Phil Lee, a veritable Nashville institution and all around roots music wunderkin, has a new record coming out called The Fall and Further Decline of The Mighty King of Love. This record has traces of blues, New Orleans soul, country and early rock. On “I Like Everything” you get a bit of that Alex Chilton spoken word rap thing.
This is a record that you need to hear in it’s entirety to appreciate the mix of songs and styles. Buy it as soon as you can…
It took a comment on Ramsay Midwood’s Facebook page for me to realize there is a new Tex Smith record coming out. It’s been about a year since I wrote about Tex’ last record To A Bird Singing Woe. At the time I was drawn to that record’s pure country sound and little has changed on this new record (though the new one does have a bit more of an slightly gauzzy atmospheric sound). Not to belabor the Ramsy Midwood connection but it seems that he is either playing on the track “There Was A Man” or else Tex has really been influenced by a man he calls “one of my favorite acts in Texas right now” (and I couldn’t agree more). The slightly funky guitar lines of this song simply scream Ramsay Midwood while the country gospel theme of Jesus’ pain and redemption are all his own. As I’ve said before despite being a fairly ardent Atheist I think there is no greater subject for a song than one with religious/spiritual overtones.
The new record is called A Wayfarer’s Lament and is out now and can be picked up at Waterloo Records in Austin or online at CdBaby here.
Bonus song, “Come On” from To A Bird Singing Woe
As I was stumbling along in Nick Everett’s eccentric litle musical universe yesterday I came across his folk cooperative label Cabin Songs. It was founded by Tyler Butler and Joe Gurba and has only a couple of records under its belt. Its other new release (besides Nick Everett’s Elsethings) is Mike Tod’s folk album The California Sessions. Mike Tod is a traveling troubadour who for now has parked his caravan outside of Calgary, Alberta. Besides his music he has a radio show on CJSW that is a weekly “discussion of a self-sustaining means of living” as told through texts, poems and song.
“Garden Song” is a cover of David Mallet tune although according to Mike he has reworked it a bit. It is a closely miked folk song that begins with a sigh and the sound of Mike Tod settling into his seat. This is the folk music that I love yet somewhat surprisingly is very difficult to find. You can preorder this Jan. 26 release here now.
Bonus song from The California Sessions:
Nick Everett made a tiny little stir in the music blog community back in 2011 with the release of 2 eps: Rocky Top and Old Adventure/Love Songs. Alright it was really just me and Herohill (here) who were blown away by his haunting vocals and eclectic musical palette. Think Tom Brousseau meets Luke Temple meets someone slightly weirder. I can’t decide if I like his stuff better simple and stripped down or messy and ugly. And that’s a good problem for an artist to have. Nick Everett is now Nick Everett & Everybody and he plans to have a preorder for the new album up in a couple of days.
Follow him on Facebook to be the first on your block to get this. Here’s a preview of the song “Hold On” from the new record Elsethings and a live mp3/video of a new song that may or may not be on the new record.
Fake Conversations video
NICK EVERETT & EVERYBODY – Fake Conversations from Southern Souls on Vimeo.
So Eternity of Dimming is available for preorder now. This is the album (or double album) that we have been waiting for from Frontier Ruckus. The title track is the perfect ruckus experience with Matt’s poetic lyrics of suburban malaise and the bands eclectic unclassifiable accompaniment fighting for dominance.
I hope to have more on the full album and the upcoming tour in weeks to come but for now listen to the title track below and preorder the record here.
I’m not a clem snide fan but ironically I am a big fan of Eef Barzelay solo work. I just think he is better able to communicate with the audience without the encumbrance of a full band sound. I think you can hear this on his new record Songs About Mary (yes the bulk of the songs do seem to be about Mary) and in particular with the song “Grace”. More info here.
Both bands playing our Feb. 10 Songs:Illinois Presents House concert fit the “strike-while-the-irons-hot” bill. The headliner, the Pennsylvania based trio The Stray Birds, has been called the one of the finest young bands on the folk circuit and just yesterday NPR named their debut record one of the 10 best folk releases of the year. I’ve written about both the band’s debut ep and the new record. On both releases I was struck by both the band’s musicianship and their original songs. This trio consists of fiddle player/vocalist Maya De Vitry, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Oliver Craven and standup bass player Charles Muench. Between the three they have either studied at some of the best institutions (Berklee College of Music) or played with some of the best artists (including The Steel Wheels and Grammy nominated Adrienne Young).
I think we’re pretty lucky to get these guys – I suspect in a year or two they’ll be too big for these living room shows. So RSVP now for this Feb. 10 house concert by simply emailing me and let me know if you can make it and how many you’ll be. We’ll open the doors at 7pm and hopefully have music going by 7:30. As always there will be some appetizers and desserts and plenty of beer and wine. Suggested donation will be $20. We’re located at 629 Belleforte in Oak Park. As always feel free to email this to friends and neighbors if you think they would enjoy it.
Check out the video of The Stray Birds performing their songs “Birds of the Borderland” and “Railroad Man”
And here’s two Mp3′s from the band:
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Our opener, Odd Folk, has just started to make a name for themselves in Chicago since forming in the Spring of 2012. This collection of mostly Columbia College students “blends styles and instrumentation creating a sound that seems familiar, but is still something you can’t pigeonhole into one genre.” They have already been favorably compared to the Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons and they name Frontier Ruckus as one of their favorite bands – they opened for them recently. Depending on the night they could have between 4-6 performers with instruments like banjo, guitar, mandolin and upright bass. In a bit of serendipity the band contacted me about reviewing their debut record on the same day I was looking for someone to open up this show. I think they are going to be a perfect fit and a great compliment to The Stray Birds.
Check out the video of them performing their song “Until You Call”
And here’s an Mp3 from their debut:
Well another year has passed and I figured this would be the year I wouldn’t post my Christmas mix but a few folks I like and others I hadn’t heard of have released some Christmas music so here we are again. As I say every year: these may be holiday songs but many of them are solid songs period – many deal with themes if lost hope, loneliness and the rigors of the holiday season. In fact several of these songs remain some of my favorites – you be the judge – check them out and see which ones resonate with you.
Dec 20 Update
I’ve got a couple more songs from this year that I’d like to share. Anna Vogelzang is a midwest based performer who I have been following off and on for a couple of years now. I like her stuff – honest and forthright — here she cover’s “Silent Night”. Carter Moulton is another in a fine line of Michigan based indie folk bedroom shut-ins. Check out his original songs on bandcamp. The Dive Poets are a St. Louis based group known for their americana ramblings…this song is from the new KDHX Christmas sampler and is a depressing take on the holiday season. And Mike Doughty needs no introduction…oh alright he’s the guy from Soul Coughing.
Silent Night – Anna Vogelzang
Whatever You Want (For Christmas) – Dressy Bessy
Holiday (What Do You Want?) – Mike Doughty
Caroling – Carter Moulton
Christmas Ain’t Never – The Dive Poets
Nov 29 Update
Casio Song (Live) – Damien Jurado
2012 Additions
Christmas Bells – The Bank Cormorants (a David Childers’ joint)
Merry Christmas To The Drunks – Ballboy
Blue Christmas – Darren Hayman and The Wavce Pictures
Let The Snow Fall – Andrew and the North American Grizzly
O Holy Night – Branches
Will You Sleep Inside This Christmas – Chris Scruggs
Go Tell It On The Mountain – Jullie Lee
Everything else:
It’s A Wonderful Lie – Withered Hand
Christmas Time – Piney Gir
Christmas Day – Jim White
We Need A Little Christmas – Carter Moulton
Together On Christmas – Carter Moulton
Christmas 2008 – Steve Poltz
Santa Claus and Prison – Steve Poltz
Shiny Red Suit – Tim Lee
You Never Come Home For Christmas – Caitlin Rose and Keegan Dewitt
O Holy Night – Josh T. Pearson
Same Old New Year’s – Ben Smith
Go Tell It On The Mountain – Branches
All That I Want – Vanessa Peters
Little Saint Nick – Salvation Alley String Band
Pretty Paper – Salvation Alley String Band
The Song The Season Brings – Beta Radio
I’d Like You For Christmas – Christabel and the Johns
Christmas Song – Adam Remnant
Merry Christmas From The Family (that morphs into “Blue Christmas” at the end) – Lindley Ruth and Her Tipsy String Band
Christmas Is Best – Caleb Groh
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day – Caleb Groh
Baby It’s Cold Outside – Haunting Party
The Chipmunk Song – Lisa Cerbone
O Come All Ye Faithful – Branches
Silent Night – Branches
I’ll Be Home For Christmas – Travel By Sea
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day – Travel By Sea
Memphis Christmas – Star and Micey
Little Manger – American Gun
Let It Snow – Greater Pacific
Secret Santa – Buffalo Killers
Whore For The Holidays – The Davenports
Christmas Don’t Be Late – Caleb Groh
Xmas in the Jailhouse (via Herohill) – Ox
Whiskey Christmas – Darby O’Gill and the Little People – Darby O’ Gill
The Holidays Are Here (And We’re Still At War) – Brett Dennen
I Wanna Spend My Xmas Time With You – Phil Lee
Christmastime Blues – Jaimi Shuey (her 2007 debut release Wrong Girl is a must have!)
Bastard Brothers – Chip Taylor
All Alone For Christmas – Danny Barnes
Goodbye England (Covered In Snow) – Laura Marling
Christmas In Paradise – Mary Gauthier
Thanks for the Roses (Merry Christmas) – Antje Duvekot
She’s Underneath the Mistletoe – Antsy McClain
Here comes Christmas – Bill Kelly
Crazy Cool Christmas – Kermit Ruffins
Cold White Christmas – Casiotone For The Painfully Alone
Great Adventure – Dan Byrk
I Want a Hippopotomus For Christmas – Paul Vickers And Leg
Christmas Is Coming Soon – Blitzen Trapper
Christmas Doesn’t Have To Be So Bad – The Backsliders
Christmas Or Columbus (Andy Hong’s Kitchen) – Drew O’Doherty
Christmas Is For Losers – Mike Nicolai
Cosy Evenings – Dan Byrk
All I Ever Get for Christmas Is Blue – Over The Rhine
O Holy Night – Benji Cossa
Darling Christmas Is Coming – Over The Rhine
The Christmas Song – Nourallah Brothers
You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch – Asylum Street Spankers
Christmas At The Trailer Park – Antsy McClain
The Little Baby – Hefner
So this Is Christmas – ? (lost in the shuffle – extra points if you leave the answer in the comments)
Santa’s Hungover – Santa’s Hungover
Christmas In Vermont – Ed’s Redeeming Qualities
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen – Hoax Funeral
Be My Valentine On Christmas – Glenna Bell
The Christmas Song – Mark Jungers
Red Eyed Santa – Dick Smith
Gold Front Tooth – Dick Smith
That Was The Worst Christmas Ever – Sufjan Stevens
I Hate Fucking Christmas – The Rugburns (live)
Christmas Past – Mike Ireland and Holler
Christmas In London – Krista Detour
Christmas In Prison – Emmy the Great and Lightspeed Champion
Christmas In Prison Live – Will Kimbrough
Christmas In Prison – Cristabel and the Jons
Christmas Eve – Salim Nourallah
It Came Upon A Midnight Clear – Laura Gibson
It’s Almost Christmas – Chris Garneau
Just Like Christmas – Low
Christmas Card From A Hooker In Minneapolis – Neko Case
Christmas Island – Leon Redbone
X-Mas Song – Fireflies
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Rose Polenzani
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Hem
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause – John Prine
Merry Christmas From The Family – Robert Earl Keen
Merry Christmas From The Family – Jill Sobule
Christmas On Ward #7 – Chris Flew
Driving Home, Christmas Eve – Frontier Ruckus
Jewish For Christmas – Coconut and The Duke (from former blogger Duke Of Straw)
What Do You Give A Wookie For Christmas? -Savanteous Q Malmsteen
Christmas Vision – Beau Jennings
Murder By Mistletoe – The Felice Brothers
It Never Snows – The Parson Red Heads
Don’t Want Another Christmas Like Last Christmas – Gentleman Auction House
Christmas Time – The Krayolas With Augie Meyers
Christmas Song – Detroit Junior
It’s Christmas Time Again – Harley Poe
RockABilly Christmas – Michael Bishop
So Much Wine – The Handsome Family
I’m Grateful for Christmas This Year – Hayes Carll
In lieu of any new music from Hayes Carll here’s the next best thing — the debut record from the Austin based band Mayeux & Broussard. This group is really the combination of two songwriters – Tate Mayeux and Brian Broussard. These guys are from Louisiana and Texas respectively and you can certainly hear the regional influences on the new record. While The Gittin’s Good is a bluesy, rockin’ americana record with just the right amount of different textures, tempos and styles.
You can pick up the new record over at Bandcamp for $7. If your’re down in Austin check your local listings to catch the band live or head over to Beale St. Tavern this Friday to check them out. Here’s one of the blues rockers from the new record…
This new song, a b-side to a single released on Bandcamp, is a slow burner that drifts in and out of phase. It’s a lot more ethereal than previous stuff I’ve heard from Hoots & Hellmouth and perhaps that’s the influence of producer Jim Roll. Either way I like it…a lot!
It was no surprise to see Sun Volt (along with Johnny Cash, Lead Belly, Carter Family) listed as one of Mice and Rifles biggest influences. But it was also reassuring – reassuring that bands like Sun Volt, Uncle Tupelo and even older country and blues acts like Jimmie Rogers, Carter Family and Lead Belly are not being forgotten by the younger generation of (for lack of a better term) alt-country bands. Mice and Rifles is an Austin based band who made a splash in 2007/8 but then disbanded from 2009-2011. They are back with a new EP called Lebe Wohl In Tejas and they seem better than ever. You can stream the EP here via the band’s Bandcamp page.
Catch the band at their record release show at Stubbs in Austin on December 8.
Alright so nobody else is going to post this I guess I will. I’ve been a longtime fan of Josh Rouse ever since I heard his debut Dressed up like Nebraska. And now with his new band The Long Vacations his sound has come full circle. The upcoming album is called The Happiness Waltz and will be out in March on Yep Roc. Despite being a demo this song is rather fleshed out with guitar, percussion, bass…
Sometimes it seems that my sole job is to extoll the virtues of Chris Stamey. I find him to be a masterful singer, songwriter, producer and musician. On his solo outings he can combine all of these elements into a swirling masterpiece of pop. And that’s exactly what he has done on the first song to be leaked from his forthcoming Feb. 5 Yep Roc record Lovesick Blues.
Musically “Astronomy” is all over the map – perhaps almost astral in it’s scope (that would make sense wouldn’t it?). It bodes well for a record that Stamey says comes “the closest I’ve ever gotten to the sound I hear in my head in the middle of the night,”.
At this point in time many variables have to come togehter for me to bother to do a post on here. The key one is of course the quality of the music but lesser variables include the amount of coverage an artist has already garnered, the production of the track (I’m drawn more than ever to a lofi sound) and simply the time I have to devote to this blog. Reyna Gellert’s new record Old Light easily clears all my self imposed hurdles.
You’ll know Rayna Gellert if you are a fan of Scott Miller, Tyler Ramsay or Abigail Wasburn or you may recognize her sound from her former band Uncle Earl. The new solo record Old Light is old timey, atmospheric americana at its best. Catch Rayna with her band in Chicago at The City Winery on Oct 18. Buy the new record here.
I was pretty stoked to stumble upon the music of LA resident Frankie Palmer the other day. His 2012 debut Thoroughfare is an undiscovered gem now streaming on Soundcloud. As a music blogger it’s the type of record you hope people would email you about to write up. Instead I get emails for the worst crap you could imagine. This is a record that you would expect to be discovered and championed by someone cool like Aquarium Drunkard (can you hear me Justin?!). It’s sorta lofi jangly pop with elements of folk (acoustic guitars) and country (tasteful pedal steel, banjo). A companion EP to Thoroughfare has just been released.
Now that Bon Iver is hanging up his project perhaps there is room for another complete unknown to take his place. Please God let Frankie Palmer have recorded this in a shack by the beach in Santa Monica after a bad breakup with his girlfriend. That along with these excellent songs could just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. You can buy Thoroughfare here via Bandcamp.
From the new EP
I missed the first round of critical praise that was rightfully heaped on Vancouver roots singer-songwriter Ben Rogers in 2010. My compatriots at You Crazy Dreamer, Herohill and Slowcoustic all piled on understandably. When I came across what appears to be a new album (or ep) called Lost Stories I knew I didn’t want to wait. I contacted Ben yesterday and the post is up today.
Ben Rogers is living in the past and you can hear it on this unsettling collection of murder songs and folk tales. His voice is whiskey soaked and reminds me of what a young Malcolm Holcombe must have sounded like (before his voice was savaged by cigaretts, liquor, and time). Rogers’ lyrics are poetic and contain images Leonard Cohen would be proud of (listen to “Lay It Down” on Bandcamp). I could drop a few more names (the Pogues, Tom Waits) but by now you get the drift.
More info can be found on Bandcamp…
So here’s my followup post like I promised to the one I did on the The Stray Birds debut ep. Their new epononymous full length debut record is out now. Sharing vocal duties are Maya de Vitry and Oliver Craven; on bass is Charles Muench. On the new record Maya and Oliver take just about every other song; they also harmonize on many others. I’ve got an example of both: first Oliver singing his song “Heavy Hands” and Maya on lead vocals in the video for “Railroad Man”. Musically the band features acoustic guitar (and National Resonator), fiddle, and bass. It’s a potent combination and combined with the original songs, the variety/quality of vocals, the songwriting, and the musicianship what you get is really unique.
This is a touring band so for the next few weeks you can catch them in Ohio, Ann Arbor, Hartford, Cambridge, Providence and all points in between. They’ll be in Chicago playing the wonderful club Uncommon Ground on Clark on Sept. 30. Here’s the full schedule.
Buy the new record here, and while you’re at it pick up their debut ep as well.
“Railroad Man” video
Stray Birds – Railroad Man from Jacob Keeler on Vimeo.
Andrew Combs is a transplanted Texan now living in Nashville. It seems like he’d like to position himself as a contemporary of Justin Townes Earle but his music is a little more brawny than JTE’s. It’s got a lot more Louisiana swamp and Texas stomp than Earle’s eclectic americana. His new album is called Worried Man and features a top notch Nashville band as well as friends like Caitlin Rose and Julie Lee.
Pre-order the new record here and check out the title track from the record below.
“Month Of Bad Habits” video
Chris Knight is the real deal in americana. The guy’s born and bred in Kentucky, worked in coal mines his whole life, learned guitar by listening to John Prine records on repeat, lives on 40 acres that he farms and has consistently released some of the most honest, straightforward “country music” of his generation. Little Victories is his 8th full length and it should come as no surprise that this is an excellent addition to his discography.
Here’s the brawny, muscular song “In the Mean Time” which is a bit of a libertarian anthem of self sufficiency and traditional American values. Buy the new record here.
Trainwreck Riders had one of the best debut records in a long time when they released Lonely Road Revival (Alive Records, here). Their combination of loose punk like energy with country flavors was refreshing (even though they sited older influences like Meat Puppets and I’m guessing The Minutemen/Firehose). This Sf based band is about to release their third long player titled Ghost Yards. You can get more info at the band’s label here.
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“Christmas Time Blues” (from debut)
