Search - Johnny Irion :: Unity Lodge

If Unity Lodge sounds like a record out of place and time, that's largely a good thing. Johnny Irion's blend of folk, rock & roll, and country would've sounded right at home on the West Coast in the late '60s and early '70s, even though it was recorded on the East Coast three decades later. Backed partly by his former bandmates in Queen Sarah Saturday, a mid-'90s North Carolina alt-rock band, Irion proves considerably adept with rootsier material as both a songwriter and a singer. His high-pitched whine will undoubtedly bring to mind Neil Young, but his songs often ramble along with more of a dusty Woody Guthrie feel. As it happens, Irion is married to Woody's granddaughter, Sarah Lee, who contributes backing vocals on several tracks. --Peter Blackstock