“I was born and raised in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota. I have pulled the stiff, frozen extension cord from the rusty nail and ran it across the snow and ice covered ground to reach the block heater on the vehicle. This had to be done to increase the chance of the vehicle’s starting. I used to have a 1980 Ford Bronco with really good four wheel drive and really poor tires. The poor tires plus my teenage driving ability landed me in the ditch on more than one occasion, sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident but it was always fun. I would drive around looking for hills to climb that may provide a challenge or sense of exhilaration and I would always find the latter but rarely the former for the old Bronco. Before I would began my ascent on these aforementioned hills I would put “Just the good ole boys” by Waylon Jennings into the cd player. The song would start, I would go and at the very first bump the cd would skip and then the music would stop. From that point on all that could be heard was the dual exhaust and them four wheels clawing their way through the snow. When the top was reached I would come to a stop and relish in my conquest, at which point Waylon Jennings would rejoin me with a chorus.” Previous notes: Leo Rondeau's "Bangs, Bullets and the Turtle Mountains" is a collection of songs that show an ability for storytelling that is truly refreshing. The ten-song debut album is choc full of love, hate, even prison suicide, all wrapped up in a neat package of jagged tongue-in-cheek phrasing and sweet country melodies. Much of the sweet voiced twenty-six year old's inspiration for BANGS came from his upbringing in the Turtle Mountains. Born in North Dakota, Leo grew up just eight miles from the Canadian border, and has the accent to prove it. When the cold became too much, he packed his things and headed for Austin, Texas. A town that pulls no punches to up and coming songwriters, Rondeau is holding his own.