Marshall Crenshaw - Grab The Next Train

Grab The Next Train EP on 45 RPM 10" vinyl and download

Born near Detroit, Michigan, Marshall Crenshaw began playing guitar at age 10 and he received his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway company of Beatlemania. In 1987, he played Buddy Holly in the Richie Valens biopic "La Bamba." While living in NYC, he recorded the single "Something's Gonna Happen" for Alan Betrock's Shake Records, which led to a deal with Warner Bros. Records.

His debut album, Marshall Crenshaw was acclaimed as a pop masterpiece upon its release in 1982 and established him as a first-rate songwriter, singer and guitarist. The record spawned the Top 40 single "Someday, Someway," which rockabilly singer Robert Gordon covered and scored a hit with a year earlier, and other classics such as "(You're My) Favorite Waste of Time," "Whenever You're On My Mind" and "Cynical Girl." The great songs continued with the Life's Too Short album on MCA ("Fantastic Planet of Love"), three albums for Razor & Tie and the 2009 release Jaggedland ("Someone Told Me," "Passing Through," "Never Coming Down").

Crenshaw's most recent project has been a series of exclusive three-song 10-inch, 45 RPM vinyl EPs sold individually or as an annual subscription, six of which the artist plans to release over a two-year period. Each EP will consist entirely of newly recorded, never-before-released material, encompassing a new original Crenshaw composition, a classic cover tune, and a new reworking of a time-honored favorite.

"I really do think that vinyl sounds best, and that playing a vinyl record is still the optimum listening experience," Crenshaw asserts. "And with the sound quality that you get at 45 RPM, I think that these things are going to deliver the goods, sonically."

His sixth EP, Grab The Next Train, features the great new title song as well as a cover of The Easybeats' 1960s rock classic "Made My Bed Gonna Lie In It" and a 1981 apartment recorded demo of one of his first name making cuts "Something's Gonna Happen." All three tracks were mastered for maximum sound fidelity by veteran engineer Greg Calbi, who has handled mastering duties on the entire EP series.

"I've always put a great deal of care into the albums I've made," Crenshaw adds. "But as a listener, I've always been a singles guy and an individual-tracks guy. I'm looking forward to creating a steady output of music in small batches, rather than being stuck in a cave for months and stockpiling a whole bunch of music and dumping it out all at once. Now, when I finish something, I get to put it out, instead of having to wait until I've got 12 more."