Milan McAlevey (of Maine rock band Coke Weed) shares his lost 2008 debut record entitled Admiral of the State of Maine, now available via Fortune Tellers. The album was recorded 15 years ago on an old 4-track cassette machine and shipped back and forth from Maine to Brooklyn, where producer Walter Martin (of The Walkmen) gave notes and helped the album along. Today, he has shared a new video for album track “Me & the Griz”.

Speaking on his newly unearthed record, McAlevey wrote:

“Admiral of the State of Maine is a collection of songs I began writing in the fall of 2007. I was living in a small town in midcoast Maine where I was able to spend most of my time writing. The songs were by and large reflections on my youth spent in New England.

I would demo the songs on cassette, which I’d send in batches to my friend Walter Martin (The Walkmen) in Brooklyn. Eventually we enlisted the help of our other old friend, Nick Stumpf, and recorded for five days at a small studio in DUMBO in April 2008.

I always had a feeling the resulting record was special, but back then I didn’t have the means or inclination to find its audience. I moved on with my life, but I’ve been holding onto these songs like a secret for the past 15 years, so it’s a relief to finally be getting them out there.”

“Me and the Griz” is a song about finding my way as a young teenager among the lawless milieu that I gravitated toward growing up in rural New Hampshire. The Griz was a cool older guy who took me under his wing and schooled me in the ways of backwoods latter-day hippiedom. By the time you get to the end, it’s also become a song about outgrowing those kinds of social environments.”

Milan McAlevey
Admiral of the State of Maine
Tracklist
Fortune Tellers

01. Wrong Rails
02. Me & the Griz
03. Jeans and Boots
04. The Waters of May
05. Bird Dogging
06. How Do My Lovely
07. I Dreamed of Concord
08. Wild Fruit
09. Highliner
10. Sweetly Green

Growing up in the woods of New Hampshire, Milan McAlevey was exposed to a wide range of musical influences. His father, a furniture maker, was a bluegrass superfan and best friend of Eric Von Schmidt, painter, folk musician and mentor of young Bob Dylan. While the likes of Eric Von Schmidt and Maria Muldaur were familiar faces in his father’s home, his mother, a midwife, was a Deadhead who took young Milan on her adventures. So, while he got to see a dozen Grateful Dead shows, he also got to tag along with his father to the Sanders Theater in Cambridge to see the likes of Bill Monroe, the Seldom Scene, and Doc Watson. These formative experiences coincided with him starting guitar lessons, and by high school, he was regularly playing dances and parties with his high school friends.

He moved to New York to attend Sarah Lawrence College to study music and writing, but dropped out during his senior year, working as an art handler to support his musical aspirations. During this period, he served as both leader and sideman in several weird bands, never with much success.