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The
premise is simple, 10 songs to be experienced as if a jukebox was playing. This
approach freed Portland resident Hagadorn to record when he had a song he liked,
as opposed to grabbing a set of ten songs to make an album. As you would expect,
the song styles vary widely, but they are all based on a rootsy-power pop. Musical
touchstones are Beatles, Kinks, and Byrds without settling for a slavish devotion
to an era-specific sound. Hagadorn has an ear for melody and a catchy hook. These
Ten Singles give him a working base to develop his craft. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles
of Music (Bladen Co. Records) 
The
challenge is finding only one outstanding area to highlight. Rachel Harrington's
bittersweet and mournful voice, her melancholy story telling, the exemplary musicianship
courtesy of some of the finest players, and terrific song production are all competing
for top billing in the "oh, I like that part the best!" contest. This
full-length debut is a terrific, intimate folk/bluegrass record. --- Jeff Weiss,
Miles of Music (Skinny Dennis)
Chris Morris wrote in LA City Beat, "Like his role model Alvin, Serby has
a keen eye for detail... Serby interprets his songs with a unique honky-tonk voice:
Rather than nail a note, his warm, woolly tenor hovers around the edge of it,
asserting imperfect pitch as effectively as Ernest Tubb once did. . . Serby['s]
second album, Another Sleepless Night, sports a harder sound and 15 rueful new
songs, mainly about crash-and-burn romances. (Nobody's ever happy for long in
Serby's universe.) . . . David Serby is the goods." Morris, a man of taste,
has it right. Serby is one of those small handfuls of artists every generation
that demands close attention. Fans of hard country will be impressed. (Harbor
Grove) 
Phil Tagliere has mastered the craft of the "sublime ache." Each gem
of a song fills you with hurt. The dense production adds to the subtle claustrophobia
as he obliquely reveals his inner demons. Phil is joined by DJ Bonebreak (X),
Don Heffington (Lone Justice, Jayhawks, Lucinda Williams), Eric Heywood (Son Volt,
Richard Buckner), Stevie Blacke (Beck, Snoop Doggy Dog) and others on this gently
heartbreaking album. (Slow Ton Moving) -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music 
Chicago's
Dolly Varden marks their triumphant return with The Panic Bell. After a three-year
hiatus marked by solo records, art exhibits, and raising babies, the record ushers
in a new focus for the band. Fronted by husband and wife duo Steve Dawson and
Diane Christiansen, the songs are filled with images of Dawson's struggle to hold
onto his band and his hope in a world numbed by the violence and distortion of
"shock and awe." Hope appears in the form of the biggest, hooky pop
songs this band has ever recorded - "Everything" and the album's closer
"Good Provider." Two-part harmonies shine all over the album, but the
songs are driven by tougher guitars, bigger choruses and spontaneous abandon.
**Also
includes a bonus disc with tracks from Kenny Brown track,Taylor Grocery Band,
Suzy Elkins, RB Morris, Heiskell, Brown Mountian, and Larry Brown. With expanded
art/liner notes. ** Just One More, A Musical Tribute to Larry Brown is a compilation
of tunes by artists who were his friends, fans and peers. With 18 tracks, 12 of
which are previously unreleased, the album has contributions from a wide range
of critically acclaimed artists, among them Alejandro Escovedo (whom Larry performed
with periodically), T-Model Ford, Vic Chesnutt, Jim Dickinson (with Duff Dorrough),
Robert Earl Keen, Cary Hudson (Blue Mountain), Brent Best (Slobberbone, The Drams)
and the North Mississippi Allstars, to name a few. Some of these songs were written
for the project, songs for Larry and about his characters, such as Caroline Herring's
"Song For Fay", exploring the title character of Fay, a novel published
in 2000. The album closes with a song performed by Larry himself, accompanied
by Clyde Edgerton, a Southern novelist of great renown. Track Listings: Blue Car
(Greg Brown)/Forget You (Bo Ramsey)/Song in C (Cary Hudson)/Song for Fay (Caroline
Herring)/Baby's Got New Plans (Alejandro Escovedo)/Thirsty Fingers (Scott Miller
& the Commonwealth)/Robert Cole (Brent Best)/Another Place in Time (Pieta
Brown)/Love Me (T-Model Ford)/Counting on You (Robert Earl Keen)/Here's to My
Disgrace (Ben Weaver)/Mountain in Mississippi (Tate Moore)/The Bridge (Tim Lee
& Susan Bauer Lee)/Going Down with Larry Brown (Madison Smartt Bell &
Wyn Cooper)/Fish (Vic Chesnutt)/Glory (North Mississippi Allstars w-Otha Turner
& the Rising Star Fife & Drum Band)/I'll Remember You (Jim Dickinson &
Duff Dorrough)/Don't Let the Door (Larry Brown w/Clyde Edgerton).
"
Spare is the word to describe the direction Matthew Ryan's gone in since his beefy,
guitar-drenched debut, 1997's May Day. Here his songs, steady as always, exist
in collaboration with the gauzy keyboard washes of his Strays Don't Sleep band
mate, Neilson Hubbard. This kind of unrelenting moodiness works and it doesn't.
The sonic percolations behind most of these ballad-like ruminations barely qualify
as musical backing. The only departure is the retro "And Never Look Back,"
which will please those enamored of 80's synth rock but others will feel a distinct
chill. Ryan's facility with lyrics remains sharp, however..."-- Robert Baird,
Harp (Megaforce) 
Track
Listings: Texas 1947/LA Freeway (Pack Up All Your Dishes)/Carpenter/Old Friends/Come
From The Heart/I'm All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad/Randall Knife/Immigrant
Eyes/Desperados Waiting For A Train/Last Gunfighter Ballard/New Cut Road/Better
Days/Homegrown Tomatoes/To Live Is To Fly/Texas Cookin'. (New West Records)
Despite
its title, the new Cowboy Junkies album, At the End of Paths Taken, is as much
about new beginnings as it is about endings. It is also about human connections,
the struggle to sustain those connections over time, and the complexities that
can arise even when those connections are maintained. It is, in other words, a
classic Cowboy Junkies album - a suite of smart, richly textured songs that value
subtlety over broad, generic strokes, songs that prize insight and casual revelations
over easily digestible clichés. Family lies at the heart of the album's
eleven songs, and, of course, that is appropriate, too. Three of the band's members
- singer Margo Timmins; songwriter, producer and guitarist Michael Timmins; and
drummer Peter Timmins - are siblings, and bassist Alan Anton has been a member
since the group formed in Toronto in 1985. Few bands have lasted nearly as long
with their original line-up intact, and fewer still have created as consistently
satisfying a body of work. (Zoe Records) 
Twenty
years later, by in no way too late, the man often seen as a pillar of pop has
finally delivered the Great Lost Debut Album of his revered recording career.
Four years in the making, Actual Signs is the re-recording by Richard X. Heyman
of Actual Size, the six-song mini-album that started it all for the New York songsmith
in 1986. Rock critic Parke Puterbaugh deems the Actual Sighs story "unlike
any other in the annals of popular music, with the possible exception of Brian
Wilson's re-recording of Smile in 2005." Brian Wilson tops a list of greats
- from Link Wray to Ben E. King - with whom Heyman has performed as a backing
artist. Join Richard X. Heyman on this unique and rewarding trip back to the future.
(Turn Up Records)
Long-time
favourites in Torontos alt-folk community, Rock Plaza Central have quietly written
a masterpiece with Are We Not Horses. The mantra, "I am an Excellent Steel
Horse" contains definite Mountain Goat-isms in Chris Eatons deft wordplay
and the song is simple yet captivating. John Darnielles presence is again apparent
on Fifteen Hands, whose stirring, bohemian soundtrack is captured zealously by
engineer Dale Morningstar. With their exuberant defiance, How Shall I to Heaven
Aspire? and Our Hearts Will Not Rust sound like the kind of new-world western
songs Will Oldham has perfected, and his tale-telling tics have been absorbed
by Eaton...Rollicking and unhinged, Are We Not Horses contains a real physicality,
as if lives hang in the balance with every utterance. Its a stunning and unexpected
gem from Rock Plaza Central." -- Vish Khanna, exclaim.ca (Independent) 
The
name Brandon Butler may not be familiar, but any fan of indie-rock and emo is
probably aware of Butler's previous projects, Boys Life and Farewell Bend. Butler
then emerged with his project Canyon, where his unique vocal styles took a more
country and folk-based rock sound. Now Butler has released his 2nd solo effort,
and Lucky Thumbs shows a mature, strong songwriter with an extremely unique voice.
(Gypsy Eyes Records)
When
you play in a band for 10 years, you write a lot. Usually, you only get a record
out every couple of years, so many songs never see the light of day. Sometimes
the version that's issued will be your second or third attempt to get it "right,"
while the demos are left behind like pieces of evidence. A good percentage of
these will be terrible, others might be great, and some will hold sentimental
value. These are just some of the things this record is concerned with.Track Listing:
Here We Come/She Says/My Day (Will Come)/Sleeping Beauty/Doctors Are Dead/Comfortably
Bummed/No Inspiration/Keep It Close To Me/Extra-Sensory/I Am Incinerator/Relocate
My Satellites/While The Rest Of The World/Lighting The Way (live)/True Believer
(live)/True Believer (demo).(Arena Rock) 
On
"Via Novella", Graig Markel layers acoustic guitars, electric guitars,
strings, pianos, and organs along shimmering vocal melodies with help from Modest
Mouse drummer Jeremiah Green, vocalist Jen Wood (Postal Service, Rachels) and
members of Tagging Satellites to create captivating, autobiographical short stories
inside lush, haunting indie-rock-soundscapes. Includes production and mixing by
Sun Kil Moon producer Aaron Prellwitz (Sonic Boom Recordings)
"Filip's
second album is every bit as wonderful as his debut was. He eases you in gently
with some delightful Bolan style hippy warbling on 'Whistling In A Shell', before
he becomes Elvis in Hawaii for the brittle and sad 'Ohh Iceland', where he sounds
world weary and broken...Some of the latter songs on the album sound like an understated
Rufus Wainwright, especially 'She-Swallow' and 'Tan-Lines'...'Crane-grief' is
another wonderfully understated masterpiece." -- Russell Barker, .russellsreviews.co.uk
Following
through on a fascination with the year 1947 ("That year keeps cropping up,"
says the author), Michael Penn`s Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 provides a lyrical and
spiritual backdrop before which he weaves a now familiar melancholic pop. Produced
and mixed by Michael in his home studio - which no doubt has the entire Beatles
catalog close at hand for reference - this is surely to be marked as one of his
finest moments. Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 is both moving and beautiful, and paints
a unique picture of a Los Angeles that doesn`t exist anymore, giving each tune
a ghostly quality. Stirring and reflective, his sorrow-touched tunes find a brief
moment of hope in his acknowledgement that "things are looking up" on
the delightful "On Automatic", a 2 minute slice of breezy pop perfection
that falsely ends the album. The disc`s "p.s." ghost track, "Millionaire"
is simply a remarkable acoustic solo sendoff from one of the best songwriters
this side of Elvis Costello. Featured guests on this brilliant Post-war pop-noir
ode include harmony vocalists Buddy Judge (Snow & Voices, Aimee Mann) and
Gary Louris (Jayhawks), with wife Aimee Mann chiming in a bit between bass parts.
(Sony Legacy)
Track
Listing: Lucky One (Version One)/Bunker Hill (Previously Unreleased Version)/Out
Of My Hand (Album Version)/Cupid's Got A Brand New Gun (Previously Unreleased
Version)/Coal/Try (Alternate Version)/No Myth/Barely A Sound (Instrumental (Previously
Unreleased)/Don't Let Me Go (Album Version)/All That That Implies (Album Version)/Whole
Truth (Album Version)/Brave New World/Me Around (Demo Version)/Long Way Down (Look
What The Cat Drug In) (Previously Unreleased)/Macy Day Parade (Album Version)/Figment
(Album Version)/Bucket Brigade (Album Version)/I Can Tell/Walter Reed/Opening
(from the film, "Melvin Goes To Dinner") (Previously Unreleased).(Sony
Legacy)
If the Replacements played Southern rock, they might have sounded something like
Cape Girardeau`s Dirty 30`s. Teaming with legendary roots producer Eric Ambel,
the band struts and grinds through heavy, twangy rock that`s too loud for Americana
and too spontaneous for the typical indie template on its self-titled debut. To
call them a bar band is no slur: They play fast and loose with free-wheeling blues-based
guitar riffs, always a dependable soundtrack for drinking till last call and smoking
up on the way home." - Roy Kasten, River Front Times 
The shuffling country-rock, complete with piano and pedal, makes Keegan Dewitt
sound more like an English pub-rocker than a kid from the Pacific Northwest. Dewitt
enlisted the help of the North Carolina band Roman Candle who produced, engineered
and, most importantly, filled in as his Rumour. North Carolina stalwart was so
impressed by the record that he volunteered to mix it. Dewitt`s debut showcases
a talent for hook-filled intimate storytelling set again a rollicking backdrop.
-- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (Dual Coast Recording Company) 
Signed/Numbered limited edition CD of 2000! June 2005 Graham Parker and the Figgs
rolled into Chicago for the last show of their tour. 103 Degrees in June documents
that night when the music takes over, when the crowd and the band feed off one
another and no one minds being soaked to the skin. Hot? Hell yes, it was hot.
GP and the boys were in top form from their tour and they tore through killer
versions of songs covering the length of GP`s legendary career. Track Listings:
Don`t Get Excited/Soul Shoes/Stick to Me/Vanity Press/Nothing`s Gonna Pull It
Apart/If It Ever Stops Rainin`/Bad Chardonnay/Dislocated Life/Brand New Book/Local
girls/Pourin` It All Out/Hotel Chambermaid/The Raid/Hold Back The Night/There`s
Nothing On The Radio/Saturday Night Is Dead. (Bloodshot) 
"Recorded on two-inch analog tape and assisted by members from groups backing
Jo De Messina, John Doe and Junior Brown, Iowan Kelly Pardekooper sounds as if
he`s channeling The Dandy Warhols on the retro-rock, groovy title track that sets
the album off on the right course. But it`s just a teaser as he settles down for
the slow and roots based "Crazy Girl", where Pardekooper shuffles along
as if he was covering Mark Knopfler. Fans of Todd Snider will revel in a number
like "Last Call", which is a rather sparse but comforting affair that
sounds as if the artist recorded it while someone was mopping the barroom floor
before closing. The album chugs along nicely with the near-perfect "Mehaffey
Bridge", the equally gorgeous "Quiet Tonight", and the haunting,
mysterious "Sometimes". What makes the album so consistently good is
Pardekooper`s ability to show different sides of his craft without diminishing
the song`s quality or shortchanging himself. The icing on the cake though has
to be the stellar "Grandma`s Rosary" with its Springsteen quality. 8/10
stars " -- Popmatters.com 
Canada`s David Picco, rightfully, gets lumped in with Steve Earle, Jay Farrar,
and Jeff Tweedy. His way with melody, lyrics, and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning`s
overall sound puts him squarely in that place where Uncle Tupelo ended is all:
Anodyne. Producer by Don Kerr (Ron Sexsmith) captures that place where melancholy
and exuberance meet. Picco`s sound might feel derivative of his well accomplished
predecessors, but it is both not back company to keep and shows him as an artist
with something to say. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (Mag Wheel) 
This stellar band is made of up members of the acclaimed Last Train Home (Eric
Brace, Jim Gray, Martin Lynds), plus bluegrass legends Mike Auldridge and Jimmy
Gaudreau. The Skylighters` special kind of magic includes bluegrass, country,
honky-tonk, western swing, Tin Pan Alley, country-rock and more. Don`t try to
pigeonhole these fellows. They crash through the roadblocks of musical genres
with the accelerator floored. (Red Beet Records) 
The sound is eclectic while not disconnected. There is gentle `70s soul-pop, aching
country laments, a pinch of punk, and the trash of meshing Crazy Horse guitars.
Yet, Dizziness and Darkness is cohesive. There is no doubt, track-to-track, that
this is the same band but they manage to incorporate a variety of textures that
make them impossible to pigeonhole. Fans of Whiskeytown, Grand Drive, Minibar,
and the aforementioned Crazy Horse will find this 2006 release to be a winner.
Songwriters Bradley Putze and Kevin Stokes have a way of lulling you, only to
smack you around with a wry passage. Gentle, spacey, rocking, and original. --
Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (Open Plan Records) 
Rock `N` Roll Pony is amazing. With solid, sing-a-long hooks and sharp lyrical
insight, this self-penned, self-produced set stands up equally against the disc`s
sole cover - a very worthy version of the World Party tune "Put The Message
In The Box". It comes off extremely well, adding a rootsy edge and world-weary
despair to an already amazing song. Gina Villalobos is blessed with a resonant
voice that is heartbreakingly fraught with emotion on the brink. The Nashville
Scene says "Villalobos combines the rootsy Americana of Lucinda Williams
with the straight up rock of the Stones circa 1970, wrestling with Ryan Adams."
(Kick Music)
Track
Listing:Texas 1947/L.A. Freeway (Pack Up All Your Dishes)/The Carpenter/Old Friends/Come
From The Heart/I'm All Through Throwing Good Love After Bad/Randall Knife/Immigrant
Eyes/Desperados Waiting For A Train/The Last Gunfighter Ballad/New Cut Road/Better
Days/Homegrown Tomatoes/To Live Is To Fly/Texas Cookin'. (New West Records)
George
Jones continues to make his brand of country music, wich has produced hits in
every decade of the second half of the 20th century. Soundstage makes his 50th
anniversary as a recording artist with George Jones 50 year of Hits, a Sounstage
Special Event. Each artist interprets one of Jones' country classics. Hosted by
Reba McEntire the double dvd features preformances from: Alan Jackson, Aaron Neville,
Randy Travis, Randy Travis & George Jones, Trick Pony, Vince Gill, Lorrie
MOrgan, Trace Adkins, Sammy Kershaw, Shelby Lynne, Shelby Lynne & George Jones,
Uncle Kracker, Kenny Chesney, Emmylou Harris, Amy Grant, Tanya Tucker, Joe Diffie,
Connie Smith & George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Martina McBride, Henry Connick
Jr. Wynonna & George Jones and George Jones. Over 90 minutes of music and
interviews on two DVDs in high definition and 5.1 Surround Sound. (New West Records)
Track
Listing: Blues Walk/Penguins/I've Been To Memphis/That's Right You're Not From
Texas/Long Tall Texan/I Know You Know I'm So In Love With You/Nobody Knows Me
Like My Baby/If I Had A Boat/North Dakota (with Ricky Lee Jones)/You Can't Resist/Here
I Am/Funny How Time Slips Away/What Can You Do (with Francine Reed)/Church. (Curb
Records)
This
critically acclaimed series, which ran from 1992 to 1998, focuses on the behind-the-scenes
antics of self-loathing late night talk show host Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling)
and his funny and often surprising interactions with crew, writers, and guest.
(Sony Pircutres)
This
line-up features Joe Zawinul (keyboards), Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Jaco Pastorius
(bass), Alex Acuna (drums) and Manolo Badrena (percussion). Previously only available
as a bootleg of a TV broadcast, this new DVD release is fully authorized and has
been restored to its full length. Track Listing: Elegant people/Scarlet Woman/Barbary
Coast/Portrait of Tracy(bassolo)/Cannonball/Black market/Drum & Percussion
Duet/Piano & Saxophone Duet/Dr Honoris Causa/Directions/ Badia/Gibraltar.
(Eagle Vision USA) 
This
young Bellingham, WA band draws comparisons to fellow Pacific NW artists as Elliot
Smith and Quasi. Or as Glen Sarvady put it in CMJ, "Death Cab For Cutie favors
a brand of off-kilter bedroom pop spiked with enough science experiments to conjure
images of an Elephant 8 Northwest." 
With
Countrypolitan Favorites, SCOTS (Southern Culture On The Skids) are giving us
a glimpse into their private record collections by compiling 15 one of a kind
covers, recorded at singer Rick Miller`s Kudzu Ranch recording studio. From Mary
Huff`s sultry take on "Funnel of Love" (made famous by Wanda Jackson),
to Miller`s version of the Don Gibson classic, "Oh Lonesome Me," and
their swingers-on-the-rocks duet, "Let`s Invite Them Over" (an Onie
Wheeler original), SCOTS have recorded what might be the definitive countrypolitan
soundtrack to a life lived on the skids. (Yep Roc) | Alt Country | Americana Music | Bluegrass Music | Country Bluegrass | Folk Music Folk Rock | Roots Rock | Singer Songwriter | Sitemap |