Long before Williamsburg became the heart of indie rock in the New York metropolitan area, there was Hoboken, N.J. As a member of "a," Rage to Live and the Individuals, Glenn Morrow helped build the scene, which also gave us Yo La Tengo, the Feelies, the dBs and the Bongos. Now, Morrow is back with a new band called Glenn Morrow's Cry for Help, and Diffuser is proud to have the exclusive premiere of their "Pony Express" from their self-titled album.

"'Pony Express' is a wild west tale updated for modern times," Morrow tells us. "I was also thinking about the Box Tops song 'The Letter' from the chord structure to the desire to get a message through to the one you love. I guess in the end it’s a cautionary tale about the terrible mistakes lovers can make in the name of love because 'that’s what lovers do.' We didn’t bring it in under two minutes like 'The Letter' but Ric Sherman really gets to stretch out and dazzle on lead guitar!”

Glenn Morrow's Cry for Help is his first album since Rage to Live put out Blame the Victims in 1990. But he's remained influential as the founder of Bar/None Records, the celebrated indie label that gave us the first two records by They Might Be Giants and others the dBs and Freedy Johnston. Morrow returned to songwriting after performing with the Individuals and "a" at the final show at Hoboken's celebrated rock club, Maxwell's, in 2013.

“After the show at Maxwell’s, I felt like I had a clean slate from which to write,” he said. “A portal I hadn’t been able to access for a long time reopened in my brain. Thanks to a long-overdue trip to Memphis, I found myself going back to school to really dig into everything that informed the music I liked over the years.”

He re-read Robert Palmer's book Deep Blues, and came out the other side with 11 smart, witty straightforward rock tunes. In addition to Sherman on lead guitar, joining him are bassist Mike Rosenberg and drummer Ron Metz, with Ray Ketchem (Okkervil River) producing.

The album comes out tomorrow (June 23) on Rhyme and Reason Records, which was founded by Emmy Black, a former Bar/None employee. Listen to "Pony Express" below.

Listen to Glenn Morrow's Cry for Help's "Pony Express"

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