Obviously , this is causing some excitement in our neck of the woods... 1. BANJO! (You guys want to borrow my banjo, Anna Lee? I'll totally let you borrow my banjo Anna Lee.) 2. I've never even met Caitlin Doyle in real life but this song plus her voice plus that girl's style plus the fact that she was (is?) a part of Dustbowl Revival makes me want to BFF her. 3. I suspect I'll be lucky enough to hear this song in person soon, this [...]
If you're the type of person that doesn't keep Fuel/Friends , songsfortheday , or Yankee Calling on your radar, I'm gonna need you to do a couple things for me right quick: 1. REEXAMINE YOUR LIFE. 2. Listen to this jam from Nathaniel Rateliff's new project, NR and the Night Sweats. If you follow the musings of those three (awesome and) aforementioned blogs, you've already heard this. We've all four been raving over and singing the praises of this perfect insanity for the past few days. If you've missed it, [...]
I'm just popping in for a minute. I have something to say about this... I have listened to Donovan Woods' "Sask" over and over for the past three days. I regret leaving the house because I cannot take it with me, so to speak. I mourn the departure soccer games bring because it's inappropriate for a mother to sit on the sidelines with headphones on. I feel this song so hard that I actually miss it when I don't have it on me. There is an [...]
I'll admit, I waffled about this particular jam. I went back and forth emotionally in such a way that there was significant potential for whiplash. And then I was hit with that :40 second mark and it was over. It was love. There was no more being unsure; the string on that yo-yo broke. IT WAS LOVE. This album from Smoke Signals was released mid-2011. Where the hell was I? Did you guys know about this?! ** BUY Smoke [...]
We made it. I made it. Winter could not take us. I want to both berate nature for having inflicted all those cold, hellish months on me and thank it profusely for having whisked them away with chirping birds and blooming iris' and sunshine. This is the conundrum of the Midwest clime and it is one that baffles me every damn year, despite 30 of them here. Here, when it turns cold, you grit your goddamn teeth and steal yourself against the wind and you pray it's one of those [...]
There's really not a lot I can say about Patty, other than to point out she's my favoritest of lady songwriters (and one of my favoritest of songwriters, period, gender be damned). I can also say that she has the voice of a goddamned angel. American Kid will be released 7 May via New West . The first single, "Ohio", is bliss wrapped up in the backing vocals of her man, Robert Plant. I wish someone had told me when I was 17 and listening to nothing but classic rock, believing it [...]
There is a comparison to be made here. I will not make it (but I will apparently allude to it). This is a fan-fucking-tastic album. You should listen to it. That is all. ** BUY Deertree :: FACEBOOK
Well, here's a treat, kids! Download a little collection of Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors awesomeness for 0 dollars. Because the universe loves us all, apparently. [PS - I really, really, really love Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors, y'all. Like, really .] [PS - I think world hunger might be cured if The Turnpike Troubadours were to cover 'Good Light'. Just sayin'.] ** DOWNLOAD The Collection :: FACEBOOK
The quiet roll of the harmonica and fiddle here have caught my attention and slayed me. In the early morning weekend hours, I listened to this album on repeat and thought about how it might be that those two instruments might never have been used so perfectly as background accompaniment in a jam, specifically "Finder's Keepers", before. They do not own this song - they are not loud or overpowering - but like a chorus of mere voices in the background. I can't be the only one that thinks this fiddle and this harmonica is telling a story as great [...]
It is 80 degrees outside. SUMMER IS COMING. I survived. I took my sweater off (for the first time in 6 months) while standing in the sun today and thought to myself, "I survived". I screamed it in my head and I let the sun burn my closed eyelids and I wondered how I'd ever made it through... In honor of making it through yet another harsh winter, here is this righteous undeniably warm weather jam from Wildlife Control . ** FREE DOWNLOAD [...]
It is some sort of travesty that I've never taken the time to get into Sam Amidon . I'm rectifying that now. "My Old Friend", the first single from Amidon's upcoming Bright Sunny South ( Nonesuch Records ), is a treat. As far as I'm concerned, any man (nay! Human, even!) that can rework a Tim McGraw jam into something I will not only listen to but will, apparently, fall in love with is aces. Listen below and head to Nonesuch to pre-order the album, releasing 14 May. ** [...]
[h/t to Yankee Calling for this stunner. Like, seriously, I'm wearing a Texas-sized hat with a huge brim and I'm tipping it as low as is possible.] Journey once sang about life on the road and for years, sadly, that has been the mantra of love for a touring band. Now we have David Ramirez carrying that torch and I must say, he does a much finer job of it. Scootch over, Journey. There's a new man singing about his lover spending days all alone while he's chained to the open road. Sorry now [...]
Just some paradisiacal low-fi dream folk for your Tuesday morning. You're welcome. We love you. ** BANDCAMP :: FACEBOOK
For a tiny concept album, this EP packs eleventy million punches. "Love Is" is what Sheryl Crow could have been, had she aspired to reach her full potential instead of just pop success (for which, in my opinion, the bar is incredibly low). "Real" is a song that Patty Griffin ought to co-opt for her next album. Of "Try Again" I can say nothing other than it feels like it was written specifically for me. Specifically for my own fucked up relationships that I can't seem to responsibly navigate no matter the [...]
It's no secret that we're great followers of The River and The Road . I remember well the agony in removing their S/T album from last year's Most Revered list. There just wasn't the room, what with the Denver's and Misty's and Jurado's gifting us with albums last year, but I was sad to see to see it gone. I might have cried. Don't tell anyone... In the beginning, it was the banjo that hooked me, something that happens often. I'm considering a tattoo that reads "your banjo is the way to my heart". But in [...]
This blog might well just be called "OMFG HART OF DIXIE Y'ALL" from now on. I'm changing my twitter handle as we speak... These gifs illustrate the moment that a stupid television show thought it would be just dandy to kick me right square in the ball sac. THIS IS WHY I DON'T WATCH THE MOVING PICTURES BOX! There was a elf-themed weddin' and the Hot Redneck ("Wade Kin-SELL OUT!") cheated on the Adorable Sugar Glider girl. He got punched in the gut by [...]
I am not what you need me to be... (Listen to this. Listen until at least the 40 second mark, when the folk drone sets in. Then close your eyes and listen to that line above, as it's sung. Try to tell me that's not consummately lovely...) ** BANDCAMP :: SITE
You know what is delightful? Stories seemingly of your hometown, your love life, and your people, told so beautifully against the backdrop of Appalachian musical perfection by people who live in Los Angeles. Granted, having grown up in Arkansas and Texas (as members of this band did) will give one the proper background to sing and play and write this way so that likely accounts for the understanding of country life. But as good as this is, this band could have been reared in Norway for all I care. They've got this neo-bluegrass thing figured out. [...]
There was a piece I read via The Wild Honey Pie last week, a piece about the writer having revisited Fleetwood Mac's perfect Rumours album. The writer talked about how falling in love with that album gave her a greater understanding of her mother, who had once fallen in love with it, too. It reminded me of my own relationship with my mother, of riding to the grocery store with her as she blasted it and as I whined about it. As she vacuumed the house with those songs (the ones you never hear on the [...]
When one who hates winter and all its trappings awakens at 5 am to mounds of snow on the ground, it's gonna be a bad time. Unless, of course, the first thing one finds after gazing out upon all that white powder is a previously unreleased jam from a favorite band. Has Snowy Tuesday been saved?! Siskiyou is now on Bandcamp, their full discography up for grabs at that one url. Even better, they're giving away their cover of Lee Hazelwood's "We All Make The Flowers Grow" and of course, it's a beauty. Thanks to the [...]
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