Earlier this year in our 2018 Best of Cincinnati issue, we cited Northern Kentucky's well-distributed Sofa Burn Records as the " Best Record Label with a Powerhouse Local Music Roster." The label's great stable of artists isn't limited to Greater Cincinnati, though. No. 1 case in point: Dayton, Ohio's fantastic singer/songwriter M Ross Perkins, whose enchanting music lightly recalls the most enduring moments of the ’70s "AM Mellow Gold" oeuvre, with a Psych tinge and a heavy streak of vintage Pop brilliance (Beach Boys, Beatles, etc.) running throughout the deft arrangements and overall aura.
Perkins' latest single is another masterful example of his Pop Rock genius. "Bed Sheet Wing" will be featured on Perkins' forthcoming What Did You Do For Summer Break, a stunning six-track EP Sofa Burn is releasing next Friday, Aug. 31. Listen below, but fair warning — it will be stuck in your head throughout the weekend (and probably long after).
Perkins says this is the third recorded version of "Bed Sheet Wing"; the previous two were done in 2011.
"I wrote the song in this tiny little closet in my old house," he says. "At the time that I wrote it, I had just recently listened to a live bootleg from the '80s by one of my favorite groups, and on the night of that particular show, for one reason or another, they sounded just objectively awful. So, when I went into that little closet to write 'Bed Sheet Wing,' I remember feeling like whatever I was going to walk out with was probably going to be, at the absolute worst, about as good as one of my favorite bands on a night when they snorted a bunch of cocaine, went out on stage hating each other's guts and just sucked as hard as they could.
"I guess this song taught me what a nice feeling that is, when you go to start writing something. You can siphon your confidence from the failures of really talented people."
Perkins' self-titled debut full-length was critically acclaimed up its release on Sofa Burn. Get more info here. What Did You Do For Summer Break will be available Friday through most major digital platforms.
For updates, visit Perkins Facebook page here.
