As a fan of Sara Petite's previous album Doghouse Rose I was hoping for more in a similar vein and that's exactly what her new album Circus Comes to Town delivers, her wonderful and distinct twangy vocal is perfectly suited to the contemporary Americana influenced country that echoes the artistic stylings Loretta & Dolly and shares it's musical DNA with the likes of Holly Williams and Ashley Monroe. A native of Sumner, Washington Sara is now based out of San Diego where she's a regular on the live music scene performing with backing band The Sugar Daddies who [...]
Solid Texas country ala Pat Greene and Cory Morrow When country fans discuss Texas artists, they often limit themselves to the renegade stars, such as Willie and Waylon, who abandoned Nashville, and the songwriters, Townes van Zandt, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver who defined Texas country song. But there’ve been a couple more generations of Lone Star singer-songwriters, and as the music’s grown within the state, many artists, including Pat Greene, Cory Morrow, Kevin Fowler and Jack Ingram have initiated, and in several cases sustained, careers within the [...]
Ten country classics in classic Nashville style Numerous country stars, including Mandy Barnett and Sara Evans , have used Patsy Cline as a navigational north star. Newcomer Amy Francis follows the tradition with a full-blown countrypolitan cover of Jeannie Seely’s “Don’t Touch Me.” The music swells, the piano slips, and Francis hangs onto each note as if its end will break her heart into ever smaller pieces. Producer Tommy Delamore echoes the original Nashville sound of “Sweet Dreams” and “Fool Number One” without mimicking the original arrangements, and Francis is stalwart [...]
Exceptional indie album of folk, country and trad jazz To say that Jason Serious’ solo debut is accomplished would be to sell it short. Not only is it full of incredibly memorable original songs, but its evocation of American musical vernacular is all the more extraordinary for his ex-pat status and the talented band of Europeans with which he recorded. To write and record something so immersed in American folk, country and early jazz while living in the states would be difficult enough, but to do so in Munich is nearly unimaginable. If this [...]
World-traveling Texan cooks up soulful, polycultural Americana Chris Jamison is a native Texan whose travels eventually brought him back to Austin with a musical worldliness informed by time spent in Europe, South and Central America and Africa. He sings in an alto that momentarily suggests Lindsey Buckingham, but in longer form finds the polycultural soulfulness of Paul Simon. His third album moves between Latin-tinged organ-soul and gut-string Americana, with touches of tuba, trumpet and the rhythmic magic of New Orleans. The recordings were split between studios in Austin and Marfa, the latter of which [...]
Mother-daughter vocal duo harmonize on country-tinged modern pop Singer-songwriter Jaymie Jones is known as part of the sister harmony pop act Mulberry Lane. Signed to Refuge/MCA, they released a trio of albums and charted with the original song “Harmless.” Jones’ latest project is another family affair, but this time as a duo with her 14-year-old daughter Kelli. Produced by Don Gehman, and backed by top Los Angeles session players (including the rock solid drumming of Kenny Aronoff), the songs range from the twangy “River/White Christmas” to the bubblegum pop-rock “All I Need.” What ties [...]
Mother-daughter vocal duo harmonize on country-tinged modern pop Singer-songwriter Jaymie Jones is known as part of the sister harmony pop act Mulberry Lane. Signed to Refuge/MCA, they released a trio of albums and charted with the original song “Harmless.” Jones’ latest project is another family affair, but this time as a duo with her 14-year-old daughter Kelli. Produced by Don Gehman, and backed by top Los Angeles session players (including the rock solid drumming of Kenny Aronoff), the songs range from the twangy “River/White Christmas” to the bubblegum pop-rock “All I Need.” What ties [...]
Denver Colorado based Americana band Bare Bones have released a six-track self-titled EP, the band were formed by Denver music scene veterans Blake Brown (guitar, vocals) and Frieda Stalheim (violin, vocals) after meeting at the art museum where they both work, with some songs ideas developed the pair decided they needed to expand their sound and recruited friends James Yardley (bass), Ben Desoto (drums) and Jordan Wyatt (lap steel, guitars) to complete the line-up and have released a fine debut EP that bodes well for the future - here are three tracks from the EP courtesy of the [...]
Two years ago to the day on the ‘old’ blogger based Beat Surrender I wrote a few words of praise for Van Meter’s debut album Should’ve Been a Weather Girl ,now they’re back with the follow up Mess of Memory , whilst the appeal of the last album was the alt-country styling's this album forsakes much of the twang for a straighter rock ’n ’roll path no bad thing as the album is a fine listen and should win them some new fans. The album includes a reworked version of my favourite track from the [...]
Willie Nile continues his rock ‘n’ roll hot streak Willie Nile is clearly possessed by the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll. Three albums into a renaissance that began with 2006’s Streets of New York , the sixty-three-year-old singer-songwriter continues to turn out arrestingly good music. At an age that most rockers have retired, resigned themselves to oldies shows or simply turned into lesser versions of their younger selves, Nile is enriching his work with age and experience. His voice remains charged with idealistic belief, and he propels his tight [...]
Angela Easterling embodies all that is good about independent artist’s in niche genres, tirelessly writing, recording, touring and self promoting through the power of social media she's built a solid fan base and continues to impress with each release, her latest album Beguiler like the previous Black Top Road release benefits from the production skills of Americana gun for hire Will Kimbrough but this time around they use a more expansive sound palette to deliver the diverse set of tracks - twelve in all, there are ten self penned numbers, plus one written by Brandon Turner [...]
Famed songwriter sings with his granddaughters Chip Taylor’s most widely known for his iconic rock, pop and country compositions, including “I Can’t Let Go,” “Wild Thing,” “Angel of the Morning,” “Country Girl City Man” and “Sweet Dream Woman.” His parallel recording career, including solo albums and a few charting singles in the mid-70s, never gained the renown of his writing, and spent most of the 1980s as a successful professional gambler. He crept back on to the music scene with a few albums in the ‘90s, and in 2002 he kicked off a series [...]
Minimalist folk punk from Durango, Colorado This trio from the Southwest Colorado town of Durango has a lo-fi sound that suggests new wave minimalists like Oh-Ok and Wednesday Week, as they might have sounded fronted by the rich voice of Pearl Harbour, Martha Davis or Lene Lovich. Vocalist Tracy Ford is backed by simple arrangements of guitar, bass and drums, and supplemented by short solos and simple harmonies. It’s surprisingly effective, as the basic rhythm patterns and uncluttered production keeps the focus on the expressiveness of Ford’s voice. These tracks have the finish of [...]
Southern-fried rock ‘n’ roll Halloween Just in time for Halloween, this thirteen-track set expands upon a rare, like-titled eight-song Australian EP from 1998. The band mixes originals and covers, including a killer instrumental take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Sinister Purpose,” a psychotically-tinged version of Kris Jensen’s “Torture,” and a Las Vegas grind arrangement of Kip Tyler’s rockabilly classic, “She’s My Witch.” Tales of demons, zombies, undertakers, witches and swamp monsters reanimate the exploitive nighttime feel of 1960s drive-ins, and musical nods to the Cramps, Lonnie Mack and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins make this [...]
Shiver is the sixteenth release from prolific blues rocker Tim “Too Slim” Langford and the Taildraggers - bassist Polly O’Keary and drummer Tommy Cook, the trio have released an eclectic blues album that transverses the genres and pulls in elements from rocks rich tableau, the album kicks of with hefty dose of slide and fuzzed out vocal that immediately grabs your attention before effortlessly switching style for track two where funky back beat and Hammond combine for a stylised blues rocker. There’s no attempt to reinvent the genre as the album switches tack again on track three Can’t [...]
Back in August Jessi wrote a cautionary, tale published at No Depression , on the perils of being a self supporting artist that caught my eye and I subsequently listened to a few tracks and got hold of a copy of her album from eMusic , the first thing that struck me is the wonderfully emotive voice possessed by the Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter who’s nine track debut features a fine set of self-penned tunes. The albums title and music reflect Jessi’s move from a small upstate NY town to the big bad city and the recording was part-funded the [...]
I read about these guys over at Nine Bullets , Common Folk Music and No Deal Music all fine blogs whose recommendations I always take heed of , so when I spotted their album on a recent trip to Reviewshine I jumped the cursor straight over to the download button to get a copy, having already had a taster of the band through the tracks and videos posted elsewhere I already knew this was music that was right up Beat Surrender’ street, but still I was surprised at the quality of the album as a [...]
Rocking alt.country from the heart of Long Island, NY This Long Island trio dropped a few demo tracks in 2009 (reviewed here ), promoting the catchy “One More Time” into a single and attracting some local attention. They’ve returned with a full album that leans on both their alt.country and rock roots. The Wilco influence is strong (unsurprising, given the band is named after one of Wilco’s lyrical creations), and Pete Mancini’s voice favors the reediness of Jeff Tweedy; but there’s also a melancholy in his delivery that suggests Chris Bell, and a [...]
Miss Shevaughn & Yuma Wray work their music across an array of instruments including guitars, lap steel, banjo, mandolin, organ, glockenspiel, kick drum and harmonica, the duo spend most of their time on the road performing to audiences across the US, they’ve put out an EP to showcase their talents, as far as I can tell it’s a download only at the moment through Amazon and iTunes , well worth taking a listen, they manage to pack a lot into the half dozen tracks with a genre bending selection box of tunes. Miss [...]
Aberdeen is the sixth release from Portland based Mighty Ghosts (formerly The Mighty Ghosts of Heaven) an effortless roots-combo offering with plenty of twists and turns to keep the ear and brain engaged, the album started out as a project to collect together a range of traditional songs to create a storybook album, but morphed as the band added a bunch of their own compositions to plug the gaps in the storyline, the five piece are Aaron Shear (vocals, ukulele), Andy Sheie (vocals, guitar, fiddle, banjo), Gus Smith (vocals, guitar, percussion), Lucas Jones (upright bass) and Marni Afryl (drums). [...]
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Kanye West: Capa do novo álbum / Performance de “New Slaves” e “Black Skinhead” no SNL
Noteworthy (Stream): Telekinesis – Ghosts and Creatures
Kanye West Announces Album Title & Release Date
