
Those generous folks at Suburban Home Records have been giving away extra copies of their promotional CD's to share and spread the word about some of the great music on their books, I have four left of the Volume Two Mix Tape " Greetings from the Left Coast " to give away will have to restrict it to the UK only, sorry. [...]

We don't have much here in Columbus,OH...but we do have one of the finest songwriters around and somebody who is probably as close to Paul Westerberg as my generation is ever gonna get. His name is Micah Schnabel. I have blogged oodles of times about my love for his band, Two Cow Garage, and I just wanted to take a second to plug his brand new solo record, 'When The Lights Go Dim.' It's a killer LP, full of songs that are full of heart. Absolutely NO filler here...every word has a purpose, every chord has a point [...]

MP3 : Micah Schnabel - American Static This record started out as something Micah pressed himself and sold out shows, but Suburban Home is giving When the Stage Lights Go Dim a proper release on March 9. And proper, it is - you can pre-order six different packages. There's digital (mp3 and flac), CD, black vinyl, green-and-white vinyl, plus coozies, buttons, pint glasses, posters and so on. I also got a pleasant surprise when I pulled the trigger on the green vinyl pre-order: The mp3 download [...]

So. If I were the type to hold a grudge I'd never mention Suburban Home Records again and I'd give all SH artist who rolled through town wedgies (except Tim Barry , I ain't fucking with that man) but I'm not that guy. Nope. Instead of holding a grudge I am gonna go to the virgil hates ninebullets Front Porch Musing / Suburban Home Showcase featuring...well, pretty much everyone; Micah Schnabel, The Only Sons, State Champion, Look, Mexico, Austin Lucas, American Aquarium, Glossary and Two Cow Garage. [...]

Three acoustic songs filmed live, including a Springsteen cover.

Well, I guess it's my turn. Kasey and RSV have already dropped their faves of the year ( here and here ) on y'all, so there's just no avoiding it for me now. This year was particularly difficult due to the sheer amount of great music that came out, and had I made this list tomorrow it would certainly change. That said, you can edit forever but eventually you have to settle on something and call it your list. So, with out further ado I am gonna steal RSV's formatting and get this show on the road: [...]

Wow. How is it possible that there was this much good music released in 2009? I've been frantically trying to play catch up throughout the Fall and have just been overwhelmed. Even so, this list was relatively easy to compile. It's made up of 30% what you might call punk albums, 32% what could loosely be classified as some type of Americana or alt-country, 10% are of the heavier variety, and the remaining 28% are all over the place. Additionally, the overwhelming majority of albums on my list were released by independent labels (41) but I [...]
Click here to view the embedded video. "American Static" is on Schnabel's solo release, When the Stage Lights Go Dim , which had a soft release this year and will supposedly be re-pressed with a bigger release in 2010.

I've been a fan of the Columbus, Ohio band Two Cow Garage for a few years now and, thus, was excited (but apprehensive) at the prospect of the band's frontman, Micah Schnabel, releasing his solo debut this year. We all know how solo records can turn out, right? Anyhow, the record is called When The Stage Lights Go Dim and it is, for the most part, a stripped-down album featuring little more than Schnabel's distinctive raspy vocals and acoustic guitar. There are some strings and female backing vocals here and there, but you never forget [...]

From our friends at AltCountryTab.ca , this month's forum comp. Download the zipped comp for one week only . Enjoy! 1. Chuck Prophet - "American Man" Let Freedom Ring (2009) 2. Willie Nelson - Still Is Still Moving to Me.mp3 Buy : Across the Borderline (1993) 3. The Dustin Bentall Outfit - "Three Thousand Miles" Six Shooter (2009) 4. [...]

Two Cow Garage frontman Micah Schnabel has quietly self-released a solo album entitled When The Stage Lights Go Dim . The plan is for Suburban Home to release it later this year (or early next) with new artwork, but currently it is only available by emailing Micah's father. I've always felt like Two Cow is akin to Lucero five years ago, busting their ass on the road and building a rabid following one show at a time. Where Ben (Lucero) writes about the one that got away, Micah likes to [...]
Two Cow Garage - "American Static" from TCSG on Vimeo . micah schnabel, lead singer of two cow garage , has a solo record coming out which he has chosen to entitle, when the stage lights go dim . if you've been keeping score, micah and gang were responsible for my 8th favorite record of the 08, speaking in cursive . only 500 copies of this bitch are going to be pressed, and unless you see a tow cow garage show, your odds of scoring one are cut in half, cause [...]