The Bitter Road
“The Bitter Road is the product of country, rock, punk, soul, metal, and one part short-tempered snarkiness. Spoken from the ring leader herself, but make no mistake this fine specimen of an artist may have had a reputation around billings as being sassy and snappy, but that’s what separated her from the sheep. Becky is no stranger to the music scene here in the magic city and to her own tune she walks through life, and by her own words has garnered a reputation as being a no nonsense gal. Don’t get confused though, Becky may have a lot of bark and bite, but every good artist does, and that is what the Bitter Road is all about.” Noise & Color July 2015
The EP – Becky, Ken and Ryan Riley
“This project really is a little bit of all of us.”
The experience was a bit of a whirlwind for the band, who recorded their first EP on March 1, 2015 at Ships In Studios, with Bob Brown of Billings at the helm, and former member Ryan Riley on guitar. For the EP, John Roberts had double duty as he played organ, trombone and bass as well as producing the project. Randy Mitchell at Akadak Studio in California mixed, mastered and added some extra love to the EP in the form of guitars and percussion.
Released on June 13, 2015, it appeared at times that the band would not make their deadline, but Becky would not take no for an answer.
“We just really wanted to create something that we could be proud of and I pushed to get it out quick.”
The Band
The original Bitter Road was made up of Becky Sappington, Ken Clark and Ryan Riley. The lineup of Bitter Road changed in Summer 2016, first when the band invited Scot Ninnemann to sit in on bass, vocals and guitar, and then when Ryan Riley left the band to pursue other projects. The Bitter Road then took a hiatus in 2017 as Becky was adjusting to being in college. By summer of 2018 it was clearly time to get things rolling again. New members were added, and new songs were starting to take shape.
The Bitter Road has taken on new life with a new line up of musicians. Incorporating disco, reggae feels, and classic Bitter Road soul. New members Todd Loughrie (bass/vocals), Mike Beyl (lead guitar) and Mike Tutaj (keys) add a whole new sound to Ken Clark (drums) and Becky Sappington Clark (vocal/guitar) of the original Bitter Road. The members of the band, having been exploring the avenues of music since their childhood all have different influences and backgrounds and come together in this project in a beautiful way.
The Bitter Road has been writing new songs and gearing up for a couple of shows for 2019.
Photo credit: Robin Morgan, Robin’s Nest Photography
