Medium Cool Records

The Leatherwoods

The Leatherwoods come from Kansas and reside in Minneapolis. Pressed for a concise description of their music we might say 'Candy-Assed Power Pop', but like most really good bands, they don't fit neatly into anyone category. "Topeka Oratorio" is their first long player and it splendidly illustrates their principle talents as singers and songwriters of an unusually high calibre.

The Leatherwoods are, for the record, Todd Newman (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards) and Tim O'Reagan (vocals, drums, acoustic guitars). Both have played in other outfits too numerous to mention. What is important to know is that while Todd was playing in rock 'n' roll bands that were focusing on original material, Tim was working in showbands that covered tunes of all styles (though heavy on blues and soul) simply because he loved to play and sing. These divergent backgrounds form the solid base that the two of them work from.

The album was recorded at various studios, from Topeka to Minneapolis. With the assistance of some talented friends that were eager to help, they knocked out twelve of their most popular selections. The lyrics are concocted out of parts fact and parts fiction. Todd sings lead on five of them, Tim on six, and they duet on one. The end result is a tuneful batch of songs as told by two very distinct voices.

- from the 1992 Medium Cool bio