Stone River is loud, Southern/Classic Rock with a sense of passion, love, innocence, and above all honesty.

'The Southern Rock of the North.'- George Marino
'Imagine Chris Cornell singing in the Black Crowes." - Rob Lamothe
You take hard driving rock, which stops well short of metal screamer bands, add a dash of blues, and come up with something akin to Lynyrd Skynyrd, at least in as much as there is the southern fried feel on cuts such as Come On, and the result is a winner. This band is hard enough to satisfy a metal head on a mellow day, soft enough to be accessible by a fan of a band like Nickelback, retro enough to please a fan of vintage Aerosmith, and good enough they should be on a major label.

Stone River

Stone River has been called "The New Southern Rock of the North" by mastering engineer George Marino (AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith) and has prompted Rob Lamothe of The Riverdogs to ask us to "Imagine Chris Cornell singing in the Black Crowes." A band with passion, love and honesty to spare, Stone River crafts their own brand of Southern-style classic rock with all the fixin's.

Recorded at Catherine North Studios - a beautiful converted church in Hamilton, ON - their debut LP The Valley Of The Butterflies was produced by Tom Treumuth (Big Sugar, Honeymoon Suite, Helix) and Mastered at Sterling Sound in New York. With layers of driving guitars, energetic vocals, acoustic piano and drums that were given room to breath, the record sounds as big as the south itself. Hammond Organ floats through 4 of the 9 all original tracks, Wurlitzer and female gospel vocals work their magic in "On These Turning Tides" Piano warms the ACDC inspired cut "Can't help loving her", and a surprise Sitar makes a tasteful appearance on the closing title track. "Recording in the church gave us an amazing room sound, and it just felt so natural to record in a similar style and environment to a lot of our heroes" says lead vocalist Renan Yildizdogan.

In a current musical climate plagued by such transitory, inconsequential images and sub genre trends that quickly dissolve, it's comforting once in a while to find some good old rock 'n roll. Stone River embodies the best of Lynard Skynard, The Allman Brothers, Point Blank, and The Black Crowes without sounding derivative. The quintet -- comprised of Jeff Desilets and Darren Flower on guitar, Renan Yildizdogan on lead vocals, Jay Macedo on bass and Tommy Brown on drums -- write music that isn't going to be forgotten any time soon.

Formed just under five years ago, the Toronto-based rockers have played hundreds of shows across Ontario and have gained thousands of fans across Canada. In the last year, Stone River has played in direct support of major acts like The Black Crowes and Jeff Martin, and has been invited to open for Blind Melon during some of their upcoming Canadian tour dates. With the rising success of their debut LP, The Valley Of The Butterflies, Stone River is ready for a European release in October 2009.

Press:

"While not totally retro, the band's music has the tight harmonies and musical depth of early 70's Rock while containing a variety of influences from Folk to Metal. This isn't pre-packaged pop or sound-alike grunge for the masses. It's real Rock, for people who love Rock N' Roll." ---Paul Marshman, Freelance Journalist, The Toronto Star

"This band is hard enough to satisfy a metal head on a mellow day, soft enough to be accessible by a fan of a band like Nickelback, retro enough to please a fan of vintage Aerosmith, and good enough they should be on a major label." --- Calvin Daniels, Yorkton This Week

"This quintet rocks, plain, simple, and to the point, and in the end you don't need a gimmick if you are honest to the music like Stone River is. Buy this one and rock on." --- Calvin Daniels, Yorkton This Week

"Coming at you with riffs and soul as big as the Great South itself, Stone River shoot out of the gates charging at you like the sole living heirs to the Godfathers of southern rock. The first track alone," Southern Feeling," riding out on the back of a fierce drum intro before dropping down into that glorious, truly seventies, big-time southern riff, carried more soul than a whole church-full of Baptists praying for redemption. Bring in the heavenly accent of some gospel tinged female harmony vocals backing up the soaring, emotion-filled pipes of lead singer Renan Yildizdogan and this song is a touch of southern heaven. --- Racer, Ripple Effect