PR Newman

PR Newman is Spencer Garland, a singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who has claimed that his initials PR stand for Punkrock Randy, as in Newman. Amusing anecdote, but it also happens to capture the basic Newmanesque direction of his music in broad strokes. He writes upbeat and easy going pieces with plenty of pop jangle, a folksy touch, and a good load of humor to go with all that. His songs tend to be quite catchy, practically oozing the kind of good vibrations that would have been completely at home with a host of sunshine and fun rock bands that defined the West Coast sound in the '70s. His first album, Turn Out (2018), has nice stylistic diversity that taps into blues, country, and some jazz, while making the most of a brass section that injects plenty of old school good times to the music.