81). Their prehistory is in art-rock (Pat Sullivan, one of four fine singers, co-founded Oneida), but Second Guessing is actually a levitating re-think of country-rock, full-blooded and plainly unironic. While nothing surpasses the opening “Hiway”, a joyous chug that finds common ground between Southern rock and late Velvets, it’s all good, all the way to the closing drone through Buffy Sainte-Maria’s “Cod’ine”. One to file between the excellent Black Mountain and Magnolia Electric Company albums from last year. [JOHN MULVEY]

BUST April/May 2006

Oakley Hall are a true rarity – a sincere and sincerely good band hailing from the cradle of irony, Brooklyn. Despite having opened for everyone from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Black Dice, and being founded by a former member of Oneida, Oakley Hall are neither too cool for school nor too weird to be enjoyed. They play twangy country rock propelled by sharp guitars and lilting vocals; tracks like “Light of My Love” incorporate some of the most stunning harmonies in recent history. “Volume Rambler” places the guitars front and center, and “Color the Shade” makes excellent use of both the fiddle and the banjo. The album closes with an atmospheric Buffy Sainte-Marie cover track “Cod’ine” that will be sure to haunt the listener for days. For those of you with mild country phobia, this might be the record that changes your mind. [COURTNEY HARDING]

OTHER MUSIC Feb 2006

Oakley Hall may be one of Brooklyn’s best kept secrets. They’re a roots rock (but, also much else) band with a devastating live show (maybe you’ll see ‘em opening for YYY’s later this month) and this second album of theirs actually manages to capture a good bit of that energy. Look, I grew up in Kansas during the days of No Depression and I’ve seen and heard more than enough alt country bands. They usually have the stink of formaldehyde about them, and too often the only sound you’re actually hearing is the one made as the so-called dead horse is being flogged. But the music the six guys and girls in Oakley Hall are making feels lived in and alive. They’ve got the Burritos, Dead, and Doug Sahm shuffle and boogie down pat, but with enough spiritual uplift to keep it relevant and revelatory. So the next time you’re sitting in Daddy’s bar listening to that sweet ass jukebox and pining for a dusty experience contemporary with the decade you’re actually living in, then please, by all means, and I do mean truly and sincerely, check out Oakley Hall. [MK]

TIME OUT NEW YORK September 2005

Oakley Hall, a large band that weaves a magical sound out of many components, is the untamed sound of country rock, a sextet that plays so damn hard that most other twanged outfits simply sound like failure in comparison. [MIKE WOLF]

NEW YORK PRESS April 2005

Oakley Hall have hints of that early 70s psych sound but round it all out with beautiful country harmonies and rootsy orchestrations… Their upcoming release Second Guessing should fast become an indie classic and help keep them one step ahead of the alt-country pack.

TIME OUT NEW YORK November 2004

A very different band greeted the audience in October [2004], when Oakley Hall played Mercury Lounge after months of not performing locally. While [Sullivan] was still at the helm, the personnel had undergone dramatic adjustments… But this makeover was not merely cosmetic: the streamlined six member ensemble – guitar, bass, drums, fiddle, banjo and lap steel – tore confidently through a set of new songs that tilted more to the rock side of country-rock and which were fully deserving of the psychedelic tag that had often been applied to the band. The fiddle screamed, the distorted lead guitar wailed, and in Crazee’s electrified stage presence, the ghost of Jerry Garcia tangoed with the soul of Mick Jagger. If the old Oakley Hall had been a quaking VW bus, the updated version showed itself to be a long, sleek ‘70s sedan with a brand-new engine – still a good, fun time, but now an exhilarating ride as well. [SARA MARCUS]

HOTSAUCE ONLINE June 2004

Hotsauce: Who is the best band you’ve seen/heard that doesn’t get the recognition they deserve?

Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ BRIAN CHASE: Oakley Hall, but just you wait.

PITCHFORK MEDIA August 2004

Don’t say alt-country…this band never tries to follow a framework. 8.5 out of 10. [JOHNNY LOFTUS www.pitchforkmedia.com]

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