Did you know about this? I just read a 3-star review of the New Multitudes CD - a collection of songs built upon unrecorded Woody Guthrie lyrics by Jay Farrar (Son Volt), Will Johnson (Centro-matic), Anders Parker (Varnaline), Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket) - in the new issue (Paul McCartney-cover) of Rolling Stone . The magazine's website did a feature on the release which one person commented, probably rightfully so, "Wasn't this album called Mermaid Avenue?" I'm snagging this [...]

This week's new features tracks from Dada Trash Collage, Freshkills, Lux, Oy Vey, Sourpatch, White Rabbits, and a single from the upcoming album of unreleased Woody Guthrie songs, New Multitudes . Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker & Yim Yames : "Old LA" from New Multitudes: A Tribute to Woody Guthrie out 2/28 on Rounder Another batch on unrecorded Woody Guthrie tracks get recorded by a great group of performers. [...]

Yim Yames (AKA Jim James of My Morning Jacket), Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo), Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron) have made a record together called New Multitudes, an "interpretation" of Woody Guthrie's previously unrecorded lyrics. New Multitudes is being released on Rounder Records on February 28th. The band performs Union Transfer on Tuesday, March 13th. Go here for tickets and more information about the show. Click here to download the song "Old L.A." Set to coincide with the centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie's [...]

Oberhofer at 4Knots 2011 (07/16/11) Photo : Jon Klemm ( more ) Feb 10 Fri Black Onassis Mercury Lounge New York , NY 07:30 PM Buy Tickets [...]
There's quite a collection of Americana big dogs at work on this track: Former Uncle Tupelo co-leader and current Son Volt frontman Ja Farrar, My Morning Jacket main man Yim Yames (or, as most of us still know him, Jim James), Centro-matic leader Will Jonson, and Gob Iron guy Anders Parker, as well as the ghost of Woody Guthrie. I'm going to have to add so many tags to this post! Here's the story: Woody Guthrie's daughter Nora invited all these musicians to pick through Guthrie's notebooks of unrecorded songs, the same way Billy Bragg and Wilco did [...]

To coincide with the 100th birthday of Woody Guthrie, My Morning Jacket's Yim Yames, Son Volt's Jay Farrar, Centro-matic's Will Johnson, and Varnaline's Anders Parker have recorded an album featuring previously unrecorded Guthrie lyrics. Entitled New Multitudes , the LP comprises interpretations on 12 Guthrie compositions, most of which were written during his time in Los Angeles. Says Guthrie's daughter Nora, who sanctioned the project: "Lyric wise, it's a part of the story that is still mostly unknown. From Woody's experiences on LA's skid row to his later years in Topanga Canyon, they are uniquely intimate, and relate two distinctly emotional [...]

Here's something rather special. Remember a few years back (well, 14 to be precise), Billy Bragg and Wilco joined forces to delve deep into the Woody Guthrie archive to create music for some of the hugely influential folk icon's back catalogue. What resulted was Mermaid Avenue (volumes 1 and 2), one of the true great collaborative efforts of recent memory. So it goes, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco's old sparring partner Jay Farrar (formerly of Uncle Tupelo, currently frontman of Son Volt) has teamed up with My Morning Jacket's Yim Yames, Will Johnson (Centro-matic) and Anders Parker (Gob Iron) [...]

As we previously reported Anders Parker, Jay Farrar, Yim Yames and Will Johnson headed into the studio to record a new batch of Woody Guthrie songs (think Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Avenue) which will be released on the album New Multitudes . Now that we received an album release date of February 28, a tour has been announced. It's unclear if this ensemble is going to get a name, if they are "New Multitudes" or they are simply going to be billed individually. Also unclear [...]
A collection of Alt Country stalwarts come together for a laid-back tribute to the Rolling Stones with 'Paint It Black.'

How would you like to host a stop on the Will Johnson - Anders Parker tour? Well, the two are campaigning to cross the country by way of living room performances, and are still in the process of booking cities nationwide. If you're interested, there is more information about how to qualify on the Centro-Matic website, the main stipulation being: You have a house or loft space that can comfortably and safely host 35-40 people. A place with a big living room, finished basement or other indoor residential space would be [...]

I'm not sure why I first picked up Anders Parker 's music. The first time I heard him was on a Space Needle album, but that's about as far from indicative of his sound as you could get. Perhaps it was the appeal of that disc, however, that led me to the debut of Parker's other band, Varnaline's 1996 album Man of Sin. The disc was appealing, but because it was essentially four-track demos, it didn't feel like the unadulterated voice of the artist. Not yet. That came soon enough, however, with the band's self-titled sophomore album [...]
Anders Parker first came to our attention 15 years ago as the guitarist/vocalist for the underrated Space Needle. After the band's demise, Parker issued four albums as Varnaline and two under his own name and collaborated with Son Volt's Jay Farrar as Gob Iron. His latest release is double album Skyscraper Crow (Bladen County), which features [...]
Today's free and legal mp3 downloads: Anders Parker : "Calling Out to You" [mp3] from Skyscraper Crow Anders Parker : "72nd St. Horses" [mp3] from Skyscraper Crow other Anders Parker posts at Largehearted Boy ARMS : "Tiger Tamer" [mp3] from Kids Aflame [...]
If you know anything about Woody Guthrie, Billy Bragg, and/or Wilco, then you're probably aware Mermaid Avenue . If you're not, then for the purpose of this article know this: Mermaid Avenue is the name of a 1998 album of previously unheard material written by Guthrie, put to music and performed by Bragg and the Wilco. It was such a big deal that it even spawned a documentary, 1999's Man in the Sand , and another album, 2000's aptly titled Mermaid Avenue Vol. II . Now, with all this mind, you can see [...]
The Austin Chronicle reports that Jay Farrar is working on the next volume of unpublished lyrics from the Woody Guthrie Archives. Farrar, along with Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Anders Parker (Varnaline), and Will Johnson (Centro-matic), recorded the album in...

Anders Parker , Skyscraper Crow (2-CD set out NOW ) "Calling Out To You" (from Crow ) "72nd Street Horses" (from Skyscraper ) 2-disc set from one of our best (yet under-appreciated) songwriters. Skycraper is a disc of laptop pop, and Crow is a disc of folk songs. From what I've heard so far, both are fantastic. Tour [...]

TGIF, god damn it! So we have a bit of a mixed bag today courtesy of the good folks at IODA. See below, I am sure something is going to work out for you! Amy Millan (and this track specifically) has been featured already on Slowcoustic, Anders Parker has also graced the pages (thanks to Greg @ Captains Dead for reminding me of the new album), Nathan Xander re-appears on the blog as well as Slaraffenland. To end out the playlist there is a bit of a unique track from a first [...]

one of my favorite artists, who also happens to be severely under appreciated, anders parker, see record #29 here , releases his double disc, skyscraper crow , today on bladen county records . besides being a double disc its also, apparently a concept record and broken up into two sections: the crow portion which is acoustic folk stuff and the skyscraper portion which is computer generated laptop pop. i gotta admit, favorite artist or not, the latter disc scares me. buy it via anders parker dot com or one of many online [...]
Sep 8, 2009, 12:42pm
MBV

This is pretty much a MEGA-WEEK of new releases, so music fans: expect your wallet to get hit hard. Not even counting that slew of newly-remastered Beatles discs, there's still a boatload of stuff- lots of it from big, classic indie names: there's the new Circulatory System , Merge is dropping both the new Clean album AND the new Polvo , there's Os Mutantes ' all-new Haih , and Yo La Tengo 's Popular Songs is out today as well. On top of that, [...]
Update on Har Mar Superstar's new album & Brianna Lane checks in from the road.