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The
soft-spoken 26-year-old coaxes an intoxicating array of emotion and detail into
his fragile-yet-gripping songs -- a body of work that's already elicited comparisons
to forebears as varied as Nick Drake for his guitar playing and to Woody Guthrie
for his wordplay. It's easy to understand why, given the filigreed acoustic finger-picking
and raw lyrical stance of songs like the cinematic "Be Good or Be Gone"
the menacing "Snowy Atlas Mountains" or the allegorical "Hey Rabbit"
with its social conscience, songs that paint intensely vivid pictures -- so vivid,
in fact, that Regan hesitates to elaborate as to their deeper origins. He keeps
the frills to a minimum on the dozen-song collection, getting his point across
with little more than voice, acoustic guitar and piano (most of The End of History's
songs were captured in one or two takes) he never gives the idea that he's practicing
minimalism for its own sake. That comes into particularly sharp focus when one
hones in on his guitar playing, a beguiling brew of rhythmically sturdy finger-picking
(the backbone of "Hunters Map") and (as on the twinkling "Abacus"),
lissome passages in which every note resonates with crystalline clarity. (Lost
Highway) 
There
is an old-soul lurking inside this Alphraetta, GA native. Dave Desmelik's warm
and weary vocals channel the plain-spoken Florida legend Ronny Elliot and Texas
songwriter James McMurtry. Desmelik's music comes off as understated, even with
a frequently smoking lead guitar. Desmelik uses the phrase, "steady and slow"
in "My Old Machine." The phrase could be applied to Desmelik's work
as a whole. There is a warm, gentleness to his work that makes this record so
satisfying. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (self-released)
Four albums into her young career, Kurn is one of the exciting voices of folk
music. Her idiosyncratic Iris Dement-like voice combined with a simple "around
the table conversation" style of songwriting brings an edge that is frequently
lacking with much modern folk. Kurn's stories revolve around the kinds of events
we all experience everyday. Her writing frequently results in an, "oh, yeah,
that is exactly how I feel at that moment," experience by the listener. When
the first song starts it is clear Emily Kurn is on to something special. -- Jeff
Weiss. Miles of Music (self-released)
Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John is Peter Cases's most raw, direct work in nearly
a decade. This album of politically-fueled and personally-visionary songs about
now finds America's golden troubadour in his finest form, laying down intricate
and driving finger-style guitar with his uniquely delivered dusty road-poetry.
Sleepy John is yet another volume in the career of one of the most storied singer/songwriters
of his generation. (Yep Roc)
This box set includes four CDs, a DVD, a poster, postcards, and a medallion. The
CDs are from four distinct recording sessions following the release of the group's
debut studio album, "What Comes After The Blues". "Nashville Moon"
was recorded by Steve Albini, "Sun Session" was recorded at the legendary
Sun Studios in Memphis, the "Black Ram" session was recorded by David
Lowery, and the "Shohola" session was recorded by Jason Molina alone,
with a guitar and microphone. "The Road Becomes What You Leave" is a
documentary film that follows the band as they tour the prairie provinces of Canada,
and it shows the loneliness one can feel even when traveling in a pack. Together,
these make for the most ambitious and robust Magnolia Electric Co. release to
date. Track Listings: Lonesome Valley/Montgomery/Don't Fade On Me/Hammer Down/No
Moon On The Water/Nashville Moon/What Comes After The Blues/Don't This Look Like
The Dark/North Star/Bowery/Texas 71/Down The Wrong Road Both Ways/In The Human
World/Black Ram, The/What's Broken Becomes Better/Will-O-The-Wisp/Kanawha/Little
At A Time/Blackbird/And The Moon Hits The Water/Old Horizon/Talk To Me Devil,
Again/Memphis Moon/Hold On Magnolia/Trouble In Mind/Steady Now/Spanish Moon Fall
And Rise/Night Country/Shiloh Temple Bell/Spell/Take One Thing Along/Lamb's Song/Roll
The Wheel.(Secretly Canadian)
Some records are made out of obligation; others are motivated by sheer desire.
Ex Tempore, the album from writer/artist Johnny Irion, falls into the latter category.
The title was inspired by the rapid pace of its creation--a pace that undoubtedly
contributed to the immediacy of this song cycle, a varied yet cohesive collection
intermingling piano balladry, Americana, chamber pop and folk-style fingerpicking,
with the occasional blast of skronky rock to clear the air. These songs are suffused
with artistic aspiration. There's a palpable sense of life being lived--its ups,
its downs, its everyday rhythms. (RCMA)
This record dynamites the moss-covered castle walls of 2005's "Black Sheep
Boy" to let in the glaring sun. Riddled with characters real and fake, with
the relics of high culture and the crumpled up trash of low culture, "The
Stage Names" is a cinemascopic take on the meaning of entertainment in the
modern world. Reverberant with echoes of Motown snap and girl group pop, redolent
with ripe whiffs of dirty rock 'n' roll, shining with the shimmy of Bo Diddley,
with the shimmer of the Velvets, with the swagger of the Faces, and with a glittery
sprinkling of cheap perfume to disguise the stink, "The Stage Names"
is a relentlessly paced and ruthlessly thrilling journey. The double CD deluxe
edition contains solo demos of each of the songs from the proper album and is
limited to only 1500 copies.
"Baker is the kind of outsider figure that Vic Chesnutt or Johnny Dowd cuts,
singular in style, almost astylistic (if there is such a term). His vocals are
halting, spoken like he is singing to himself with no mind for the audience, this
is a private dialog, the songs are short films playing in his head. It doesn't
exclude the audience though; you are drawn in to these tightly sketched dramas
by the imagery, the broken vocal and most importantly for the initial listens
- the sympathetic musical backing. 'Slots' is a prime example, a simple story
of an old woman playing the slots at Reno; the backing is restrained, bleached
almost, highlighting with squiggles of electric guitar and some excellent backing
vocals from Britt Savage, the song burning itself into your mind like you've been
looking into the sun for too long...Tese songs have solidity, substance and authority
- everything is done on Baker's terms. You enter into his cracked world and it
offers up a rewarding listen." -- David Cowling,americana-uk.com
Austin's Li'l Cap'n Travis play a unique brand of blissful modern pop. Emotionally
committed an stylistically eclectic, their 4th album, Twilight On Sometimes Island,
recalls the eloquence and beauty of The Zombies with the good natured eclecticism
of bands like Camper Van Beethoven and Calexico. There is an undiluted romanticism
to these tracks, casually outfitted in their shimmering gauzy layers of omnichord,
old synthesizers, gorgeous swells of pedal steel and warmly produced by Michael
Crow (The Gourds, Grand Champeen).(Glurp)
Limited to 1,000 copies on CD. Drag the River recently called it quits. The many
die-hard fans of this Country and MidWestern outfit are still in disbelief. Although
the band are no longer active, their songs will live on forever. This release
represents an idea the band has had for years, doing a split with one of their
favorite bands, the Dents. Drag would do shows with these Bostonians when coming
through town and they became one of their favorite bands. The idea behind the
split is simple. Each band would perform 2 originals and cover 2 of each others
songs. So each band does the same 4 songs, 8 songs in total. This is a fun release
and half the fun is guessing who wrote what song. (Suburban Home)
This is Paul Kelly's first solo album after a series of creative collaborations
over the last few years but it proves to be a collection as rich and rewarding
as any of his previous works. With this in mind a new member to the band has been
added- Cameron Bruce on keyboards who has been playing with The Polaroids in recent
times. He joins Ash Naylor on guitar who joined the band at the start of the year,
Peter Luscombe (drums), Bill McDonald (bass) and Dan Kelly (guitar) taking a break
from leading his own band The Alpha Males. (EMI)
2007 reissue of this long out of print live album from Alex Chilton and friends.
This set was recorded in and released in 1993 during the height of a Big Star
resurgence, Original members Alex Chilton and Jody Stephens are joined by The
Posies' John Auer and Ken Stringfellow.This live release features a set drawn
mostly from the albums #1 Record and Radio City plus covers of T. Rex's 'Baby
Strange' and Todd Rundgren's 'Slut'. Acadia. Track Listings: In the Street/Don't
Lie to Me/When My Baby's Beside Me/I Am the Cosmos/Ballad of El Goodo/Back of
a Car/Way Out West/Daisy Glaze/Baby Strange/For You/Feel/September Gurls/Thank
You Friends/Slut.(Arcadia Records)
30 years after first meeting, the stars have finally aligned for longtime friends,
Steve Gulley, Phil Leadbetter, and Alan Bibey. Forming Grasstowne has been a long
time dream for each member. As founding members of three highly successful bluegrass
bands, the members of Grasstowne are now forging a sound that is rooted in traditional
while retaining some of the contemporary edge that their previous groups became
famous for. Joining the three veterans is banjo player, Jason Davis who could
be considered a veteran himself at the age of 18 after having been a member of
Michelle Nixon and Drive, the Kenny & Amanda Smith Band, and Blueridge. The
newest addition is Jamey Booher on bass. Jamey began playing bass at age 14, with
his family's band, "The Boohers", and quickly excelled in both playing
and singing.(Pinecastel)
Burnt Toast & Offerings is a thematically pure collection of a dozen songs
about yearning and waiting from Gretchen Peters, an accomplished songwriter who's
never gotten the recognition as a performer in her native United States that she
has in England. Etta James, the Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Neil Diamond,
Bryan Adams, Trisha Yearwood, Patty Loveless, Martina McBride, and Faith Hill
are among the marquee names who have recorded her songs. Peters' fifth album is
folk, blues, and pop, with touches of country and rockabilly(Thirty Tigers)
Little Steven's Underground Garage presents, Coolest Songs In The World, Vol.
2. Track Listing: Maria Bartiromo - Joey Ramone/I Am the Eye - The High Dials/Rock
and Roll Babe/Sick City Sometimes - Buzzcocks/Love's Lost on You - The Grip Weeds/Mindreader
- Ten High/C'mon Everybody/What Keeps Your Heart Beatin'?/Take It Off - The Donnas/Sister
Surround - The Soundtrack of Our Lives/That Great Love Sound - The Raveonettes/Mystery
#1/Form a Straight Line/Fool of Me - Crybabies/Girl You Have Magic Inside of You
- Outrageous Cherry.(Wicked Cool Records)
This Is Somewhere marks the coming of age of the young, Vermont-based rock band
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. The album manifests incredible growth in the
writing and singing of 24-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, who has clearly found
her true voice in both respects, as well as the instrumental prowess of the band:
Potter on the Hammond B3, guitarist Scott Tournet, bassist Bryan Dondero and drummer
Matt Burr. On this remarkable record, they make a glorious racket indeed. The
band's timeless, organic brand of American rock & roll is fully in evidence
throughout This Is Somewhere. (Hollywood Reecords)
An inventively fun album of Elvis covers melding bluegrass and rockabilly by two
of Nashville's hottest songwriters and pickers: Bluegrass/country singer Shawn
Camp and rockabilly/country performer Billy Burnette, who spent nearly a decade
with Fleetwood Mac and now tours frequently with John Fogerty. Shawn is yin to
Billy's yang. And both men are steeped in the snaky soul of the Tennessee-Arkansas
mythology of the `50s, born of the spirit of Elvis. (Thirty Tigers)
TJ McFarland writes small stories of murderers, thieves, and corruption. Influenced
by Woody Guthrie and pre-electric Dylan, McFarland continues the tradition of
the troubadour or storyteller with his tales of the common man`s woes. His rich
voice, combining an acoustic guitar and fiddle, allow the words to float forward,
focusing on the story. A great step forward from his excellent 2005 release Rosenbaum`s
Gin. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (self-released)
Ramsay Midwood`s music is lo-fi, bluesy, and pure. Midwood`s haunting presence
summons an in-tune Tom Waits without the clang, or a more energetic Leon Redbone.
The all-star band, including Randy Weeks, drummer Don Heffington (who also serves
as producer), Kip Boardman, Phil Parlapiano, and Greg Liesz provide an earthy
and honest foundation for Midwood`s stream-of-consciousness tales. Honest, weird
and true, Midwood view of Americana sounds like no one else, but is also firmly
rooted in the history of American folk music. -- Jeff Weiss, Miles of Music (Farmwire
Music)
"... His songs possess a plainfolks simplicity that appeals to an audience
that exists far from the trendiest clubs and latest downtown hipster fads. There's
a throwback vibe to it all and a veneer of genuine decency. To say Stalling's
songs are introspective would be a Hall of Fame understatement. Despite a decade
in Dallas, Stalling has-at least in his music-never lost the feel for Crystal
City and the surrounding dry-land ranches where he grew up. A thinly veiled literary
substitute for Crystal City, Topaz City reveals that Stalling's idyllic view of
the old hometown has matured, that suddenly he's no longer able to idealize "the
run-down beer joint/The stoplight with no point" as anything but what they
are-signs of small-town decay and neglect. Stalling has always had a resigned
sadness in many of his songs, and tracks such as "Lank & Lonesome &
Low & Loose at Both Ends," "Goodnight Never Meant Goodbye"
and "How Blue Can You Go?" are the equals of any songs he's ever written.
With Field's (R.S. Field) sure hand at the controls, Topaz City is easily Stalling's
most satisfying and complete record yet-even if it is unashamedly uncool."
-- William Michael Smith, dallasobserver.com (Blind Nello) 
Robert Gordon put a fist through the heart of the music industry with his 1977
hit Red Hot," knocking down disco queens, would-be punks, and new wave wannabes
with his no-holds-barred take on hot-rodded rockabilly. Now, reunited with legendary
guitar ace Chris Spedding for the first time in 20 years, Robert is back to spread
the gospel and jolt the world again with It s Now Or Never. For this adult-sized
dose of wild rhythm they have gone directly to ground zero and have cherry-picked
their favorite Elvis Presley tunes, just in time for the 30th anniversary of Elvis'
death. To really shake things up, Robert and Chris are backed up by no less than
Elvis' mighty Jordanaires! From rippers like Lawdy Miss Clawdy and My Baby Left
Me through a stirring reading of Peace In the Valley, It s Now Or Never mines
the depths of Elvis oeuvre without the smack of ironic revisionism that has been
the hallmark of lesser talents. (Ryko)
"The Freed Man" was one of the first and most crucial releases in the
burgeoning lo-fi movement, which would peak in media attention in the mid-90s
with the success of Beck, Guided By Voices, and Pavement. But while it helped
inspire and define a global movement, there's little trace of that ambition within
these tracks. Sebadoh in this incarnation are a cherishably intimate experience.
The 70-odd minutes of wayward brilliance collected here offer the listener a rare
and recommended opportunity to transport themselves to the weed-hazed bedroom
where these scraps, songs, and pranks were recorded, to imbibe deeply of the haywire
creativity that went on in these sessions. This deluxe edition re-issue has been
re-mastered and includes a whopping 52 tracks on a single disc, including many
that haven't seen the light of day until now. Liner notes by Lou Barlow and Eric
Gafney. (Domino)
This Tony Glover-directed 1986 documentary contains performances, interviews and
rare archival footage of the acoustic blues trio, as well as '95 and '07 chapter
updates, and 9 bonus live performances from '91-'99. It's the story of three notable
American music originals, told with characteristic wit, grit and irreverence by
those who lived it. The original film has been updated by Glover with album-by-album
postscripts, 10 full-length performances, and more. It also includes special appearances
by Willie Murphy and Bill Hinkley. - Richly detailed...powerful - Rolling Stone.
(MVD)
Mostly known for his hits Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, Proud Mary, and Cry
to Me, Solomon Burke demonstrates how he truly deserves the name of "King
of Soul" with this unforgettable performance at AVO Session Basel. Here Burke
delights the audience with an astonishing performance of eighteen of his most
cherished songs. By combining gospel, pop, country, and studio sweetness, he paved
the way as an important early soul pioneer and became one of popular music's larger-than-life
figures. For his life-long achievements, he was inducted into the Rock n Roll
Hall of Fame in 2001. This DVD is a fine example of his immense talent. Bonus
Materials: Behind The Scenes/Discover Basel/More about AVO Session Basel. Track
Listing/Features:I Will Survive performed by Terri Burke/Mona Lisa performed by
Selassie Burke/Proud Mary/ Medley: Got to Get You Off of My Mind-Having a Party-Amen/
Medley: Dock of the Bay-Fa Fa Fa-Spanish Harlem-Stand By Me/Georgia On My Mind/None
of Us Are Free/Diamond in Your Mind/Down in the Valley/The Greeting Song/Back
at the Chicken Shack/A Change Is Gonna Come/Soul Searchin'/Cry to Me/ Medley:
Long Tall Sally-Lucille-Tutti Frutti/Don't Give Up On Me/May the Good Lord Bless
and Keep You/Everybody Needs Somebody To Love.(MVD)| Alt Country | Americana Music | Bluegrass Music | Country Bluegrass | Folk Music Folk Rock | Roots Rock | Singer Songwriter | Sitemap |