The New Rockwells

Springfield born-and-raised musician Martin "Marty" J. Boyle works as a certified public accountant at PricewaterhouseCoopers, but he's on track to release a studio album with his folk-rock duo, The New Rockwells.

He and band mate Benjamin S. Muller are planning the release of their studio album, Old Familiar Way.

This album follows the release of the band's 2016 debut, Live From Carnegie Hall.

The eight tracks comprising the new album represent an evolution of the band's sound, incorporating electric and rock elements and rich orchestration to the good time folk-rock sound that fans have come to know and love. Through ballads and rockers alike, the band explores themes of longing, nostalgia, consequence and elation.

Boyle plays guitar and sings, and on the album he plays some harmonica.

"With 'Live' we tried to capture the energy of one of our live performances by recording only our live instrumentation and utilizing minimal overdubs. On 'Old Familiar Way,' we approached the recording process as a way to stretch compositionally, using layering of instruments and fleshed out arrangements," he said. This included recording multiple guitars and keyboards as well as recording a four-piece horn section in New York City.

"Lyrics are something that have always been a focus for us, and the songs in this album touch on a wide variety of experiences, memories and ideas that we haven't always been able to voice," said Boyle, who grew up in the Atwater Park section of Springfield and graduated from Cathedral High School in 2011 and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Isenberg School of Management in 2015."Over the past several years writing and playing together, we've honed our ability to write together."

"This album is a labor of love and collaboration," said Muller, the duo's keyboardist, saxophonist and singer. "Marty and I co-wrote every song and devised much fuller and varied arrangements than we've had in the past. This is the new The New Rockwells."

Old Familiar Way will be released on all platforms on Oct. 5.

Folk-rocker Boyle and jazzman Muller perform a style of rock all their own, a blending of folk, classic rock, blues and jazz. Drawing on influences from Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel to Steve Goodman and Jim Croce, The New Rockwells' feel-good music has an old-school vibe with a groovy modern twist.

Since the release of their first album, Boyle learned how to play harmonica, but he said the main thing they've learned is how to bring to life the sounds in their heads.

They have long been influenced by a number of musicians -- Jesse Colin Young, Willie Nile, The Saw Doctors and Delbert McClinton, to name a few.

"For this album we really did our research, listening to the sounds we wanted to emulate and figuring out how to make them our own and apply them to our own work," Boyle said. They spent a lot of time making specific choices like how to blend their voices, what instruments to add and where to add them.

The duo has also learned from playing dozens of gigs throughout the years how to showcase what they do live on a recording. "Playing live is our favorite thing. It's how we got started, and it's how we connect with people," Boyle said. "As with 'Live,' we really focused on bringing that sound into the studio. We brought in some extremely talented musicians we'd performed with many times before, and with whom we've established a chemistry that comes through in the recording."

The New Rockwells are based in Boston and New York City.

Asked about the duo's name, Boyle said he conceived of the name when he was in high school. "Before it was the name of our folk-rock band, The New Rockwells was actually the name of a comedy folk-rap duo that I founded at UMass. We had a very short run, but I still liked the name and wanted to use it again," he said. "I've always liked the word play of 'rock-well,' which is something I hope we do at every show."

He also likes drawing the association with American artist Norman Rockwell. "His images are the definition of Americana and classic New England. As a folk-rock band with roots in the region, I can think of no better way to express what we're all about through our name," Boyle continued.

The new album had a "go-big-or-go-home" approach, Boyle said "We went for it with impulses that we hadn't necessarily pursued before. Whenever we thought a new idea could be interesting, we followed that path to see how far we could take it. Tat's how we ended up with a full horn section on some songs, solo instrumental parts like trumpet and viola on others and harmonica."

More information on The New Rockwells including upcoming tour dates can be found at thenewrockwells.com.

They will be touring in promotion of the new album throughout the fall with shows in Boston, New York City and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The New Rockwells be performing as part of The Student Prince's Wunderbar Music Series on Nov. 23.

Tour dates and additional information can be found at thenewrockwells.com/shows. - MassLive (The Republican)