Independent's Day Radio

Sam Marine played in bands in his native Gainesville, Florida and New York City before landing Los Angeles a few years back. His brand-new Big Dark City EP is Marine's third release, and on it he has perfected his particular brand of muscular, country-tinged rock and roll. Call it Americana if you wish, but the genre has always overlapped the straight-ahead, cranked-amp jangle of the classic rockers. Marine knows this, and he smartly recruited Los Angeles' rising star Brian Whelan to produce Big Dark City. The result pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. While he's not on the road or gigging around town, Marine works as a bartender, and the cast of characters and late night lifestyle of the world's second oldest profession provides him with ample inspiration for his songwriting. The title track is a swaggering mid-tempo rocker that sounds like a lost Steve Earle classic. "Dawn Come and Gone" serves up a ramped-up, four-on-the-floor stomp tempo and showcases Marine's confident vocals with a bit of Sun Recor