The sound and look of Whispering Pines could be straight out of the early 1970’s, but don’t let that fool you-- this is a band that nods to the past, while blazing their own trail. If you read anything on the band, one word will keep popping up again and again—authentic. Whispering Pines debut album, Family Tree (2009), listed on several “Best Album of the Year” lists and inspired PopMatters to say, “Somehow the heart and soul of the South pour out of Los Angeles’ Whispering Pines…this isn’t some mere Southern rock bar band…these guys vary their dynamics and give their songs a great amount of dimension.”Their second self-titled record, Whispering Pines, brings the same depth and flavor and adds a new confidence derived from their touring and performing experiences as well as a more focused sense of identity and purpose. The 5-piece band has four primary songwriters and each writer will typically sing the songs they bring to the group. Band member, Joe Bourdet points out that, “This keeps it interesting for us and gives everybody an opportunity to play a support role and then also stand out.”Whispering Pines is rootsy rock n’ roll that could have been in vogue a decade before the band was born. Comparisons are often made to The Allman Brothers, Cowboy, Steven Still's Manassas, and The Band and while these artists are an influence, Whispering Pines don’t slip into tribute territory…this band is the real thing. Whispering Pines are able to take the wildness of rock n’ roll and marry it to the discipline and tradition of country music and turn their live show into what one reviewer called “effortless, awe-inspiring, and tight as nails.”The album Whispering Pines was inspired by all the traveling the band has done over the past couple of years (Purest Dreams, Sunrise to Sunset), by the birth of a child (Wolfmoon), by the loss of friends and heroes (Love is Free) and inevitably, a little romance (Fine Time, Come and Play, Second Chance). In keeping with the bands analog and tape recording preferences, the album was tracked and mixed by Mark Rains (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Waylon Jennings) at his Station House studio in Echo Park as well as with Jason Soda (Everest, Slydel, Jakob Dylan) at New Monkey Studio.Whispering Pines are: David Baine—Guitar, organ, mandolin, piano, vocal/ Joe Bourdet—guitar, slide, organ, vocal/David Burden—harmonica, vocal/Brian Filosa—bass, vocal/Joe Zabielski—drums, percussion
New American Farmers (Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto) are writing their manifesto of independence through music. Much as people are moving away from corporate food supply, they see people also moving away from the corporate structure of music. “People seek out local, in-season and chemical-free food”, says Knowles, “we would like to see people doing the same with music.”Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto spent most of the last decade performing and recording as Mars, Arizona winning fans with their original brand of cosmic Americana. Self-reliance and trust in their sense of independence led to their new name, New American Farmers. Hoping to create a lifestyle and philosophy for themselves and their fans, their new record, Brand New Day, reflects the band’s belief in sustainable approaches to music production and delivery.In the past, the duo has worked with musicians such as Kenny Arnoff, David Grisman, Al Perkins and Billy Block. Some (good) old habits are hard to break and Brand New Day includes their habit of inviting talented, high-profiled instrumentalists to “drop by”. Gene Parsons (Byrds/Flying Burrito Brothers) plays Banjo on the opening track, while Ara Anderson (Tom Waits) reprises his role on trumpet for the song “Don’t Wait For Me Here”.Produced by Knowles, Brand New Day was recorded live at Berkeley, CA’s Opus Studio and Fantasy Studio (with guitar parts added in their home studio a bit later). New American Farmers dropped the bluegrass fiddle of the Mars Arizona past and on this record you’ll hear more guitar, pedal steel, the aforementioned trumpet and a string quartet. The duo’s unique vocal style is apparent, with Knowles gruff voice playing ‘leather’ to Storto’s haunting and ethereal ‘lace’ and the duo continues to “showcase their evolution as songwriters intent on celebrating the essence of the American experience.“Everywhere,” opens things up with a bluegrass/Americana romp, featuring banjo by Gene Parsons. It echoes the sound of those iconic groups with its warm harmonies and upbeat message. The moody trumpet of Ara Anderson, from Tom Waits’ band, adds to the desolate feel of “Don’t Wait For Me Here,” a ballad about immigrants crossing the border hoping for of a better life and the families they leave behind. Knowles’ vocal is equal parts anticipation and sadness. A sighing slide guitar, played by Dave Walker, that recalls George Harrison’s best work gives “Brand New Day” the sound of jubilant desperation. A dad tries to put the best face on a family’s flight from the Great Recession. The emotionally complex “Sad Hotel” is a country weeper that investigates the end of a relationship, when home is just another empty room on the lost highway. Dave Zirbel’s sensitive pedal steel adds glistening teardrops to the song’s bleak aura.The band shows its lighter side on “Can't Get It Out Of My Head,” the ELO hit stripped of its bombast. Knowles supplies piano and Storto croons a winning vocal supported by The Real Vocal String Quartet and Dave Zirbel’s spirited pedal steel fills. “Hypocrite” is a rocker full of ironic, self-effacing humor, but it makes a serious point about the 1%, while “How Do We Do It” is a bitter meditation on the trials of the 99% given a bare bones delivery by Knowles and his piano, played through a Space Echo tape machine.Past lyrics from the duo hinted at global and personal cataclysms but always ended in hope and the belief for change. New American Farmers embody that hope and Brand New Day proves that leaving the dust behind and heading to greener pastures can be a really good move. In Knowles own words, “This is not only a band project, it’s a movement!”
The nine tracks on The Farmacology Sessions showcase the intertwining harmonies and sharp songwriting that mark the work of New American Farmers. This Americana music duo of Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto have been crafting songs together for 10 years—many years as the project, “Mars Arizona” before changing their name to New American Farmers in 2012. Their first album as New American Farmers, Brand New Day was well-received and led a No Depression reviewer to rave, “At times, they sound like a current day reincarnation of Gram and Emmylou, what with their smooth harmonies and gilded sentiments.” The Farmacology Sessions is their 2nd album as New American Farmers.
The Farmacology Sessions was a project that happened organically. “We hadn’t really planned on doing another record in 2014, but the songs just started flowing.” Said Knowles. “We had the opportunity for some time in a great studio (Opus Sound), so we started recording with Kevin T. White (bass player for Chuck Prophet’s Mission Express), and Tony Sales. This led to a couple of sessions with Chuck Prophet joining in on guitar. He was in between projects and was hungry to get into the studio and play with a band. We recorded one of the tracks live and he hinted that he wouldn’t mind coming back for another session. So, we are very fortunate to have his embellishment on the new record.”
The result is a late 60’s early 70’s influenced folk rock album. “It stretches out more,” said Knowles, “it takes more chances and we had a blast doing it.” The Farmer’s vocal style is very unique in that Knowles and Storto are able to sing each other’s harmonies and switch parts throughout the songs. The songwriting is insightful and the arrangements are nice and open. Chuck Prophet lends his talents for the upbeat and jubilant song “Aiming for the Daylight” which captures the Farmer’s signature Americana groove. “Chuck had the perfect riff for this song the moment he had his telecaster unpacked,” said Knowles. Prophet also adds his trademark sound to the song, “Breathe In, Breathe Out”, a pep talk for dealing with life’s every day tribulations, as well as with musicians and recording artists dealing with the loss of income from their efforts. It’s a direct nudge across the bow of the current streaming music model.
Another guest player on the record is Alarm drummer, Nigel Phillips. Knowles met him when he was in a band that opened for The Alarm in the 80’s. He then re-connected with Nigel through his bass player Kevin, who met Nigel just by chance as he was walking down the street with his bass bag. That turned into Nigel doing some live shows with the Farmers and he went on to record a cover of The Alarm song, “Rain In The Summertime” for The Farmacology Sessions. “We thought that particular song was farmer friendly and would strike a chord with a lot of Californians,” said Knowles.
A cover of The Monkees “Door Into Summer” gets a psychedelic country makeover from Knowles and Storto, while “Down At The Pharmacy” acknowledges the greed of big Pharma, with a tune that suggests Lennon and McCartney backed by a pedal steel drenched country band. “We’ve had fun with that one,” said Knowles, “Meshing pedal steel with a Lonely Hearts Club Band overtone.”
Knowles and Storto continue to showcase their growth as songwriters intent on celebrating the essence of the American experience. “We’re about the songs,” Knowles claims. “We plant them wherever we can. Maybe they’ll grow, maybe they won’t, but we’re not going to throw in a bunch of trendy additives to convince you that what we do has value. If you want to drop in and soak up the vibe, you’re more than welcome.”
New American Farmers will be playing live in the Bay area and celebrating their record release at The Great American Music Hall on Friday, September 5th 8pm. For those not in the Bay Area, you can check out the track, “Aiming For The Daylight” exclusively through Elmore Magazine: http://bit.ly/1swLH3q
CA dates:
Wednesday, October 15th Club Leos 5447 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 9pm
Thursday, October 23rd, Songwriters at Play 1351 Price Street Pismo Beach, CA 6:30 pm
Saturday, October 25th Pappy and Harriet's Pioneertown Palace Pioneertown, CA 7pm
For more information: www.NewAmericanFarmers.org
San Francisco based psych Americana band, Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah, are an organ/guitar driven rock band whose shows transport the audience out of a traditional music venue and into a hazy, hip shaking psychedelic tent revival.
Described as “An obvious walking, talking lead singer” by City Beat Magazine, Gallagher has rapidly risen to the top of San Francisco’s rock scene. His EP, Valley of a Dying Breed features acclaimed singer-songwriter Victoria Williams, a champion of Gallagher’s work and an artist he credits as an influence. On the heels of Valley, Gallagher, along with his band, The Hallelujah are now embarking on tour as they gear up for the release of their first, full-length, self-titled record.
Bonding over a love of Bobby Charles (among many other influences) The Hallelujah are a group of like-minded musicians comprised of Kirby Hammel on piano/organ, Jacob Landry on lead guitar, Kevin Grapski on bass and Joe Miller on drums. Along with Gallagher the band is a group of people who are constantly playing and evolving together.
The band has been together for a year and claims the turning point was when they booked studio time without knowing what the album was going to be. “I essentially brought all my notebooks to rehearsal and just started playing—arranged about 20 songs and narrowed it down from there,” said Gallagher, “We had 3 weeks before the first session, and it was the first time I have ever worked on a ‘deadline’ musically. It was a testament to the energy and devotion of the band. It also created a cohesiveness that one tries to obtain while making an album. The most exciting thing is how the band continues to develop that cosmic connectivity that all musicians strive for when playing together.”
“The Hallelujah Prelude” eases the listener into the music with Gallagher’s hazy, dreamlike vocals and leads to “Sugartown” which layers cosmically sublime music that will weave throughout the album. The song, “Gloryland” takes its name from the title of an old hymn and the band kicks it into high gear with their gospel-rock sound. “Shallow Grave” takes that same energy and adds a little voodoo, while “Feel Like Going Home” is a lament framed by wailing guitars. The song was recorded live and captures the band at their finest. The psychedelic song, “That’s How The Light Gets In” borrowed its name from a line in Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem”. Gallagher was inspired after playing a show with known rock author, Sylvie Simmons, who had just finished her book on Cohen. The album ends with an anthemic rock number, “1935” which Gallagher said was inspired by reading a lot of Zora Neale Hurston. “I decided to have my own version of a Sunday afternoon in 1935.”
For the new kids on the block, the band has had an incredible welcome, opening for well-known bands such as Living Colour, The Doobie Brothers, Boston and The Tubes. They’ve also played the legendary Haight-Ashbury Street Fair and the first annual Not Dead Yet Fest, along with working with the folks at Light Rail Studios and having Betty Cantor (legendary Grateful Dead recording engineer) stop by one of their sessions. Gallagher and the Hallelujah recently released their debut video & single to “Ready for the Mountain” which was recorded on Jerry Garcia’s tape machine. They’ve also released a video and single for the song, “American Flags”, a hazy folk-rock track that merges easily into the Americana music genre.
After taking a brief hiatus from playing this summer (keyboardist Kirby Hammel joined Sun Kil Moon on tour), the band is back and taking their electrifying live show on the road in support of their first full-length record. “I think this band has a ton of soul,” said Gallagher, “We are punk rock without playing ‘punk’ music.”
Jon Chi's second solo effort, Another Rising Sun is a blend of Folk, Gospel, Americana and Jam, with honest songwriting and lyrics at the forefront. Jon’s songs have received major and college radio play, and have appeared in documentaries, commercials, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. Chi is the former frontman for the band, Rainmaker who found their fans among the jamband and World music scene. He has collaborated in the studio with musicians including Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead, guitar greats Erenest Ranglin and Robben Ford, and songwriting talents Jolie Holland, James Mercer of the Shins, and the Jayhawks. These diverse artists had varying influences on Jon as you will hear in the songs.
New album Hi-Rise Ranch out on April 14, 20015--Hi-Rise Ranch is LA-based musician, Pi Jacobs’ 6th record and the second time pairing with folks from her 2013 release, Urbanicana. The 6 song CD brings back producer (and keyboard addition), Eugene Toale (Kanye West, Brandy, Mya) along with Beastie Boy’s drummer Fredo Ortiz, Jaime Bishop (Francis Dunnery) on bass and Kel Pritchard on background vocals. This time around, Jacobs plays all of the guitars and there is the addition of Peter Adams on keyboards and Rita Soultanian on background vocals. Hi-Rise Ranch continues with the sound of lusty soul-driven Americana music with a straight up rock and roll punch.
An accomplished rock guitar player and multi-instrumentalist and a lyricist who can create honest emotion, Pi Jacobs credits her crazy and nomadic childhood for keeping her heart open to experiences that turn into songs. “I’m grateful, and my heart is open from all of these experiences, but music has been the one thing I’ve always relied on, my rock and cornerstone. I just want to share, connect and be part of the human experience through my music.”
The Surreal McCoys' new album, The Howl & The Growl, was released at AmericanaFest in September by DC-based label, Across the Aisle Music. It was recorded and produced by veteran alt-country rock legend, Eric Ambel (Del Lords, Bottle Rockets, Steve Earle) and features a muscular vintage sound, straight out of 1974 Muscle Shoals.
The album’s first single, “Whole Lotta Folsom,” a mash-up of Johnny Cash and Led Zeppelin, received heavy airplay on Sirius XM’s Outlaw Country station, vaulted the LP onto the Americana charts (peaking at #48 on the Alternate Root chart) and garnered airplay on nearly 100 radio stations and Internet outlets worldwide. The videos for the album boast over 45,000 views and counting. An animated version of the “Whole Lotta Folsom” video is being premiered by Elmore Magazine this week. The band’s frontman, Cletus McCoy, and the LP’s producer, Eric Ambel, will be interviewed by Sirius XM’s Meredith Ochs on the Freewheelin’ show on Road Dog (Ch. 146) at 12:30pm EST on Wednesday, January 20th.
The Howl & The Growl made the music magazine No Depression’s Top 100 albums of the year nestled amongst accomplished artists Chris Isaak, Dale Watson, and James Taylor, as well as buzz acts such as The Steeldrivers and Lord Huron. During AmericanaFest 2015 in Nashville, TN, the band launched the new LP during a standing room only show with the Bottle Rockets, setting the stage for their upcoming appearance in Miami in February for the Shore Leave Showdown festival. http://www.
Fueled by a sordid real-life backdrop of good old fashioned suicides, murders, and alcoholic depravity followed by church on Sunday, Elouise is an eccentric collaboration of Los Angeles-based musicians who came together to create an ominous, raw and cinematic genre of music they identify as Blackgrass. It is the sound of sin and salvation mixed in a dark cocktail with a taste of Bluegrass, a black symphonic sound and weary emotional vocals that tell original tales of struggle and re-imagine songs from our collective Americana consciousness.
Using a mix of Classical and Bluegrass instrumentation combined with an array of eclectic instruments including the marxophone, six-string banjo, bandoneon and harmonium, Elouise layers their sound with dark and beautifully dramatic European strings like the cello and double bass. This idea of low end drone and virtuosic strings combined with sounds from traditional Bluegrass instrumentation is the signature sound of Elouise and Blackgrass. Add in world-weary and guttural vocals paired with instruments like the bandoneon (which produces one of the saddest sounds imaginable) and you get a musical experience that captures a distinctly original, emotionally fraught and unforgettable sound.
Elouise deconstructs and re-imagines classic songs like Amazing Grace, I’ll Fly Away and the sweaty revival tent of Fire and Brimstone (which sounds like an old Alan Lomax field recording) shaking these old chestnuts to their bones, revealing an underbelly of the darkness of Americana standards and turning them into a booze-sodden cry from America’s trailer park soul. Shadow of the Pines pays homage to Bluegrass royals, The Carter Family, with a slower tempo and a musically re-envisioned version of the original, mixing traditional Bluegrass instrumentation with the lonely and weary vocals of Elouise Walker, creating a desperate and beautiful love song reminiscent of early Bluegrass anthologies. Silent Night, a single that debuted around the holidays, is an age-old standard transformed into Elouise’s Blackgrass rendition with swirling strings, menacing vocal and six-string banjo topped off with a culmination of wailing hallelujahs that earned the praise of Blurt, Folk Radio U.K. and 50Thirdand3rd. The songs and recitations in Deep Water are haunting and beautiful, deviant and desperate sonic explorations that stretch the boundaries of Americana Music.
Not afraid to get a little dirt under their fingernails, Elouise digs deep into a murky past filled with struggle and real life escapades to create original songs: the funereal Dixie-land march to the nearest Sazerac in Saturn Bar, a journey to the other side, one filled with brushes with salvation, sin and intergalactic travel to the seedy watering hole in the 9th Ward in New Orleans before the flood. The dark gypsy-cello and double bass slow burn of Evil that casts a heavy old world cinematic spell over the record and the vengeful chant of the world’s most disturbed ex-lover fueled by lost love, blind obsession and an immanent storm of swirling guitars and thundering drums in Hurricane. The aching title track Deep Water, a fragile suicide ballad, featuring the woodsy sounds of cello and harmonium, have Elouise proclaiming “Kiss me goodnight forgive me my sins. I’m goin’ to the bottom, not comin up again.” and becomes an honest and brazen tale of loneliness and sinking despair that chronicles her impending demise.
In stark contrast to the achingly gritty vocalizations of Elouise Walker, I’ll Be Good to You, a misogynistic love story told by sly crooner and romantic villain Rich Dembowski, is accompanied only by his lonely rhythm guitar and a backdrop of haunting pedal steel played by guest musician Woody Aplanalp. Rich Dembowski (former front man for cosmic country band Old Californio), also toys with sin and salvation with the beautifully imperfect sound of weathered piano, electric guitar, delicate cello, electric bass and drums creating a rocking backdrop to a man’s desperate plea with the Almighty to give a little to get a little in Oh Lord.
Deep Water: A Collection of Songs and Recitations, creates an eccentric musical junket through alternate realities, sonically blurring the lines between what we know as Americana standards and original stories that feel like they are somehow part of a historical musical archive. Elouise kicks up dust in Black Horses, a story recounting her Father’s battle with terminal illness, and a Blackgrass homage to an era of the Wild West cinema where Elouise attempts to outrun death and disaster through a cruel and unforgiving landscape filled with firey and weary vocals and the sounds of marxophone, guitar, cello, double bass and drums. East Jesus, a song penned by Elouise after a long journey to Salvation Mountain (the artistic obsession built by Leonard Knight) was captured and recorded live, with a 6-string banjo, marxophone, double bass, cello, accordion, drums and a megaphone vocal and reveals a dark vaudevillian journey on the outer edges of society. The music on Deep Water is a mash up of old and new, polished and broken, built on a rickety musical foundation piled high with old, dusty and ill mannered instruments, refined virtuosic strings, weathered vocals, and re-envisioned songs of lost love, peril and impropriety.
The album, Deep Water, began with a vision by Elouise Walker, of a raw, dark and dusty soundscape. “We started out with the idea of deconstructing traditional Bluegrass songs and old hymns, abandoning familiar song structure and re-translating the meaning and emotions of each song to fit the content of the lyrics. Some of the traditional songs are pretty dark if you just read the lyrics but were often paired with a peppy or pretty, sing-a-long melody. We were experimenting with a darker sound and delivery. The first song we re-interpreted was I’ll Fly Away. That ended up becoming the seed for the rest of the album. When friend and composer John Philip Shenale (Janes Addiction, Tori Amos, The Forest Rangers) added a string arrangement, it brought it to another level of sophistication. Along the way we began writing and composing our own songs. Mixing unconventional vocals with unexpected instrumentation--from high end Classical strings to broken old accordions and weathered pianos. Keeping flaws created by age and disrepair was part of the sound. If the instrument had an amazing sound but only had two incredible notes left in it, then that’s what we used. We were playing in a dark sandbox with instruments we were trained in but also picking up instruments we had never touched before. It wasn’t Bluegrass anymore. The music and soundscape became much darker and slower and cinematic. It was Blackgrass.”
Elouise is a band with a rich and diverse musical history. The project is led by Elouise Walker (vocals, bandoneon, accordion), a visionnaire who pulls the band together to recount imagery of her sordid past using an unusual musical pallete creating a sound that is gnarled, beautiful and down-right unpredictable. Their debut album, Deep Water is produced by Elouise Walker and John Chamberlin (drums, acoustic and electric guitar, percussion, marxophone and 6-string banjo). A longtime musician, engineer and producer, Chamberlin calls upon his vast knowledge of film and television score when lending his talents. In addition to writing, playing and producing, he is currently a recording mixer for Orange is the New Black, Portlandia, Baskets, New Girl, and Dice, just to name a few. Rich Dembowski (vocals, six-string banjo, guitars, bass) was front man for the popular cosmic country band, Old Californio and spent many years playing bass with famed producer and musician, Ben Vaughn. Dembowski co-wrote on Deep Water and lends lead vocals and song writing prowess to “Oh Lord” and “I’ll Be Good To You”. In addition, Michelle Beauchesne (cello) has performed throughout the US with the Florida Philharmonic, Palm Beach Opera Company, Berkeley Symphony and the American Tour as principal cellist with the Bolshoi Ballet. William Bongiovanni (double-bass, electric bass, vocals) has recorded or played with Ann Magnuson, Rufus Wainwright, and the Santa Monica Symphony and now almost exclusively plays double bass.
Elouise is: Elouise Walker, John Chamberlin, Rich Dembowski, Michelle Beauchesne and William Bongiovanni. Guest musicians: Dave Aron (producer/mixer: Sublime, Snoop Dogg, U2) played clarinet, Sam Prevost, a kick ass up and coming trombone player (recently played with Tower of Power and The Sly Digs) and Colin Nairne, mandolin player and band leader of The High Bar Gang, a Juno nominated Bluegrass band and winners of Best Vocal Group of 2014 Canadian Folk Music Awards. (Please see album package for complete listing of additional musicians).
Jason Daniels has music in his blood. It runs in his family and runs through his veins. He writes and sings songs about the joys and pitfalls of a life well lived, and weaves these road worn storied together with his own inimitable blend of American Roots Music. Daniels draws from his years of travels and adventures that landed him everywhere from Europe to Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir’s couch to jail. His songs are honest, heartfelt reflection of the ups and downs that go along with living life to the fullest. Daniels says, “I hope my music inspires people to turn off the TV, hit the road and go experience life.”
Music made an early impression on Daniels, having grown up around country music royalty. His Aunt and Uncle were Tammy Wynette and George Richey. Uncle George wrote “The Grand Tour” and “A Picture of Me Without You.” Daniels recalls being whisked away on a Lear jet to a tour bus as a young boy to see Aunt Tammy sing. He refers to it as his first, “Taste.”
He grew up in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena listening to the blues (Albert King, Freddie King, B.B. King), country (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard) and New Orleans funk (Meters, Dr. John). He spent a few years in Southern California playing coffee houses, then moved to Marin County in the late 1980′s. His first band, the Incredible Band played throughout California, including the legendary Sweetwater in Mill Valley. In 2012, after eight years in Nashville, Daniels moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he further delved into exploring and playing the blues and country music he grew up loving.
Steven Graves has a knack for authenticity. His insight into the spiritual and emotional condition of being a human being are translated to song in his upcoming new record, Captain Soul.
Without being ‘New Age’ there is a certain new age spiritualism that permeates through most of his compositions creating social awareness and commentary that is unique in today’s Rock and Americana genres. Graves has worked closely with grassroots organizations helping Native American communities for several years (he was nominated for a Native America Music Award in 2012). With the help of fan and musical advocate, Dennis McNally (who collaborated with the Grateful Dead for more than thirty years), the band has an ever-growing presence in the Grateful Dead and jam band circles.
Growing up on country music, Graves brings elements of country, folk rock, Gospel and even reggae into his music. “I love music that’s both rocking and nurturing,” Graves told Grateful Web. “Any guitarist from Jerry Garcia to David Gilmour or Lyle Lovett. Usually I prefer music that is less abrasive to the psyche because I want the music to nurture me.”
On Captain Soul, Graves once again brings with him a group of seasoned and veteran musicians. His core group of musicians consists of David Mendoza (Lydia Pense & Coldblood) on bass; vocalist and drummer David Tucker (Tommy Castro, Maria Mauldar), sax player Armen Boyd (Big Band Beat) Alysha Antonino (Pete Escovido); pianist Jon Dryden (Norah Jones); and pedal steel player Bruce Wandmayer (Trailer Park Troubadours) plus many other accomplished guest musicians.
Graves has often seen his songs hit the Americana and jam band music charts and Captain Soul will certainly prove no exception. The record was written as the band recorded it, so the recording and writing process became interwoven and took on a life of its own. Graves is also excited that the record was recorded entirely on old school analogue gear giving it that “amazing warmth and fat sound” that only analog can give you!
AJ Hobbs is a California boy, but there’s a whole lot of Texas in his heart. Hobbs doesn’t just make country music—he makes what he likes to call Outlaw Soul. His music brings the spirit and storytelling of the great country outlaws and melds it with a sweet soulful sound inspired by Texas music, R&B, and gospel.
Hobbs played his very first country show (under the pseudonym Cal King) opening for Shooter Jennings. Soon after he met a fine Houston woman who not only helped to steer him straight but also gave him the idea to bring the soul music that he loved so much into his country sound.
AJ Hobbs’ music is all about turning his own memories into song and moving the folks who can’t forget theirs either. His upcoming full-length debut Too Much Is Never Enough was co-produced with Ted Russell Kamp and features 9 original songs that are all his story plus 3 songs written by other songwriters.
The album is full of performances by some of the top brass in the country music and soul worlds, including Brian Whelan (Dwight Yoakam), John Schreffler, Jr. (Billy Joe Shaver), Storm Rhode IV (Moot Davis, James Intveld), Jeremy Long (Sam Outlaw) and Makeda Francisco (Rose Royce). The album was mastered by Grammy Award winner Pete Lyman who has worked with Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell.
"Too Much Is Never Enough" is available now.
Sara Petite is proud of her 5th Studio Album, The Road Less Traveled, her favorite work to date. In true classic country style, her autobiographical songs have her sweeping up the pieces of her broken heart off of the floor and putting them back together. “The road has twisted and turned, burnt me, bent me, and broke my heart in ways I never knew could happen,” said the artist. “I have a knack for making people feel both heartache and happiness. I think my songs can be very cathartic.”
A true original, Petite’s music does not conveniently fit into any one musical genre or sub-category, but rather traces her influences in country, bluegrass, rock and folk and emerges into a sound completely her own. As both a solo artist and with her band The Sara Petite Band, Petite has shared the stage with many greats such as Josh Turner, Marty Stuart, Lonestar, Todd Snider, Dave Alvin, Ralph Stanley and more.
Petite recorded Road Less Traveled in Escondido, CA with Christopher Hoffee at Chaos Records and used her band instead of studio musicians. “My last 2 CDs were produced in Nashville,” said Petite, “This album is a dream come true for me to be able to work with my band. It helped me to be as creative as possible.”
Getting right down to it, the 12-song album kicks off with the rollicking title song, “Road Less Traveled “with Frank Lee Drennen of Dead Rock West on harmonies. “It’s about being passionately in love with someone and also being passionately in love with the road,” she confesses. “I am stubborn, wild and independent with a great spirit for adventure.”
Already released as a single, “Getting Over You” is a Tammy Wynette inspired classic 70’s country song. Petite enlisted Phil Jordan (No Doubt) on horns. “I heard Herb Alpert all over this song,” said Petite, “and Phil cam in and did exactly what I wanted.”
“It’s Good to be Me” came from a surreal dream Petite had where she would look in the mirror and see Tom Petty instead of her own reflection using the famous Matthew McConahey line, “Alight, Alright, Alright” and then adding, “It’s good to be me.” Petite states, “I feel like a had a small experience of having Tom Petty’s soul inside my body. For two months I truly felt like it was good to be me.” “Monkey on my Back” is musical homage to famous San Diego band that personally inspired Petite, The Beat Farmers and the record fittingly ends with an acoustic version of “The Road Less Traveled”.
“I am not who I was 3 years ago,” states Petite, “Just like I wasn’t 5 years ago when I put out Doghouse Rose, or when I put out Lead the Parade or Tiger Mountain. I am very proud of all my CDs and they are a collection of who I was at that point.”
In 2010 after her 3rd CD Doghouse Rose came out, Petite didn’t expect to stick to music. She had received a degree in Political Science and International Relations and was starting down a corporate path. Then everything changed when her partner and drummer, John Kuhlken died. “Everything went south for a long time,” she remembers. “I was trying to stay numb so I wouldn’t lose it. Music was the thing that no one could take away from me.” Coming through the pain much stronger and more resilient, Petite felt like a different person. “I feel thankful to be out of that cloud and to have felt so connected to my music.”
It took Petite a long time to believe she could make her career in music. “I used to be so nervous and scared, waiting for people to call me out and tell me how bad I was,” she confesses. “Now my body of work is extensive. I can easily play 4 sets of my own material. I’ve become a diverse musician that can’t be pigeonholed.”
A true artist and musician, Petite is equally at home at a raucous honky tonk as she is at a traditional bluegrass picking party--a small stage in a listening room to the larger stages of rock clubs.
“A musician’s life is not a normal life, but it brings beautiful gifts as long as you don’t get on the emotional roller coast and dip too low,” she said. “It sometimes feels weird to put my life out there so honestly, but the responses I get back make me realize we all feel grateful, we all feel depressed at times, we are all flying or crawling. It just depends on what life is bringing us at the moment or what we have created for ourselves. I love performing and I love telling stories and writing songs. I am so thankful for this life.”
There is a line from Jared Tyler’s bio that puts his career into perspective—“There is no best way to introduce Jared Tyler. He’s too many things.” Still in his 30’s the artist has accomplished so much in a short span of time. Playing Dobro with Malcolm Holcombe since 1999, he has also worked with many artists and bands such as Emmylou Harris, Merle Haggard, Wilco, fellow Okie John Moreland in a recording capacity or as a supporting act. As a producer he has worked with Jesse Aycock, Jimmy LaFave, Monica Taylor and Malcolm Holcombe, among others.
Dirt on Your Hands is Tyler’s 3rd solo record. He made his national debut in 2006 with Blue Alleluia (Produced by the legendary Russ Titelman) and followed up with Here with You in 2010 (co-produced with Chuck Zwicky who was the mixing engineer for Prince). Dirt on Your Hands was co-produced with Nashville bassist, Dave Roe who also plays on the record. This recent solo project has allowed for Tyler to collaborate dear friends and incredibly talented people with players and guest spots from John Fullbright, Malcolm Holcombe, Kenny Vaughn, and Jellyroll Johnson to name a few.
Already growing crowds in Tulsa and with a listening audience nationwide, Tyler is set to expand his audience with Dirt on Your Hands. Written as a nod to his roots and community, the record is the most Americana/roots sounding project that he has ever released as an artist. Described as World beat Americana Soul Tyler’s music straddles many genres including folk, blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, red dirt and soul without losing focus on the songwriting and Tyler’s voice.
“I’m a lover of songs telling honest stories of love and loss on this path of human existence,” said Tyler. “The songs I write or interpret are dear to my heart telling the stories of my life experiences. My hope in sharing these songs is that they would strike a chord in others that have gone through similar experiences or have felt the same way- somehow making them feel a little better.”
A longtime fan of Malcolm Holcombe before he began playing with him, Tyler covers two of his songs, “Dressed in White” and “The Door” and covers friend, Dixie Michell’s song “Waltzing Around With My Shadow”. Tyler wrote 4 of the songs on the record and shares writing credit on 5 of the songs.
The 12-song album kicks it off with “Death of Me” a song encouraged by dear friend and luthier, Dixie Mitchell (who has since passed) and written for his life partner, Jacob Mehlhouse. “[Dixie] had showed me a lick on the guitar that I believe might’ve been in an old Chet Atkins song and I just loved it,” explained Tyler. “I twisted it around within a few minutes started scatting with my own melody and Dixie said that it sounded like a hit.”
The title song “Dirt on Your Hands” was inspired by Tyler’s memory of his grandma’s compost pile and the worms they used to dig out for fishing in the neighborhood pond. Co-written with Monty Holmes (who wrote “when did you stop lovin’ me” and “Troubadour” for George Strait, and “Never again, Again” for LeAnn Womack), the song felt like a “power song” for Tyler—“I felt like the message for this song perfectly summed up this collection of songs, so I made it the title track of the record.”
Jared Tyler’s grandfather who was a fiddle and mandolin player is credited with putting a tater bug mandolin in Tyler’s hands at 6 years old when he taught him 3 chords. “Lucky Man” is the song that brings to mind his grandfather’s advice, “If you can count your friends on one hand, you’re a lucky man.” “Musically I wrote this song on a mandolin with a more bluegrass feel to it, but in the studio we just went with the moment, and it turned out a little more of a red dirt rockin’ vibe,” he explains.
Tyler finishes up the album with “Love of You”, a personal love song. “One night while Malcolm was visiting Tulsa for a few shows, we were sitting outside talking and I had a ukulele I was plucking on,” said Tyler. “There was a half a moon in the sky and a bright star (probably a planet) right next to it. I started singing the first line of the song, and Malcolm said there you go - there’s a song. I roughed out the idea, and then played it for Jamie Kindleyside in Dickson, TN. He helped me simplify it even more, and articulate what I was really trying to say. In it’s almost nursery rhyme form - my true feelings were conveyed. I would usually be too shy to ever put out a song like this one, but it was from such a deep place of love that I knew it needed to be on here. I love how the two songs written to Jacob start and end the cd.”
As a special note, Tyler’s friend, Dixie was, as mentioned, a luthier. She was world-renowned for making acoustic instruments under her company name, Guitar Company of America. Due to their masterful tone Tyler made a point to feature her instruments as much as possible on the record. Tyler plays her hand made Nick Lucas-style guitars on “Death of Me,” “Waltzing Around with my shadow,” “Heart Wide Open,” “Gwendolyn,” and “Norway” and a mandolin she made on “Waltzing around with my shadow” and on “Lucky I Am.”
Jared Tyler’s diversity of sound is the standout for this record. Comfortable in large settings including Ryman Auditorium and Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, the artist also loves performing acoustic music in intimate listening rooms (he just returned from a week of performing at the Folk Alliance Festival). “Growing up in the buckle of the Bible belt as a gay man has given me a unique perspective on life, and I think my music can cross genres and speak to people on all walks of life.”
Dirt on Your Hands is released June 2rd, 2017.
Imagine this: You're a piano player from St. Louis, who migrates to New York to make it big. You become an in-demand session player, and none other than Tony Visconti — David Bowie's producer! — hires you to play on the demos for what would become Bowie's final album, Blackstar. Bowie himself even asks about your availability to tour the album upon its release in early 2016.
Unfortunately, Jack Spann never had the opportunity to tour with Bowie, but he pays homage to the man on his second solo CD, Beautiful Man from Mars — a quirky album on which Spann plays keys, piano, guitar and bass. The Bowie influences are obvious from the beginning, not only in the album's title and the leadoff title track, but also in Spann's vocal delivery. Sure, the Joe Jackson, Billy Joel and Ben Folds references from Spann's outstanding 2016 debut Time, Time, Time, Time, Time are still there, but you can hear Ziggy Stardust floating in and out of these new songs, too.
A metronomic piano line, shuffling drums and Spann's dark delivery make "Time" an early highlight here, while the feel-good, guitar-free "Songman" bounces along with encouragement for anyone who ever dreamed of making music. A lonely electric guitar accentuates the sorrow of "She Makes Pornography on the Weekend," and the farcical "Snooty Acres" comes with a melody that will linger longer than you'd like. "Jack Around" is a mostly instrumental ditty that shows off Spann's skills.
Milwaukee-based producer Gary Tanin (Daryl Stuermer, Roger Powell) contributes keyboards on most songs.If you're in the mood for something fresh and charming but wholly serious and worthy of your time, Spann's the man.
The eponymous record - Ben Bostick's first full-length—was preceded in 2016 by an EP, My Country. The EP was an insurgent outlaw country record, while Ben Bostick takes a turn into more personal territory with a broader range of musical and emotional content. Ben Bostick finds the artist well-rounded and showing a complete picture of the person, from humor to depth to excitement to melancholy. Calling his brand of music ‘outsider country,’ Bostick explains how he coined the term: “My music doesn’t quite fit with the outlaw label, nor am I trying to imitate the classic artists, and alt-country seems to be a genre with its set of conventions.”
Of note: Bostick makes his living (and a good one) as a busker on the Santa Monica Pier. Calling his brand of music ‘outsider country.'
Mike Younger is known as a talented musician and songwriter that “...possesses an amazing ability to pour out his life experiences through song.” (Sound Magazine). He is also an outspoken advocate for environmental and humanitarian issues and on Little Folks Like You and Me he expertly weaves these two considerable gifts together.
Produced by Nashville guitar virtuoso Bob Britt (Leon Russell, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan, Delbert McClinton), Little Folks Like You and Me captures a message of unity and a spirit of defiance. The album takes you on an uplifting musical journey through the lives of, and in solidarity with everyday people and the challenges of an uncertain time.
“If I Was A Wheel” and “The Living Daylights” start and close the 10-song record, both homages to the working class struggle to live beyond the confines of being overworked and underpaid. “Never Was A Dancer” is a retelling of first love at the high-school dance, rich with innocence and double-entendre. “Poisoned Rivers” is a Guthrie-esque call for solidarity and unity into a culture currently marred by paralyzing divisions. “Rodeo Queen” , a rowdy country-rock footstomper, and “With Every Heartbeat” bring you up for air after the dark ruminations of “Drifter's Lament” and “What Kind Of World”. All in all, Little Folks Like You And Me takes the listener on a little joyride, both exciting and dangerous, that strays outside the lines from time to time when going around sharp curves.
“I've got the dreams of the unwanted and the hopes of the unknown,
riding on my shoulder and stirring in my bones
and I ain't come this far for nothin' and I don't mean to be denied
so friend if you ain't with me, you'd better stand aside”
from “Drifter's Lament”
Bob Britt's production on Little Folks Like You And Me shows remarkable versatility and mastery. Beyond being a guitar wizard of the highest order, Britt's inherent empathy for the creative vision shines through as much here as it does on Delbert McClinton's 2017 “Prick Of The Litter”, which he also recently produced. Younger, who started out as an acoustic-folkie, has gradually leaned towards the blues and rock and roll. “For the most part I tried to stay out of the way and let Bob put the lead guitars on the tracks. His extraordinary taste for phrasing and dynamics left a lasting impression and influence.”
Born in Nova Scotia, Younger left Halifax at the age of 17 to see the world and ended up traveling all over Canada as a busker. At the age of 20 he headed to New York City to be a part of the thriving music scene. “I was a bit of a free-spirit,” he confesses. “A gypsy wanderer armed with my wits and my music. I wasn’t afraid, because I didn’t know what was out there.” It was years later while performing live on WWOZ in New Orleans that he caught his first break when a music publisher heard the broadcast. Soon after, Younger began traveling to Nashville to record and perform and his recordings reached the ear of Rodney Crowell. When Younger signed with his first record company, Crowell stepped in as producer and together they turned out Somethin In The Air in 1999, Younger’s first album.
Over the years Mr Younger has had the honor of working, collaborating and traveling with some of the best in the music business including Levon Helm, Spooner Oldham, Jim Dickinson, Luther Dickinson, Nanci Griffith, and many others. In fact, Jim Dickinson produced his second album (2001), which never saw the light of day, as the record label collapsed while the record was being finalized. The tapes fell into a legal limbo and were lost for over 15 years. Now recovered, the tapes will be completed and released at a future date. Younger went on to independently release Every Stone You Throw (2004) and Hustled By Squares (2009).
It was in 2006 that Nashville became Mike's home. From there he has travelled all over the country to support various causes including the Standing Rock crisis (where he organized and delivered donations gathered from Middle Tennessee residents in support of Standing Rock) and as a feature performer for the “Water is Life Expo”, a fundraiser in Flint, Michigan for the Flint Water Crisis Community. The 10th Annual Boston Greenfest, August 11th-13th, whose goal is to “educate and empower people to create a more sustainable, healthier world” will feature Mike Younger on a line-up of local and national performers.
“I’ve always been affected by things that seem unjust or out-of-balance,” he said. “Being immersed in some of music's most important voices of social activism in the works of John Lennon, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan and a bunch of others whose work had real social purpose and impact was very influential to my own journey as a writer and performer.”
“Artists have nothing to lose by speaking their truth,and to do so unapologetically....especially now. That's what I aim for”.
Songwriting and playing music has been a consuming passion for Gerry Spehar since he picked up his first guitar at age 14. “I never went on a date in high-school without my guitar,” he admits. If you look at the album artwork on I Hold Gravity, you’ll notice that there’s not one image of Spehar without a guitar except for the one in which he has his arm around his wife, Susan. “Ever since I can remember, I have always had one or the other –usually both –with me.” Susan was Spehar’s college sweetheart and his other consuming passion--and this album is a love letter to her.
I Hold Gravity is a collection of 10 songs on which he collaborated with Susan as they chronicled their final cross-country drives, their mountain heritage, and an L.A. to Texas landscape filled with shrimpers, dynamiters and wildcatters, wrestlers, roughnecks, overambitious farmers, and Monsanto lawyers. Spehar spent the past year producing and finishing this album and taking care of Susan, who passed from cancer in September, just as they were finishing the recordings.
Born and raised in Grand Junction, CO, during the 1970’s and 1980’s Spehar was based in Colorado and had a thriving musical career. He played as a duo with his brother George in the 70’s and in the Spehar Brothers Band with both George and brother Tom. He then performed solo until meeting Bobby Allison whom he began writing and performing with in 1981. During all this, Spehar opened shows for Merle Haggard, Boz Scaggs, Townes Van Zandt, John Fahey and others.
In 1985, Allison and Spehar played the Grand Ole Opry as regional winners of the Wrangler Country Showdown. The finals were held at the Opry and the duo lost out to the Sweethearts of the Rodeo but gained a publishing deal with the legendary Buzz Cason. In 1986, Allison went solo (winning the Showdown) and Spehar made the rough decision to leave performing behind to take an investment banking job in Los Angeles in order to support his family and be a good dad—“It was the hardest decision of my life,” he confesses. In 2000, Spehar produced, played, and sang on his brother George’s tribute album, For Always. The record featured renowned multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz, Nashville pianist Pete Wasner (Vince Gill) and was recorded and mixed by the legendary George Massenberg.
Now, kids raised, Spehar is back and remains in good company with I Hold Gravity. Enlisting the LA band I See Hawks in LA as his studio band, and Paul Lacques as his co-producer, the team tracked the basics in 3 days at drummer Shawn Nourse’s studio with Paul Marshall on bass and Spehar on lead vocals and acoustic guitar. Lacques added electric guitar, dobro, and steel. Ace musicians Tommy Jordan (Geggy Tah with Greg Kurstin), Gabe Witcher (The Punch Brothers), Chris Tuttle (Emmy Lou Harris, Raul Malo), and other guests added their talents. The result is a unique country, folky, dark, and witty album: I Hold Gravity. As Paul Lacques calls it, “Americana from an OG picker.”
“I’m so happy I was able to dive back into music, and on such a meaningful project,” said Spehar. “It was a great cathartic experience for both Sue and me. She loved listening to it come to life and absolutely loved that I was back into music. I loved that it made her happy. We both needed it.”
The song “Dirt” leads us off—a thumping, electric guitar-driven Crazy Horse-style rocker about economic ambition. The lyrics are pulled from Spehar’s mining past (he’s from a pioneer Colorado coal-mining and ranching family), and Susan’s passion for geology: “It all comes down to dirt”. Contrasting that is the title song, “I Hold Gravity”, a gentle ethereal acoustic ballad about love that defies the cosmic rules. “This song poured out of me on New Year’s Eve 2016 as Sue lay sleeping,” confesses Spehar. “It’s a song of love and a desperate grab at salvation. Where does the energy go when someone dies? By the laws of physics, is it conserved as equivalent matter, subject to gravity? I hope so.”
“Be Nemanic” was written by the duo and their friend, Ed Nemanic. It’s the true story of Ed’s uncle John, World Middle Heavy Weight Wrestling Champion in 1936, and his contemporary, Slovenian strongman Peter Zebich. It’s slightly bent country funk with Chris Tuttle’s grooving piano and Lacques’ chunky Motown guitar driving it. “Mr & Mrs. Jones” is a testament to Susan’s indomitable spirit and wicked sense of humor. “Driving across Iowa just days after discovering her cancer, she said we should forget about it and write a song,” recalls Spehar. “Seeing perfection everywhere, she asked: ‘How do people live this way? There must be a ton of envy out there.’” The song has a Memphis feel with a twisted boogie beat and wicked organ and electric guitar.
The album ends with “Into The Mystic” a simple acoustic guitar production. “My dad died when I was 13 and my uncle Will, a cattle rancher, became my surrogate father,” said Spehar. “When music and the bigger world called, he couldn’t understand why I’d want to leave. This song is about that calling and dilemma. The difficult rite of passage we all face at some point.”
I Hold Gravity is full of talented playing and unique songwriting that bends the rules and fears no topic—from love to politics to economics to history to physics to war to death—and takes them on in compelling unusual ways, using humor, anger, whatever it takes. Although it took some time to get to this recording, Gerry Spehar never abandoned music, continuing to write nonstop even though his work hours precluded performing. He has written over 200 songs “That I like,” he adds.
“The fact that I’m now taking up recording and performing seriously again at this age is unique,” he professes. “Also the fact that I’m still relevant, maybe more so than ever, and good enough to do it well, maybe better than ever. This is a great love story for Sue, my family, music—and also a great renaissance story.”
Recorded on Jerry Garcia’s old tape machine and mastered by the legendary Betty Cantor-Jackson (a key component in Grateful Dead lore), the single was released by Light Rail Studios. Legendary artist, Alan Forbes has created the artwork for the single.
Named one of the Top 5 Best Up-and-Coming Bay area bands of 2014 by CBS and most recently one of 5 “Artists You Should Know About” in 2015 by Relix magazine, Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah have clearly made a mark in their short time together since forming in mid-2013.
Based in San Francisco but comprised of Midwestern and Southern transplants with a devotion to honest roots based American music, they weave a sonic tapestry framed by wailing guitars, churning organ, and more than a slight nod to the southern gospel music of their past. The band has garnered buzz for their live shows which transform traditional music venues into sweaty, hip-shaking, psychedelic tent revivals.
Timing can be everything. With the groundswell of outlaw, independent and alt-country making huge gains the past couple of years, Case Garrett’s album Aurora lands at an opportune moment of history, fitting right alongside the outlaw and independent country sounds that are garnering larger audiences seemingly every few months.
While firmly rooted in country music’s hallowed traditions, the independently produced album plays out as sublimely alive and contemporary. Garrett has a keen knack for songwriting and arrangement, which he confirms throughout this debut release. Saddled up with a truly superlative band of sidemen, including Michael Douchette on pedal steel guitar and the always-amazing Jenee Fleenor on fiddle, Garrett runs through a gamut of emotions and storytelling throughout the album. “The first real song I wrote with any words attached was in high school, a weak attempt at a kind of old-school Jackson Browne love song,” he notes. “I played it on piano one night at this party and the girls teared up and cried and I thought to myself, ‘Damn, this songwriting stuff is a powerful thing. I should do more of this.’”
Playing multiple instruments today, Garrett writes in a voice that is immediately accessible, blending in the hauntingly sad and personal in “Long Way Down,” to the tongue-in-cheek, slightly irreverent “The Thought Of You.” As a narrator, Garrett allows the characters wide berths in songs such a “Going Down To Mobile” and “Fill ‘er Up,” as they come vividly alive while they go about their trial and tribulations.
Born in Missouri, with an itinerant upbringing, Garrett is now settled just outside of New York City. He credits time in his younger years spent in Tennessee and Louisiana for much of his musical outlook, highlighting the integral roles of both his grandfathers.
Noodling songs on the piano at the age of 5, by the age of 10 he formed his first band, playing bass. The summer after his senior year in high school Garrett landed his first paying club gig with almost all original songs. There was only one problem: “I got a little lit-up,” remembers Garrett. “I figured that’s what you were supposed to do when you performed. My guitar heroes were doing it I reckoned and, well, I got paid but didn't get asked back. Just a dumb kid no one had heard of. It’d be nice to say I learned my lesson then and there but…”
Alcohol plus other “recreational activities,” says Garrett, were already ingrained in his life. From a frighteningly young age, music and alcohol intertwined. Later, life brought Garrett a marriage and a child but then tragedy. In very short order, a divorce and the death of family members (his mother, sister, father, and brother) only led to more of the escapism. One day he found himself in the hospital with nurses and doctors hovered over him. They told him he should probably quit drinking if he wanted to live. Amidst the chaos, and the next few years, his young son and his music stayed the core of his life. And miraculously he found his footing. Aurora is the result of that bedrock.
Garrett wrote, produced, and arranged the music on Aurora. He played all the keyboards on the album (piano, B-3, Fender, Rhodes), acoustic guitar and some electric, and layered in some percussion. His original drummer (Shawn Fichtner) and bass player (Eric Swiontkowski) are on the recording along with some ultra-talented Nashville players — Fiddle, Mandolin: Jenee Fleenor // Pedal Steel: Michael Douchette// Dobro: Kevin Post // Banjo: Aaron McDaris. In New York, stalwart session man Jimi K. Bones did the heavy lifting on electric guitars and Clara Lofaro dazzles with her amazing backing vocals on two songs. Sammi Moore, from Nashville, adds her smooth twang to a number as well.
The spirited song, “What Can I Say,” kicks off the album with an impressive fiddle and pedal steel intro that sets the stage for the rest of adventure. “Long Way Down” was an “antenna” moment for the artist. He felt the lyrics and melody were “just in the air,” ready to grab when the time was right. “Years ago, I’m alone with my son on this baseball field, just the two of us, when I told him my brother/his uncle, had died the day before. Now, it was right after my sister had passed. Both from drinking and such. So he takes a beat to think it out and then turns to ask if he was gonna end up like them - drinking like that. Dying. He was eight years old and it just about tore me in two. I was sort of hovering between sinner and saint at that time myself. But it was the catalyst to move on. One day a few years later this song just appeared to me out of the blue. Actually, the album was basically done when I wrote it, we were well into mixing, but I got it in there. Glad I did.”
“I mean, whatever you’re writing or singing, it came from something you know but maybe you can't describe it without music. It’s not conscious all the time, like the universe kind of just spinning around and sometimes says, ‘Here’s a song, write this down.’ It’s coming from some other place. Which, you know, ain’t a bad place to be.”
Singer-songwriter Andrew Sheppard grew up in Hailey, Idaho in an extended musical family--his mother was always playing and singing in rock and blues bands. As a kid Andrew was always at his mom's rehearsals and live shows, drawing in the music as a constant. He was playing bass in punk rock bands in high school and by the age of 19, picked up the guitar and started writing his own songs. 10 years later, he is poised to release his sophomore album, Steady Your Aim on March 23rd.
Steady Your Aim is a concept record, a musical journey in which every song was methodically thought out to fit the record. An analog recording, it is a cinematic dreamscape narrative that is richly layered with the pedal steel, piano, cello, Wurlitzer and organ. All of their parts are gently tucked in which leaves the listener wondering just what it is they are actually hearing. “We used traditional sounding instruments to create a new sound,” said Sheppard. “For example, we used cello on this record because I wanted a deep sound that didn’t come from anything electric or synthetic. Instead of being a ‘lead’ instrument we used it as a texture tool giving the songs a more rich and ‘real’ feel.” Produced by Sheppard, Eric Loomis and Wes Walsworth (both of whom play guitar on the album), Steady Your Aim was recorded at Ivy Hall Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. John Mayfield at Mayfield Mastering mastered the record.
Leaving Idaho just after high school, Sheppard headed to Los Angeles, CA to pursue his other passion, skateboarding. After a blown-out knee derailed his skating plans, he shifted his focus back to writing music. In 2008 he formed the band, Gypsy River Haunts that disbanded in 2012. Feeling the need to roam, he bought a car, loaded up his dog and headed around the country collecting stories for what he deemed his “record-writing road trip”. After 8,000 miles of driving, Sheppard wound up back in Idaho with no plan to stay, but realized after landing, that all his childhood friends were great musicians and that he had everything he needed to make the record he had in mind. Packing it up for a trip to LA, Sheppard and pals recorded Far From Here in 2015 at Bedrock Studios before heading back to Idaho. “I realized how much more I thrive in a mountain town,” said the artist. “I need to be in nature to feel a bit more sane.”
But a slower pace doesn’t mean that Sheppard has slowed down. He is on the road constantly (both solo and with band), playing festivals such as Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Treefort Music Festival, The Feed LA Festival and The Northern Rockies Music Festival. He’s shared the stage with The Black Lillies, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Whiskey Shivers and Scott H. Biram and has toured with friend and fellow roots musician, Jeff Crosby.
On Steady Your Aim, Sheppard doesn’t sugarcoat any of the emotions in his songwriting. He writes honest music that comes from the heart and darker places in life. The first track of the album “Take A Walk With Me” is inspired by packing up his life in LA and heading back to the mountains…”I was tired of the coast, so I booked it for the pines. Took a swing at the open road and caught up with my mind.” The more somber 2nd song, the title track, is a response to the first song, where he is taking the musical journey and dealing with the trials and tribulations of what being a musician on the road means. “The instruments are meant to make you look at everything wide-screen, like watching a film,” he explains.
From the sad and happy, “Here at the Bottom”, to the protest vision of “Not My Kind”, to the traditional (yet modern) waltz of “Holy Water” Steady Your Aim takes you on a musical journey from start to finish with a modern and experimental sound. Sheppard writes songs and music that isn’t a carbon copy of other country and Americana artists and that touches on subjects you don’t typically touch.
“Writing a song is something that I don’t, and won’t take for granted,” Sheppard vows. “Every show, every tour and every album provide me with new insight and a new way of looking at life. It helps me grow as a person and an artist and I want to see where that takes me for the rest of my life.”
Steady Your Aim releases on March 23rd, 2018 and will be available on digital and CD.
For more information: https://andrewsheppardmusic.com
Woody Aplanalp has made his mark primarily as a guitarist, recording and touring with an unusually diverse and notable array of artists such as multiple Grammy winner Lauryn Hill, soul legend and rock n’ roll hall of famer Bobby Womack, UK chart topper, Aloe Blacc, Indian fusion master Trilok Gurtu, and the “Lion of Zimbabwe” Thomas Mapfumo. Aplanalp’s avid experimentalism on the guitar, combining disparate elements of rock, psychedelia, world music and the avant garde, have also led to collaborations with Nels Cline (2001’s Destroys All), Banyan with Stephen Perkins, and Old Californio. All of this has served as stepping-stone for the creation of Bonsai Universe and its new album, Moonstream.
Moonstream is a journey to an inner world of electric folk and an outward expansion to the far reaches of a deeper space. The album winds an unlikely yet surprising path from harmony and synth laden electronic music ("Moonstream", "Starstream", "Should I Believe You") to rock and pop sensibilities ("Am I Good Enough", "Sweet Exaggeration", "Walking With My Eyes Closed", "Once Upon A Dream"), to front porch acoustic music with it’s eye on a bigger picture ("A Lot of Nerve", "Summertime"), to utopian and dystopian vistas ("Too Real", "Astrotonic"), whether real or imagined. As Midwest Record describes it,“A modern hippie with a solid CV dips his toes in the water with this break out album in that it's his solo debut and the kick off of his new group concept (and they)take you on a prog lite trip through the universe.”
Aplanalp, who plays much of the instrumentation on the album, also enlisted some heavy friends to help out. Anthony Logerfo (Promise of the Real, Neil Young) lent a hand with drums, Paul Lacques (I See Hawks in LA) added dobro and guitar, pals from Old Californio Jason Chesney and Justin Smith contributed bass/ vocals and vocals respectively, while Miguel Atwood-Ferguson arranged strings. Other very notable contributors include vocalists Rick Garcia, Kathryn Shuman, and Liela Avila, as wells Robert Hall on Synthesizer, Caroline Cirone on arco bass and Bryon Holley on percussion.
The long awaited full-length album by Chicago folk rocker, Rich Krueger, Life Aint' That Long releases on Friday, January 26th with a celebration performance to be held in Berwyn, IL
Here's Krueger's sound as described by The Pasadena Weekly-- "Veteran Chicago guitarist/pianist Krueger delivers a winningly unpretentious, lyric-focused set that plugs in at the intersection where folk, rock and melodic pop jawbone and flip off genre distinctions. Country fiddle, R&B sax, gospel piano and harmonies make satisfying musical sense backdropping Krueger’s free-ranging perspectives."
Record Release Party @ Friendly Tap Saturday January 27th
7 pm // Price: Pass The Hat - Tips Appreciated!
6733 Roosevelt Road Berwyn, IL 60402
(708) 484-9794 Full Band with Special Guests
BONUS: It’s Rich’s Birthday!
Rich Krueger is an interesting and generous guy who has something to tell you if you are willing to listen. Something that you might or might not enjoy, something that might even trouble you, but it will never be ordinary.
Krueger, who is now based in Chicago, IL, was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, NYC. He has been writing and performing with his band The Dysfunctionells since 1985. The Dysfunctionells, (who describe themselves as “THE Butt-Ugliest Band in Chicago”) have backed up the Holy Modal Rounders at their reunion at The Bottom Line in NYC, and Krueger has recorded with Peter Stampfel on his own and with the band.
This summer Krueger released an EP Overpass, which was the pre-cursor to two solo albums he plans to release with Life Aint That Long being the first of the two. Overpass draws songs from each of the projects and features many great musicians from Chicago, Tulsa, Pennsylvania and New York City including John Fulbright who plays accordion on the song, “In Between Kingfish” (which is set to release with the 2nd project). Krueger’s friend and fellow musician, Robbie Fulks has claimed that “(Overpass) is the best thing Rich Krueger has done to date.”
The folk rock Bible, Dirty Linen (no longer in print) has called Krueger’s music “Richard Thompsonesque”, and Anti-folk noted that, “Krueger is an old folkie at heart (although an esotericist in practice), and has a folkie’s love of text above all.” Just this year Krueger was chosen as one of the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Finalists. His love of text shines on Life Aint That Long. He performs original songs with well-made, intelligent, thoughtful and sometimes disturbing lyrics. His songs are story songs with characters that aren’t always fully aware of or are in denial about what is happening to them. The songs are usually touched by humor, even the songs with heavy topics. They challenge his listener’s beliefs, not just massage their prejudices.
Guest artists on Life Aint That Long are too numerous to name, but all are friends, and supporters of his music. The album was mastered brilliantly by Dave McNair (Dylan, Bowie, Springsteen). Along with Krueger, the core of the band is Vence Edmonds (The Dysfunctionells) on drums and Bill Kavanagh on bass. Kavanagh also recorded, engineered, and mixed the record and was one of the producers. Others involved in producing with Krueger were Urbana, IL legend Paul Kotheimer, and Jay O’Rourke, the former Insider’s guitarist who has worked on recordings with Robbie Fulks, Warren Zevon, and Urge Overkill, to name a few.
A Neonatologist at The University of Chicago by day, Krueger came to writing songs because he grew up listening and singing translations of the songs of Belgian singer-songwriter, Jacques Brel. “I listened to these songs over and over,” he said. “They were braver, more honest and cut to the bone. I wanted to write like that.”
Life Aint That Long is an eclectic collection of 10 songs (plus a bonus track). The record starts off with “A Stoopid Broken Heart” and fiddle and pedal steel driving the upbeat Americana song all throughout. “The Gospel According To Carl” is Randy Newmanesque song with piano, full band, horn and gospel singers. “77/17” is a punk-edged number with Krueger reminiscing about 1977 when he was 17 years old.
“The Wednesday Boys” is a blue-eyes soul anthem with a Van Morrison inspired groove. The closing song, “What We Are?” is a piano and gospel propelled soul number and a humorous, but sober reflection on the paradox of hope for the future in these difficult times. There is a bonus track, the Christmas-themed, “And It’s That Time Again” which Krueger wrote back in 1985.
“I’m primarily motivated by having my songs heard by as many folks as possible, There have always been doctors who are writers, poets, and musicians, both professionally and otherwise. That’s not unusual. I make a living doing medicine that I enjoy (mostly), I help folks (mostly) and I’m fairly competent at it (mostly),” He jokes. “I’m not in need of making a living off of my music. But,” he adds, “I’m not gonna stand in anyone’s way if they want to pay me for listening.”
30 plus years of making music has allowed for Krueger to grow his fan base. He’s had fans that insist that he sing at their funerals, fans that will jump up and down after he plays a song claiming that the song is “amazing!” He has had fans that will pull up beside him while driving to ask if he had any recordings. Now, with Life Aint That Long, he can tell those fans, “yes”. And after 30 plus years of making music it’s nice to know that Rich Krueger still has something to say.
Laura Benitez’s new album, With All Its Thorns is an autobiographical collection of loving, open, vulnerable and ultimately heartbreaking songs. With her delicately distinctive voice, Benitez pulls from traditional country music and brings the sound to the present-day.
Benitez tours and records with her band The Heartache, which includes Bob Spector on acoustic and electric guitar, Ian Sutton on pedal steel, Mike Anderson on electric and upright bass and Steve Pearson on drums. Benitez contributes lead and harmony vocals and acoustic rhythm guitar, and for the album brought in Billy Wilson on accordion, Steve Kallai on fiddle and Jim Goodkind on harmony vocals.
“What I love about this record is how much more relaxed and confident we are as a band,” said the artist. “It’s so great to be able to stretch out and take risks. We’re still very much a classic country band, but we’ve incorporated more textures and colors on this record, bringing in Cajun and Mexican influences with the accordion, adding fiddle and upright bass, and stripping things down to all acoustic for the songs that need it. We’ve grown a lot as a band and really expanded our horizons on this record.”
With All Its Thorns marks Benitez’s 3rd record. For Duty or For Love, released in 2010, was her first album, then in 2014 she released Heartless Woman to great critical acclaim. Lonesome Highway praised, “Her tight and focused band play country music with a view to the past and an ear for the future. This is identifiably country music…” Backroads Bluegrass speculated, “If I closed my eyes, it is very easy to smell the cigarette smoke, hear the clink of longneck bottles and the scraping of boots on wooden floors. This is ‘real country’ with no frills.”
Known for story songs involving clever lyrics, Benitez kicks off with the swinging Cajun influenced ‘Something Better Than a Broken Heart”. “This song rose out of a conversation I had with my friend, Doug Tieman, who ended up giving me the idea for the song,” she explained. “He was talking about how you always think you’re going to get something besides a broken heart out of a relationship and I really identified with that. It’s that question you have after a relationship ends, that ‘What was it all for?’ feeling.”
The song “In Red” was inspired by Benitez spilling red wine down the front of her own wedding dress and thinking that white was a pretty impractical color to get married in. The line “I Should Have Married You In Red” came from that moment. “It stayed in the back of my mind as an idea for many years,” she said. “When it finally became a song, it turned into the murder ballad/revenge fantasy you hear on the record.”
The arrangement for the song, “Ghostship” is spare and simple, so as not to distract from the story. Last December in Oakland, CA, a fire broke out in a warehouse known as Ghost Ship. It had been converted into an artist collective and at the time of the fire was hosting a concert. A total of 36 people were killed. “The Ghost Ship fire hit the Bay Area arts community very hard,” Benitez remembered. “I have played underground shows and attended underground performances many times, and I felt it could have easily been me, could have easily have been any one of us. I wanted to testify to my own and my community’s grief and anger over the tragedy, and to say that those who died have not been forgotten.”
From the twangy rockabilly number, “Whiskey Makes Me Love You” to the conjunto-style “Almost the Right One/Casi Mi Cielo” then the sweet acoustic “Why Does It Matter”, With All Its Thorns wraps up with the bluegrass-style “Nora Went Down the Mountain” about a wife who leaves her husband without warning, never to return.
With the exception of “Something Better Than a Broken Heart” all songs were written solely by Benitez on her acoustic 1996 Epiphone Excelante. “It was given to me as a gift by my ex-husband, which is a great way to get a guitar if you’re going to write country songs!” She joked. “There are nicer guitars out there, and no doubt better sounding ones, but it was very important to me that the guitar I used to write every song on the album be the guitar I played when recording them.”
As a member of the country cover band the Cottonpickers in the mid 2000’s, Benitez began writing songs. “I had no idea when I started if they would be any good, but after a few months I was writing songs that I liked and believed in,” she remembers. “I was afraid to put them out into the world—I would nearly pass out every time I sang one for friends or at a jam. It really took the sudden break-up of my marriage to get me to form the band. I was so sad and angry at the time that I just forgot to be scared.”
“I think I have a unique perspective as an artist,” Benitez observed. “I’m a woman of mixed race in a world that wants you to be one thing or another, working in an industry that’s still very much a boy’s club, and I’m also a West Coast city dweller singing roots music. As I’ve gotten older I am much less afraid to tell my story as I see it, and I think that shows in my songwriting.”
James Scott Bullard is not new to the country/Americana music scene. Having shared the stage with David Allan Coe, Butch Walker, Dex Romweber and The Steel Woods, Bullard will release Full Tilt Boogie on April 27th, which marks his 9th release and 6th LP release. Bullard is a man with many stories to tell and he tells those stories with truth and passion.
Following 2016’s EP, Box of Letters, Full Tilt Boogie is described by Bullard as “ A deliberate step down from the ‘poor me’ stuff. The lovelorn songwriter gave way to the brooding demon, who owns his faults. Musically, it’s more rock and roll, but still country. Both of those genres stem from the blues and that’s all it ever is really, from me.” Still in place are the clever one-liners that Bullard’s fans seem to appreciate, but Full Tilt Boogie is an edgier, dirtier, intoxicating ride that takes no prisoners.
Full Tilt Boogie is not only an old trucker CB term, but also it’s also a pinball term, and Tom Vadakan of Urbanwofolks translates that 70’s thread into psychedelic CD artwork. “I’ve been told this record sounds like a modern day ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ soundtrack,” said Bullard, “Which I, of course, love. Tom captured that perfectly with this cover.”
Produced by long-time collaborators, Missy Davis Jones (who also manages Bullard) and Ken “Dakota” Jones, the album was recorded in their Southern Harmony Studio in Florence, SC for the Davis Jones label, Big Mavis Records. Returning to South Carolina after “drifting a bit”, Bullard wanted to put a great band together and kept hearing two names, Jeff Springs (guitars) and Kevin Singleton (bass). They, in turn, knew other musicians and brought them in for the recording. “They are an incredible live band, but they are without a doubt, the best studio band I’ve ever heard,” said Bullard. “The one day demos were amazing.”
Born in South Carolina, Bullard claims to come from a mixed clan of Irish, German, Native American and hillbilly moonshiners. His dad was a country/bluegrass musician, which the young lover of heavy rock music found “silly” at the time. “When I began playing, I took the standard chords my dad taught me, the power chords my heroes were playing and learned all the Sabbath and Maiden I could.” Playing in local bars as a teen, he moved on to rock band in the 90’s, but slowly drifted back to country music. “My dad always said, ‘you’ll come back to your roots’, and he was right.”
“I grew up in the very rural south,” he explains. “I don’t mean this to sound arrogant at all, but there’s something about being from the south that you just ‘know’. There’s something here in the rivers and in the soil that bleeds artistic expression. The blues were born here, which morphed into country and bluegrass and woven into gospel. Hank Williams, Little Richard, Elvis, Lynyrd Skynrd, The Allman Brothers and Tom Petty all came from here. What more proof does one need?”
Too rock and roll for mainstream country and still ‘too country’ for mainstream rock and roll, Bullard has found his niche among the outlaws. Fringe characters have championed Bullard’s music; bikers, rodeo riders, and renegades, but his audience also includes bankers, lawyers and grandmothers. “I’ve seen it all in my audience,” said Bullard, “I had a couple of 20-something young girls up-front and right next to them was a 70 year old woman who danced, clapped and whooped it up right along with them. I loved that.” Harry Kaplan, of Twangrila (an Americana music website) described Bullard as a “poet” and declared, “Something tells me Bullard will soon be a household name in country music like Simpson and Price.”
Several years ago, Bullard survived an addiction and has been clean ever since. “My worst fear with becoming sober was that I wouldn’t be creative anymore,” he confesses. “Like the substances enhanced my creativity when in reality and retrospect, they stifled it.” Bullard declared himself substance-free, but it took him longer to accept responsibility for the rest of his life’s decision. That process led to fan-favorite lovelorn songs from his previous albums. Full Tilt Boogie jumps forward to where Bullard is now, owning his demons and bad choices.
James Scott Bullard is an artist who writes what he lives, with one foot rooted in faith and one foot rooted in the darker, wilder side of life. Everything you hear on Full Tilt Boogie, every note, and every word is 100% genuine. Everyone involved put his or her soul into it. As he told one interviewer, “To be a songwriter, you have to know what you’re talking about or folks will see right through you.”
Carnivals and Other Tragedies is the third full-length release from Chicago based singer songwriter Marshall (Hjertstedt), although this is the first release to a national audience. Carnivals and Other Tragedies (July 20, 2018) is a collection of 7 original songs which center on a hybrid acoustic / electric approach and spanning the gamut of singer-songwriter based folk, roots and rock. It’s an easygoing sound balanced between positivity and poignancy. As Marshall explains, “I focus on melody and lyrics that people can understand and relate to and I feel the voice is the primary instrument in any song.”
Marshall traces the roots of his professional song-writing career to the Chicago folk/ roots epicenter between the Old Town School of Folk Music in Lincoln Park and Fitzgerald’s Nightclub in Berwyn. It’s here that Carnivals and Other Tragedies really began to take shape. Marshall worked along side Bill Kavanah, who plays bass, at his Bob Dog Studios where the album was mixed and mastered as well as recording with Steve Dawson at his Kernel Sound Emporium studios and who contributes lead guitar on the song ”Make It Right”. The album also features notable contributions from Jordi Kleiner on fiddle, Jerry King on drums, Andon Davis on guitar, with Jenny Bienemann and Robinlee Garber joining on harmony vocals. Marshall himself provides the acoustic guitar work and all lead vocals.
The opening track “Carnival Ride” delves into the struggle of human relationships, the unsure journey that love can take in its long and winding path. The tune kicks off with a pulsing dissonance with Marshall warily stating “I don’t know what you’re thinking most of the time, sometimes you’re Dr. Jekyll, suddenly you’re Mr. Hyde” with the song then turning a more optimistic corner, uplifting to “Oh how lovely, basking in your glow”. The song confesses to the pendulous nature of love, before resigning its self to embrace its flaws and enjoy the ride.
“Merry Go Round” is a songwriter’s lament, set to an upbeat shuffle paired with fiddle, “Make It Right” is a melancholic blues, trying to avoid confrontation yet asking for forgiveness, featuring Steve Dawson on lead guitar. While “El Nino” features Marshall alone with acoustic guitar, “– I’m a weather buff. And I stumbled on a story about the Atacama Desert in South America. It’s the driest place on earth. It only rains there every 7 years, . . . when the El Nino comes it bursts forth in life with flowers, and plants, and birds, and bugs.” Aptly coined in the lyric "And then it rains. The desert blooms in joy.Blushing beauty, like Helen of Troy. The air is filled with fragrance and with song. But quick as he comes, he is gone."
Bookending the collection of songs on the album,” The River”, with its languid and methodic rhythmic current is the most literal song on the album. “I lie awake at night and stare at the ceiling. It’s just not fair, that some find happiness, some find sorrow, more than their share.” As Marshall states “All of the incidents depicted in the song were really happening in the lives of close people around me. And sometimes life can be very bewildering. This phrase literally summed up what was going through my head.”
As Marshall explains, “Carnivals and Other Tragedies didn’t start out as a concept record. It was, just going to be a compilation of the best gifts the muse has given me in recent years. However, similar metaphors had wormed their quirky way into my lyrical vocabulary and I had to sit back and confront that idea. So I decided to embrace their commonality, and use that as the theme of the whole album.”
For Marshall music has always seemed natural. He first acquired the taste at the 7th grade talent show where not being content with the “assigned” exercises from his music teacher he instead performed a rendition of Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool”, riling up the audience with its rock n roll machinations. Graduating to a Beatles cover band in high school before eventually playing the college folk circuit while studying architecture.
Marshall’s life took a temporary musical detour while raising a family, but his guitar was never far from his side. Eventually reemerging with his release “Overflow of the Heart” in 2007 and followed in 2012 by “Painting the Scene”. He would tour the Midwest working folk and roots venues across Chicago, with pilgrimages through Garrison, Iowa’s Idiot Jam on and up through to Ontario’s Georgian Bay in Owen Sound.
Asked about how he sees and hears the nature of his music Marshall muses, “I feel the voice is the primary instrument in any song, it has to sell the song. And, I work hard on my vocal presentation. There’s nothing more joyful than writing and playing music. Truly. I play music out, to give purpose to the writing I do.”
Carnivals and Other Tragedies is a collection of easy going songs which occupy a certain space in time, balancing both sides of the coin, rooted in the fundamentals of happiness and sorrow, optimism and disappointment, love and heartache. It harkens back to a once and future sense of spirit.
Singer - songwriter Rich Krueger was one of 32 artists out of 600 hopefuls chosen to perform at the legendary Kerrville Folk Festival last weekend. The annual festival is in its 47th year and many legendary artists have performed there. This year Rich won!
Rich Krueger is known for his “what you see if what you get” lyric style. His music is playing worldwide with stations in the USA, Europe and the UK playing music off his most recent album, Life Aint That Long.
Life Aint That Long is an eclectic collection of 10 songs (plus a bonus track). The record starts off with “A Stoopid Broken Heart” with fiddle and pedal steel driving the upbeat Americana song throughout. “The Gospel According To Carl” is a Randy Newmanesque song with piano, full band, horn and gospel singers. “77/17” is a punk-edged number with Krueger reminiscing about 1977. “The Wednesday Boys” is a blue-eyed soul anthem with a Van Morrison inspired groove. The closing song, “What We Are?,” is a piano and gospel propelled soul number and a humorous, but sober reflection on the paradox of hope for the future in these difficult times. There is also a bonus track, the Christmas-themed “And It’s That Time Again.”
“It is a mind-blowing dream come true to be a winner in 2018 Kerrville New Folk. Shawn Colvin, Lucinda WIlliams, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, all got their starts in New Folk. Kerrville is an enormous part of my soul. Everyone needs to come here if they can. A Mecca for songsmiths." -Rich Krueger
Magnolia Roads presents the 2nd Annual American Roots Saturday and Backyard Campfire Session at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, inspired by the music that grew from the roots of America at honky-tonks and dive bars to backyards and campfires. It will feature artists who epitomize American Roots music through their blend of Bluegrass, Blues, Country, Folk, Jazz, and Rock n Roll, flavored with the deep grooves of the South. It’s like a whole week festival in one day with nineteen artists performing on two stages over twelve hours on September 15, 2018.
The nineteen Magnolia Roads family and friends artists who will be featured at American Roots Saturday and Backyard Campfire Session are: Alice Wallace, Allen Thompson, Amelia White, Amilia K Spicer, Ben Sparaco & The New Effect, Chris Wilson, Demi Marriner, Don Gallardo, Elles Bailey, Jeff Crosby & The Refugees, Jeff Mix, Jenny Van West, Lauren Farrah, Mike Younger & Friends, Rich Mahan, Rorey Carroll, The Traveling Ones, Triggers & Slips, and Walter Salas-Humara. Expect to hear lots of new material from their recent or upcoming releases.
The American Roots Saturday will have fifteen artists performing “plugged in” on the main stage inside between 2pm and 2am. The Backyard Campfire Sessions will be unplugged with ten artists performing outside in an intimate setting similar to what you’d experience sitting around a backyard campfire.
American Roots Saturday & Backyard Campfire Sessions
2pm-2am, September 15, 2018
Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 102 E. Palestine Ave., Madison, TN 37115
Alice Wallace (Fullerton, CA)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 10:20-10:50pm
Allen Thompson (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 2:30-2:55pm
Amelia White (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 5:10-5:45pm
Amilia K. Spicer (Los Angeles, CA)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 3:40-3:55pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 5:30-5:55pm
Ben Sparaco and The New Effect (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 12:05-1:45am
Chris Wilson & The Heresy (Indianapolis, IN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 5:50-6:10pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 9-9:25 pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 10:30-11:00pm
Demi Marriner (UK)
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 8-8:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 10-10:25pm
Don Gallardo (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 9:15-10:05pm
Elles Bailey (Bristol UK)
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 8-8:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 10-10:25pm
Jeff Crosby & The Refugees (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 4:00-4:35pm
Jeff Mix (Las Vegas, NV)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 4:50-5:05pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 7-7:25pm
Jenny Van West (Portland, ME)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 2-2:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 5:5:25pm
Lauren Farrah (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 7:20-8pm
Mike Younger (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 6:25-7:05pm
Rich Mahan (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 11:05-11:50pm
Rorey Carroll (Nashville, TN)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 8:15-9pm
The Traveling Ones (Nashville, TN)
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 7:30-7:55pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 9:30-9:55pm
Triggers & Slips (Salt Lake City, UT)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 2-2:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 6-6:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 8:30-8:55
Walter Salas-Humara (Flagstaff, AZ)
• American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) 3:00-3:25pm
• Backyard Campfire Session (Unplugged) 6:30-6:55pm
American Roots Saturday (Plugged In) Schedule:
2-2:25 Jenny Van West
2:30-2:55 Allen Thompson
3:00-3:25 Walter Salas-Humara
3:40-3:55 Amilia K Spicer
4:00-4:35 Jeff Crosby & The Refugees
4:50-5:05 Jeff Mix
5:10-5:45 Amelia White
5:50-6:10 Chris Wilson & The Heresy
6:25-7:05 Mike Younger & Friends
7:20-8 Lauren Farrah
8:15-9 Rorey Carroll
9:15-10:05 Don Gallardo
10:20-10:50 Alice Wallace
11:05-11:50 Rich Mahan
12:05-1:45am Ben Sparaco & The New Effect
With a style that is rooted in the classic country songstresses such as Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris. Southern California singer/songwriter Alice Wallace’s impeccable vocals and melodic, literate song-crafting skills bring a fresh touch to authentic Americana music.
Wallace will be showcasing her irrefutable style in Nashville, TN on September 13th, 14th, and 15th (details below). Currently in the studio working on an early 2019 release, Wallace will be previewing the new songs during these live performances, along with a few fan favorites.
She has already released one single from the forthcoming album in September 2017. The single, entitled Echo Canyon and co-written with Andrew Delaney, adds a modern flair to the all-but-abandoned tradition of the country yodel, and the website Saving Country Music said the song “creates the perfect setting and environment for Alice Wallace to showcase why she’s one of the most unheralded singers in independent country/Americana.”
Her 2015 full-length release Memories, Music & Pride on LA-based California Country Records brought accolades from across the country, as well as recognition such as the LA Music Critic Award for Best Country/Americana album, and nods in 7 categories on the first-round ballot for the 2016 Grammy Awards. But recognition for Alice’s music continued even after the album release, with the LA Music Critic Awards naming her Best Country/Americana artist in 2016, and she was named 2017 Female Vocalist of the Year at the first annual California Country Awards in Long Beach, CA, this past December.
The Nashville-based, Rich Mahan Golden State Refugees will back up Wallace, who accompanies herself on acoustic guitar.
Dates:
—Thursday, 9/13 - The California Country Social, Fond Object Records, 3:05 pm 1313 McGavock Pike, Nashville, TN 37216 https://www.fondobjectrecords.com/ AMA Sanctioned event
—Friday, 9/14 - The Nashville Palace, 4 pm 2611 McGavock Pike, Nashville, TN 37214 https://www.nashville-palace.com/ Unofficial Event
—Saturday, 9/15 - Magnolia Roads presents American Roots Saturday at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, 10:15 pm 102 E Palestine Ave, Madison, TN 37115 http://deeslounge.com/ Unofficial Event
What album do you know that features Gary Lucas (Cap’n Beefheart), Robbie Fulks, Peter Stampfel, John Fulbright, Sarangi Celtic, and Mexican harps, tuba, theramin, dogs, horns, Mariachis, AND great songs? And what do the themes of love, Wittgenstein, Cook County jail and trapeze artistry have in common? The answer to both questions is Rich Krueger’s newest release, NOWThen.
Rich Krueger jumped into the spotlight in 2017, after releasing his first album, Life Ain’t That Long to worldwide critical acclaim, and non-commercial Triple A radio play around the world. Since then he has done numerous interviews in the US and UK and was a finalist in the Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Competition in 2017 and 2018, which he went on to win in 2018.
The 15-song, NOWThen is self-produced and self-released. Krueger’s brother provides the artwork. The title means a couple of things as Krueger explains, “My body of songs are coming from two different periods in my life. The first, (Then) is from 1985-1998 when I was in medical school/graduate school/residency/neuroscience post-doc. After almost a 20-year gap, I started writing and performing again in 2007 (NOW). The other meaning is that I have changed, my life has changed, and the world has changed. I found it interesting that some songs that were written previously seem to have anticipated to some degree, major issues happening today.”
Most of the players from Krueger’s first record also play on NOWThen, but there are many others new to this project (see separate player sheet). Along with those mentioned above, there are appearances from friends, Erik Frandsen (The Colbert Report), Casey McDonogh (NRBQ), Jay Ansill (acclaimed Celtic performer/composer), and Jim Becker (Iron & Wine). Some of the arrangements are far simple than LATL, but a couple are much more elaborate. “Yesterday’s Wrong (Green) has an Indian music feel, with Indian instrumentation, “O What A Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Day” is Cajun-based, and “Por Que No Me Amas (Love Me)” features a Mariachi band.
Two of the songs on the album, “Kenny’s (It’s Always Christmas In This Bar)” and “Don” are the songs that made Krueger a 2018 Kerrville New Folk Winner. The aforementioned, “Por Que No Me Amas (Love Me)” also has strong Chicago ties. It was written for a play in Chicago in the 90’s called, “Love Me” (whose performers/writers would eventually compose “Urinetown The Musical” and win 3 Tony Awards). It was also the first song of Krueger’s that got Robbie Fulk’s attention and began their musical fanship. He duets with Krueger on this song.
“In Regard of Flight” soars (pun intended) as it features the Skinny William horns and gospel singers. It’s a song that Krueger considers, “One of my best.” “In Between Kingfish” features the acclaimed singer-songwriter, John Fulbright on accordion and renowned composer and folk musician, Jay Ansill on Celtic harp and violin. “Jay is my old high-school friend,” adds Krueger. “Everyone playing on this record is a longtime good friend, or is a friend I made during the last record, or is a longtime good friend of a good friend, or became a friend while making this album. Without those connections it wouldn’t be worth doing at all.”
Most songs were written before the recording began, but 4 songs were written during the recording process: “Kenny’s”, “Don”, “Me and Mr. Johnson”, and “O What a Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Day.” This song features Peter Stampfel on fiddle and Jim Backer on mandolin. “One late night just after I began writing songs, I met Tom Waits on an El (elevated train) in Chicago,” Krueger explains. “He somehow was willing to talk to me and he said many wise things. One was that one should write about what you know. This is my first attempt at writing about what I do for a living, being around births.”
Professionally, Krueger is a clinical neonatologist at the University of Chicago. “I work 80-100 hours a week as a doctor,” he points out. “Making music somehow happens on that background. Musical ideas come quickly when I mess around with the piano, guitar or banjo. Keeping my eyes open helps, and writing down ideas as quickly as they come is necessary.”
Krueger, who cites Jacques Brel as his strongest influence, also enjoys hitting up open mic nights at local bars. “I can’t get enough of them,” he exudes. “I love theatre, I love great comedy, and I love reading about history. I also like bars a whole lot. I probably spend more time in them than I should, but not nearly as much time as I’d like to.” The song, “Kenny’s” is ode to the owner of Krueger’s favorite bar, The Gallery Cabaret…a place where everybody knows his name.
NOWThen is a work of love and of hope, hard work and joy and about having open eyes. “It reflects my life and my friends,” the artist discloses. “It reflects my basic philosophy about life which I can sum up this way: There are 2 points here. First, there is one fact that has always been true, and always will be true about human beings. And that is that some of what any person knows to be absolutely true, is actually not true. The sad corollary of this fact is that most of man’s inhumanity to his fellow men, and most of the evil men do in this world are a direct result of a difference of opinion with me about my first point.” He adds, “I’m a friendly and open smart and funny guy with a mouth and willingness to use it. I’m pretty much an iconoclast. You can’t spend any significant amount of time at a place like The University of Chicago and not be an iconoclast.”
Rich Krueger’s songs are songs that could only be made by an outsider, and observer. They might make you think, they might make you laugh, and they might even trouble you, but NOWThen is full of real songs that are never ordinary.
DATES:
--Saturday, October 20th Record Release Show @ Gallery Caberet
2020 N. Oakley Ave. Chicago, IL
FREE SHOW TIPS APPRECIATED
Show starts at 9:30pm
OUR TWO NEW VIDEOS DEBUT!
Full Band Lots of special guests TBA
--Thursday, November 1st @ Lot 6 Art Bar w/Gene WIlliams and his band for a great evening of music 1323 E. 6th St. Tulsa OK.
8 to 11 PM.
Nov 2-Nov 10 9 date tour of Texas with the 2018 Kerrville New Folk Winners
November 2nd, 2018 Poor David’s Pub, Dallas, Texas (PoorDavidsPub.com) This will be the first time that the tour has had a concert at Poor David’s.
November 3rd, 2018 Sycamore Creek House Concerts, Dripping Springs, Texas(SycamoreCreekConcerts.com)
November 4th, 2018 New Braunfels House Concerts, New Braunfels, Texas.
November 5th, 2018 Milagro Springs House Concerts, Wimberley, Texas.
November 6th, 2018 Barker House Concerts, Austin, Texas
November 7th, 2018 Blue Rock Artist Ranch & Studio, Wimberley, Texas (Tentative)
November 8th, 2018 Open Ears Concerts, Austin, Texas Matt Hiland hosts this concert at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
November 9th, 2018 Fischer Fest 2018, Fischer, Texas Friday night is opening night for the 2018 Fischer Fest held in the historic Fischer Hall. Jonathan Byrd described it as like “playing on the inside of a guitar”. It is a fabulous building and we have a top-notch sound crew. It will be a memorable occasion, I assure you.
November 10th. 2018 San Antonio House Concert Bowman’s Backyard Concert Series
Bourbon Therapy is an indie rock/Americana band fronted by the husband and wife duo of Aaron and Rebecca Skiles. By mixing big guitars with piano, strings and an occasional harmonica, their sound ranges from heavy-riff-laden songs to expressive ballads, providing a dynamic range of anthemic tunes.
Their latest single and video, “Peace That You Deserve” will release on 11/09/2018. The song explores the struggles of a Veteran returning home from war and trying to get back into the daily rhythm of life with his family. This haunting, beautiful song features the graceful vocals of Rebecca Skiles and includes an intense musical, vocal crescendo that articulates the darkness and challenges that some of our Veterans face.
As a Veteran himself, (West Point grad and served in the Army from 1996-2001), Aaron Skiles has friends who have served in war and been affected by PTSD. Skiles had wanted to write a song about their plight for a while, but was having trouble coming up with the lyrics for this heavy topic. “Then one day Rebecca and I heard an interview on NPR with a soldier who had been struggling to return to his ‘normal’ life back in the US after having been at war,” he explained. “He described his depression, suicidal thoughts, relations to friends and fear of crowds. Everything he was struggling with. As soon as I was home I picked up my guitar and almost instantly came up with the musical portion of the song. As I played it, the lyrics ‘I hope you finally find the peace that you deserve’ came to me and I knew I’d found the elusive chorus I’d been chasing.”
The rest of the band helped with arrangements and thought the best way to end the song would be to have Rebecca sing the main chorus line, with no music behind her. The line, “I hope you finally find the peace that you deserve” is the last powerful impression the listener has and there is nothing else, sonically, to distract from the message of that line.
The video was produced, directed, and edited by Cesar Delly. It was filmed in August 2018 in two locations, The Grand Lake Farmer’s Market and their house, both in Oakland, CA. The Skiles, their daughter and even their dog have character roles in the video with professional actor and family friend, Jack Kennedy playing the lead. Kennedy is also a Veteran, a former Army paratrooper who met Skiles while at West Point.
The trickiest part of making the video was that Aaron and Jack had wanted to make sure that the military imagery was not only respectful, but also tasteful and accurately portrayed. They had originally considered trying to create some war scenes but thought that it might not feel authentic enough, at best, and might actually be disrespectful, at worst. In order to give the viewer the understanding that Jack was a former soldier, they decided to shoot scenes where Jack was reminiscing while holding his former Army medals (which are actual medals Aaron had been awarded during his service) and polishing his actual combat boots from his time as a paratrooper in the Army. This gave the effect that the main character was having trouble letting go of his wartime past.
“When we recorded the video, we thought we’d like to give the song a chance to possibly have a happy ending in the viewer’s eyes,” explained Skiles. “After all the chorus is one of hope, but not of certainty. The topic is heavy enough—we didn’t feel the need to make the video entirely depressing.” The crew decided to end the music and then have Rebecca say, “Come on guys, let’s go inside” allowing for the hope that this soldier and his family have a chance to work through their issues.
Bourbon Therapy has released two previous records before this single. Hymnals and Hangovers in 2016 and a live EP, Three More for the Road; Live from Oakland, 1-20-18. They are donating 100% of the proceeds from sales of the iTunes single, “Peace That You Deserve” in the month of November to the organization Mission 22.
Mission 22 is a non-profit, non-political organization that is dedicated to ending Veteran suicide through various awareness and treatment programs.
If you are familiar with 500 Miles to Memphis you know that they are a band that rocks but also has country roots in their sound, incorporating instruments that are traditionally associated with country music; lap steel, fiddle, banjo and mandolin. As a matter of fact, singer-songwriter/guitarist (and founder of the band) Ryan Malott chose the band’s name inspired by the distance of his hometown (Bethel, OH) to the town of Memphis, TN, where arguably American roots music was born.
500 Miles to Memphis started out in 2003 and has evolved to the current line-up of Ryan Malott (vocals, guitar, banjo, mandolin); Noah Sugarman (bass, vocals, guitar, pipe organ); Kevin Hogle (drums, percussion, vocals); David Rhodes Brown (lap steel, guitar, vocals); and Aaron Whalen (guitar, vocals). The band has put out 4 albums to date and now their 5th studio album, Blessed Be The Damned, will be released in January 2019.
For Blessed Be The Damned, 500 MTM brought in musician and producer, John Pedigo (The O’s, Old 97’s) for production and engineering and Grammy nominated engineer, Adam Pleiman leading the charge with engineering and mastering. “I’ve been an avid fan of John Pedigo since 2003 when he had a band called Slick 57,” recalled Malott. “We were on the phone catching up this past winter when I mentioned our new album. On a whim he offered to produce it and I realized how amazing it would be to share a studio with my musical hero.” Pleiman, who is an accomplished musician himself, was nominated for a Grammy last year for his work with the Collingsworth Family. The band had worked with him while recording their sophomore album, “Sunshine in a Shot Glass” and stayed in touch. “He’s an incredible talent. I can’t say enough about him.”
Besides producing, Pedigo lends his talents to the album with some banjo and vocals. Philip W Peeples (Old 97’s) plays bells and percussion on a few songs and other guests include Paul Patterson (violin, viola, cello) and Nathan Hickey (Vocals, Percussion).
Blessed Be The Damned is different from the previous 4 albums the band made in that the band approached it with a very specific sound in mind. They wanted to draw on the influences of their region (Appalachia) and give their take on the bluegrass and folk music of their ancestors. This is also the first time Malott and Sugarman tried co-writing. “Previously all songs were written by me alone,” said Malott. “Our albums have always been a collection of songs with no over arching theme. This time we sat down to write an entire album, not just a song.”
“The River” is the song that kicks off the album and was the first joint songwriting effort. It has the 500 MTM signature sound with the perfect cross-section of Appalachia, gospel, and punk rock. The album then goes to “Bonnie”, a song that has the sound of traditional bluegrass folk, followed by the pop gems “Hold on Tight” and “I Said Babe”.
On the title track, “Blessed Be The Damned” you have the sonic boom of a mountain string band sharing the stage with a massive punk rock band. Noah Sugarman’s R & B background sounds strong on “Save Me”, which has a gospel punk rock vibe--big church organ and Marshall stacks mixed with a healthy dose of harmonies and gang vocals. Ending with the only ballad on the album, “I’m a Bastard” Malott claims it as “an epic divorce song” and one of the tearjerkers that 500 MTM is known for.
The band is based out of Cincinnati, but its members are spread out through the area with Malott in Cincinnati, Kevin Hogle in Alexandria, KY, Aaron Whalen in Lawrenceburg, IN, Sugarman in Milwaukee, and David Rhodes Brown in Rabbit Hash, KY where his dog used to be Mayor. “It’s not a joke,” Malott imparts, “google it.” Though not in the same town everyday, the band has played together for so many years now that their level of tightness and musicianship have soared. “We definitely elevate each other,” said Malott. “We’ve reached levels I’ve never thought possible. Nothing but love after all these years.”
Up to 2014 the band was logging in 250 days a year on the road and needed a break from their extensive touring and from alcohol and drugs. Sobering up, they all moved on to other projects. “We were at a point where we weren’t sure we’d ever make another record or do a big push,” Malott explained. “We had struggled so long in this business that we became pretty jaded. In 2017 I sat on my back porch and began writing “Bonnie” and I knew I was on to something. It was only a few months after that we were back in full swing. New life had been breathed into the band. We had direction, focus, and a very clear plan laid out on how we were going to do this thing. Blessed Be The Damned literally saved us from giving up.”
Winning many entertainment awards for their “wall of sound” live shows, Pedigo and Pleiman have captured the band’s sound on Blessed Be The Damned. If you are a fan of high-octane punk rock, bluegrass and Appalachia, these boys are for you.
Ted Russell Kamp, like all artists, writes about what he knows. Kamp spends his life making music for a living, touring and making records and sings about life, love, traveling, surviving the chaos of the modern world and making music in the process.
Walkin’ Shoes is an album of 13 songs, all penned or co-written by Kamp, that deals with these familiar themes but his adept use of poetry, humor and honesty and his rich understanding and reinterpretation of American roots music make Walkin’ Shoes a joyous and inspiring ride. “A lot of these are traveling songs or songs about personal change—so the very earth metaphor of walking shoes applies to at least half of the songs,” Kamp explains.
Kamp’s voice is full of wisdom (“When you play rock and roll long enough, the blues is what you get” he sings on "This Old Guitar"), tongue in cheek humor (“I could have played it safe, I could have stayed in bed, but I won’t stop and stay at home, I’ll rest when I’m dead” he sings on “Home Away From Home”) and wistfulness (“I’m not asking for much, just a horizon and a touch, of a hobo’s lullaby” he sings on "Highway Whisper".
The music is a combination of classic California singer/songwriter music with hints of country and soul. With nods to Bob Dylan and the Band, Leon Russell and Waylon and Willie, it reflects the sound of the many cities and cultures Kamp has become familiar with and the cities he calls his homes away from home. The Big Takeover wrote, “Kamp simply knocks one ball after another out of the park…Saturated in talent and sincerity.” Kamp explains his process, “For a while I had a more pristine and Nashville approach and I’m enjoying letting my rock and poetic roots come out more. I want my songs and images to be poetic and earthy at the same time.”
Kamp is a musicians' musician. He has toured the world as a singer/songwriter, playing solo and with his band, and released 11 solo albums. He has been called "a striking singer/songwriter ... absolutely hypnotizing" (Music Row, USA) and "terrific ... a star on the rise in the tradition of great troubadours like Guy Clark" (No Depression, USA). His record, Get Back to the Land, debuted at #1 on the Euro Americana Chart and his last 4 records have made the US Americana Chart's Top 100 Records of the Year.
Ted Russell Kamp is also a producer and one of the most in demand bass players in Los Angeles. As a bassist, Kamp has been playing with Shooter Jennings since 2004 as well as written numerous songs for Jennings including the 2005 hit "Steady at the Wheel". He has also played with Wilson Phillips, Jessi Colter, Wanda Jackson, Rosie Flores, Billy Ray Cyrus and countless other great artists both on the road and in the studio.
“When I started to see this record come together, I booked one last session with John Schreffler and Jamie Douglass who were also touring with me in the Shooter Jennings band, as well as Dan Wistrom,” he explained. Other guests on Walkin’ Shoes included Sam Morrow (Who co-wrote “Paid By The Mile” and joins Ted singing), Jaime Wyatt (who sings “Heart Under Pressure” and “Freeway Mona Lisa”), and Brian Whelan (Who sings “Get Off The Grid”, “Home Away From Home” and plays guitar and keyboards on the record).
“I wanted to capture a live energy of a handful of musicians in a room,” Kamp describes. “It is also more country influenced with some serious nods to the classic Sun Studio recordings of the late 1950’s as well as when Bob Dylan first went electric.”
Whether he’s headlining a major show in the Netherlands with European superstars, playing Gruene Hall in mid Texas in the dead of summer, rocking an LA honky tonk with some of the best players in town, or working in his new studio to pull the soul from each song, Ted Russell Kamp pours his drive and musical talent into every note. “Most of these songs have to do with traveling, exploring and looking and learning, to try to have a better tomorrow than today,” he muses. “People are surprised to find that I’m not such a southern rock guy…especially when they meet me through Shooter Jennings. They’re often pleasantly surprised when they realize I’m a nice and poetic guy and my music reflects that.”
“I feel like the life of an 1800’s train robber can easily be compared to the life of a traveling musician,” states Tylor Ketchum, front man for the gritty Americana band, Tylor and the Train Robbers. “Of course we’re not killing people or stealing money along the way, but life on the road definitely can feel like the Wild West at times.” This band would know, touring 200 dates a year for the past few years, and they’ve done it without the help of a manager or booking agent.
The band is made up of Ketchum, his brother Jason Bushman on bass, Johnny “Shoes” Pisano on lead guitar, and Flip Perkins on drums. Ketchum and Bushman have been playing together for most of their lives, starting when their mother taught them to play guitars chords as kids. Originally from the small town of Helix, Oregon, the brothers moved to Boise in their 20’s in search of a music scene. They formed Tylor and The Train Robbers after adding the more experienced Pisano and Perkins to their group.
“I met Johnny after moving to Idaho and he became a mentor to me in a lot of ways,” Ketchum points out. “He taught me a lot about songwriting and helped me build the band to what it is now. He introduced me to Flip, who he played with for years, so they had already developed a synergy playing together, which made it easy to come together as a band.” Despite the 40-year age gap between the brothers and band mates, the chemistry is undeniable and is reinforced by their passion for the music of the American West.
And from the American West enters “Black Jack” Ketchum. A Texas cowboy turned outlaw, he was a member of the Hole-In-The-Wall Gang, which operated out of the same New Mexico hideout as the famous Wild Bunch led by Butch Cassidy. “Black Jack” is also a distant relative of Tylor Ketchum and the inspiration for the band’s name and now their new record, Best of the Worst Kind. Set for release on the anniversary of Black Jack’s hanging, the music is a bit of roots, country and Americana with influences from Texas and Red Dirt country music.
The 12-song record is the band’s sophomore effort, following the 2017 release of Gravel. The Boise Weekly ranked Gravel as a top local release in 2017 and noted, “Like (John) Prine, singer-lyricist Tylor Ketchum (who’s only in his mid 20’s) has an eye for detail and a plainspoken evenhandedness that songwriters of any age should envy.”
Gravel was a record that captured an accurate representation of the band’s live show in the studio. “This time around, with Best of the Worst Kind, we wanted to add some depth and color without losing our original sound,” explains Ketchum. “Also, as time passes we’ve had more time to hone our sound and become tighter as a group. We’re more comfortable in the studio together and can let the creative process flow more freely.”
Lyrics still set the stage on Best of the Worst Kind. Kicking it off with “Lost and Lonely Miles”, a song about feelings of entitlement, Ketchum sings, “did you take the hard way, was it the way to go? If you take it easy on yourself you might think you have nothing left to know.” Tylor also dedicates a song to his ancestor on “The Ballad of Black Jack Ketchum”. Although not a title-track, the album’s name comes directly from a line in this song. On the song, Pisano plays a Tennessee Rose Gretch, which brings Western vibe to the song. The lyrics tell the story, but the instruments build the suspense of the story and take the listener along for the ride.
“Hide your Goat” is a song born of a guitar. “I am one who believes that when you buy an instrument there are songs inside of it that you couldn’t write otherwise,” Ketchum states. “Last year I bought a new (vintage 1964) 12 string Gibson B-25. The first time I sat down with the guitar, this song just came out.” The last song on the album, “Place Like This” is and ode to the universal “old guy at the end of the bar”. “On the road we meet a lot of people, but this is a character who seems to be there no matter what town we’re in,” Ketchum asserts. “He will strike up a conversation and tell a story about the good old days. But you never know what his life is really like. I wanted to tell his untold story—the truths he would never tell.”
Besides the remarkable sibling chemistry between the brothers, another family element of this project is the fact that Tylor Ketchum’s grandfather, Gary Ketchum who is also related to Black Jack, did the artwork. And Pisano’s daughter, Jennifer sings on the album. “Jennifer is my fiancé”, confesses Ketchum. “She sings with the band regularly at our shows and has developed her own following within our fan base, so we definitely wanted her to be a part of this album. In some ways we’re like a convoluted version of a family band, now.”
When asked about his hopes for Best of the Worst Kind, Ketchum becomes thoughtful, “I would like this album to help people connect our band name to something real and not just a catchy title. Our goal for our music is to connect with people. We just want to relate to people and remind them that they are not alone. I think what makes music a beautiful thing is that it brings all different kinds of people together.”
Originally from Eugene, Oregon and now living in Los Angeles, Greg Felden has been a stalwart on the LA live music scene for years. His music is influenced by the folk and country music he grew up on, early alt-county/Americana artists, and the indie songwriters of the Pacific Northwest. Showing his surprising range, from gentle folk ballads to rock and roll, Made of Strings is Felden’s first full-length record and focuses on what it means to be human. Songs about love, our place in the universe and how we make sense of our lives.
Produced and mixed by Al Sgro and Will Golden (Eric Hutchinson, Joe Purdy, Brian Wright), the album employs a host of musicians with a shared history (Full Line-up below including known musicians Jerry Borger, Brian Whelan, Rich Hinman and Brian Wright). “All of the players are great individually,” Felden informs, “but this is also a case of the sum being greater than its parts, too. These guys have a shared language and experience that not only made the process easy, it brought out the best in all of them. There was a synergy that is tough to describe and doesn’t come along often.”
Made of Strings is a collection of ten raw and heartfelt tunes, and it should be mentioned that it’s dedicated to Samantha Morris; Felden’s girlfriend who was fighting cancer during the recording and passed away just after the record was finished. “The songs were all written beforehand, but Samantha was there for the entire process,” Felden explains. “Take You Back Home’ is an older tune that became very significant when she was sick. She had a very strong emotional reaction to it. I think of it as her song now.” The song is a wistful lament that looks up and still sees the sun shining through the trees. “If you find yourself on an island | Feeling out of reach and chilled to the bone | Everyone is gone without explanation | I will mend your coat | I will find a boat |And take you back home”
“When The Change Comes” was released as a single and album teaser last June and was shared on many Americana music outlets. It was also featured on the Showtime TV series, “The Affair”. The song was originally inspired by the idea that we are living with end of the world scenarios and mass tragedies as part of our everyday awareness. “It became a metaphor for what life throws at us and how different people react and respond,” Felden observed.
The title track, “Made of Strings” was partly inspired by nineteenth century American hymns and actually refers to String theory. “The song comes from my idea that people’s view of the universe—whether it’s warm and forgiving or cold and harsh or whatever a person feels—is really impossible to separate from our most formative experiences,” he points out. “I find the hymns to be soothing and comforting but I can’t relate to them very well. I was curious to see how or if I could bring that sound and quality into our modern sensibility. We had an amazing time finding the soundscape at the beginning of the tune, which is meant to place the song against the background of the universe.”
The album ends with “Ghosts”, a sparse guitar and organ-led piece conjuring atmosphere and introspection. Another soul-searcher, it examines the way we’re affected by not only our own individual past, but also our collective past as cultures and humans.
Although Made of Strings is his first official release, Greg Felden has been playing music for many years. He learned to play the violin as a kid, and picked up the guitar in high school. “For many years it was me and an acoustic guitar,” he notes. “I made an acoustic EP a few years back that was really only to sell at shows. For this record, I really trusted the process and the team I brought on board and wanted to find out what we could create together, while staying true to the intent of the songs. Letting go was challenging at times, but I knew I was with good people. And I believe that if a song is good, it will show. Al and Will have a style they’ve honed over many years, and all of the players have worked with them on many projects. There was a shorthand and a joy to the process because of that.”
Sincerity is at the heart of Greg Felden’s songwriting and the production never gets in the way of his strong, clear voice. Made of Strings is a dynamic, impassioned collection of songs exploring the cosmic questions of what it all means and how we fit in the universe. Reflecting on some heavy themes the album nevertheless leaves you looking hopefully towards the future.
Shane Alexander was given his first guitar at the age of ten and there’s been no looking back. Quietly making a name for himself with an extensive touring history in the US and Europe (supporting acts such as Bon Iver and John Hiatt) and dozens of film and TV credits, he has also been working hard in the studio both producing and creating.
A Life Like Ours marks Alexander’s 7th studio album and his 2nd that has been self-produced out of his own Buddhaland Studios in Ventura County, CA. The new album, mixed by the Grammy-winning Brian Yaskulka, follows the critically acclaimed Bliss and once again draws together some of the finest musicians in the Los Angeles community. Returning from his previous release is Jesse Siebenberg (Lady Gaga, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real) on lap steel, guitar and percussion. The album also features Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings) on bass, LA-ace Carl Byron (Jim Lauderdale) on piano, accordion and keys and Austin Beede (Grateful Shred) on drums. The productions range from stirring solo acoustic pieces to lush full-band rockers.
Alexander is a self-confessed “shameless” guitar collector. “Much of the new record features a jumbo Guild acoustic from the 60’s that used to belong to Bruce Springsteen,” he divulged. “It’s a juju machine. The piano in my studio has been in my wife’s family for ages and it really shines in a classic way. At the end of ‘Nights in White Satin’ you can hear the piano’s hammers softly hitting the strings and Carl’s ticking watch, which adds a certain Floyd-ish element after such a dense track.”
In addition to writing, co-writing, and producing his own records, Alexander has been busy producing other acts at his studio including critics-darling Jenny Van West’s Happiness to Burn and Shelby Figueroa’s Highwire EP. For Van West’s record, Alexander enlisted Kamp on bass and Beede on drums and realized he wanted them for his own record. “Ted and Austin are just a powerhouse rhythm section.” Aside from “Nights”, which features the rhythm section from Alexander’s album, Bliss, Byron, Kamp and Beede are on all the full band tracks and together they have a slightly groovier, less heavy-handed feel than his last record.
Alexander, A long practicing Buddhist, allows for a certain vulnerability and spirituality to come through in his songs. “I’d written a lot of angry music in response to the current political state in America,” he explained. “I was fed up with the divisiveness. People are marketed specifically to pick sides, and all of the finger pointing isn’t healthy or necessary. Ultimately, I put a lot of music on the back burner because I didn’t want to contribute to the din of negativity. I ended up wanting to put more love and peace into what I made.”
Often upbeat, A Life Like Ours also deals with some harsh realities, including the suicide survivor’s song “Lost Road”—written for the family of a boy Shane went to high school with, and the anti-gun violence anthem “I’ll Be Here” (recently featured on ABC’s The Rookie), written within hours of and in response to the horrible Vegas mass shooting.
The title track is a sparse acoustic song recorded live that features Chris Pierce on harmonica. The song is a reflection on growing older and making peace with everything and everyone before we “return to where we came from and we’re just particles of stars.” “Fault Line” is a quiet folk song about keeping a relationship together through highs and lows and highlights guest artist Aubrey Richmond (Shooter Jennings) on fiddle. “Evermore” with its idyllic lyric about a parallel universe, ends the album on a note of hope.
Known for his pretty, evocative voice, moody melodies, and fingerstyle guitar chops, Alexander is also a storyteller in every sense of the word. “I’m always writing,” he confessed. “The real juicy inspiration comes from a mystical place that I don’t fully understand. I’ve learned not to think so much, just put pen to paper and see what comes out.”
Shane Alexander truly believes in the making of an album as an art form. “ I hope that my fans will listen to A Life Like Ours top to bottom to get my full intent. In this age of picking off songs digitally, I’m making this record on limited edition white vinyl for those who are into that sort of thing!”
For more information: https://www.shanealexandermusic.com
Rebelle Road, is an all-female entertainment company dedicated to strengthening the California Country music community and for expanding the role for women in the Americana/roots music genre.
At Americanafest 2018 the 3 founders – KP Hawthorn, Adrienne Isom and Karen Rappaport McHugh, introduced themselves to the Americana community by presenting both a live roots music show and a separate panel on the legacy of the famed Palomino nightclub. This year, the women of Rebelle Road are back and are combining events to present a daylong celebration of The Palomino with “The Palomino Rides Again 70th Anniversary Celebration”.
Jim Lauderdale, Rosie Flores and James Intveld will headline the event. The 3 performers began their careers at The Palomino and were present at the reopening of the original venue in October 2018. (https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/live/8470306/palomino-club-california-rise-again-october-benefit)
There will be other artist performances throughout the day along with a songwriter in the round complete with stories of the California Country scene and remembrances of the nightclub. Other highlights include a whiskey tasting and a slide show of the photos by Jasper Dailey through the decades of “The Pal”.
Rebelle Road is also announcing and will be premiering the trailer for a documentary that is in production- The Palomino Rides Again- co-directed by Adrienne Isom and James Intveld. Adrienne Isom, a founding member of Rebelle Road, is also a bass player in the band Nocona, and a professional photographer/videographer. Along with being a musician and performer, James Intveld is also an actor and experienced film director.
The Palomino Club of North Hollywood (1949-1995) was home to country stars throughout the decade, and incites nostalgia in the hearts of those who came out of the California scene to this day. Part of the mission of Rebelle Road is to preserve the rich history of California Country and to foster discussion about its importance to country and roots music worldwide.
Performances (Set Times May Change and More Performers TBA):
Singers in the Round will begin at 12pm and will include; Janiva Magness, Amilia Spicer, Greg Felden and friends…
Noon -12:50 Singers in the Round
1 - 1:30pm - Andrew Leahey
1:45 - 2:15pm - The Shootouts
2:30 - 3pm Alice Wallace
3:15 - 3:45pm NOCONA
4pm The Palomino Rides Again Trailer premier and whisky tasting
4:20 - 5pm James Intveld
5:15 - 6pm Rosie Flores
6:15 - 7pm Jim Lauderdale
7:15 - end The HawtThorns
Joe Goodkin is a lifelong musician who is known for his larger scale concepts. At the beginning of the aughts, he found inspiration in his university degree in the Classics. Invoking the spirit of the ancient Greek bards, Goodkin deconstructed Homer’s The Odyssey and re-structured it for acoustic guitar and voice. Part lecture, part musical performance, and part interactive discussion, the centerpiece of his program is a 30-minute continuous performance of 24 original songs with lyrics inspired by Odysseus' famous exploits. The piece turned out to be so popular that he is now approaching 300 shows in 39 US States.
In 2015 Goodkin came up with an idea for releasing a trilogy of interconnected albums over two years– Record of Life/ Record of Loss/ Record of Love. The series of EP’s (totaling 18 songs) established Goodkin’s reputation as an important songwriter known for his honesty and emotionally affecting lyrics. “People like the honesty with which I approach my lyrics and the fact that I’m not afraid to write about difficult subjects (divorce, suicide, aging),” he notes. Anhedonic Headphones declared “…this series of personal albums are a master class in how to lay it all out on the table, set it to music, and absolutely devastate the fuck out of your audience.”
Goodkin’s latest album Paper Arrows, takes its inspiration from the Chicago indie-pop band he founded in 2008, Paper Arrows. The album is made up of 16 songs: 10 are songs he previously recorded and released under the name Paper Arrows (with a rotating group of musicians), and 6 are new songs that he’s never recorded and released. “When I toured my Record of… releases, I played some of my older Paper Arrows songs in new solo arrangements and was pleasantly surprised at the response of the audience,” he explains. “I decided I wanted to try to capture these new versions in a solo format and connect my recent material to the first part of my music career.”
On Paper Arrows Goodkin has the music pared down to his voice and two instruments he uses alternately: a 1962 Gibson acoustic and a Mule Resonator Guitar (#430). Comparing the trilogy with the new album Goodkin describes the differences, “The trilogy was very meticulously produced with layers of guitars. This is all live, single takes with no overdubs and no editing. The lyrics for the trilogy were very specific and narrative and very vulnerable in the material, and these are broader. I wanted to try to create a recording where the vulnerability was in the performances. I was very influenced by listening to the Blood on the Tracks alternate takes which contain a lot of single live in the studio takes of just Dylan playing and singing.”
The self-produced, Paper Arrows was recorded and mastered by Shane Hendrickson and was tracked in Chicago in a small studio space in Humboldt Park, Sync Studios. The opening song, “Tell the Kids” is a Paper Arrows’ song from 2012 (Days of Getting By). A song about divorce Goodkin reflects that, “In the end everyone loses everyone | our castles come undone”. The album then moves into a new song, “Every Light is a Fire”. “This song captures the spirit of the record,” said Goodkin. “I’ve gone far but come back to the start of my musical career, the older songs on this record.”
“Look Alive” is another Paper Arrows song (Look Alive 2008) but the arrangement is wildly different from the PA version. “Different key, different feel,” said Goodkin. “This song in a lot of ways pushed my musical path to the Paper Arrows name for almost a decade and changed the way I wrote music.” “Light Out” (PA Days of Getting By 2012) was largely a piano song on the PA release. “The line ‘I was left knee deep in the water and trying to catch your tears’ is my wife’s favorite I’ve ever written,” Goodkin notes.
“Something Worth Fighting For” is a new song in 6/8 and is the lyrical conclusion of the span of the record. “The lyrics, ‘Came through doubt and pain to love and make something worth fighting for’ as in the music on this record,” explains Goodkin.
Goodkin is willing to write about things that others don’t as readily and sees opportunities for material in strange places. This makes people assume that he’s a dark person. “I’m not,” he said, “I get it all out in the music and I’m generally able to be positive in life.” As one reviewer wrote, “Touching on the touchstones of his life, (Joe Goodkin’s) music will reassure you that you aren’t alone.” “I think my music demands patience and multiple listens which is a lot to ask of someone,” he realized. “I appreciate anyone who will take the time to really dig into what I do.”
For more information: http://www.joegoodkin.com
Nocona is a band that is comfortable inhabiting the nebulous space you find between psychedelic rock and classic country music. “We don’t neatly fit into any pop, country or ‘alt’ country category,” explains Chris Isom. “We tip our hats to a lot of traditional music and have a tremendous amount of respect for the varied and storied forms of Americana music, but we also do a lot of weird far out stuff. We take a lot of chances musically and we like it that way.”
Fronted by the husband and wife team of Chris and Adrienne Isom playing lead guitar and bass respectively, Nocona takes full band form with Justin Smith on drums, Elan Glasser on harmonica, Dan Wistrom on steel guitar, and Xander Hitzig on fiddle. They also recruited notable Los Angeles keyboardist, Carl Byron to play on Los Dos. All songs were written by Chris Isom with the exception of “Post Apocalyptic Blues” which was co-written with Jay Braun. Isom sings all leads with vocal backing by Adrienne Isom and Justin Smith.
Los Dos was co-produced and mastered by Adrienne Isom and New York friend and recording engineer Jay Braun and mixed by Kevin Jarvis at his Sonic Boom Studios. Recorded live in the Isom’s garage with no click tracks, the record captures the feel of people playing in a room together live.
“We took more chances on this record,” said Isom. “Adrienne and Jay had a lot of input in terms of dynamics, tempo and vibe. Because we recorded in our garage, we weren’t on the clock as we were with our other records during the recording process, and we could record more takes and choose from the ones we liked or retake after listening more. I think that provides a powerful dimension to the overall vibe of the record which diverges from some of our other recordings.”
Los Dos begins with the track “Stabby Mike” a surreal ode to a fictional character who may or may not resemble figures in real life. “I got this character in my head of someone who just walks around with a switchblade in his back pocket and stabs people for fun…ya know? Stabby Mike…kind of like a “Gangs of New York” type character.” Chris says. “There are a few people who don’t seem to be so far off from this kind of caricature to me these days, unfortunately.” Sonically, the song explores some tried and true rock n’ roll psychedelic Americana punk territory, but has a soaring unexpected chorus and interesting instrumentation featuring Wistrom’s masterful pedal steel and Glasser’s harmonica work.
“Chasing Your Shadow” is a more upbeat track with a bluegrass or country feel, while “Free Throw” evokes a more laid-back 70’s sun-soaked rock n’ roll vibe.
“Unseen Hand” is perhaps one of the record’s most ambitious songs instrumentally, incorporating aspects of heavy blues verging on psychedelia. The long instrumental middle of the song has a series of very unexpected twists and turns. “Never Come Back” features some of the most incredible fiddle work from Hitzig. “It’s just a real straight forward song with a lot of bluegrass roots, but some dark undercurrents. It was pretty much made for the fiddle and Xander has one of my favorite solos of the whole record on it.”
“Ace In The Hole” is a lush closing ballad with soaring symphonic choruses and beautiful pedal steel, dealing with the issues of existential ennui. “It’s about learning to live in the moment and appreciate the now, but knowing our inner demons are always lurking. I wanted to write something that would make someone who might be really depressed see the beauty in life and not dwell on their demons,” explains Isom.
Los Dos is being released on Mule Kick Records, which is a small label created by Adrienne Isom and her partner at Mule Kick Productions, KP Hawthorn. Adrienne is a filmmaker and is currently working on a documentary on the legendary LA nightclub, The Palomino (She also directs and edits many of the band’s videos). “This is the production company we created to support our documentary,” she describes. “I hadn’t planned making Nocona’s record our first release, but with the changed world, it was the thing to do. I was in production with the documentary and I couldn’t release the album and make the documentary at the same time…then we all went into quarantine so the documentary is what ended up being temporarily paused. The record was done and I realized I wouldn’t be traveling and interviewing people for awhile, so it seemed obvious that now was the right time to release the record.”
All in all, Los Dos catalogs a rich musical journey for Nocona and an interesting departure from some of their previous work. While many aspects of the record are more raw and gritty than previous releases, much of the songwriting is more mature and fully realized. If you were a fan of their previous work, you will definitely enjoy this record, however, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised by some of the unique twists and turns it takes which really push the bounds of the genre.
Darlin’ Brando is the pseudonym of singer, songwriter and drummer, Brandon Goldstein. Born and raised in Virginia, he settled in Los Angeles after college where he found a thriving country and Americana music scene. Goldstein set up his drum kit and settled into the community playing stints with local roots music artists like country-rock band, Merle Jagger and folksy singer-songwriter, Leslie Stevens. It was during this decade in L.A. that he also began working on his own songwriting.
In 2009 Goldstein moved to Brooklyn and formed folk-pop band, Money and King with a childhood friend. He used the band as a vehicle for his own singing and songwriting, playing “lead singer” from behind the drums. Many moves and a divorce later, he found himself in Nashville at a low point where he decided to conquer his mess of personal demons and introduce the world to Darlin’ Brando. Playing drums with neo-traditional country artist, Tommy Ash, and frequenting off-Broadway honky-tonk gems like the American Legion Post 82 and The Nashville Palace was both therapy for Darlin’ Brando and research for Also Too... Suddenly dance ability (particularly the two-step) became one of his most important goals for his first batch of songs.
“My songs and the bands I’ve been associated with have been trending more towards folk and country for some time now,” he explains. “It was the time I spent living in Bloomington, IN and Nashville that really solidified my commitment to making an album of original country music. The mind-blowing singers, songwriters and performers I saw perform and performed alongside
with in legendary venues gave the songs on this album their distinct direction. For arrangement and groove, it was very important to me that all of the songs were danceable. I really enjoy two- stepping and wanted an album that people could two-step to and that would play well in any honky-tonk bar.”
While in Nashville, Darlin’ Brando produced the 8-song album on his own as well as providing vocals and drums. The Streise Bar Band is used on all tracks but 4 and 8 and consists of Brian Clements on acoustic guitar and background vocals; Adam Kurtz on pedal steel; Jeff Malinowski on bass; and guitar master, Storm Rhode IV on electric and nylon string guitar. Tracks 4 and 8 have Ryan Payton on acoustic guitar, bass, pedal steel and mandolin along with background vocals.
Also on background vocals throughout the album is Darlin’ Brando’s new wife, playwright, Edith Freni. The two sing a duet together on the first song, “When You Don’t Fight” and their voices are perfectly suited. “Edith contributed to the writing as well,” he allows. “This is supposed to be our sassy Tammy and George or Conway and Loretta duet with the music to match.” Friend, A.J. Croce is featured on piano for the song “Last Call”. “I met him through friends shortly after moving to Nashville,” he said. “I was over at his house one night for drinks and played him a demo of the song. I told him that I wanted to go for a rockin’ Charlie Rich meets Jerry Lee Lewis kind of sound and he offered to play piano on the track. I was honestly very surprised and flattered that he’d be down for something like that. So he came in on one of the two days we were tracking the band at The Bomb Shelter, requested an espresso and beer (at the same time), and pretty much learned the song on the spot.”
Darlin’ Brando has a knack for writing and arranging vocal harmonies and writing melodic hooks. And although drums are his primary instrument, he wrote a lot of the lead guitar hooks on the album. His love of country music pervades the album from the Spanish strings of “Those Old Demons” to the 1970’s country-feel of “Year One” . “Therapy” let’s his clever humor take the stage (Oh therapy/ You’re scaring me/ They say that you’ll take care of me/ But oh therapy, you’re scaring me) while the acoustic beauty of “The Old Man and the Kid” ends the album. “That song was a family affair as co-writes go,” he admits. “My mother and niece were in Las Vegas a few years back, killing time in a hotel room and decided to write some lyrics. My mom sent me the song and asked if I could do anything with it. I was impressed and felt that I could make it my own.”
Goldstein’s background is so varied (even playing drums in a hardcore band), and his influences so vast, that the songwriting on Also Too... defies genre and yet, the music still feels satisfyingly and specifically country. “I feel like I’ve found a rhythm in the process and that the constraints of the country ‘format’ is really working for me. At some point over the last few years, I just decided that I wanted to start writing simpler arrangements and lyrics for songs that could ideally be covered by others; that feel universal enough for other artists to find a way in. Country music is a genre perfectly suited for those kinds of songs.”
Now, with Freni by his side, he’s back in L.A. (“A lot of living, moving around and moving on...”); Darlin’ Brando is set to make his debut with Also Too...
ANNOUNCING THE RELEASE OF NOCONA'S NEW ALBUM, LOS DOS AND A VIRTUAL CELEBRATION TODAY, JULY 10TH, 2020!
The band will be celebrating with a Facebook Live Event Today, July 10th AT 6 PM – 6:30 PM NOCONA "Los Dos" Record Release Pickin' & Tequila with The Isoms
Mule Kick Productions & MULE KICK RECORDS PRESENT
NOCONA "LOS DOS"
RECORD RELEASE
LIVE STREAM ON FACEBOOK
FRIDAY JULY 10, 2020
6PM PT - 8PM CT - 9PM ET
From Northern California to Music City to the “City with Soul”, Jason Daniels’ music reflects his range of influences. A little funky, a little jammy, a little bluesy, with country influence and flavors of Latin and Caribbean thrown in. Daniels moves with ease between genres while retaining a flavor that is uniquely his own.
Growing up in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena, he picked up the guitar at the age of 8 and wrote his first song by the age of 12. Daniels was inspired by his two uncles, George and Paul Richey who were well-known musicians, songwriters and publishers who started out at Sun Records in Memphis (George was married to Tammy Wynette). As an adult, Daniels spent many years traveling and creating adventures that inspired his first record. Eventually, Daniels settled in Nashville, TN where he lived for 7 years and wrote and recorded his debut album, Dashboard Visions and Rearview Reflections. Maverick Magazine claimed it was “full of soul and grit” and was an “...album well worth seeking out” and Daniels landed on the cover of the Jackson Free Press as an “artist to pay attention to”.
Downloads From The Universe is his follow up to his lauded debut. It was recorded to tape at the legendary Malaco Studios in Jackson, MS where he’s lived for the past 7 years. The album is co-produced with Kent Bruce who engineered and mastered, and Murph Caicedo (who also plays drums on the album). “I think recording to tape and the analog recording process is an aspect of this album that makes it unique and special,” said Daniels. “Not just for the sound you get when the signal hits the tape, but also the commitment and command you must have of your performance because with the limited available tracks there is no room for multiple takes. You need to own your performance.”
Daniels has written a positive, uplifting and optimistic album, in response to the dark times we find ourselves in. “I’m trying to bring people together around music,” he said. “Trying to build a community. During a recent radio interview with Radio Free Jackson, DJ Rex McAllister called the album, ‘music for our time ‘and said it was specifically written for this challenging time, living in the first few weeks of a global pandemic.”
Daniels optimism shines through in his song titles as well, “I’m Not Going Down”, “Music is a Prayer”, “Breathe”, “Get Down With Now” and “Prayer to the World”. “’I’m Not Going Down is my personal anthem,” he confesses. “Never give up and keep fighting!”
The song “It Can All Slip Away” came about after a sobering event. Daniels was visiting California for a high-school reunion and brought his son with him to visit his grandparents. While he was attending the reunion, the infamous big fires broke out in Napa Valley. “My father’s house was in the canyon where the first fires originated,” he said. “They barely escaped with their lives. That whole experience really rocked me and got me to thinking how fragile life is, and how we shouldn’t take it for granted.”
The hill-country vibe of “I’ve Been Ramblin’” is influenced by his adopted hometown. “When people ask me why I moved to Jackson, I tell them it’s because I wanted to breathe the air and drink the water. Since moving here I’ve really fallen in love with this place. After my own ramblin’, Jackson sure is a place I love to come home to.”
The album ends on Daniels’ “Prayer to the World”. “Things have to change and we need to come together to make the world a better place,” he emphasizes. “When I wrote the song I heard a big gospel choir singing along. The gang vocals for this song were the last tracks we cut for the record. We had a bunch of fellow musicians and friends come to the studio to join in. The whole recording experience had been so fantastic and cutting these vocals with all of our friends and our collective sense of accomplishment really made for a magical session."
Daniels attributes some of the alchemy to the relationship between Kent Bruce and Murph Caicedo. “Having recorded dozens of albums together, they know each other and the way they interact really contributed to the vibe in the studio.”
With Jason Daniels on guitar and vocals and Caicedo on drums, the rest of the band is comprised of Rob Wicks on bass and Chris Nash on keys. Several other musicians were brought in for background vocals, B3, sax, harmonica and percussion. “I’m really proud of my first album. Everybody did an amazing job, but there was a transactional element to using hired players. I released my first album under just my name and this album is the Jason Daniels Band. I’ve been playing with Chris for four years now and Rob for a few years and it was magic from the first time we got together with Murph. This is an album made by a band who’ve logged hours on the road, playing shows and in rehearsals, learning how to play together. Collectively we worked so hard to prepare ourselves for these sessions, and I believe it really shows. I can’t say and I try not to worry about what anyone will think of the album, whether they love it, hate it, or are indifferent. Artistically this is the most satisfying thing I have ever created, and I know the rest of the guys will agree.”
Gary Van Miert is a local cult figure in his area of the country. Known for looking as if he stole his clothing from Ernest Tubbs closet, the singer-songwriter, musician and all around entertainer honed his skills playing the nightclubs of New Jersey, Manhattan, Brooklyn and beyond. He and his band have played unorthodox venues such as cemeteries, lumberyards, mansions and even a department store and have opened for luminaries such as Marshall Crenshaw, Evan Dando and The Smithereens. So what’s a musician who relies on live shows to get his music out into the world going to do when gigs come to a halt? He takes it on the virtual road!
The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! started as a vehicle for Van Miert to start performing and take advantage of the vibrant art and music scene in Jersey City. The band’s name is an homage to all the great groups from the golden age of gospel. The band was designed to replicate the original instrumental lineup of acoustic rhythm guitar, electric lead guitar and upright acoustic bass used on the first rock and roll records made by Elvis at Sun Studio in Memphis, TN.
“The music that inspired me was born in Nashville and Memphis, Tennessee as well as in the Mississippi Delta,” he admits. “I’ve always been interested in that point where blues, country and gospel music intersect. Elvis Presley and a few others captured lightning in a bottle in the 50s and changed the world.”
Since performing live has gone out the window, Van Miert was left figuring out how to get an audience to hear his music. He had written several original songs and knew exactly how he wanted them to sound. He then sent guitar and vocal demos to Nashville Master Tracks and told them what instruments he wanted used for each song. The company brought in session musicians to record the instrumentals according to Van Miert’s specific directions. “For example, I would tell them I want this song to have that Bakersfield/Buck Owens sound,” he explained. “It’s an interesting way to make a record to say the least. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I could add virtually any instrument I wanted to a track. On “Double Barrel Blues I wanted a real ragtime feel and used tuba, banjo and tack piano. On “Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar” I got to use a lap steel and fiddle player. And I envisioned “I’m a Heartbreaker as a slinky Blues number and used a wonderful blues harp player to give it that flavor--and I never left my house to make this record.”
The World Will Break Your Heart is Van Miert’s first album of original material. (He released an album of covers in 2012). The album is a 10-song cycle of American roots music. “I have my own unique interpretation of American roots music,” he described. “Classic country music from the 50s and 60s, down-home spiritual songs from the golden age of gospel, and time-honored blues numbers that go back to the greats hailing from Mississippi and Chicago. I combine all these elements to create a one of a kind musical experience.”
Although the album wasn’t planned as a concept album, most of the songs are about circumstances and things in life that can and will break your heart. As Van Miert describes it, “This release turned out to be a loose concept album.” Along with the aforementioned songs, there is the tongue-in-cheek “I’m Afraid of Every Goddamn Thing”, the waltz-like “When Your Heart is Blue”, the punk-inspired “Love Murders Your Heart” and the contemporary murder ballad, “My Baby Stabbed Me With a Steak Knife”.
In addition to making The World Will Break Your Heart, Van Miert has also been putting together and recording episodes of an entertaining/educational half hour program for the Jersey City Free Public Library called, “The Sensational Roots of American Music. Van Miert performs classic country, gospel and blues numbers and gives a little history lesson on the artists and songs. “I’ve been soaking up music like a sponge over the years and have expanded my musical knowledge, as well,” he said. Before the lockdown, he also wrote and performed music for the Jersey City Theater Center and performed as The Gospel Wonder! for local church services. “My philosophy of saying yes whenever I’m asked to do something outside of my comfort zone has taken me to some very interesting places,” he admits.
“I attempted to write my own songs when I was younger and they weren’t very good,” said Van Miert. “I think what’s working for me now is life experience and a greater understanding of music. With age I’ve broadened my horizons and developed an appreciation for many different genres of music. If the songs I’ve written are any good, it’s because I am standing on the shoulders of giants.”
The World Will Break Your Heart releases on November 13th, 2020.
New video/single from Greg Felden "Back of the Line"! Produced by Al Sgro,music and lyrics Greg Felden. He will be donating the proceeds from sales of the single to several worthy organizations over several weeks with the first up being Stacy Abrams 'Fair Fight'. https://www.fairfightinitiative.org
Greg Felden’s unique blend of roots and indie sounds has been praised by outlets like No Depression, The Bluegrass Situation, and Folk Alley for its honesty, intelligence and emotional gravity. His songwriting shows impressive range - appealing to lovers of country, folk, and indie rock alike. Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, Greg is now based in Los Angeles, where he is a staple of the Americana scene, earning respect and fans with his finely-crafted songs, captivating delivery, and all-star band.
From Greg Felden: "Have you seen the lines to vote in Georgia? Voter suppression, especially for voters of color and young voters, is a serious problem. That’s what Stacey Abrams’ Fair Fight Action is all about. They’re supporting voters and fighting for free and fair elections in Georgia and nationwide.
That’s important to me. And that’s why all proceeds from the sale of the single this week will go to them. Buy the song on Bandcamp or Venmo me @Greg-Felden with your email and I’ll send you a download. Watch, listen, donate here: https://linktr.ee/gregfelden
Shot by each musician in their own homes, the video is a collaborative performance video of the song in the making. The group effort it took to create it, under the circumstances of the pandemic, captures the spirit of the song itself.
From Justin Smith, Old Californio Drummer: "OC's Songs From the Sea of Cortez is out on Bandcamp today.We started this album back in 2012 (I think?). Cleared out the furniture on Raymond Dr., set up the kit and piano in the dining room and living room for tracking, master control room was John Hartman's full mobile set up (an engineering monster) taking up central residence in a spare bedroom with preamps and gear surging the power of the old 1920’s Spanish, amps in the back room or bathroom as I recall. It was the just four of us at this point - Rich Dembowski, Woody Aplanalp, Jason Chesney and myself. Spent the time working out the tunes, trying to recover from a hard drive crash that eliminated some of the original home demos Rich had recorded, so some of the original reed arrangements got lost. But we spent the time in the late spring of I think 2013 over the course of two days tracking all the numbers.
However, as times go we didn't realize it in the moment but we were hitting the end of that whatever that era was for us and as soon as the initial tracking was done along with a few passes at overdubbing things sorta ground to a halt. The band had been running for 7 years or so by that point and for whatever reason we just lost a bit of steam and it ended up never being finished. That was ok, it was a long run, a good run, but we’d reached a point where it seemed obvious that we needed to take some time away from everything, so we did (apart from an occasional one off gig out at Alex Pelton’s Bit and Spur).
Fast forward 7 or 8 years (or whatever it's been) to this weird bizarre 2020 with its pandemic madness. All of a sudden there's a strangely renewed energy and life and impetus to get this album finished. We’d put together a new tune or two for the Bit n Spur shows, Woody was developing Bonsai Universe, and Rich had done a solo thing here or there, Jason and I collaborated with each other at one point or another, and an occasional song circle with I See Hawks in LA as they worked out their White Cross album, as I recall.
As the idea of finishing the album started to generate traction and it was really Woody and Rich who were the main driving engines, they revived this album from its longs slumber, tracking vocals and overdubs from Woody's studio in SG, developing the finishing elements of the tunes. Jason Chesney did a little remote tracking from up on the Nesmith Ranch in Monterey, while I added vocals and percussion here and there at Woody's studio (pre-covid) and then at my home studio (just a garage / drum/ laundry room in truth) in Altadena. Woody & Rich worked with a host of other contributors adding additional overdubs with reclaimed reeds, fiddle and other noteworthy accoutrement.
So here’s what the end result is – Songs from the Sea of Cortez. Long overdue, but ultimately made in the time it was meant to be made in. Have a listen and hope you enjoy it."
The band has also newly released two singles, “Cantico Suite” and “Old Californio’s Lonesome Rambling Ways". https://fb.watch/2dqyr-q2sz
ABOUT THE BAND:
From the twang of Bakersfield and the soaring harmonies of the canyon to the distant sounds of mission and ranchero, the music of Old Californio is rock as sweeping as the rolling oak savannas punctuated with the poetry of John Steinbeck and Robinson Jeffers. It’s not just the sound of a western state but the melody of the western state of mind.
If you’re into lyrical stories and some kick ass grooves, Soo Line Loons just might be the band for you. They fall under the Americana umbrella, but the band blends elements of folk, rock, punk, jam and just about everything else under the sun. Soo Line Loons take their name after a local railroad that runs Southeast through Minnesota. The band formed serendipitously in early 2019 when Grant Glad met Robin Hatterschide just before recording his first album. They soon brought in Matthew Fox on bass and Kristi Hatterschide, Robin’s mom and a former folk violinist, and Glad’s longtime friend and mandolin-playing songwriter, Erik Loftsgaarden.
The band is known for a great stage presence and producing a fun and creative environment for audience and band members alike. Last year the band was exploring opportunities to make new fans, playing regional street festivals and adding gigs to their calendar. They were gearing up to really begin spreading their wings when the pandemic hit. “It’s been rough,” said Glad. “It felt like the rug was swept up from under us, but we know we are some of the fortunate to have kept our day jobs, so we put our musical focus into recording this album. We were just writing the best possible song we could each time. I’m sure the state of world played into some of the anger felt on songs like, ‘Don’t Let Me Go’ or ‘Long Winter’ but we tried to make something for people to escape from the world for a little bit and not dwell on it too much.”
Soo Line Loons their eponymous third album, is self-released on their label, ‘Don’t Quit Your Day Job Records’ and will be available as a CD, Vinyl and in digital form. This is a much more collaborative effort for the band than their previous albums. “On the previous albums, I would write the songs and bring them to the band to flesh out,” explained Glad. “On this one we all wrote the songs in the room while we were rehearsing. This really helped to create the Loons sound and is why we decided on a self-titled album name. This is who we are and this is a pure representation of us that we hope serves as an introduction to new fans.”
“We put everything we had into every single second of this album,” adds Hatterschide. “Ups and downs, re-recordings and late-night mixing sessions, we came out of it with exactly what we wanted and even better than we expected.” “This album is for everyone,” Loftsgaarden chimes in. “There isn’t one certain demographic that can appreciate Loons sound. We try to get that across in the music.”
Kicking off the album is the haunting track “Old Mill”, a folky rock n’ roll murder ballad. “This was a fun one to write,” said Glad. “I just started with those chords you hear in the intro, and then Kristi came in with the violin and then drums, bass, and boom, we had a song. We didn’t know what it would be yet; we just knew it was dark. I even said, ‘Well, someone’s going to die in this song.’”
Saxophone lines weave throughout “Die Young”, a bluesy rock number that was written by Glad and Loftsgaarden. “Old School Blues up here in the North,” describes Hatterschide. “Opening with a classic Bernard Perdie drum beat, sweet keys, and a screaming guitar.”
The band brought in several guest players on this album, including local legend, Charlie Parr who plays slide guitar on the song, “Hope”. “Hope’ is frenetic from the first snare shot,” said Loftsgaarden. “The song speeds along at a raucous speed, threatening to lose control. Charlie Parr’s slide guitar brings it back down to earth, while the narrator laments the weight of bad decisions and how to make peace with being a flawed hero in a world that seems to demand perfection.”
The ending ballad, “Amen” has Glad ruminating on what we leave behind as a legacy. “Grant discusses the pressures of aging and following your dream while trying not to alienate everyone in your life at the same time,” explained Loftsgaarden. “The violin and mandolin are fitting additions, emphasizing the emotion of the storyline without overtaking Grant’s vocals.”
“We’re a working-class band for working-class people,” Glad states. “This is our craft, and we are proud of it, but you won’t see us wearing any funny hats or flashy outfits. We’d rather let the art speak for itself. If you like it, great, if you don’t, then that’s cool too.” Loftsgaarden adds, “Storytelling and the raw emotion of flawed heroes struggling to find their place in the world are key elements of our music.” Hatterschide describes the band’s music as “Folk to some and country to others. We like to think we’re bluesy ourselves.”
No matter the genre, the band, to quote their bio, “…has a characteristic tendency to transform misery into a unique form of lighthearted beauty.” Just take the line from “Can’t Stop Singing The Blues”: “That sun goes down in the evening./ Well, that sun, you know, is gonna rise.”
Soo Loo Lines hopes to bring people together and to feel less alone--a ray of light and musical relief in these contentious times.
Before the pandemic, Ted Russell Kamp traveled the world playing about 200 shows a year, playing his own blend of roots and Americana music as well as being the longtime bass player for Shooter Jennings. He also began working as producer in his home studio—The Den – where he has now produced numerous well-received albums for fellow artists such as Emily Zuzik, Funkyjenn, AJ Hobbs, Creekwood, Brian Spence, Travis Napier, Rayna Day, Richie Allbright, Grant Langston and more. When the pandemic hit, it was The Den where Kamp found his haven to craft and cultivate the songs that would become his latest record.
Solitaire is Kamp’s 13th full album release. It consists of 14 songs recorded mostly alone at home during the last 9 months of the lockdown. The songs and overall feel of the album have a more intimate and singer-songwriter quality. Kamp wanted them to sound more like solo performances, but with some extra spice added, reflecting the loneliness of being at home in quarantine: isolated from friends and the chance to play live. “I think it echoes what a lot of us have been going through this year; the loneliness and doubt as well as the day dreaming and not wanting to give up. I wanted to put these songs out there because we have all been going through similar things.”
The music on Solitaire is indeed 90% Kamp as he plays a majority of the instruments on the album but he has again collaborated with several artists and friends known in the Americana genre, but this time remotely. “Almost everything I did was in my studio with all of the guest overdubs recorded by them in their own home studios. This was a true quarantine record in that sense. Most played or sang harmony on just the songs I wrote with them.” But to create the sound of a full band at times, Kamp had “just a few socially distant recording sessions, with John Shreffler (harmony vocals, pedal steel), Jim Doyle (drums) and Brian Whelan (harmony vocals) to be a part of several tracks of the album. It was an incredible breath of fresh air to actually see friends again and to reconnect and play with them.”
The first track on the album, “My Girl Now” was actually a song co-written several years ago by Kamp and Micky Braun from Micky and the Motorcars (and was included on their 2014 album, Hearts From Above). Kamp’s version has a less twangy and more buoyant chorus, adding elegance to the song.
“Path of Least Resistance” uses only electric bass and acoustic guitar, giving it a vintage folk feel, and on “You Can Go To Hell, I’m Going To Texas” (written with the ladies of Granville Automatic) you hear a distinctive California country rock sound.
Kamp wrote the gospel-sounding “As Far As The Eye Can See” with pal, Matt Szachetka and is one of the few songs on the record featuring mainly bass and vocals, a minimalist approach that has become one of Kamp’s trademarks. The folky, “Western Wind” was written via a FaceTime session with co-writer Shane Alexander who then sang harmonies on the songs, as well.
“Exception To The Rule” was written with Ed Jurdi (Band of Heathens) on some downtime at a music festival in Mexico they played together last year. They revisited and reworked the song via email and then Ed added his harmony vocals and a delicate George Harrison style slide guitar solo. The bonus track, “Lightning Strikes Twice” is of note, as it’s the first bluegrass song Kamp has written and he played every instrument on the track.
Some of the other artists Kamp collaborates with on Solitaire include; Josh Morningstar, Braid Raisin, Mark Mackay, Tony Scalzo, Pete Murcott and Don Gallardo, but on the title track, Kamp is the only writer and performer—just an acoustic guitar and his vocals with no guests and no overdubbing. “This is one of my favorite songs on the record and from a songwriting perspective, the one I’m most proud of,” he confesses. “I was actually playing a lot of the card game solitaire the first few months of quarantine and thought that it would be a great album title for being at home in a kind of solitary confinement. Then I got the idea to write this song.” At this point in modern life, anyone can relate to these lyrics: “I got something on my mind been trying to find the words--one leads to the next then they scatter like the birds--fighting with a feeling like I’m alone inside a maze--don’t know what’s in the cards but I been circling round for days”.
Kamp’s last album, Down in the Den was a very fully arranged full band record with lots of guests, horns, guest vocalists and instruments, while Solitaire reflects Kamp almost solely on his own. “Knowing I was recording an acoustic, moody record like this also helped me choose the songs that I knew would work well arranged this way,” he explained. “I think it’s very different and speaks to what a lot of us have been going through this year. I wanted each song to feel different so I added mandolin, dobro and banjo to some - and Wurlitzer, accordion and Hammond to others. It’s also the first time I played my old dulcimer on a record. When I start touring again, most of these songs will be great additions to my solo show and some will also be great for my full band electric sets. It was really satisfying using the quarantine to write on my own, but also to co-write and reconnect with friends as we were all going through a hard year.”
Solitaire provides Kamp with yet another approach to his music, but ultimately, it’s connecting with his audience that matters to him most.
Desert Hollow is a young, California-based folkie duet consisting of Xander Hitzig and Nicole Olney. The duo is both independent songwriters who have come together in love and creative collaboration and are creating a totally unique sound. “We have a lot of things to say, and even more to play,” quips Olney. Their name, Desert Hollow is a definition of their combined geographical and artistic influences. Hitzig is from West Virginia and Olney is from the California desert. They both share a love for early traditional folk and bluegrass but are equally passionate about indie-folk and alt-country music.
Both Hitzig and Olney wrote and sang on their debut 5-song EP, Thirsty. Hitzig also contributes lead guitar, fiddle, mandolin, penny whistle, kazoo and 5-string banjo, while Olney provides guitar, banjolele, and kazoo. They brought in guests Matt Lucich (Paula Cole, Kate Pierson) on drums and percussion, James “Hutch” Hutchinson (Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan) on bass, Johnny Hawthorn (The HawtThornes) on steel guitar, and Adrienne Isom (Nocona and Mule Kick Records) on bass. The record was produced by Steve Berns (who also engineers) and KP Hawthorn (Mule Kick Records, The HawtThorns).
The two met and clicked on the set of a country musical, Sneaky Ole Time in which they both had lead roles. The creative and biological chemistry was apparent from the start. Their voices meld in a way that old bluegrassers would call a “blood harmony” and when they come together to play, it’s like two puzzle pieces clicking together. “Xander and I both have a knack for writing a unique song,” Olney notes. “And those words we write are known to rest on a solid musical bed created mostly by the multi-instrumental genius that is Xander Hitzig. I think we are also at this point known for our in-between-song banter. We do solid banter.”
The EP kicks off with the title song, “Thirsty”, written by Olney. “I felt more like an archeologist than a writer, scraping away the dirt from the bones of the thing. Once I finally had the words and basic chord progression, I shared it with Xander and he picked up his 5-string banjo and started playing along.” She adds laughingly, “The song didn’t originally have a penny whistle. I went downstairs to get coffee for five minutes and I came back to a three-part penny whistle solo.”
Hitzig was inspired to write “I Can’t Wait For Summer” visiting West Virginia in early spring. “I was sitting on the porch plucking my banjo on my parent’s farm and realized the firewood was getting low,” he mused. “Looking at the dwindling firewood pile, I thought, ‘I can’t wait for summer.”’
“Look At Those Birds” was also crafted during a visit to West Virginia, but Olney had the beginnings of this song. On their way to a family dinner party, she looked up and saw birds circling in the sky. In a fit of goofy inspiration, she blurted out the melody and words that hadn’t been written yet, “Look at those birds, flying high up in the West Virginia skyyy…” Hitzig declared it a song and she finished writing it the next day. “We flew to Austin for SXSW a few days later and in our hotel room, Xander used the picking pattern he made up and his impeccable ear to create the perfect guitar part for the song.”
Hitzig wrote “Take Me Back To Nowhere” long before meeting Olney. It’s a song he used to perform with his group Brownchicken Browncow Stringband. He was inspired after living in a van in New Orleans with the five-piece band for two weeks. “You can image that ‘nowhere’ seemed like a good place to get back to as quickly as possible.”
Olney wrote “Mary” after a panel at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. “There was a guy telling a story about asking his songwriting hero about how to write a song. He responded with ‘take a song of someone else’s you really like and re-write it. Then just change the chords.’ So, I gave that trick a whirl. I took a song that I loved by Gregory Alan Isakov and ‘Mary’ popped out. Xander wrote that brilliant lead guitar part for it, which holds the song just as much as the words.”
Meeting KP Hawthorn and Adrienne Isom of Mulekick Records (and formerly of Rebelle Road Productions) was a huge milestone for the couple. “We are so grateful for every opportunity they have given us and everything they have taught us about navigating the music industry,” said Olney.
The beginnings of the record happened when Olney and Hitzig were at SXSW working a Rebelle Road showcase. Hitzig was backing up Nocona and Alice Wallace, and Olney was working as an MC. Hitzig had a solo set on the last day of the festival and asked Olney to get up and sing a few of their songs with him. KP Hawthorn, co-creator of the showcase spoke with them afterwards about how much she had enjoyed the songs and wondered if they wanted to get in the studio one they all got back to L.A. “We agreed!” said Olney. “Once we were back, KP introduced us to Steve Berns, and a few weeks later we were recording at his studio, Fitting Room Studio.”
The pandemic had a change of plans for everyone in 2020 and Desert Hollow was no exception. “This last year has been challenging, that almost goes without saying,” states Olney. “However, it was also one of the greatest years of our lives. We raised money to film our music videos in February and in April we purchased our home on wheels, a Toyota Dolphin RV named, Dolly. We crossed the country back and forth and lived on the road for a while. We regularly hosted Facebook Live shows and even had a few socially distanced outdoor shows. The music never stopped.”
In September, they put Dolly in storage and flew to Maui to rest for a while. And they are still there today, as they prepare for the release of this very special debut album. “I want people to know that this album is truly the tip of the iceberg. Xander and I are sort of songwriting machines and we are just so excited to release this music so that we can release so much more music.”
Calling themselves The Wild West, six of the most treasured female singer-songwriters in Los Angeles have forged a strong bond of friendship that led them to a write and record their new song “Better Way.” The empowering message of the ensemble’s first single is shared equally by its members, all of whom have enjoyed significant success as solo artists: Tawny Ellis, Pi Jacobs, Heather Anne Lomax, Amilia K. Spicer, Deb Morrison, and Manda Mosher.
“What started as an online happy hour during quarantine turned into a series of long, soulful conversations about the state of the world, our personal lives, and of course, music,” Morrison says. “Communicating via our computer screens was surreal at first, but once we got the hang of it, we let our cocktails and freak flags fly and never looked back. We had no idea that this would be the beginning of a new musical journey and the birth of our first song.”
During a particularly frightening time in lockdown in the summer of 2020, Mosher shared just a spark of a song idea with the group. As it gradually took shape, “Better Way” became a thoughtful reflection on our times, a rallying cry, and a source of comfort for all six women.
“The song came out of a desire to bring more ideas of unity and hope into our troubled times. I went out into the studio and started the song inspired by our group discussions”, Mosher recalls. I sent the start of it off to the girls for collaboration and we all ended up with a similar lyrical vision of hope.”
Truly, hope is one of the common threads shared by these six women. Another is humor. So is compassion and love of music. Although their Zoom calls started out as a casual hang, many of its members were surprised to discover they had naturally become a social support group, too.
“I firmly believe that you can't survive as a woman in this business without passion, dedication, a sense of humor, and an ability to pick yourself up after a hard fall -- which we all have,” Jacobs says. “We are all people who can’t live without music, we NEED to create it, so yes, it is indeed therapy for us, and (we hope) for those that listen. These women are all so talented and diverse. I love seeing what they do, and how they treat the material -- especially when they do something vastly different from what I would do. It’s a delicious musical surprise.”
“We all knew and respected one another in the local scene, but it wasn’t until Covid that we really got to know each other,” Spicer adds. “The few times we were able to get together in person, distanced, the joy of singing together and playing our instruments was very cathartic. Aside from being women in the music business who have experienced many of the same challenges along the way (enough there for a book!), we all have a desire to make sense of the world right now. And we want to put a voice to it.”
Spicer also came up with the name The Wild West – not just due to the Los Angeles connection, but also because it felt “untamed, a bit scrappy, and full of promise.”
“We are pretty wild gals in some ways -- all dancing on the edge to express ourselves,” Ellis observes. “I’ve never met such a bunch of dolls that are such badasses who really can play. They all have special voices in writing and singing. Everyone is so generous. We all find our moments to shine and that may be just laying out in the background for a verse, etc., playing a shaker or whatever. I could never have imagined I would be so blessed to be a part of a group of women who are so open and honest -- the talent and the humor are the cherries!”
Because the Wild West doesn’t have a lead singer, there’s an opportunity for harmony here, which feels like a gift for a solo artist. And by putting these voices together, a listener is hearing something altogether new. “Better Way” is merely the start of this special collaboration.
“There are some songs coming up where some of the women will have a lead vocal, but I love that we are happy to let each other shine in their moment,” Lomax says. “Everyone in The Wild West is respected, supported, and honored for the song(s) that she chooses to sing. We are all musicians that missed the beautiful synergy of working with other musicians to create music. There is a lovely sisterhood that flows so naturally between women -- and it is taken to a new realm when you include the magic of making music together.”
Find the band on the following social websites:
Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Soundcloud | Bandcamp
Toler Gibson is a group of mountain dwellers living high above the clouds in California.
The project started when Kenneth Gibson, a Canadian born, Texas raised Angeleno moved from LA to the mountains of Idyllwild and met Gavin Toler, a Seattle born and raised Angeleno who had moved to Idyllwild from LA, three years prior. The two bonded on their love of country, folk, & psychedelic music and immediately started pickin’ and singin’ their favourite classics in one cabin or another. Toler Gibson was born.
The two have been in multiple other known bands such as Bell Gardens, Furry Things, Winter Flowers, Old Gold, as well as releasing solo material. TG started by playing their favorite old country tunes in the bars and roadhouses in Idyllwild but eventually turned into a fully-fledged band. The band expanded when drummer Charlie Woodburn and bass player Rob Hume landed in Idyllwild from LA, then adding Drew Manne as their main pedal steel player. The band played their first original set at Grand Ole Echo in LA in 2018.
The boys started slowly tracking The Days Before in Gibson’s Heavy Meadows studio through 2019. They found a home with London based indie label Rocket Girl Records (Bell Gardens, The Lily’s, Robyn Guthrie).
Toler Gibson’s vocal harmonies are the main focal point threading the album. They weave their way through a tapestry of acoustic, electric and steel guitars that recall elements of country, folk and psychedelic rock. The Days Before possesses an almost cinematic quality that tips it’s Stetson to classic country influences while simultaneously going far beyond them.
Songs like “Murder Will Fly” and “Mountain Room” render a portrait of darkness and isolation, a feeling of solitude that is never far away when winter settles in on the mountain. While “Country Queen” and “I Want A Dog” reflect on domestic discontent with self deprecating comedy…”looks like daddy’s drunk again”. The opening track “Dead end lady” moves the listener down the road at a nice pace and like much of the material on this album it tells a story of life’s past experiences meeting the present. Though (as noted later on the album) “we can never go home again”.
Toler Gibson’s debut paints a picture with many colors and sets itself apart from your typical California Country release. Maybe because it comes from a higher elevation where the snow falls in the valley and the pines grow tall? A place you might happen upon if you head west from Texas or south from the great northwest.
Working Man’s Dread is a debut album from The Contraptionists, but the duo is not new to the music game. Paul Givant and Stephen Andrews have played music together for nearly a decade in the five-piece Americana band, Rose’s Pawn Shop.
Paul Givant wrote all songs and he and Andrews developed a lot of these songs live when they did a month-long tour from California through the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska in 2018. Mike Vizcarra (Brian Wright, Tony Lucca) produced Working Man’s Dread, along with mixing, mastering, and engineering. Additionally, some of the preliminary recording took place at Marshall Vore’s (Phoebe Bridgers) studio and he helped the band in the early phases of the recording.
The Contraptionists are an industrial folk-grunge experiment conceived of a few years ago. “The idea for this band came from me starting my music career as a drummer before moving into songwriting and guitar playing,” explains Givant. “ I wanted to attempt a one-man band project where I played percussion with my feet and played the guitar and banjo and sang. But than I thought, what if Stephen joined me on bass and also played foot percussion? And I really wanted to answer the question of how much musical sound you can get from just two people playing as many instruments at the same time as possible.”
The resulting robust sound is “...thick folk-rock melody (with) a full-bodied rhythm section” (live review). Both Givant and Andrews play foot drums and percussion themselves during live shows. Essentially, they are their own drummers while also playing guitar, bass, and singing. “The Contraptionists project allowed me to step out of the more bluegrass/country-rock realm I had been writing in for years and add some different elements to my writing and pull from the grunge and 90s rock music I grew up with,” Givant observed.
In that vein, the kickoff song, “River Lethe” sonically feels like the band got it to a place where if Radiohead was a folk band. Named for the river of forgetting and amnesia in Greek mythology, the song is about watching someone try to forget or rewrite the past. “Maybe after all the seasons fade | We’ll meet again within the shade | On a blissful blank amnesia shore | In sheets of white void of before”.
The songwriting on Working Man’s Dread is personal and a reflection of America’s past and present. Influenced by the cognitive dissonance and frustrations of the current American landscape, traveling and playing music on the road, relationships, human support and lessons learned the hard way. The music is an alloy of rock and folk elements—murder ballads, road legends, and love story songs for the hopeful and broken-hearted.
From the Tom Waits influenced murder ballad, “Murky Floor” to the up-tempo and energetic, “Empire of Smoke” to the strains of dub reggae heard in “Sight of Blood” the duo creates a big layered sound that you would swear involves more players than just the two. The last song on the album is “Dream Song” and literally came to Givant in a dream. “I had a dream I was watching a friend sing this song at a show. I woke up with the chorus melody in my head, sang it into my phone’s voice memo knowing it was a good one, then fell back asleep.” The song is about following one’s dreams as a working musician and specifically the experience of returning home to California after weeks of touring the country.
As with most bands, things were quiet for touring this year due to Covid-19, but they are looking forward to getting back out and playing live shows as The Contraptionists and with Rose’s Pawn Shop. “Some people assume Rose’s Pawn Shop is defunct since Stephen and I are making music in this other project,” Givant clarified. “But that’s not the case. We are also working on a new Rose’s Pawn Shop album currently. This is just another outlet for us musically.”
For both Givant and Andrews, Working Man’s Dread represents an experiment in sound and a collection of songs into which two artists and friends clearly poured the full extent of their musical passion. These songs tell a story and paint a picture even if there’s a little bit of coloring outside of the lines. You know that two-man, one-man band, thing.
Multi-instrumentalist Hilary Scott (with one ‘L’) has opened for Tanya Tucker, Chuck Berry, and Little Feat (joining them on stage for “Dixie Chicken”) and has also recorded with Bonnie Raitt’s musicians. Known for her soulful, bluesy, roots style, long-time fans may be surprised by her new record, Kaleidoscope. The newest release takes her into a pop-rock vein with 4 of the songs being co-written in Nashville during a songwriting project. To quote the liner notes, “Kaleidoscope is a record that gathers together and honors the various colors of an eclectic musical landscape of different styles, genres, snapshots in time…”
In 2007, when Nashville producer Matthew Wilder invited Scott, along with John Goodwin and Angela Kaset to participate in a songwriting project, she jumped at the chance. Kaset was with Ten Ten music group for years and wrote Lorrie Morgan’s big hit, “Something in Red” and she also wrote songs for Suzy Boggus, Wynonna Judd, and Elaine Page to name a few. John Goodwin co-wrote multiple songs from the soundtrack for the movie “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges.
“I wasn’t used to writing with others; for me songwriting had always been a personal love affair,” confessed Scott. “ Because this album was a co-writing and publishing project, I didn’t approach it in the same way as all of my other albums, which often were about processing thoughts, feelings and experiences in my life at the time of the songwriting. I came to this project with some chord progressions I liked, as well as some ‘moods’ or concepts, but much of what went on in my mind was excitement over exploring ideas with other songwriters.”
The result was Kaleidoscope, 4 co-written songs with the group and 1 song added that Scott penned on her own, “And Just” which won an award in the Festival Degli Autori songwriting competition in Sanremo, Italy. Scott’s beautifully lush and sultry vocals are a thread throughout the recording with Wilder and Goodwin adding backing vocals to several tracks. Wilder also contributed to guitars, keys and drum programming and the band consisted of Nashville heavy hitters-- Gary Lunn on bass, Jerry Kimbrough on guitars, and Lonnie Wilson on drums.
“Just A Shame” was written by Scott and Wilder from the perspective of reflection on personal heartbreak. Scott’s sultry vocals add to the poignancy of the lyrics; “Let me thank you for this pain | Even if we loved in vain | I wish we could be the same | Instead of being just a shame”.
“Almost Home” is a co-write with Kaset and Wilder. The writers wanted the lyrics and music itself to pull the listener into a dreamy world that makes them feel they are falling in love for the first time. “Hold me close | Breathe me in | ‘Cause I’m right here where I’ve always been | You’re almost home, home, home”.
“Too Much Is Not Enough” was written with Goodwin and Wilder. It’s an analogy for getting the most out of life no matter where you’ve been before. Scott notes, “Matt had a great time playing with effects on this one to give it a more rock feel.”
The most personal song on the album, “And Just” was written by Scott in 2010 for her now-husband, AJ and was recorded by renowned Italian producer, Euro Ferrari. “Euro producing the track was my award for winning the international section of the Festival Degli Autori,” she explains. “I got to stay in a cabin on his property outside of Rome. He loved to cook and would surprise me and other guests with delicious pastas and his favorite liqueurs. One night Euro told stories well into the small hours about celebrities as diverse as Sting, Pavarotti, and Bjork. It was an unforgettable night. I felt like a member of the glitterati.”
The EP ends with “Free Country” which was written by Scott, Wilder and Goodwin. “I had never done anything remotely approaching a dance song before in my life, so this song definitely took me the farthest out from my comfort zone,” she admits. “Matt, John and I were like three goofy kids, bouncing from lyrical idea to idea. Whisper-singing, singing in Spanish, and stretching my range a bit more were all incredibly fun elements to explore while we were recording, and the instrumentation layers are fantastically fun and unique, in particular the horn section.”
The global pandemic gave Scott the chance to revisit the songs on Kaleidoscope. “The songs represent a risk I took,” she explains. “I was exploring genres that were well outside my norm at the time.” The 4 songs were originally recorded in 2011 by Wilder in his Wilderside studio and were re-mastered (with 2 being re-mixed) by Wilder in 2020. “We’ve approached them with fresh ears and they feel almost as if we could have written them in 2020,” said Scott.
“My life in music has been a process of following my passion from one opportunity to the next,” said Scott. “The thought of stopping never occurred to me, because the enjoyment, the reasons for doing the music have always been there. I feel really satisfied by the things that have organically come my way.”
The eclectic nature of what she writes, and her willingness to explore diverse genres and not lock herself into one style is what sets Hilary Scott apart. Kaleidoscope is the perfect showcase for these talents.
Jon Byrd plays “what they used to call Country Music.” Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he grew up in the piney woods of south Alabama before becoming pivotal in Atlanta’s storied Redneck Underground music scene. He was always a featured sideman, but his first solo recording (Byrd’s Auto Parts 2007) didn’t happen until after he moved to Music City nearly 20 years ago. Since then he’s recorded 3 other full-length solo records Down at the Well of Wishes (2011), Route 41 (2014), and Dirty Ol’ River (2017).
He was a featured vocalist on the Red Beet Records Grammy-nominated I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow (alongside Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller, Bobby Bare, and Tom T. himself). His albums have been lauded by Mojo Magazine, Maverick Magazine and R2, and Jewly Hight of NPR’s World Café named Dirty Ol’ River some of the “Best Music of 2017” with Byrd being an “Essential and Emerging Artist.” He’s toured overseas 5 times and played the Country Music Hall of Fame with Lloyd Green and Duane Eddy, yet when asked about some of his career highlights he wittily responds with, “Sold a drum set to John Prine.”
His friend and musical companion, Paul Niehaus is a founding member of the most lauded independent conglomeration of musicians since the 90s (Lambchop) and has played with innumerable artists and toured and recorded with Irish DeMent, Calexico (10 years), the late Justin Townes Earle, Iron and Wine, and so many more.
Byrd and Niehaus started performing around Nashville three years ago. Every Tuesday at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison on the east side, lots of Thursdays at Springwater on the west side, and countless other places in-between. A natural result of all the gigs played is Me and Paul, a 5-song EP of two originals and three cover songs. “Me and Paul is dedicated to and a reflection of the people that came to see me and Paul over the years in little watering holes and honky tonks here in Music City,” Byrd notes. “They are small, but mighty as Billy Block used to say. It’s also dedicated to venues that let us take over their ‘happy hour’ to play the saddest, darkest, most pitiful and tragic songs every penned.” As he quips on one of the promos for a show, “All to make you feel so much better--Even "lucky," by comparison.”
Me and Paul has no band, it’s just Paul Niehaus on pedal steel and Jon Byrd’s noted voice and his gut-string guitar. “I was down in Mexico for what I thought would be a few days when one of my many ex-wives informed me that we’d be there for two weeks. My response-‘Then I have to buy a guitar.’ I purchased a dirt-cheap homemade/handmade guitar in Cuernavaca. 20 years later I was curious to incorporate its sound into my country music performances alá Willie Nelson. I took it to Delgado Guitars where Manuel Delgado, a 3rd generation Latino luthier declared the guitar special. I’ve been playing it ever since, intrigued by the tonal qualities when juxtaposed with pedal steel.”
The record leads off with the song, “I’ll Be Her Only One,” a co-write with friend and fellow musician, Kevin Gordon. “The writing process put me in mind of Kevin’s long-time music collaborator Joe McMahan,” Byrd observed. “While known mostly as a guitarist/sideman, Joe’s had a studio for years and produced great work with Kevin and many others. He and Kevin are more on the rockin’ side of things, but I was very keen to know what Joe would bring to a project like this—so stripped down and so country.”
“Jr. and Lloyd” was written by Byrd’s long-time best pal, James Kelly in Atlanta, GA. “My coming of age was playing and recording country music with James and his band, Slim Chance and the Convicts. This song speaks to a friendship that you’re lucky to find once in a whole lifetime.”
“Cash on the Barrelhead” is a cover of the Louvin Brothers song, which Byrd shortened so that the melody and words were even more prominent. “This is my fifth record and I’ve never recorded a Louvin Brothers song! The production and Paul’s playing on this one make it sound like an antique.”
“Why Must You Think of Leaving” is a co-write with Shannon Wright. “This one took years to complete. It was started in Scotland on my first tour there. I was thinking, if I lived here in these hills I’d never tour, ‘cause I’d never leave. I had the melody and guitar riff, but dear friend, Shannon helped turn it into a song with verses and choruses and a beginning, middle, and end. She’s a pro like that.”
Byrd ends the record with J.J. Cale’s “Don’t Go to Strangers.” “A cover should result in an interpretation of a melody that’s not heard often enough. And especially on a bluesy song such as this one, that’s not exactly country. I was going for a similar thing with traditionally constructed mountain ballads like ‘Jr. and Lloyd’ and ‘Cash on the Barrelhead’ and taking them into a different emotional direction with the application of pedal steel.”
While playing out and about in Nashville, Niehaus and Byrd get requests for songs they’ve played many times. “Requests for hardcore honky tonk and obscure singer-songwriter numbers that no one hears on the radio anymore,” he explains. “ Then as soon as we run down 4 or 5, inevitably someone will shout out, ‘Play a Jon Byrd song!’ And then we slide over into originals, old and new. Then after awhile, a friend will yell, ‘You know which one not to play!’ and we know it’s time for a sad and pitiful country ballad or an old Dylan tune soaking in pedal steel. More than once, at the end of a show, I’ve had someone approach me and say , ‘I don’t usually like country music, but I like what you do.’ It’s one of the best compliments I can ever receive.”
Me and Paul has the loose feel of Byrd and Niehaus playing songs, capturing Byrd’s vocal, his gut-string finger picking and Niehaus’ beautiful pedal steel tonality, a stripped down emotional snapshot.
Working Man’s Dread is a debut album from The Contraptionists, but the duo is not new to the music game. Paul Givant and Stephen Andrews have played music together for nearly a decade in the five-piece Americana band, Rose’s Pawn Shop.
Paul Givant wrote all songs and he and Andrews developed a lot of these songs live when they did a month-long tour from California through the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska in 2018. Mike Vizcarra (Brian Wright, Tony Lucca) produced Working Man’s Dread, along with mixing, mastering, and engineering. Additionally, some of the preliminary recording took place at Marshall Vore’s (Phoebe Bridgers) studio and he helped the band in the early phases of the recording.
The Contraptionists are an industrial folk-grunge experiment conceived of a few years ago. “The idea for this band came from me starting my music career as a drummer before moving into songwriting and guitar playing,” explains Givant. “ I wanted to attempt a one-man band project where I played percussion with my feet and played the guitar and banjo and sang. But than I thought, what if Stephen joined me on bass and also played foot percussion? And I really wanted to answer the question of how much musical sound you can get from just two people playing as many instruments at the same time as possible.”
The resulting robust sound is “...thick folk-rock melody (with) a full-bodied rhythm section” (live review). Both Givant and Andrews play foot drums and percussion themselves during live shows. Essentially, they are their own drummers while also playing guitar, bass, and singing. “The Contraptionists project allowed me to step out of the more bluegrass/country-rock realm I had been writing in for years and add some different elements to my writing and pull from the grunge and 90s rock music I grew up with,” Givant observed.
In that vein, the kickoff song, “River Lethe” sonically feels like the band got it to a place where if Radiohead was a folk band. Named for the river of forgetting and amnesia in Greek mythology, the song is about watching someone try to forget or rewrite the past. “Maybe after all the seasons fade | We’ll meet again within the shade | On a blissful blank amnesia shore | In sheets of white void of before”.
The songwriting on Working Man’s Dread is personal and a reflection of America’s past and present. Influenced by the cognitive dissonance and frustrations of the current American landscape, traveling and playing music on the road, relationships, human support and lessons learned the hard way. The music is an alloy of rock and folk elements—murder ballads, road legends, and love story songs for the hopeful and broken-hearted.
From the Tom Waits influenced murder ballad, “Murky Floor” to the up-tempo and energetic, “Empire of Smoke” to the strains of dub reggae heard in “Sight of Blood” the duo creates a big layered sound that you would swear involves more players than just the two. The last song on the album is “Dream Song” and literally came to Givant in a dream. “I had a dream I was watching a friend sing this song at a show. I woke up with the chorus melody in my head, sang it into my phone’s voice memo knowing it was a good one, then fell back asleep.” The song is about following one’s dreams as a working musician and specifically the experience of returning home to California after weeks of touring the country.
As with most bands, things were quiet for touring this year due to Covid-19, but they are looking forward to getting back out and playing live shows as The Contraptionists and with Rose’s Pawn Shop. “Some people assume Rose’s Pawn Shop is defunct since Stephen and I are making music in this other project,” Givant clarified. “But that’s not the case. We are also working on a new Rose’s Pawn Shop album currently. This is just another outlet for us musically.”
For both Givant and Andrews, Working Man’s Dread represents an experiment in sound and a collection of songs into which two artists and friends clearly poured the full extent of their musical passion. These songs tell a story and paint a picture even if there’s a little bit of coloring outside of the lines. You know, that two-man, one-man band, thing.
New Earth Farmers (formerly New American Farmers) just released their new EP, “Into The Great Unknown,” and shared a single/video "Everything Was Beautiful, Goodbye" from “Into The Great Unknown.” The video was directed by renowned production company, Neighborhoods Apart (John Prine, Lilly Hiatt, Aaron Lee Tasjan). The single/video was released on May 7th, 2021 http://www.neighborhoodsapart.com/about
""Everything Was Beautiful, Goodbye is a song about loss of one's own ego. This can happen through spiritual enlightenment or use of psychedelics. I discussed what inspired the lyrics to the song to Joshua Britt, the video producer from Neighborhoods Apart, and he was able to come up with a great representation of our vision. Joshua had done videos for John Prine and Jason Isbell that we really loved and he agreed to produce this one for us. I sent him the song out of the blue and he loved it and got right back to me. We aren't actually singing in the video, since it was during the peak of the pandemic and we couldn't travel to Nashville to shoot. We decided to make it more cinematic and use an actor. It's the first single from our EP release, “Into The Great Unknown". A lot of things changed this last year for us, and everyone really. My father passed away from Covid-19 on Dec. 3 of 2020, so I dedicated this song and video to his memory. Dad and mom bought me my first electric guitar (A Silvertone with the amp in the case) when I was 10 years old and a guitar just like it showed up in the video. I had no idea until I watched it the first time. It wasn't planned. Nigel Twist, the original drummer from the 80s folk punk band, The Alarm joins us on this release, along with James Deprato (guitar) and Kevin T. White (bass) from Chuck Prophet's band. We also did a slight name change for this release. We took the nationalism out of our former moniker, New American Farmers and made it global. New Earth Farmers is a way more inclusive name and we need more of that now than ever."--Paul Knowles
Multi-instrumentalist Hilary Scott (with one ‘L’) has opened for Tanya Tucker, Chuck Berry, and Little Feat (joining them on stage for “Dixie Chicken”) and has also recorded with Bonnie Raitt’s musicians. Known for her soulful, bluesy, roots style, long-time fans may be surprised by her new record, Kaleidoscope. The newest release takes her into a pop-rock vein with 4 of the songs being co-written in Nashville during a songwriting project. To quote the liner notes, “Kaleidoscope is a record that gathers together and honors the various colors of an eclectic musical landscape of different styles, genres, snapshots in time…”
In 2007, when Nashville producer Matthew Wilder invited Scott, along with John Goodwin and Angela Kaset to participate in a songwriting project, she jumped at the chance. Kaset was with Ten Ten music group for years and wrote Lorrie Morgan’s big hit, “Something in Red” and she also wrote songs for Suzy Boggus, Wynonna Judd, and Elaine Page to name a few. John Goodwin co-wrote multiple songs from the soundtrack for the movie “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges.
“I wasn’t used to writing with others; for me songwriting had always been a personal love affair,” confessed Scott. “ Because this album was a co-writing and publishing project, I didn’t approach it in the same way as all of my other albums, which often were about processing thoughts, feelings and experiences in my life at the time of the songwriting. I came to this project with some chord progressions I liked, as well as some ‘moods’ or concepts, but much of what went on in my mind was excitement over exploring ideas with other songwriters.”
The result was Kaleidoscope, 4 co-written songs with the group and 1 song added that Scott penned on her own, “And Just” which won an award in the Festival Degli Autori songwriting competition in Sanremo, Italy. Scott’s beautifully lush and sultry vocals are a thread throughout the recording with Wilder and Goodwin adding backing vocals to several tracks. Wilder also contributed to guitars, keys and drum programming and the band consisted of Nashville heavy hitters-- Gary Lunn on bass, Jerry Kimbrough on guitars, and Lonnie Wilson on drums.
“Just A Shame” was written by Scott and Wilder from the perspective of reflection on personal heartbreak. Scott’s sultry vocals add to the poignancy of the lyrics; “Let me thank you for this pain | Even if we loved in vain | I wish we could be the same | Instead of being just a shame”.
“Almost Home” is a co-write with Kaset and Wilder. The writers wanted the lyrics and music itself to pull the listener into a dreamy world that makes them feel they are falling in love for the first time. “Hold me close | Breathe me in | ‘Cause I’m right here where I’ve always been | You’re almost home, home, home”.
“Too Much Is Not Enough” was written with Goodwin and Wilder. It’s an analogy for getting the most out of life no matter where you’ve been before. Scott notes, “Matt had a great time playing with effects on this one to give it a more rock feel.”
The most personal song on the album, “And Just” was written by Scott in 2010 for her now-husband, AJ and was recorded by renowned Italian producer, Euro Ferrari. “Euro producing the track was my award for winning the international section of the Festival Degli Autori,” she explains. “I got to stay in a cabin on his property outside of Rome. He loved to cook and would surprise me and other guests with delicious pastas and his favorite liqueurs. One night Euro told stories well into the small hours about celebrities as diverse as Sting, Pavarotti, and Bjork. It was an unforgettable night. I felt like a member of the glitterati.”
The EP ends with “Free Country” which was written by Scott, Wilder and Goodwin. “I had never done anything remotely approaching a dance song before in my life, so this song definitely took me the farthest out from my comfort zone,” she admits. “Matt, John and I were like three goofy kids, bouncing from lyrical idea to idea. Whisper-singing, singing in Spanish, and stretching my range a bit more were all incredibly fun elements to explore while we were recording, and the instrumentation layers are fantastically fun and unique, in particular the horn section.”
The global pandemic gave Scott the chance to revisit the songs on Kaleidoscope. “The songs represent a risk I took,” she explains. “I was exploring genres that were well outside my norm at the time.” The 4 songs were originally recorded in 2011 by Wilder in his Wilderside studio and were re-mastered (with 2 being re-mixed) by Wilder in 2020. “We’ve approached them with fresh ears and they feel almost as if we could have written them in 2020,” said Scott.
“My life in music has been a process of following my passion from one opportunity to the next,” said Scott. “The thought of stopping never occurred to me, because the enjoyment, the reasons for doing the music have always been there. I feel really satisfied by the things that have organically come my way.”
The eclectic nature of what she writes, and her willingness to explore diverse genres and not lock herself into one style is what sets Hilary Scott apart. Kaleidoscope is the perfect showcase for these talents.
Air Cool Jenny is a duo formed over two years ago by Helen Rose and Kramer Sanguinetti. They met in New York City during a serendipitous evening of live music, which culminated in a spontaneous punk rendition of the Appalachian folk tune, “Shady Grove”. It was love at first sight and they haven’t looked back, moving to Sanguinetti’s hometown of New Orleans for a few years and most recently, settling outside of Los Angeles, CA, where Rose was raised.
Helen Rose is a mulit-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter who also has a solo career. She released and EP, Just Before It Gets Dark (2018) and a full-length album, Trouble Holding Back (2018) which was produced by Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice) and engineered by Jeff Peters (The Beach Boys) and Sheldon Gomberg (Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite). In 2020 she was chosen as an Official Showcase Artist by Folk Alliance International, who described her as “a powerhouse of fresh sound-intimate and turbulent all at once.” She has a single/video releasing for her song, “Love and Life” in July on the Regional Records label.
Kramer Sanguinetti is also a multi-instrumentalist and a singer-songwriter who studied classical guitar in high school and studied jazz guitar at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, under the guidance of the legendary Joe Chambers and Steve Bailey. He then cut his chops as a show band guitarist for Princess Cruises, which required proficiency in multiple musical genres. It was then that he began writing original pieces and expanding his creative spirit. He taught himself to play pedal-steel in 2019, and he was able to lay down some steel tracks on this record.
Both are great performers with diverse musicianship, heartfelt vocals and unique harmonies. Inspired by Appalachian folk, blues, country jazz, and funk, Air-Cool Jenny has an extraordinary sound of its own. The duo used this past year for writing, recording, live-streaming and filming videos in preparation for their EP release. “It has been a time of creative incubation and opportunity for content building and deep meditative focus on the future,” states Sanguinetti. Of note: The couple is currently composing the soundtrack to a docu-series about former NFL players and other professional American athletes who have been recruited by the US Rugby Association.
First Flight is their first EP as Air-Cool Jenny. It was recorded and engineered by Kirkland Middleton at Piety Studios at Nina Highway in Beaux Bridge, LA. It was also recorded, engineered and mixed by George Adrian at The Silo Studios in Shadow Hills, CA with mastering by Jeff Peters at Pasadena, CA’s Pie Studios.
Middleton, who is a drummer for The Lost Bayou Ramblers also plays drums on the EP, and brought in band mate, Bryan Webre on bass and Brenden Moore on organ. “The Cajun-influenced rhythms they brought out in the songs really elevated and spoke to the soul of the songs in a way we could not imagine anyone else playing,” said Sanguinetti. “It was a perfect match for what the tunes were asking for.”
“Everything we write about comes from an organic experience. We take all the ingredients of our two lives from the geography of where we live, family, and all the genres that inspire us and synthesize them in an organic way because that’s the only way we know how to,” Sanguinetti observes.
“Rivers Gone” is taken directly from their shared experience of going through some of the worst storm years the south has seen ever, while at the same time falling in love with New Orleans and growing roots within the community. “Pelican was inspired by a special spot they used to frequent along the Holy Cross levee on the Mississippi River. “The vocal harmonies were really fun to figure out for this tune,” observed Rose. “When we hit the high part together we are both singing upper extension of the chord and that’s what gives it the color and feel that it has. We took the jazz and R&B method of upper harmony and made it our own.”
“When I Rise” is a good old fashioned love song about recognizing truly how someone makes you feel and the little things that make your realize that it’s the real thing. “Pissin on the Moon has a celebratory feel with a guitar solo inspired by the chicken pickin on some old Emmylou Harris tracks. “It was a Bota-Box and John Prine influenced tribute to some characters from both of our childhoods”, Rose acknowledges.
Between Sanguinetti’s musicianship and Rose’s experience in songwriting with the likes of professionals such as Marvin Etzioni and Jonah Tolchin, there is an incredible symbiosis that comes through in their songs. “Like a garden, it starts with the seed-the idea- then germinates into a melody and concept,” explains Rose. “And when you work with someone like Kramer, who has vast musical knowledge-the composition elements have no boundaries-the garden overflows with musical creativity.”
First Flight allows this couple to soar. We look forward to what they have in store for the future.
Novelists famously use their day jobs for material—guitarist Tom Rodwell mines his crossover blues career with a writerly taste for the surreal on Wood & Waste, a decadent and charmingly outré collection, released on October 22 2021.
An English artist presently moored in New Zealand, Rodwell’s revival of blues music as a vehicle for dance has been supple enough to embrace rhythms from spirituals and calypso, and seen him support acts like Otis Taylor, C.W. Stoneking and Leon Russell. (“Beautiful tunes, beautiful groove—you don’t hear that anymore,” said Derek Trucks). A parallel career as a session player has seen him moonlight live and on record for artists as diverse as Lonnie Holley, Robert Lamm and Don McGlashan, and delve into a host of avant-jazz projects.
In his own songs, Rodwell’s secret weapon is feel. “All the clues to a song are contained in the first bars of a primitive rhythm guitar part, it’s my job to inhabit that space and gradually tease the rest out,” he says. “You just have to pay attention when a song makes a left hand turn.”
Consequently his songs resemble ragged short stories, cobbled-together genres from an alternate history. “The aim is to locate each song in a very specific room of its own, with contrasting feels like layers of paint or old wallpaper. That can result in a take that’s seductive and seasick all at once.”
Lyrically, the slip of the tongue is right at home on Wood & Waste - many of the numbers speak in a late-night jumble of double entendres and stream of consciousness. “I want to give the subconscious some legroom,” Rodwell says. “And to me a song is successful when the exact tone is hard to name, like the feeling of a strange dream you only half recall.”
The record opens with a slow-mo slab of ‘misanthropic gospel’—“Don’t Be a Fugitive All Your Life” finds a Randy Newmanesque unreliable narrator admonishing his buddies from beneath a hangover of overcooked reverb, slippery slide guitar, and ramshackle percussion.
The percussion is from Chris O’Connor and Jeff Henderson, notorious New Zealand free jazz multi-instrumentalists. They turn it loose on the absurdist one-chord freak-out “Touch Me Like a Teddybear”, with booming marching drum and splashing hi-hat pitted against Rodwell’s unhinged guitar. “It’s perversely satisfying having these jazzmen churn out this meaningless bubblegum,” Rodwell jokes. Meanwhile his own elaborate rig adds a shimmering polyphony—multiple amps and a revolving Leslie speaker creating the illusion of a bass player.
Improvisation is a key theme of Wood & Waste, where frequently a skeletal idea transforms into a fleshy dance rhythm. “Keep on Knockin’” subverts a determined Bo Diddley beat with dissonant Mellotron in praise of Edward Hopper and William Morris. “Plenty Time” is a species of prog rhumba set in Roman Britain, indebted to Nigerian giant King Sunny Ade. Elsewhere there’s satirical funk on “Small Town”, the Beach Boys-bossa of “Make Believe” and mythic doo-wop on “Carry On”.
The album’s centrepiece is “She Got Me Boiling”, a juggernaut of psychedelic calypso welded to mindless riffs on cannibalism that would make the Mighty Sparrow blush. Driven by a bass-heavy guitar pulse and animated carnival drums, it’s a fiendishly irresistible piece of music. Against that lusty fever-dream, a sickly waltz of slide and synth evokes the intergenerational nightmare of war—“Dead End Road” a reminder as the album closes that music is concerned with pain as much as pleasure.
Wood & Waste was tracked and mixed entirely on tape without click-track or edits at Neil Finn’s Roundhead Studios, an analog sanctuary built around The Who’s old Neve console. The discipline in the studio sparked alchemy in the sessions. “Using tape means making decisions without a digital safety net, and living with the consequences,” says Rodwell. He produced Wood & Waste alongside the safe hands and cool head of Raphael Mann (Frizz Records, Mr Hudson & The Library), with engineering by Jordan Stone and analog mastering and lacquer from LA legend Kevin Gray (Blue Note, The Beach Boys). The first run of the LP (care of Pallas, Germany) is the end product of an entirely analogue signal chain.
Rodwell’s first full-length was 2012’s Live Humble, an inward-looking set of spirituals, work songs and self-described “oddball improvisations”. “Live Humble was a warping of tradition. The new record is liberated from it.”
Wood & Waste is what used to be called a cult record - a set of warmly anarchic influences and timeworn qualities that is Tom Rodwell’s trademark.
The Royal Hounds are known as one of the most original bands in Nashville. All three are stellar musicians and add to that showmanship, stage tricks, and quirky original songs and you’ve got yourself one of the most unique live shows around. The shows are so good that they have, not one, but two weekly residencies on lower Broadway—You can catch them Sunday nights at Layla’s and Tuesdays at Robert’s Western World, the undisputed home of traditional country music in Nashville.
Lucky for us, that spirit transfers to the record. A Whole Lot of Nothin’ is the band’s 5th studio album and was produced by the band’s guitarist, Matheus Canteri. Recorded at Blackbird Studio in Nashville, it was engineered by John McBride (Martina’s hubby) and Jeremy Cottrell (Jim Lauderdale, Raul Malo). Mixing was done by Alberto Vaz (Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow) and the band brought in a few musicians to flesh out the recording; Rory Hoffman on organ and accordion, Eddie Lange on pedal steel, and Aaron Till on fiddle and backing vocals.
“This album was one of the few things giving me purpose last year,” said Hinds. “For an entire summer, I just locked myself in my attic and just started writing a lot of songs.” Though the band often attracts fans
of rockabilly, this record has a more classic country sound with songs like “Invitation to be Lonely”, “The Jukebox is Broken”, and “I Just Can’t Two-Step” sounding as if they were made to be played over an RCA console radio during its Golden Age.
Classic country aside, the record kicks off with the rousing rock sound of “Cheap Drunk,” with Canteri’s guitar leading the charge. “When I first wrote this song, I didn’t really care for it too much, and thought it might be the throw away song,” Hinds confesses. “But the guys really liked the groove and they really added the rock to it. I wanted to fight them on it, but I trust my bandmates and in the end, they were right, this song truly does rock!”
The band’s tongue-in-cheek humor is still apparent with the bluegrass-tinged “Pickin in the Graveyard— “There’s a bluegrass jam that not everybody knows / Where old songwriters go to decompose”. There’s also a bluegrass murder ballad- “In the Rickety Pines”, two instrumentals- the country instrumental “Corn Fritter” and Latin “Door #3”, and a Christmas song, “Krismastofferson” that plays off the country music legend that when Kris Kristofferson wanted to pitch Johnny Cash his song, “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, he borrowed a friend’s helicopter and landed it on Cash’s lawn to get attention. “I’m proud that we as a band are never married to one sound and that we’re on a constant quest to discover who we are as artists,” notes Hinds.
In 2019, the band was living on the road, but Hinds was newly married and expecting a baby, so it was time for the band to start establishing themselves in Nashville. By an incredible stroke of luck, they were invited to be a house band at one of the most famous honky tonks in the world, Robert’s Western World. They were there for four months when the world shut down.
“We’re a light-hearted band, but if I can be serious for a moment, I, like many musicians, was dealing with some depression last year due to the fact that music just imploded and many of us were dealing with these existential crises,” laments Hinds. He had spent the better part of two years getting a working visa for Canteri, who is from Brazil and is only allowed to play music for a living. “The key word was survival! When live music disappeared, it made it extra challenging. I’m proud to say we were one of the first to immediately jump into live streams. Rolling Stone even mentioned us for it.” The band also recorded a solely digital album of 19 covers called, Covered-19. Sales of that through their live streams allowed them to continue as a band, as well.
“Fortunately, as destructive as the pandemic was for so many, the situation allowed us to more firmly plant our roots in town and we came out on the other side much more established in the Nashville scene. Now the out-of-town fans come to us instead of us going to them. It’s a great trade! (Though I do love it when we hit the road).” Now along with creating great music and putting on a stellar live show, the band’s mission is to get Canteri on a path to American citizenship.
Canteri adds a thought. “I think that as individual musicians we all bring very different ideas and sounds to the table—Scott developed his playing by jamming with bluegrass musicians. Nathan is a heavy beater drummer who also studied viola in college and although I love country music, I grew up with a totally different soundtrack around me in Brazil. But when we’re playing together we listen to how each other plays their instrument and we interact so that all those different voices come together as a cohesive sound.”
Every album the band releases captures a moment of time in the evolution of their sound. And right now A Whole Lot of Nothin’ is more country than they’ve ever been.
The Americana Music Association returns to form for 2021 with the in-person embodiment of AMERICANAFEST. The annual event brings together fans and industry professionals alike and The California Country Show is ready to pick up where they left off by presenting 3 stellar events celebrating the rich history of Americana music inspired by and emanating from the West Coast. All three events are produced by Manda Mosher and Eric Craig of Blackbird Record Label in association with Deb Morrison of Prickly Pear Presents. The California Country Show Official AMERICANAFEST Event at ACME Feed & Seed is hosted by Dave Bernal of The California Country Radio Show & Podcast.
Thursday, September 23rd: “The Buzz” at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge from 3-6pm (102 E Palestine Ave. Madison, TN)
Artists this year include a killer line up of Americana artists from California and Nashville: Dave Bernal | Bart Ryan | Ted Russell Kamp | Elijah Ocean | Amilia K Spicer | Deb Morrison | Manda Mosher | Tawny Ellis | Heather Anne Lomax | Pi Jacobs | David Newbould* | Kyle LaLone
* Denotes official showcase artist
Friday, September 24th: “The California Country Show Official AMERICANAFEST Event” from Noon-6:00pm @ ACME Feed & Seed (101 Broadway Nashville, TN)
In 2019 Chip Frazier and Shawn Underwood of Twangville hailed the event as one of the best at AMERICANAFEST.
Performances by: Jonathan Tyler* | Sam Outlaw | Brian Wright & The SneakUps (w/special guest Mya Byrne) | LadyCouch | Garrison Starr* | Chris Pierce* |The Mastersons (of Steve Earle’s "The Dukes") | The Whitmore Sisters* (feat. Eleanor Whitmore of The Mastersons and Bonnie Whitmore) | The Wild West | Dead Rock West | Ted Russell Kamp (Shooter Jennings Band, Tanya Tucker)
*Denotes official showcase artists
Of note:
Dave Bernal of The California Country Radio Show & Podcast interviews artists for ACME Radio Live after performances.
Sam Outlaw will be celebrating the release of his new album, Popular Mechanics which releases in November 2021.
The Wild West is marking the event as their Nashville premier made up of California Americana highlight artists Manda Mosher, Amilia K Spicer, Tawny Ellis, Pi Jacobs, Heather Anne Lomax and Deb Morrison.
The Wild West, Dead Rock West and LadyCouch are all Blackbird Record Label recording artists
Line up subject to change and a special guest may be announced at a later date
This event is included in the AMERICANAFEST app.
Two additional showcases produced by California Country Show Events bookend the main event.
Saturday, September 25th: “The West Coast Turnaround” hosted by Ted Russell Kamp from Noon - 3:45pm @ The Bowery Vault (2905 C, Gallatin Pike 2nd Floor, Nashville, TN )
Performances by: Ted Russell Kamp | Amilia K Spicer | Pi Jacobs | Melody Guy | Bart Ryan | Travis Napier
Based on the songwriting team of drummer and producer Joey Peters; guitarist, singer/songwriter and producer Rich McCulley, and bassist, singer/songwriter and producer Ted Russell Kamp, Stash has been writing, recording and singing songs about life and love, striving and surviving, yearning and learning, and pain and cheating. All three met while living in Los Angeles where they had all moved to better hone their craft. “It’s where we could take our careers as far as we possibly could,” states McCulley. “It’s where we have made most of the music individually and it’s where Stash was born.”
Kamp is a solo artist with more than a dozen albums, to his name and a highly in-demand session bass player and producer. He has played with Shooter Jennings and his band for over 15 years. He received his first Grammy playing on the Tanya Tucker record, While I’m Livin’ last year. Peters is a respected composer and drummer in the film and TV world. He was also a member of the acclaimed and influential band, Grant Lee Buffalo and now plays with the alt-country band, Rusty Truck. McCulley is an amazing singer and songwriter with many solo albums to his name. He also produces, engineers and acts as a session player, as well as writing songs for film and TV. He has also toured with and been a part of many major label (Geffen, Columbia) and independent acts.
Self-described as the British invasion meeting outlaw country, McCulleys rock & pop influenced guitar melds with Kamp’s cosmic California country influence and Peter’s alternative rock backbeat. Walk the Walk was recorded at Red Hill Recording (El Paso, TX), The Pop Garage (Topanga Canyon, CA) and The Den (Los Angeles, CA). Produced and engineered by all members of Stash, the record was mastered by Mark Rains at Station House (Echo Park, CA).
“We all just worked in our own home studios trying to keep making music during the covid lockdown,” said Kamp. “Sometimes we were working in the morning sometimes late at night after the kids were asleep. Making this music really helped to get us through the pandemic.” Adds Peters, “This really was our escape. The songs themselves gave us a chance to be creative and writing and recording via Zoom calls and sending tracks to each other gave us a chance to deepen our bond of friendship and be social in a time where we all felt so isolated.
Stash played every note on the record themselves with the exception of Anna Maria Rosales who does harmony vocals on “Talk the Talk”. McCulley and Kamp are both multi-instrumentalists, who McCulley claims were like “Kids in a candy shop. If we had a sound in our heads, one of us could figure out how to play it.” Although his main instrument is guitar, he also played mandolin, harmonica and keyboards. Kamp focused on bass and vocals, but also played guitar, keyboards, banjo, trumpet and trombone. Along with his groovy drumming, Peters added any percussion instrument the songs needed. “This is our first record as a band,” noted McCulley. “It’s a cool synthesis of who the 3 of us are as musicians, songwriters, and friends.”
The trio recorded the songs one at a time, writing the song first and then recording that week. They recorded over 20 songs and picked their favorites for the record. From the soulful bluesy sound of “Smoke and Mirrors” to the outlaw country of “Queen of the Highway”, the mandolin-tinged ballad, “Into the Sunset”, and the spaghetti western vibe of “Ain’t That Kind of Man”, Walk the Walk shows the full range of Stash’s songwriting skills and expert musicianship. “How many records do you own that go from mod to spaghetti western or from power pop to outlaw country?” asks McCulley. “It’s pretty eclectic and authentic because we’ve all spent so much time playing so many different styles of music.”
Kamp adds, “We are all life long musicians and part of doing that is really holding your ground in an aesthetic sense: trying to make music you really like and are inspired by. We have all done that in our own way and are now known for certain things. I think the surprise on this record is that it really is collaboration and we debated and met in the middle about lots of the little decisions on writing and recording the songs. I think many of our individual fans will hear each of our voices on the record, but will also see a new side to us.”
Satisfying melodies, driving grooves, twangy guitars and whiskey soaked vocals give a heartfelt urgency to every song they write and play. As the saying goes, “Don’t talk the talk unless you can walk the walk”. Stash proves that they can do just that.
In the decade since her debut album, Spell of the Light Pink Pearl, Laura Mihalka has been busy. She played Cello with and joined the board of the Channel Islands Chamber Orchestra (CHICO); accompanied artists such as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros front man Alex Ebert, Kenny Loggins, and Jennifer Terran; worked on countless indie surfer films and commercials with composer Todd Hannigan; and raised her two grown daughters--one who plays cello at Cal Poly SLO and the other who is a music major at Cal Arts.
Mihalka’s grandmother, Adelaide Onaitis, was a pianist and prolific composer who was married to film and TV animator Casey Onaitis. Mihalka has recorded a handful of her elegant nocturnes and is writing a treatment for a screenplay about the life of her grandmother and using her 1930s compositions as the soundtrack. She also recently composed a full-length symphony piece, Springtime at Stanwood, which will be the first concert of CHICO this fall to be performed with a 40 piece orchestra. So, yes, she’s been busy.
A global pandemic can hit the world’s pause button, shifting everyone’s priorities. For Mihalka, the past 10 years have been a necessary gestation period, and after finishing Springtime at Stanwood, she was ready to don her singer-songwriter hat. “My mindset during lockdown changed,” she admits. “There was so much time to fill at home, I thought to myself, ‘you may as well relax into this and take as much time needed to write the best songs you can.’” A singer-songwriter who is influenced by Father John Misty, Pink Floyd, and Tame Impala she confesses to “occasionally” following around the California-based band, The Mother Hips “like The Grateful Dead.” Mihalka spent a few years in the 90s touring as the lead guitarist for the band, Liquid Sunshine, which included Americana artist, Gina Villalobos. “We toured a lot and met a ton of people,” she remembers. “I was a female lead guitar player, still something you don’t see that often. People would come up to me and say something like, ‘Dude, you’re a girl and you shred!’” It’s her rock and classical background that inform the melodic structure, string arrangements and dreamy textures of her new album, Feels Electric.
Although she’s been playing cello since age 9, and is handy with guitar, bass and piano (“You learn a lot of instruments to be able to write”), she played keyboard, cello and sang on tracks for the album. Grammy-winning musician/producer, Jesse Siebenberg produced, mixed and played on the album. Siebenberg appeared on her first album and she was thrilled when he offered to produce Feels Electric and add more instruments at his Ojai studio. “I would give Jesse my scaled down song (piano and vocals) and he would work his magic. I would get a song back from him and it was so elevated. I would typically get one song back a week and I’d be stoked to get that email in my inbox. Like a present. I’d then wear my headphones while walking or jogging to really listen to it and neighbors would sometimes see me fist pumping the air.”
Mihalka did give Seibenberg one reference before the whole project started, Beck’s Sea Change album. “I like how the songs are all unapologetically slow, with really tight, creative and beautiful arrangements. For me, that album is mellow and chill, but also engaging and interesting.”
Mihalka’s penchant for pop hooks, sunny harmonies and smoldering arrangements enhance the cathartic “Out for the Night,” “Sacred Sky” and “Stumble,” a hummable paean to her passion for music (“Turn it on/ Turn it up to eleven/ Sing with the song that I love”). The title track is an intentional anthem of acceptance of a high-maintenance friend who trails drama and chaos, while the pensive “Forgiven” and the Elliott Smith-vibed “Falling Apart” express her preoccupation with time during 2020’s surreal autumnal months.
Thanks to Siebenberg’s decision to half-time the drums, “Pineapple Man” — the only song Mihalka composed on guitar — morphed in his Ojai studio from a “kinda punky” rocker with a Go-Go’s beat to a subtly psychedelic production whose whispered chorus reminds her of Pixies front man Frank Black’s idiosyncratic spirit. Family dramas inspired the gently hopeful “Battleground” and the poignant “She’s Everything,” written for Mihalka’s late mother.
“Feels Electric took only 4-5 months of writing for 11 songs and I completely ignored any thoughts of what I should or shouldn’t write,” she explained. “ I really tried to let myself meander and experiment more than ever. It became a daily practice of locking myself in my music room from about 5-7pm with a cocktail and some new sound plug ins. Very experimental. Very fun. To me, this album is like a writer doing smaller articles, various projects but then writing that novel they have always dreamed of. A lot of people I know vaguely know I play music. They’ll say, ‘You’re a singer, right?’ of ‘You’re a classical musician, right?’ To which I’ll answer, ‘kind of’ or ‘partially’. Feels Electric is a way to explain once and for all what I truly love doing, and what I love most about music—putting all those things together.”
Into The Great Unknown is the title track of the 2021 EP release by New Earth Farmers. This song was written not long after Tom Petty passed and there are some subliminal nods to Tom in the lyrics. We are all huge fans of Tom and The Heartbreakers and also fans of The Traveling Wilburys, which influenced the production of the recording. The ending of the video includes a re-enactment of a midnight hallucinogenic experience in a cemetery in southwestern Missouri in the 70s (true story). It was Paul's first year in college and he was introduced to a hallucinogen one weekend. The experience started in a dorm room then moved out to a nearby church cemetery at around midnight with Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" 8 track tape on repeat from the car stereo. This was way out in the country without any town lights to interfere with the starry night view. You know what they say, go to college, get an education. Great advice.
Tom Dellinger filmed the performance part of the video at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, CA. right after everyone had been vaccinated. We still did most of it outdoors on the farm there, with a few inside shots in studio C to be on the safe side. The band on the recording and the video includes Nigel Twist (original drummer of The Alarm), members of Chuck Prophet's Mission Express (James DePrato on slide guitars and Kevin T. White on bass). We had help with the editing and color grading from Joshua Britt (of Neighborhoods Apart Production) in between renderings of the Killers new animated video. Joshua directed and produced our previous video "Everything Was Beautiful, Goodbye." You can see more of Joshua's work at his website, http://www.neighborhoodsapart.com/work
Videography by Tom Dellinger
Edited by Paul Knowles
Additional editing by Joshua Britt of Neighborhoods Apart (who produced NEF's last video release "Everything Was Beautiful, Goodbye")
Filmed on location at Prairie Sun Recording Studio, Cotati, CA (Video on Prairie Sun Recording Studio via Ditty TV: https://vimeo.com/channels/1475449/411588888 )
New Earth Farmers:
Paul Knowles - vocals, guitar
Nicole Storto - vocals, guitar
Nigel Twist - drums
Kevin White - bass
James DePrato - slide guitar
The High Desert fall tradition of celebrating the legacy and music of Gram Parsons continues Friday November 5th at the beautiful new AWE Bar in Yucca Valley. Please join us for a stellar evening of “Cosmic American Music”.
Tickets: $25 adv. / $30 day of show
With:
Sin City All Stars
w/guests: Louise Goffin - Freedy Johnston - Zachariah
Tom Freund & Friends
Carla Olson (Textones / Gene Clark) & Todd Sharp
Hummingbird Reunion w/Miranda Lee Richards
Nocona
Chris Laterzo & Buffalo Robe
Starlight Cleaning Company
AWE Bar
56193 Twentynine Palms Highway,
Yucca Valley, CA
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Showtime:
Doors 5:30 show starts at 6
The Wild West have a recording they’ve just completed and a cool music video that Tawny Ellis directed/edited for their new single “Comes A Time”--a Neil Young cover that features Scarlet Rivera on violin!
Calling themselves The Wild West, six of the most treasured female singer-songwriters in Los Angeles forged a strong bond of friendship that led them to write and record their first single “Better Way.” The empowering message of the ensemble’s first single is shared equally by its members, all of whom have enjoyed significant success as solo artists: (pictured above L-R) Manda Mosher, Deb Morrison, Amilia K Spicer, Tawny Ellis, Pi Jacobs, and Heather Anne Lomax.
Touted by Relix as a “Female supergroup,” The Wild West is currently working on their upcoming EP and were listed in Holler Country's The 10 Best Emerging Acts of Americanafest “They offered an impressive performance boasting no shortage of verve and variety - it would be hard to find a combo with a greater degree of talent or tenacity. Clearly, this bunch is ready to rumble.” --Holler Country
They were also touted in No Depression’s Guide to Americanafest. with Amos Perrine is quoted as saying, “…the definite highlight promises to be The Wild West, six of the most highly respected female singer-songwriters in Los Angeles: Tawny Ellis, Pi Jacobs, Heather Anne Lomax, Amilia K Spicer, Deb Morrison, and Manda Mosher. Expect fireworks.”
All six members of The Wild West write, produce, and oversee the recording process for songs they bring to the band. They take turns singing lead while supporting each other instrumentally and topping each song off with The Wild West's signature harmonies.
Their second single and video, “Comes A Time” released in November to honor Neil Young and his birthday. Their unique rendition features violinist Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) and was mixed by the legendary Bob Clearmountain.
For this new release, Tawny Ellis chose to bring in Neil Young’s “Comes A Time” due to her deep love and connection to the song. She envisioned the harmonies of The Wild West in combination with Scarlet Rivera’s violin parts weaving throughout. In addition, Tawny directed the new music video which celebrates the beauty of nature and the west coast. "This song has always spoken to me on a deep level. I love Neil’s writing and I brought it to the band because I thought it would be gorgeous to see what us ladies could do with it, and I was right. The video is an ode to our beautiful earth, the pacific coast line and my deep love for it and how it inspires all of us. It’s an honor to have Scarlet Rivera’s energy on this. She is such a lover of nature and this song. This video is a celebration of the beauty of our world and all of us in it.”
Manda Mosher adds, “Comes A Time” became a special comfort that was healing for us to play as a band in rehearsals. The harmonies and all the ladies' instrumental parts weave together beautifully like a community banding together to weather all that lay ahead.”
You may recognize Aaron Skiles’ name from the Bay Area-based band, Bourbon Therapy. The indie rock/alt-country band was fronted by Skiles and his wife Rebecca and released 1 full-length album, two EPs, and 12 singles before calling it quits earlier this year. “No one’s fault,” Skiles reassures. “We couldn’t play any shows so two members moved out of town to make a go in another city. I doubled down on my writing and actually did get five Bourbon Therapy singles done and released in 2021. Writing a lot, I realized I had material that I really liked but wasn’t right for Bourbon Therapy. Some of these songs sounded more like Social Distortion or Weezer rather than mellow ballads so I figured these weren’t BT songs, but they were Aaron Skiles songs.”
Skiles reached out to fellow musician and friend, Matt Patton, to co-write most of the album with him. “Matt is an incredible musician and an amazing lyricist. For the most part he helped me make my lyrics more impactful, more memorable, and simply better. But he also helped with arrangements, on “Before You Go” and also with “On My Own”. And he was amazing as a vocal coach, pushing me to find the emotion in each song and to bring it to life. I’ve never been prouder of my vocal performance on any other project and I owe that to how Matt pushed me to get the most out of my vocals.” Of the eight songs on the album Matt Patton co-wrote six of them. “It all started with my basic demos and then Matt and I would email back and forth and we’d make changes."
Skiles claims that Patton was the reason Wreckage From The Fire happened in the first place. “In 2016 I traveled to Birmingham, AL to visit with an old West Point roommate and to catch a Truckers show at The Lyric Theater. I am a huge fan and my buddy indulged me as we pushed our way up to the front of the stage. After the show we headed to a club called ‘The Nick’ and 30 minutes later, Matt Patton walked in. Not being shy, I introduced myself and ended up telling him about Bourbon Therapy and we exchanged emails. A week later he wrote me to say he dug our stuff and if I ever wanted to record at his studio, I should hit him up. Four years later, everything timed out perfectly and we finally got this done!”
Skiles left Oakland and headed to Water Valley, MS to record at Patton’s studio, Dial Back Sound. “This is the first album that I’ve ever personally tracked guitar on. I’m a bass player and pianist and that’s what I play on Bourbon Therapy music. But when Matt Patton (bass) and Jay Gonzalez (piano), both from Drive-By Truckers, offered to play on my solo album, I realized I better let them! I worked hard at getting myself up to snuff on rhythm guitar and I’m pleased with the outcome.”
“Most of the songs were written before recording right as the pandemic started,” explains Skiles. “Although ‘Quarandream’ was literally written right before I jumped on the plane. I was packing for the flight and decided to plug in my guitar one more time. I suddenly came up with this simple instrumental jam and I realized it fit perfectly in front of ‘Come With Me’. Just like that, I had songs #1 and #2 for the album decided! I sent a quick voice mail to Matt with the new song. When he picked me up from the Memphis airport, we talked about it and he had some ideas to give it even more power. Once we brought in Taylor Hollingsworth to lay the lead guitar on that track, we ended up with a killer instrumental opener in an almost Dick Dale-like vein.”
Following “Come With Me” is the laid-back California-vibed song, “A Triumph of Three Chords” with Jay Gonzalez’s piano work gluing the song and Hollingsworth’s guitar solo in the outro, which Skiles describes as “rapid-fire sweetness”. There are also the punk influenced songs, “Sliver” and “On My Own”. “I’ve got a history of writing longer tracks for Bourbon Therapy, loaded with orchestral parts and multi-layered harmonies in outros that sound like separate songs. But Wreckage From The Fire is a collection of tight, pop-influenced rockers that get the point across in 3 minutes or so.”
“Before You Go” has the most powerful story of the group of songs. As a senior at West Point (The United States Military Academy), Skiles had a friend who killed himself by jumping off of their dorm building just before graduation. “The part that’s eaten me up all of these years is that I heard he was thinking about it and I didn’t do anything to stop him. I was 21, young and dumb. I’ve actually tried to write about it for 10-plus years but never got anywhere until during the pandemic. When I took the song into the studio, I told the story, which helped us to get the right sound. But when I went to track the vocals, I broke down crying. Matt ran into the recording room and I apologized. He encouraged me to use the perspective of 20-plus years to tell my friend what I would say to him now—as a man who has gained some wisdom and experience. Using that advice, I believe the song has the most authentic, emotion-laden vocals on the album.”
Bronson Tew is Patton’s partner at Dial Back Sound and engineered the album, as well as playing drums, lending vocals and playing lead guitar on one song. “Bronson and I grew quite close during this recording session. We were both living in the efficiency in the studio and would record all day and then stay most of the night drinking beers, talking about music, song-writing and life. One night, after everyone had left, he and I sat around trying to figure out a lead guitar part for “On My Own”. After a while Bronson came up with this super cool counter-melody part, full of feedback and squeals that we laid down, intending to show Taylor the next day so that he could record the actual version. Once we showed him he looked at Bronson and said, ‘what’s the point in me doing that again—that’s great as it is!’ And so Bronson’s take was the lead part we used for the song.”
Wreckage From The Fire is clearly different in tone and mood from the music Skiles made with Bourbon Therapy. “This album is all me—and it’s rough around the edges, a bit raw and definitely hard hitting. Lyrically this album is more introspective and written almost entirely in the first-person, whereas BT music often tells stories of others. Music to me is a way to explain your place in the world, how you see things as they are, and how you wish they’d be. My goal is to write a song that tells the listener something of significance, whether through the lyrics or the instrumentation—or ideally both. I write songs that are meaningful to me and that I’d like to listen to. If someone else enjoys them as well, then that’s just gravy on the top as far as I’m concerned.”
Wreckage From The Fire Releases on Friday, April 22nd, 2022
Derek Vanderhorst, a musician, sound designer and re-recording mixer for film and tv, is a self-described workaholic. Known for working on Academy Award nominated films from No Country For Old Men, Hidden Figures, and most recently The Eyes of Tammy Faye, he has a knack for mixing dialogue and music and pulling out the emotion by balancing all the elements that make up a film soundtrack. Those skills translate on his upcoming album, Wildflower.
Vanderhorst was introduced to music at the age of 5 with piano lessons but embraced guitar, mandolin and banjo in his teens, touring with the bands Leaf and The Rosemarys before being managed as a solo artist in the 90s by Les Garland (Co-founder of MTV and VH-1). These experiences led him to L.A. where he found his way to the film world and his success in that realm, but which also led to him putting down his guitar for 20 years.
A few years ago, Vanderhorst was diagnosed with Stage 4 head and neck cancer. Along with the threat of dying, he was told he might lose his voice and hearing. He knew then that his lifelong dedication to music could no longer take a back seat. Now 5 years cancer-free, and after hundreds of hours of vocal rehab, he has claimed his voice as an Americana artist.
During recovery, Vanderhorst took stock of is life and relationships and wrote over 150 songs. Eleven of those songs make up the recording, Wildflower. “It’s an album of metaphorically and emotionally going home and becoming grounded,” he explained. “It’s about finding song and nature and balance in life. Mixed in is also a humorous look at my childhood to present day.”
Vanderhorst said that the songs definitely changed during the recordings. “I wrote them spending hours in my home studio during covid. I hadn’t heard the songs with the other players and instruments, so when that happened, new creative energy flowed and the songs that are on the album emerged.” Mike Valerio has played bass on nearly every film Vanderhorst has mixed and was also his neighbor for years. During the pandemic, they started texting and then exchanging rough versions of the songs and Valerio would put some bass parts to them. “In the first versions of the songs my buddy, Max sang on them because I will still working on vocal rehab and couldn’t sing more than one line without choking or coughing. As my voice strengthened with daily voice lessons, I started to sing them and started to feel more of an old Bob Dylan or Tom Waits vibe as my voice is rough and the songs sometimes become more spoken-word. After discussing this with Mike he really helped gather the players and shape the sound of the album.”
From the dreamy sounding, “Baby” to the beatnik folk tone of “Hanging On Your Door” to the fast-driving country feel of “Hillbilly Princess” Vanderhorst shows his dexterity on instruments while embracing this vocal style. “It’s one thing to learn to sing better and it’s another to literally find your voice again. When I almost lost my voice, I realized how much I had to say through song.”
He describes his music as folk, Americana, and story-telling music and the lyrics on the song, “Can’t Fall in Love With You” bear out his songwriting skills—These old shoes wear like an old lost friend | Haven’t got a thread or a stitch to mend |Old sayings true no place like home |But these walls are empty and I’m left alone. “It’s a song about feeling alone during my cancer treatments and a cheeky reflection on a relationship that had run its course.”
The title song, “Wildflower” is a fast, melodic uplifting song with a bit of a country tinge that Vanderhorst sings with Miranda Lee Richards. “It was written as a duet. I wanted it to be a love song that emphasized the different roles in a relationship and how we compliment each other and how we can each be the light in dark times. Jason (Soda) played me a video of his old band with Miranda singing and right away I fell in love with her voice. She is amazing and up for anything and came in and made the song magic.”
The album ends with “Shake Shake Shake”, a song that comes in under 2 minutes. “This was the first song I wrote when I picked the guitar back up after 20 years of working too much. I was with my fiancé walking our dog around the neighborhood and started singing it to her. It’s a very simple, cute love song and the music is a tribute to all the punk bands I loved when I was a teenager.”
Now with a post-cancer outlook on life, dedication to music and passion for songwriting, Vanderhorst hopes to empower others into finding their voice. “Anything is possible—I didn’t think I’ve ever be able to sing again let alone release a solo album. Life is short and relationships matter. Be grateful for everything that we have and pursue your passions and dreams at any age or stage in your life.”
Wildfires, floods, quarantine and isolation, protests, riots, degrading national discourse and raising children who are coming into awareness of these issues all influenced Jon Chi as he wrote the words and music to his 3rd solo album, River of Marigolds. “They’re asking so many deep questions that I simply don’t have a clean answer to. I mean, these past couple of years have ‘been a son of a bitch for nearly every one we know’, to quote Jason Isbell. And a central question on this album is how do you take struggle and adversity and turn that into hope and love?”
During these times of isolation, many people have found their sense of community strengthened and in the San Francisco Bay Area-based Chi was no exception. While incredible venues like Terrapin Crossroads (Chi was a regular there) were forced to close, Chi notes “I’m super lucky to have a slew of amazing musicians in my community. A lot of that formed at Terrapin. I met a lot of incredible players there. I have a much deeper appreciation every time I rehearse with them, or go to a recording session, and definitely every time we perform. The music community that bonded at Terrapin has been amazingly supportive during these past couple of years. They’ve really gone out of their way to show support for musicians which has been incredibly heartening. The venue is gone, but the community it created lives on.”
Chi is the former frontman for the band Rainmaker who found their fans among the jamband and world music scene. The band’s second album, Long Slow Fade, reached #2 on the jambands.com radio chart and featured Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. Chi has gone on to create two solo efforts, Just For Now (2013) and Another Rising Sun (2015) which were more focused, songwriter-style records. “I love both of those styles, and I think we blended them together really well on (River of Marigolds). I feel like we’re adding a little something new to the conversation.”
He is also a producer and engineer and has worked with a slew of well-known artists such as Galactic, Ernest Ranglin, Robben Ford, James Mercer of the Shins and the Jayhawks to name a few. Chi assembled an all-star crew to play on River of Marigolds including Dave Schools (Widespread Panic) on bass. “Seeing Widespread Panic at the Warfield in the mid-90s was a turning point for me,” he admits. “It was the first jam band show I ever went to, and it just blew my mind hearing music made in such an open and free way. I remember Dave just being a force of nature - so open and fearless.”
Chi’s friend and bandmate, Ian “Inxk” Herman also plays on the album. “A couple of years ago I went to see Inkx play drums with the Mickey Hart Band in Milwaukee. Dave (Schools) was the bassist. They started the show with just the two of them playing for several minutes and the groove was just astounding. When I wrote the song, “Bring on the Rain” the beginning of that show flashed through my mind. The stars aligned and we were able to all record together for this album. For a second I had that, ‘damn you’re THAT guy’ feeling with Dave because he had such a huge impact on me, but he’s such a generous and humble soul that it disappeared pretty quickly and we were into the songs. He brought the same openness and fearlessness to the studio and it really inspired my guitar playing.”
Chi originally had 40 songs written and chose 9 cohesive songs that ended up on River of Marigolds. “Singles definitely have a huge emphasis in music today, but the album is still my favorite art form. I wanted the songs to live well next to one another and tell a story from front to back. There had to be an emotional thread that ran through all of the songs.”
The first two songs Chi wrote for this album were “Up In Flames” and “Bring On The Rain”. “I immediately wanted to find a way to connect those two songs with a segue. The pedal steel was perfect for that because the songs are in different keys. Dave (Zirbel) added a pedal steel drone on ‘Bring on the Rain’ put the song in a somewhat tense space, which was perfect. It also gave us the chance to slide seamlessly to a different root on the next song. From there I realized that we could connect the entire back half of the record. The next few songs on the album were more related harmonically so it was easy to transition between them. Tremolo guitar, organ, and pedal steel made a really moody space for these transitions.”
The title track, “River of Marigolds” started as a folk song with acoustic guitar and vocal. “When we went to record it, on the first take, Dave played this bass melody that went along with the acoustic and I just about fell out of my chair. It was so driving but also melodic and floating. We ended up just muting the acoustic guitar for the whole song because that bass part set the tone and worked so beautifully with the guitar melody and Jeremy’s drums. It really just set the landscape for the rest of the song to come in.” Toss us a tourniquet, send us a sage / We’ve been waiting for the wind to blow the other way—these lyrics followed by a hopeful chorus is the defining message of the album. “The chorus is about understanding your place in family history, and what you’re going to do with your own strengths and struggles to set your kids up to face their own challenges. Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.”
The psychedelic, soulful sound of horns from the Bay Area’s Monophonics are added on “Got To Give The Devil His Due”. “Ryan Scott and Alex Baky came in and we didn’t have a horn arrangement. We just put the track on and started singing parts to each other and trying them out. Those two are really like one when they play,” observed Chi. “They would just sort of nod at each other and know how to fine tune each part. The horns really lifted the song.” He notes that the song is representative of how the band plays live. “The interaction that happened on the solos—where we hand it from guitar to B3 and then to lap steel, is great. Jordan and Dave’s solos are always so on point. They both have such a natural flow. It really motivates me to keep having something new to add to the mix with my guitar.”
The band has played a lot of outdoor house concerts and backyard jams to appreciative audiences during the pandemic. “We’ve been playing great shows in a safe way all over Marin County. Fans have been extremely supportive and enthusiastic. There’s a much greater level of appreciation from both the audience and musicians. My town and the wider community have really opened up their arms to us by creating unique ways to make live music happen. These new, open environments help us go deeper into our music, especially the improvisational parts.”
“This record has been a joy to make. In a way I’m sad that it’s done, but I’m excited to start the next one. Writing and recording these songs really gave me hope and positivity during these strange times we’re all going through. I hope that they have the same affect on someone else.”
Physically, Christopher Lockett is a fairly big guy who used to work as a bouncer, played sports in his youth, and can be imposing if he wants to. “No one looks at me and says, “Yeah, that man…clearly a reader,” he jokes. “You only get that if you get to know me. Or listen to the songs I’ve written.”
These songs have been described as “country for intellectuals…(written) in the style of classic artists like Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt” (LA Music Critic), and noted as having “…insightful lyrics from a journalistic minded writer” (Turnstyled Junkpiled Magazine) and “…great lines in just about every song (No Depression), while he himself has been esteemed as a “substantial and soulful songwriter” (American Songwriter). In other words, Christopher Lockett has a gift for telling stories.
At The Station is a 12-song story that pairs Lockett with producer Fernando Perdomo and mastering engineer Zach Ziskin for a second time. “Fernando is really good at working with singer-songwriters. His whole process starts with having me sing and play a scratch track of vocals and guitar live to a click track, like I was playing a solo show. We start building from there. Drums, bass, re-record acoustic guitars, then vocals and other instruments. The finished songs are definitely more listenable and drive pretty hard.”
With a low baritone voice that has some grit and gravel to it, Kris Kristofferson, Warren Zevon, and Tom Waits might first spring to mind as influences. “No one who hears me would ever think that Nanci Griffith or Kate Wolf or Emmylou Harris are influences, but they are. I’ve been listening to Emmylou, literally, my entire life. My Mom was Emmylou’s high school P.E. teacher.” Known for playing a variety of instruments that most people would not expect; Kalimba, jaw harp, Appalachian dulcimer and blues harp, he cites several Harmonica players who have also influenced him. “Elder Roma Wilson, Snooky Pryor, Sonny Terry, Jason Ricci, Adam Gussow, and DeFord Bailey—all very different players from each other. I even have a track on this album called ‘Blues for DeFord Bailey’”.
“Even though I only play harmonica on two tracks on this album, it’s far and away my strongest instrument,” he states. “My grandmother and step-grandfather taught me how to play when I was a kid. They played mostly straight harp; Irish, British Isles, and Southern folk tunes. I can play that too, and enjoy a good lonesome cowboy harmonica warble. But something just clicks with blues harp for me. I was fortunate in my past career as a journalist and photojournalist to have spent some time with Honeyboy Edwards, Johnny Shines, and Robert Junior Lockwood. All have passed on now, but they were men of the Robert Johnson era of Mississippi Delta blues.”
Lockett is an award-winning cinematographer, photographer and director whose day job requires a lot of travel. “I’ve worked on 5 continents thus far, and try to find local musicians to play with while I’m abroad. I bring home local instruments and sometimes rhythms and melodies, too. So it all gets stirred and simmered in the same gumbo pot.”
At The Station focuses on a microcosm of Lockett’s world, the mortality of his parents. The title cut is a goodbye letter to his mother who has end-stage Alzheimer’s. (His Dad died in December 2020 on the 60th anniversary of his marriage to Lockett’s mother). “Loss is a big theme. So is anger. So is love for this life, come what may,” he observes. “Short answer-mortality, joy, and the path forward through the wreckage. Long answer-I bring to this album the appreciation for being alive, and the desire to share thoughts and songs and experiences with people with more experience, energy and hope than I have had in years. This ain’t no Pollyanna hope, either. This is hard-won, looked into the abyss, came back wanting to play more music kind of hope.”
That hope infuses songs like “Whiskey for Everything” and “Wet a Line”, which celebrate being alive, while there are love songs to independent women such as “Bring Your Love On Home To Me,” and protest songs like “E Pluribus Unum” and “The Reckoning”
“The Reckoning” is the kick-off song featuring Fernando’s electric guitar and Kitten Kuroi’s vocals. “They give it much more impact than the purely acoustic demo I recorded,” he notes. “They make the song hit harder, and it needed to hit hard. It’s very much a protest song influenced by Woody Guthrie’s ‘Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)’. I saw photos of field workers harvesting the food everyone eats when it was 110F with smoke from the wildfires rising over the mountains in the background. That hit me hard. Collectively, we look the other way from the labor abuses of the agricultural industry. We call them ‘essential workers’ during the pandemic, and ‘unskilled labor’ from corner offices when placing their labor on a line item. There will be a reckoning on farm worker labor rights and the food supply chain in the is country someday. It’s long overdue.”
The aforementioned “At The Station” features Scarlet Rivera on violin. “For my Mom, I know the end is coming, and like the train of time that is speeding up in the song, I know it will be sooner than later. Spending time with someone, trying to say goodbye the best way you know how, is time well spent,” he observes. “The structure of that song is a departure for me. Writing it, the verse seemed to want to be a chorus and the chorus seemed to want to be a verse. So, I called them ‘versechoruses’ and repeated them, as I might if talking with my Mom. Scarlet Rivera’s violin is absolutely perfect for the tone and feeling we were going for on that song.”
“Blues for DeFord Bailey” tells the story of the WSM country music radio star. The highly popular radio show, “WSM Barn Dance” morphed into “The Grand Ole Opry” in 1927. Bailey had been on the air since 1926 and was popular with WSM listeners. His troubles began when he went out on the road for package tours with other popular Grand Ole Opry Stars. That’s when audiences of the Jim Crow era American South realized one of the most popular artists in the country music genre was Black. Lockett notes, “I wish more people knew his story and music. Thankfully, Ken Burns put DeFord Bailey front and center again in his 8-part documentary on Country Music. His name and music should be better known.”
The record ends with “Sweat Work”— They want your rhythm but not your blues/ Couldn’t dance a step if they stole your shoes. “It’s a little warning about people who will try to take what is good and honest and real for themselves, while leaving the messy parts for someone else. It felt like a strong, sweaty way to close out the album. The world may be an absolute mess, but still gotta dance. Onward, through the wreckage.”
Lockett prides himself on staying open to deeply resonant human experiences. “I keep reading, keep finding artists who inspire me, ask the big questions, keep learning, keep stretching. Go places that aren’t convenient. Follow where the trail leads just to see what’s around the bend. I try to write the kind of songs that I’d like to hear, that might help me or someone else through some rough times in life—no shortage of those. Having these albums out is very important to me. I don’t have kids, so they’re what I get to leave behind, I suppose. Proof that I was here, at least.”
At The Station releases on May 13th, 2022
Physically, Christopher Lockett is a fairly big guy who used to work as a bouncer, played sports in his youth, and can be imposing if he wants to. “No one looks at me and says, “Yeah, that man…clearly a reader,” he jokes. “You only get that if you get to know me. Or listen to the songs I’ve written.”
These songs have been described as “country for intellectuals…(written) in the style of classic artists like Steve Earle and Townes Van Zandt” (LA Music Critic), and noted as having “…insightful lyrics from a journalistic minded writer” (Turnstyled Junkpiled Magazine) and “…great lines in just about every song (No Depression), while he himself has been esteemed as a “substantial and soulful songwriter” (American Songwriter). In other words, Christopher Lockett has a gift for telling stories.
At The Station is a 12-song story that pairs Lockett with producer Fernando Perdomo and mastering engineer Zach Ziskin for a second time. “Fernando is really good at working with singer-songwriters. His whole process starts with having me sing and play a scratch track of vocals and guitar live to a click track, like I was playing a solo show. We start building from there. Drums, bass, re-record acoustic guitars, then vocals and other instruments. The finished songs are definitely more listenable and drive pretty hard.”
With a low baritone voice that has some grit and gravel to it, Kris Kristofferson, Warren Zevon, and Tom Waits might first spring to mind as influences. “No one who hears me would ever think that Nanci Griffith or Kate Wolf or Emmylou Harris are influences, but they are. I’ve been listening to Emmylou, literally, my entire life. My Mom was Emmylou’s high school P.E. teacher.” Known for playing a variety of instruments that most people would not expect; Kalimba, jaw harp, Appalachian dulcimer and blues harp, he cites several Harmonica players who have also influenced him. “Elder Roma Wilson, Snooky Pryor, Sonny Terry, Jason Ricci, Adam Gussow, and DeFord Bailey—all very different players from each other. I even have a track on this album called ‘Blues for DeFord Bailey’”.
“Even though I only play harmonica on two tracks on this album, it’s far and away my strongest instrument,” he states. “My grandmother and step-grandfather taught me how to play when I was a kid. They played mostly straight harp; Irish, British Isles, and Southern folk tunes. I can play that too, and enjoy a good lonesome cowboy harmonica warble. But something just clicks with blues harp for me. I was fortunate in my past career as a journalist and photojournalist to have spent some time with Honeyboy Edwards, Johnny Shines, and Robert Junior Lockwood. All have passed on now, but they were men of the Robert Johnson era of Mississippi Delta blues.”
Lockett is an award-winning cinematographer, photographer and director whose day job requires a lot of travel. “I’ve worked on 5 continents thus far, and try to find local musicians to play with while I’m abroad. I bring home local instruments and sometimes rhythms and melodies, too. So it all gets stirred and simmered in the same gumbo pot.”
At The Station focuses on a microcosm of Lockett’s world, the mortality of his parents. The title cut is a goodbye letter to his mother who has end-stage Alzheimer’s. (His Dad died in December 2020 on the 60th anniversary of his marriage to Lockett’s mother). “Loss is a big theme. So is anger. So is love for this life, come what may,” he observes. “Short answer-mortality, joy, and the path forward through the wreckage. Long answer-I bring to this album the appreciation for being alive, and the desire to share thoughts and songs and experiences with people with more experience, energy and hope than I have had in years. This ain’t no Pollyanna hope, either. This is hard-won, looked into the abyss, came back wanting to play more music kind of hope.”
That hope infuses songs like “Whiskey for Everything” and “Wet a Line”, which celebrate being alive, while there are love songs to independent women such as “Bring Your Love On Home To Me,” and protest songs like “E Pluribus Unum” and “The Reckoning”.
“The Reckoning” is the kick-off song featuring Fernando’s electric guitar and Kitten Kuroi’s vocals. “They give it much more impact than the purely acoustic demo I recorded,” he notes. “They make the song hit harder, and it needed to hit hard. It’s very much a protest song influenced by Woody Guthrie’s ‘Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)’. I saw photos of field workers harvesting the food everyone eats when it was 110F with smoke from the wildfires rising over the mountains in the background. That hit me hard. Collectively, we look the other way from the labor abuses of the agricultural industry. We call them ‘essential workers’ during the pandemic, and ‘unskilled labor’ from corner offices when placing their labor on a line item. There will be a reckoning on farm worker labor rights and the food supply chain in the is country someday. It’s long overdue.”
The aforementioned “At The Station” features Scarlet Rivera on violin. “For my Mom, I know the end is coming, and like the train of time that is speeding up in the song, I know it will be sooner than later. Spending time with someone, trying to say goodbye the best way you know how, is time well spent,” he observes. “The structure of that song is a departure for me. Writing it, the verse seemed to want to be a chorus and the chorus seemed to want to be a verse. So, I called them ‘versechoruses’ and repeated them, as I might if talking with my Mom. Scarlet Rivera’s violin is absolutely perfect for the tone and feeling we were going for on that song.”
“Blues for DeFord Bailey” tells the story of the WSM country music radio star. The highly popular radio show, “WSM Barn Dance” morphed into “The Grand Ole Opry” in 1927. Bailey had been on the air since 1926 and was popular with WSM listeners. His troubles began when he went out on the road for package tours with other popular Grand Ole Opry Stars. That’s when audiences of the Jim Crow era American South realized one of the most popular artists in the country music genre was Black. Lockett notes, “I wish more people knew his story and music. Thankfully, Ken Burns put DeFord Bailey front and center again in his 8-part documentary on Country Music. His name and music should be better known.”
The record ends with “Sweat Work”— They want your rhythm but not your blues/ Couldn’t dance a step if they stole your shoes. “It’s a little warning about people who will try to take what is good and honest and real for themselves, while leaving the messy parts for someone else. It felt like a strong, sweaty way to close out the album. The world may be an absolute mess, but still gotta dance. Onward, through the wreckage.”
Lockett prides himself on staying open to deeply resonant human experiences. “I keep reading, keep finding artists who inspire me, ask the big questions, keep learning, keep stretching. Go places that aren’t convenient. Follow where the trail leads just to see what’s around the bend. I try to write the kind of songs that I’d like to hear, that might help me or someone else through some rough times in life—no shortage of those. Having these albums out is very important to me. I don’t have kids, so they’re what I get to leave behind, I suppose. Proof that I was here, at least.”
At The Station releases on May 13th, 2022
Pianist Rusty Tinder’s passion for country music took a bit of a winding road starting in Pullman, WA—piano at six, Choir at fourteen, a short stint with opera in college (music degree from Washington State), and several midwest-based jazz bands—before fate intervened.
Moving back to the West Coast, circumstances took Tinder on tour with his friend Doug Cameron’s alt-country band, Stranger Neighbor for six months. He realized this sound’s melodic nature was perfect to play on the piano and also fit the way he was feeling. Once back in Los Angeles, Tinder played piano for the country rock outfit, Von Cotton for eight years, playing originals and covering the likes of Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and George Straight, which officially hooked him on country music.
Tinder counts becoming a dad as one of the milestones in his life and also a motivation for making his own music. “I’ve thought, ‘What kind of legacy do I want to leave for me and my son? What do I want to put into this world, and what is it going to take?’” So in 2019 he stepped into the spotlight for the first time releasing, Dear To You, a deeply personal album inspired from true events of his life and what Elmore Magazine called “…good, honest medicine for the heart and soul.”
Now, in 2022, he’s co-producing with Mike Cionni and Blake English to release Alchemy Road, an 12-song Americana record with roots in folk, country and blues. “My last album was done in a rush. While I’m proud of that album and what we accomplished, there is a noticeable difference between Dear To You and Alchemy Road because of the time we spent in pre-production figuring out how each song could be its best. Going into the recording process, we said we wouldn’t finish the record until each song found its best sound and vibe. I think we accomplished that.”
“Infinite Grace” is a lead up instrumental piece to “Let Me Be Found” and is influenced by Tinder’s meditation and affinity for East Indian music. He learned to play harmonium for these songs. “It’s such an amazing instrument that has a bellow and can be a stream of sound,” he explained. “It was fun learning this instrument and recording it. It brought me back to a meditative state while tracking.”
Tinder is known for his voice, his approach to the keyboard, and his songwriting. He writes from personal experience and is able to bring spiritual elements to his music without being preachy. Prime examples are “Remember Why You’re Here”, a song questioning whether he is on track in life and remembering what he came on earth to do. The title track, “Alchemy Road” captures the nature of life’s twists and turns and looks for a better tomorrow.
“Copper Penny Sun” is social commentary on the political and sociological tension in America and a warning to learn from our past. It was influenced by the smoke from California wild fires blocking out the sun and resembling what he thought was a copper penny. The producers brought a lot of orchestral elements to the song creating a choir out of Tinder and Julie Pusch’s voices. They also brought in several horns including tuba. “We wanted to make it big,” said Tinder. “Along with additional percussion, it gave a dramatic sound that we felt was needed to convey the importance of the message.”
The album was recorded in July of last year during quarantine. Tinder had made demos of most of the songs which he was able to send to all of the musicians to learn at home before coming in to record. “People at that time, pre-vaccine, were very wary to be in the same room with others that weren’t family or a very close friend in your ‘bubble’. Being that I work in the film industry, I took the playbook from their Covid protocols and got everyone tested and we were all socially distanced while in the studio. This required a lot of trust in me and each other. Otherwise, this album wouldn’t have happened and frankly, it wouldn’t have been so special if it were under normal circumstances.”
Tinder’s co-produer Mike Cionni was also the demo engineer along with playing acoustic guitar and key background vocalist. The two took the time to dig into the arrangements and Tinder also focused on the quality of the lyrics. “We’ve been developing this relationship for the last 4 years and we went into recording Alchemy Road with an open mind, but also with a vision on the sound we wanted to create. It has a modern folk-rock approach with a cohesive Americana eclecticism.”
“I spent so much time playing for others that I wasn’t nurturing my own songs and voice,” Tinder laments. “Once I decided to go for it, I was able to hone my sound. Alchemy Road is that album. It’s the project where I really found my voice. I have been playing music for over 30 years and I finally discovered what I consider home in the music that I write, produce and perform.”
Truth & Salvage Co. are set to release their full length album Atoms Form on 10/7/22 via Blackbird Record Label / Indie AM Gold / Oakwilde Records. This is exciting news for Truth & Salvage Co. fans everywhere who've been awaiting the return of the widely loved musical brotherhood. In celebration, Truth & Salvage Co. will reunite for a two night show run, Oct. 8th & 9th 2022 at The House of Blues New Orleans Parish Room. Pre-order and ticket links are below.
A good idea is a good idea no matter when someone picks it up. So, it’s fitting that an outfit known for finding rubies in the rubble would get around to dusting off the ol’ Truth & Salvage Co. Originally formed jamming at Crane’s Hollywood Tavern in 2005, the band has been on hiatus since 2015 after releasing their second album and years of heavy touring. But, Pick Me Up, wasn’t the sophomore release originally planned.
In February 2012, the band went into the studio with producer Rob Schnapf, the intuitive, guiding hand behind Elliott Smith’s XO and Figure 8, Beck’s Mellow Gold, and standout works by Guided By Voices, Dr. Dog, The Whigs and more. Two months later, Truth & Salvage Co. emerged with a 14-song cycle - exquisitely carved, emotionally immediate, pop-savvy, country-kissed rock akin to Schnapf’s work with Smith with a vibe copacetic to Aimee Mann, 70s Beach Boys, and The Mother Hips. What it wasn’t was The Band 2.0 or a 21st century Eagles, throwback concepts that saddled Truth & Salvage Co. from the start. Management and the label rejected the record and made the band take two more swings at an album they’d accept.
After touring the self-produced Pick Me Up for two years, the six-piece, multi-singer-songwriter unit split to the four winds, starting new musical projects, founding worldwide online magic communities, teaching music at the Episcopal School of Acadiana, becoming a landscape architect, set dressing films, and more. But, Scott Kinnebrew (vocals, lead guitar), Tim Jones (vocals, guitar), Bill “Smitty” Smith (vocals, drums), Walker Young (vocals, piano), Dean Moore (bass) and Adam Grace (vocals, keyboards) never lost touch or the itch to make beautifully crafted, good time rock ‘n’ roll together.
In 2022, Truth & Salvage Co. is finally able to share the Rob Schnapf produced album, Atoms Form, with single tracks releasing regularly on all streaming services starting July 22nd with "Charm City". Atoms Form releases on 10/7/22 via Blackbird Record Label / Indie AM Gold /Oakwilde Records. Additionally, the band will reunite for some special concerts in the Fall with two nights at The House of Blues New Orleans Parish Room on Oct. 8th & 9th, 2022.
“They wanted us to make The Black Crowes meets The Band meets The Lumineers record,” says Jones, “which sounds awesome! But, we weren't there.”
“Rob was super meticulous. Every second of a song was precious and timeless to him, and he treated it as such. He had a lot of input on arrangements, and he gave us all of his energy,” says Kinnebrew. “Beyond the music - for the sake of the music - he was also a coach. He helped get us out of our heads so he could get the performances he needed.”
“The best record that never was released”--
Eric Craig (Lakeshore Records)
Pre-Save/Pre-Add Link for Atoms Form: https://smithmusic.ffm.to/662582832228_truthsalvageco_atomsform
Tickets for House of Blues New Orleans October 8th: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B005CC5A1B044B4
House of Blues New Orleans October 9th: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B005CC5A1B444C2
Of the many marks of genius associated with rock n’ roll greatness, the knack for surrounding oneself with transformational talent looms especially large, with The Rolling Stones being perhaps the most notable example. Jeffrey Halford treads a poetic rootsy path on his latest release, Soul Crusade, combining a bulletproof collection of songs inspired by gospel, folk, soul, and blues, with a formidable roster of musical contributors. The result is one of Halford’s most approachable and easy-grooving. That said, don’t be fooled by the conversational veneer—this is the kind of ease made possible only through lived experience. Halford’s hard-fought musical decades have brought him to a place of supreme musical wisdom. As you dive into the album and hear for yourself the combined confidence in his writing, playing, and singing, it’s easy to understand what drew his collaborators in.
Notable guest contributors include lap slide master Bruce Kaphan (REM, Jewel, The Black Crowes, Sheryl Crow),singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Tom Heyman (Alejandro Escovedo, Chuck Prophet), and alt. blues pioneer Preacher Boy, Also Mark Karan (BobWeir). There’s some family magic afoot as well, with Jeffrey’s son and daughter Aaron and Hannah adding their skills to the mix. One familiar face in the crowd is Halford’s longtime musical partner Adam Rossi, who not only played drums and keys but also co-produced the album. “It’s basically Adam Rossi and I dialing in the feels,” said Halford. “We have 15 years of playing together so he gets it—he’s fast, creative and has an open mind.”
Seconds into the opening track, it’s immediately clear Soul Crusade is not just an album title—it’s a manifesto. “Another Skyline,” with its stately groove and plaintive melodies buffered by discreet horns and swelling organ, evokes the best of canonical roots-rocks legends such as The Band at their most gospel-inspired. The same can be said of the Al Green Esque “Walk to the River”—an early candidate for the album’s standout track. The Randy Newman, New Orleans inspired “Pie Eyed Poets Plea” is a standout. Bookending the collection is “Sad Sinking Feeling.” It’s an equally soulful composition, with a touch of that folksy “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” vibe, but the song’s easy swing also calls to mind “Harvest”-era Neil Young—a comparison that continues to hold water when listening to tracks such as “Wandering Kind” and “Pescadero.” The latter is one of Halford’s strongest vocal melodies, and if you don’t have a tear in your eye after hearing Halford rhyming “the winding road narrows” with “Pescadero,” then yours is a harder heart than most.
“This album explores dimensional love and the crazy times we live in,” Halford explains. “It started with some social issues that were bothering me and then moved to relationships which I feel is hard to write about.” An example is the song, “Sad Sinking Feeling”. “This was written in Boston. I had just left my son and it was a beautiful night. The song just came to me: In the fall/the falling leaves/drift through the trees/ my hearts on sleeve, I get that sad sinking feeling when you leave. As Hemingway once said, ‘write what’s true’. I experienced the same feeling after reuniting with another friend not seen for 20 years. Vulnerability is a new territory for me.”
Known for good stories and songs, Halford also surrounds himself with talented musicians who don’t worry too much about technical details of music. “Music is more about feel to me than technicalities.” Over the last 30 years Halford has been touring with his band, The Healers sharing bills with some of music’s most acclaimed artists and songwriters-as well as Halford’s influences-such as Taj Mahal, Los Lobos, George Thorogood, Greg Allman, Etta James, John Hammond, and Texas Greats Augie Meyers, Guy Clark and Robert Earl Keen.
Fans who’ve been following Jeffrey Halford through his many musical decades won’t be surprised at the maturity and mastery on display throughout this impeccable collection of soulful folk-rock. He’s been building toward this kind of work his entire career, and there’s a deep pleasure in experiencing a master working at the peak of his power. For those new to the man and his music, you can look forward to discovering one of the great troubadours working in the Americana tradition.
European Tour Dates: (more to be added)
Thursday, October 13, 2022 Homburg (Saar) Denmark Mandy’s Lounge
Thursday, October 20, 2022 Hamburg Denmark Club am Donnerstag
Friday, October 21, 2022 Norderstedt Denmark MusicStar (supporting Krissy Matthews)
Saturday, October 22, 2022 Utrecht Netherlands Ramblin’ Roots Festival
Monday, October 24, 2022 Lint Belgium Groot Verzet
Saturday, October 29, 2022 Vernal Netherlands Hove Blues Festival
Sunday, October 30, 2022 Ruischerbrug, Zuidwolde en Thesinge Netherlands Meziek mit Bus Festival
Truth & Salvage Co. are set to release their full length album Atoms Form on 10/7/22 via Blackbird Record Label / Indie AM Gold / Oakwilde Records. This is exciting news for Truth & Salvage Co. fans everywhere who've been awaiting the return of the widely loved musical brotherhood. In celebration, Truth & Salvage Co. will reunite for a two night show run, Oct. 8th & 9th 2022 at The House of Blues New Orleans Parish Room. Pre-order and ticket links are below.
A good idea is a good idea no matter when someone picks it up. So, it’s fitting that an outfit known for finding rubies in the rubble would get around to dusting off the ol’ Truth & Salvage Co. Originally formed jamming at Crane’s Hollywood Tavern in 2005, the band has been on hiatus since 2015 after releasing their second album and years of heavy touring. But, Pick Me Up, wasn’t the sophomore release originally planned.
In February 2012, the band went into the studio with producer Rob Schnapf, the intuitive, guiding hand behind Elliott Smith’s XO and Figure 8, Beck’s Mellow Gold, and standout works by Guided By Voices, Dr. Dog, The Whigs and more. Two months later, Truth & Salvage Co. emerged with a 14-song cycle - exquisitely carved, emotionally immediate, pop-savvy, country-kissed rock akin to Schnapf’s work with Smith with a vibe copacetic to Aimee Mann, 70s Beach Boys, and The Mother Hips. What it wasn’t was The Band 2.0 or a 21st century Eagles, throwback concepts that saddled Truth & Salvage Co. from the start. Management and the label rejected the record and made the band take two more swings at an album they’d accept.
After touring the self-produced Pick Me Up for two years, the six-piece, multi-singer-songwriter unit split to the four winds, starting new musical projects, founding worldwide online magic communities, teaching music at the Episcopal School of Acadiana, becoming a landscape architect, set dressing films, and more. But, Scott Kinnebrew (vocals, lead guitar), Tim Jones (vocals, guitar), Bill “Smitty” Smith (vocals, drums), Walker Young (vocals, piano), Dean Moore (bass) and Adam Grace (vocals, keyboards) never lost touch or the itch to make beautifully crafted, good time rock ‘n’ roll together.
In 2022, Truth & Salvage Co. is finally able to share the Rob Schnapf produced album, Atoms Form, with single tracks releasing regularly on all streaming services starting July 22nd with "Charm City". Atoms Form releases on 10/7/22 via Blackbird Record Label / Indie AM Gold /Oakwilde Records. Additionally, the band will reunite for some special concerts in the Fall with two nights at The House of Blues New Orleans Parish Room on Oct. 8th & 9th, 2022.
“They wanted us to make The Black Crowes meets The Band meets The Lumineers record,” says Jones, “which sounds awesome! But, we weren't there.”
“Rob was super meticulous. Every second of a song was precious and timeless to him, and he treated it as such. He had a lot of input on arrangements, and he gave us all of his energy,” says Kinnebrew. “Beyond the music - for the sake of the music - he was also a coach. He helped get us out of our heads so he could get the performances he needed.”
“The best record that never was released”--
Eric Craig (Lakeshore Records)
Pre-Save/Pre-Add Link for Atoms Form: https://smithmusic.ffm.to/662582832228_truthsalvageco_atomsform
Tickets for House of Blues New Orleans October 8th: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B005CC5A1B044B4
House of Blues New Orleans October 9th: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B005CC5A1B444C2
"One of my favorite 45s as a kid was the double A side of "I Get Around" and "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys. Their sound and energy stayed with me throughout the years. The recording of "Summer in a Bottle" was built starting with vocal and piano and Don Heffington on drums. I brought in Scott Babcock for percussion and timpani. One thing led to another and Carol Kaye (who played bass on "Good Vibrations") came in and overdubbed bass. Engineer Jeff Peters (who had worked with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys in the studio and doing live sound) was brought in for final overdubs and mixing. The sessions were a blast, and I hope you enjoy the taste and sound of "Summer in a Bottle."' — Marvin Etzioni
Marvin Etzioni was a founding member of Geffen recording artist Lone Justice. Omnivore Recordings released three Lone Justice albums produced by Etzioni in 1983 to astonishing national reviews.
Lone Justice will be included in the forthcoming exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, alongside the Byrds, the Eagles and others. Etzioni is currently in the studio producing the forthcoming album by LJ.
He is also in the studio with Willie Aron (The Balancing Act) finishing the second album by their power duo, Thee Holy Brothers.
Regional Records is finally preparing the release of the forthcoming album "Memories to Burn" by The Williams Brothers (their first release in 28 years). The Williams Brothers recorded three albums for Warner Brothers and had a hit with "Can't Cry Hard Enough" written by David Williams and Marvin Etzioni. The song is also in the Library of Congress.
In addition, the 30th Anniversary edition of Etzioni's debut album "The Mandolin Man" is in the works and will include five bonus tracks
Etzioni has also worked with Judy Collins/Stephen Stills, Toad the Wet Sprocket, T Bone Burnett, Dixie Chicks, Cheap Trick, Voice of the Beehive, Counting Crows and more.
Since the age of 16, singer-songwriter Ryan Traster has written songs and performed live. He has played in 'buzzy' bands in front of thousands of people as well as empty dive bars with a bored sound guy. “I’ve recorded in rad studios with incredible producers and I’ve recorded in a shitty apartment on a 4-track. For me it’s always been about saying yes to music and having too much respect for the craft to think of it as a hobby. I approach every project with equal passion and drive, and I think this has allowed me to grow in a forward direction and take a lot out of all the disparate experiences I’ve had in the industry.”
Low Mirada will be released on September 30th of this year on Los Angeles-based Blackbird Record Label. It was recorded by Kris Johnson at Flowers Studio in Minneapolis, MN, mostly with a live band, which gives this effort a more urgent velocity than previous records. It also features keyboards and mixing by Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, The Decemberists, Pinegrove).
Traster’s core band has been playing together since 2011. Michael McGarthwaite (guitar), Pete Anderson (drums), Nick Johnson (bass), and Andy Holmaas (guitar). “We hadn’t been able to hang much over the pandemic and were still masked up and in different rooms while tracking this thing. We cut all of the basic tracks in about a day and a half. It just really flew by. There was a lot of freedom to just stretch out and do what came naturally.”
Noting that they brought in Chris Walla after the sessions, Traster adds, “We’ve all been long time admirers of his work. I’ve always loved the way he brings this textural presence to the stuff he works on, while leaving the songs all the room they need to breathe. I think his work on this album really pushed it out much further into the galaxy than my vision would have allowed. But it was a gentle push, and just the thing that was needed.”
Low Mirada opens with “The Night’s Got You”, a mid-tempo number with guitars that oscillate seamlessly from jangle to fuzz, and a slacker vocal delivery that sounds erudite and dreamy all at once. Moving to the second track, Chris Walla described Traster's "Nouveau Frisson, Amen" in the following way, "It's fucking impossible to express ennui in a sweet, magnetic, sociable, engaging manner but somehow you've done it."
After a buoyant start, the record moves into duskier territory toward the middle, with songs like "Seventh Daughter" written with Anthony Portz and "One Click Salvation", which is a meditation on how we seek fixation in technology when we should be focusing on the human elements that break us.
“It's All About Her” is another co-write, this time with Willie Wisely while hanging out in his former Laurel Canyon home. Traster slows it down on the closing track, “Home Again,” while also showing us what he’s best at: stories that sit with you like half-memories and half-dreams, wrapped up and delivered in effortless grooves and smartly cool croons.
Flower Studios was founded and operated by one of Traster’s mentors and a hero; the late Ed Ackerson. “It’s an absolute Mecca for vintage gear. Ed’s taste and curation of the place was second to none,” he observes. “Sonically, the big shift was the heavy usage of Rickenbacker’s, both six and twelve-string. We usually rely heavily on upbeat double-tracked acoustics as the core rhythm sound, it gives things a little haze. Swapping those for the Rics added an entirely new dimension to this record, it just feels a lot sharper to me. Shades of jangle and power pop goodness are all over this thing. It feels bolder and pushes the sound of the late 60s a bit and more into a decade or two later in some ways. I guess it’s our Paisley Underground record, texturally speaking.”
The songs on La Mirada were written in different regions of the country; the Pacific Northwest, Southern California, Nashville, Minneapolis, and the Netherlands. “There is a lot of geography on the album and I think bits and pieces of those places can be heard throughout,” said Traster. “There are a lot of miles in these songs, a lot of different vibrations that we tried to get to cut through the sound. With the places came a lot of interesting and incredible people and their stories. I tried to capture a bit of everything I heard and saw on the outskirts of those places, just a little ways off the beaten path. This is an album about living life on the fringe. It may not be glamorous, but there is a hell of a lot of truth out there.”
La Mirada releases on September 30th, 2022 Digital and Vinyl
The California Country Show presents their annual lineup of artists in celebration of the rich history of Americana Music at ACME Feed & Seed in downtown Nashville's Historic District. California Country Radio Show host Dave Bernal conducts interviews for ACME Radio Live.
Friday, Sept. 16th from noon to 6pm
Performers:
Chris Pierce
LadyCouch
Tim Jones & Scott Kinnebrew of Truth & Salvage Co.
Kaitlin Butts
Garrison Starr
David Newbould
Manda Mosher
Margo Cilker
Leroy From The North
Hannah Bethel
Elijah Ocean
The Contenders
Valorie Miller
*LadyCouch as House Band*
The California Country Show is produced by Americana artist and Blackbird Record Label owner Manda Mosher, Music Executive Eric Craig and Deb Morrison of Prickly Pear Presents.
Gary Van Miert’s philosophy of saying yes whenever asked to do something outside of his comfort zone has taken him to some very interesting places. Performing under the moniker, The Sensational Country Blues Wonders!, Van Miert is a singer, songwriter, musician and entertainer who specializes in Americana. “I have my own unique interpretation of American roots music—classic country from the fifties and sixties, down- home spiritual songs from the golden age of gospel, and time-honored blues numbers that go back to the greats hailing from Mississippi and Chicago.”
Combining these elements to create a “one of a kind” musical experience, his sound has recently evolved to incorporate elements of psychedelic music from the sixties into the mix. The Adventures of a Psychedelic Cowboy is an album of deeply introspective, trippy, whimsical, and spiritual songs. This collection is influenced by psychedelic art and music of the sixties, such as the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Thirteenth Floor Elevators, Peter Max and Salvador Dali. Other influences include traditional country music, Lewis Carroll, and British music hall filtered through The Kinks and The Beatles. “During Covid isolation, I spent time reflecting on my life, trying to make sense of existence, and exploring my sense of awe for the universe,” he explains. “This song cycle is the product of that inward journey.”
As the founder and leader of The Sensational Country Blues Wonders!, Gary Van Miert has been a longtime staple of the Jersey City Arts community. He tirelessly gives his talents and time to all manner of benefit concerts and church services, and has also taken the time to lead and develop an educational program that focuses on American Roots music at the Jersey City public library. For most of his life, performing music had been a hobby. “It was thrilling to go out gigging in my fifties and become a local celebrity/luminary,” he confesses. Playing hundreds of gigs in the New York and New Jersey area, his band has shared bills with national acts Marshall Crenshaw, The Smithereens, and Evan Dando.
Van Miert and The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! released their debut original record, The World Will Break Your Heart in 2020 to much national and international acclaim. Americana Highways declared that Van Miert “... brilliantly infuses classic country, blues, and gospel...” while Americana, Roots, Country, & Bluegrass Music
effused that “There’s little doubt that Gary Van Miert is a master of American roots music.” The record was written before the pandemic, but recorded during. Out of necessity, the instrumentals were recorded remotely using a service in Nashville, TN that provided Nashville session musicians with Van Miert recording his vocals at his home studio. The Adventures of a Psychedelic Cowboy was also recorded during the pandemic and used this same process. “I’ve found it a very efficient way to work,” he states. “I’ve recorded the vocals at home, which is definitely more relaxing than in a recording studio.”
The songs on The Adventures of a Psychedelic Cowboy were written during Covid isolation and are more inward- looking, nostalgic, and personal. “In between Covid variants, I was active. I had performed a number of local outdoor shows in the spring, summer, and fall months with local musicians who were available. When Covid reared its ugly head again, I retreated and began the process of writing and recording all the songs on the album. This album is my “Revolver” and “Exile on Main St.” all rolled into one! It’s got the experimental psychedelia the Beatles started incorporating into their music at that time mixed with the gospel, country, and other Americana elements the Rolling Stones utilized on Exile.”
A ten-song cycle of all original material, The Adventures of a Psychedelic Cowboy combines all of Van Miert’s influences; gospel, country, Americana, and Rock n’ Roll and layer it with experimental psychedelic elements. There are the straight-up gospels, “I’m Beginning to Live in the Light” and “God is Gonna Take Me Home”. The Country ditty, “I’m a Caterpillar” which name-checks Franz Kafka, and the rocker, “I’ve Got Memphis on My Mind”.
The cosmic elements show up with the first song, “There’s a Hole in the Fabric of My Reality”, a kaleidoscopic number about having a breakthrough in your perception of the universe and a sense of wonder about everything. Musically, this song features sitar, mellotron, and theremin to create the aural equivalent of an altered state of reality.
“Breathe” is a trippy children’s song with a New Orleans flavor, a cosmic nursery rhyme celebrating the wonders of breathing. “The Psychedelic Cowboy Song” is a mind-bending tune about the joys of exploring the cosmos without limitations. Musically, it has a chamber-pop-meets-psychedelia feel to it, enabling the listener to imagine they are floating in space. The Baroque pop, “Life is So Freaking Beautiful” is a surreal song about the nature of reality and the realization that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves.
“Music of the Spheres” is a spacey sitar-infused song about the natural harmonic tones produced by the movement of the planets. It’s based on the theory by Pythagoras and his followers in ancient Greece that celestial bodies make music. You can’t get more psychedelic than that!
Considering himself a conceptual artist with music as his medium, Van Miert continues to incorporate new and different influences into his work. “I’ve always traced music back to the source. What I do is not watered down, because I go back to the originators. Although I proudly wear my influences on my sleeve, I’ve taken the time to find my own unique voice. We’ve all been influenced by other performers, but even if you are doing other people’s songs, you need to make them your own. I’ve always stayed true to my vision of what I think my music should sound like.”
Van Miert and The Sensational Country Blues Wonders! are known for their electrifying singing and performance style. Van Miert writes original catchy songs that connect with an audience. “I also consider myself an entertainer and enjoy performing live and getting an immediate reaction from an audience.”
To quote a musician friend of Van Mierts, “Whether he’s leading a band through a concert or congregation in song at church, it’s clear that Gary Van Miert is a tireless force of nature who has and will contribute to the richness of the artistic and cultural wealth of Jersey City.” With The Adventures of a Psychedelic Cowboy, Van Miert is sure to bring that energy to the rest of the country and beyond.
Rosy Nolan is at the forefront of the current California Country scene of female singer-songwriters bringing a fresh spin on traditional country music.
Nolan delivers melancholy ballads, hymns and folk melodies with a mesmerizing rawness that sweeps up audiences. Her heartfelt vocals follow the touchstones of Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, and Dolly Parton.
Nolan’s song-writing stems from her deeply rooted upbringing in Northern California, drawing storylines from family, and heartbreak. Her songwriting has received praise from such folk giants as Steve Earle.
Stagecoach Festival 2022 saw Nolan perform with her band on The Horseshoe Stage curated by tastemaker Nikki Lane and excelling Nolan’s trajectory in the California Country scene.
Blackbird Record Label’s Eric Craig says “We are thrilled to work with Rosy on her upcoming release. It’s rare we seek out artists to join the roster. Generally speaking, artists are pitched to us one way or another. We’d caught Rosy live a few times and knew she was a perfect fit for us. Great style, attitude, vocals, performance and songs. We can’t wait to share her new record, due first half 2023.”
Tour Dates:
Thu 12.08 @reddogpioneertown Pioneertown, CA 7-9p
Fri 12.09 @thedirtydrummer Phoenix, AZ with @katiemae.az 8p
Sat 12.10 @thebisbeegrand Bisbee, AZ with @hank.topless 8-11p
Sun 12.11 @elreycourt Santa Fe, NM
Mon 12.12 @themuseumclub Flagstaff, AZ 8p
“It’s all one planet, one earth, no imaginary borders,” responds Paul Knowles when asked why his band changed their name from New American Farmers to New Earth Farmers. “Also, I think we wanted a less nationalist sounding name, ‘American’ is a bit overused and a bit jingoistic in nature. We wanted something that’s more inclusive that had nothing to do with that frame of mind.”
Lyrics, vocals, guitar, and keyboards are all contributed by Knowles, one half of the duo that fronts the band. His partner in life and music is Nicole Storto, who also contributes lyrics, vocals and guitar. They’re joined by a solid backing band that includes Nigel Twist (The Alarm) on drums, James DePrato (Chuck Prophet) on guitars, lead guitars, and lap steel, and Kevin T. White (Chuck Prophet) on bass guitar. The Good Ones Got Away is their first full record as the New Earth Farmers and the band is joined by guest artists; Alisa Rose on violin, viola, and bass violin, Melissa Phillips Deprato who sings backing vocals on “The Garden”, and Dave Zirbel who plays 2nd lead guitar on “The Garden”.
As New Earth Farmers, the band has previously released an EP in 2020, Into The Great Unknown. As New American Farmers, they released one single in 2011, “DNA”, an EP in 2011 titled, Rotation Part I, an LP in 2013, Brand New Day and in 2014, The Farmacology Sessions. From 2002-2010, Knowles and Storto released 4 studio albums as Mars Arizona working with several guest musicians such as; Kenny Aronoff (John Mellencamp), David Grisman, Al Perkins, and Billy Block.
During the pandemic, Knowles and Storto were offered some studio time up in Napa Valley, CA at Peter Craft’s studio, Boxer Lodge. “Lockdown was over and we were tired of hanging around the house and thought it would be a good time to socialize with these great musicians that we have the good fortune to work with,” said Knowles. “I had lots of ideas I kept on my iPhone, where I would sit around and play guitar and record snippets of things. From the snippets, I made home demos and sent them around to the musicians.” The band spent a weekend at Craft’s place in Napa, spending 6 hours a day tracking live. “Peter and his wife would then put a meal together and we would all sit down for several hours eating, socializing, telling stories and listening to Nigel’s stories about his days with The Alarm. Always a good time. It felt communal and we felt blessed to have the experience.”
The Good Ones Got Away is self-produced on the band’s own OneLipLuca label, with Craft helping out with production while at Boxer Lodge. Two of the songs, “Oh, Mary” and “Temporary Road” were both written after the Napa sessions and were tracked back in Berkeley, CA. Vocal tracking and some guitar overdubs were finished at their home studio, Cosmic Garage.
The record takes its name from the song, “The Universe is Hiding”. Knowles explains, “It’s about the longing for a connection to something other than human beings on this planet. It observes how flawed we are at times and the thought behind that was maybe the super intelligent and super enlightened forms of life that might be out there in the universe are simply hiding from us, because they know what we’re up to.”
As promised, the music on the album leans into rock and roll more than previous collections. “My Dog God” starts quietly, with strummed acoustic guitar chords and Knowles’ vocal describing some people who use religion as an excuse for their authoritarian behavior. Storto joins on the uplifting chorus, as DePrato drops a guitar solo that’s equal parts metal and blues. The band takes off on “The Garden,” a dystopian vision recorded live at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Originally on The Farmacology Sessions, this version features shredding electric guitar solos from DePrato and guest artist Dave Zirbel.
Knowles pays tribute to his self-taught piano playing grandfather on ”Judgement Day,” an upbeat rocker that equates salvation with music making. Storto and Knowles belt out the lyric, with Twist’s backbeat and DePrato’s howling guitars lifting the tune to the heavens. The band cut World Party’s “Waiting Such A Long, Long Time” in 2015 after Nigel introduced the duo to his long-time friend, and writer of the song, Karl Wallinger. It’s a flat-out rocker with White’s rumbling bass, DePrato’s distorted guitar and the duo’s rowdy vocals giving the track an anthemic quality.
“I think our writing and our vocal style have become more focused as we move away from the ‘Americana’ pigeon hole,” Knowles says. “We’re more honest about who we are, more aware of our age and more aware of our culture and how divided it’s become. Hopefully, we’re erasing some imaginary borders with our thinking and our music.”
Known for lyrics that help conjure an atmosphere, their vocal sound is also unique in that the duo will switch the lead/harmony lines multiple times during a song. “We can double track the vocals in our lives shows with both of us singing the melody,” Knowles mentions. “It’s hard to tell who is doing what sometimes.”
The band is anxious to take the new songs to the stage, but still feel it's a gamble even now to play live with covid still out there. Their record release show for San Francisco Bay Area is at Make Out Room, Saturday March 25th with Tom Heyman and Whateverglades. Other live dates are TBA. “We just want the listeners to get the songs, sing along and feel that they’ve been transported out of reality or out of their troubles. We have a lot of empathy for those that are going through loss or rough times. We are here for you if you want to get away for a bit.”
The Good Ones Got Away releases on Friday, March 3rd, 2023.
Fun. Excitement. Urgency. This is what powers Ben Bostick’s explosive new release, The Rascal is Back. “My last two albums were subdued, and I really wanted to make a big, loud, fun record that would be fun to play live.”
The Rascal is Back is Bostick’s fifth studio album. His self-titled debut came out in 2017, a mere 6 years ago, and was quickly followed by the brimstone-fueled Hellfire (2018). In February 2020, Bostick welcomed his second daughter into the world. That April the pensive Among the Faceless Crowd (2020) was released in the midst of the pandemic. In July of that same year, his eldest daughter was diagnosed with Rett syndrome, a rare and severe genetic disorder that affects all aspects of her life. In the midst of global and personal adversity, Bostick abandoned an album of portraits to pen a collection of love songs to help his wife and him endure. The songs on Grown Up Love (2021) are born from the experiences of a couple that has been through fire.
Now in 2023, Bostick is releasing The Rascal is Back. “The last album was all heavy, heartfelt love songs born out of personal trials. This new album is light, fun, and full of energy!” Bostick not only recorded The Rascal is Back in 2022, but he also continued to perform live. A stalwart of Georgia’s live music scene, he’s an artist who plays around 250 + shows a year. “I played 30 shows and recorded this album all in September. I put out a few singles early in the year—the most popular of which was my cover of ‘Stand By Me.’ More and more people are listening on streaming services every year—85,000 listeners and half a million streams in 2022 on Spotify alone, which is amazing to me!”
The Rascal is Back is a collection of original tunes that are staples of his live repertoire. “Several of these songs were written years ago, and although I’ve always loved them and have been playing them live, they never found a thematic home on a previous album.” Bostick didn’t set out to create a nostalgia-hued collection of songs, but he thinks that’s what he ended up with. “This album gives me the feeling of riding in the backseat of my mom’s car when I was 8 years old in 1991 listening to Mellencamp, Springsteen, and the pop country of the 80s and 90s.”
For the twangy title song from The Rascal is Back, Bostick adopts a persona similar to the one on Hellfire. “The song kicks off with a telecaster playing a fanfare similar to the famous Rocky theme music, only a redneck version. Instead of an underdog boxer, imagine a goofy redneck barfly. The lyrics to this one are full country goofball mode, somewhat similar to Bobby Bare’s funny songs and clever wordplay and imagery. I always liked that country music is accepting of funny songs, without them being novelties.”
There are several layers of musical influences throughout the album, even though it is heavily shaped by country music. The album moves from the anthemic, nostalgic “My Sister & Me” to the heartland rockers, “Big Train” and “Iowa Girl” to the punk/ska sounding song, “I Don’t Care” which Bostick claims originated with the phrase, “too cool for school and too dumb to get a job” from Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
Bostick says that “Strange Duck” was not an easy one for the band to play and therefore dubbed it “Zappa Country.” “Musically, things are a little quirky, in order to give an otherwise straight ahead country song a charming limp and crooked smile. There is quite a lot of chromaticism, tricky rhythmic parts, stop time sections, and other musical devices to keep thing unpredictable.”
Ending with “I Remember Easy Street,” Bostick’s idea behind this production was to treat it as if people were slowly joining in a late night bar jam, one instrument joining at a time, “until the entire bar crowd of sad old drunks joins in at the end.”
And those doing the actual jamming include Bostick’s friend and longtime collaborator, Kyle LaLone, who lends guitar to the album. “This is our third album together,” states Bostick. “I was looking around Atlanta for someone who played like him, then I got the bright idea to see if he was available and flew him out from L.A.” Also returning is drummer Jack Jones, who played on Bostick's last album, Grown Up Love. “I originally found Jack on Rick Beato’s YouTube channel, where he would do all of the drum demos when Rick was doing a video about drums. I knew Rick lived in Atlanta, so I called up Jack and here we are, two albums later. I love that guy.”
Bostick asked Jones who he thought would be a great bass player for this project because he knew the rhythm section needed to be a unit. Jones brought in Cass Faulconer. “She’s also a good singer!” exclaimed Bostick. “So lots of the female vocals you hear in the background are hers. On an interesting note, she was a member of the Cirque du Soleil touring band for the better part of a decade.”
Neal Wauchope played keys in place of his brother Matt, who came down sick the day before the recording session. “Neal is a true pro. He had never heard the songs or even played country music before, so that makes his performances on the honky tonk songs really impressive. He just killed it,” states Bostick.
Veteran rocker Jason Scheff sings harmonies and background vocals on the record. “This is a great story,” said Bostick. “I called Nashville pro Wes Hightower to sing harmonies, but he wasn’t available. He recommended his friend Jason, who he assured me was also a real pro. I called Jason, told him about the project and asked him if he was interested. I then asked him if there was some music online where I could hear something he sang on. ‘You ever hear of the band, Chicago? I was in Chicago for 35 years and I’ve sung who knows how many Billboard hits.’ Long story short, Jason replaced Peter Cetera as Chicago’s bass player in the 80s. He’s also the lead singer on ‘Will You Still Love Me’ which is one of the great soft rock power ballads of the decade, and I remember listening to it in the backseat of my mom’s car. So Jason sang on this record, and in the process we’ve become great friends.”
Bostick says that The Rascal is Back is meant to be played in the car on long trips. “That’s what it’s designed for. To get you going and keep you moving. Put it on in the morning to wake you up, in the gym to pump you up, and at a party to keep the mood up.”
Bostick is a self-proclaimed experimenter who’s not intent on finding “his sound” and sticking to it. “I just follow my curiosity wherever it leads. If something strikes me as interesting, that’s where I’m going, regardless of any other consideration.” Fellow ramblers, gypsies, and gadabouts are welcome. “If people are interested in seeing where my curiosity leads me, then jump aboard!”]
The Rascal is Back releases on April 14th, 2023.
Quantum mechanics and country music don’t usually go hand-in-hand, but Jill Rogers and Crying Time aren’t your typical country music players. Singer Jill Rogers explains the title track, “Many Worlds Theory” - “There’s an idea in quantum mechanics that at any decision point where more than one outcome is available, all the outcomes happen in worlds that exist in parallel.” In the song, the narrator muses about what might have happened if a night at the local bar had gone differently, or if she and her now-gone romantic partner had made different vacation plans, or if she had just kept her thoughts to herself. That song and its central idea, the multitude of what-could-have-been narratives, serve as a lens for the other songs on the album - that they’re all possibilities in some world or another.
The band is a stalwart of the Bay Area’s vibrant country music scene. They’ve been working together for 10 years, rehearsing weekly to perfect the band chemistry and refine their sound. All of the band members are steeped in vintage country recordings, and have spent years absorbing the sounds, songwriting, and stylistic conventions of the genre. These influences come through in their original songs, which sound familiar and true to the still-beating heart of classic country, but without indulging in worn-out clichés
Known on the scene as being a musicians’ band, they boast a rock solid rhythm section that swings hard but also plays with great restraint. Drummer Tim Rowe and lead guitar player Myles Boisen have roots in experimental and improvised music. Boisen also has decades of experience as a session musician and record producer in all styles of music. Meanwhile, Rowe broadened his musical career with graduate studies focused on U.S. popular music, concentrating on mid 20th century country music. Bass player Russell Kiel has played in local bands for years, and is a highly sought-after player. He received an education in bluegrass, folk, swing, country music doing sound at the Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse, one of the west’s go-to venues for touring roots musicians. Violinist Tony Marcus is a veteran of the Bay Area scene and has played with everyone who’s anyone on the western swing and folk circuit, including The Cheap Suit Serenaders, R. Crumb’s retro string band. Rogers is known for her flawless voice, the emotional depths she reaches, and the style and inflection she brings from her work in jazz.
The band’s original songs push the country genre beyond its three-chord roots, with lyrics that speak plainly about complex emotional ground. The album kickoff, ”Bird Song," describes the feeling of being trapped in a dying relationship, while something completely different is possible just outside the window. Isn’t it lovely when the bluebird sings /Telling me sweetly how to spread my wings /It’ll be better now she’s promising/Open your heart to what tomorrow brings.
Rogers wrote most of the 13 songs on the album, with Boisen contributing a lively polka (“I Only Cry When I’m Drinkin’”), and Marcus offering up a western swing instrumental (“Devil in the Details”). There’s also a bluegrass cover from Del McCoury, “More Often Than Once In A While," and a lesser known Willie Nelson cover, “You Left Me A Long Time Ago” that the band turns into a Tex-Mex number.
“The Mess (That Used To Be Me)” was released as a single in 2019, but the version on this album is grittier with a dirtier guitar and more abandon. Rogers tells us “Speedwell” grew from a small, finger-picked acoustic guitar number into a more fully realized piece, hauntingly moody with layered acoustic, electric, 12-string and pedal steel guitar tracks. The band invited some guest players (see below) and the addition of horns to “Tears, Time, and Ink” nudges the song into Muscle Shoals-style soul territory, while the mariachi trumpets on “I Only Cry When I’m Drinkin’” nod to the influence of Mexican music in California country music.
Many Worlds Theory is the band’s fifth album. Earlier releases include Ten Golden Hits (2015), Linda (2016), Last Saturday Night (2018), and King George (2019), a tribute to George Jones that features vocals from other Bay Area luminaries (Maurice Tani, Joe Rut, Val Esway) and pedal steel work by pioneering player Bobby Black. Many Worlds Theorywas recorded and mixed by Boisen at Guerrilla Recording, the studio he has run for the past thirty years. He also mastered the album at his Headless Buddha Mastering Lab.
“The making of this album stretched over six months and was the source of the worst fights we’ve ever had as a band!” shared Rogers. “We fought about the level of the vocals, Tony’s violin parts, the cover art—you name it. I think we’re okay now, but I don’t think we have enough perspective yet to look back fondly at its making. But it’s a damn good record.” Marcus adds, “Recording an album can be stressful. Having a resident recording engineer as lead guitarist kept everything more relaxed, which encourages more risk taking. I’ve really enjoyed playing on Jill’s new songs, which venture into different and interesting musical directions for the band.”
Not only was the band in-studio recording Many Worlds Theory, but they also ventured back out into the world for gigs. Recalling their first show after the lock-down phase (May 2021), Rogers describes the impassioned relationship between artists and fans. “It was at an outdoor venue that had been created during the previous few months. Our show was the second in a series (John Doe was the first). The place was filled to capacity-a couple hundred masked people. This was the first show most of them had been to in over a year. They were as starved for live music as we had been to play. Many of them came up to talk to us afterwards, nearly in tears. It was really moving - a testament to live music and that exchange of energy that happens between performers and audience.”
With vocals strongly influenced by singers from the 70’s, adventurous guitar playing, in-the-pocket bass, drums that drive the sound, and fiddle work described as “containing the whole history of American music," Jill Rogers and Crying Time bring a wealth of experience in performing and recording, and together they produce tightly woven, spry and energetic sets that turn heads and keep audiences enthralled.
In Many Worlds Theory, the band stretches the limits of country music with complex lyrical ideas and broad chord structures, making it a spacious and masterful album.
In 2019, John Surge and the Haymakers released Your Wonderful Life. In early 2021, having written nothing in 2020, Surge made it a goal to write two songs a week for three months. 17 songs later, he knew it was time to record another album.
“Years ago I heard Sunny Sweeney’s ‘East Texas Pines’ on the radio and I jotted it down,” Surge recalls. “I really liked the sound of the production. I was going through some old notebooks around the time I was writing songs for the album and there was the note. I tracked it down to Tommy Detamore and realized he also produced albums for Jim Lauderdale, Doug Sahm and the latest Jesse Daniel record, which I also loved. I made the decision right then to get in touch with Tommy, and he was up for the job.”
Surge enlisted his partner-in-crime Randy Volin from the live Haymakers line-up to make the trip to Floresville, Texas to cut the record with Detamore. “Much to my hesitancy, Randy talked me into driving the 1,400 miles with eight of his vintage guitars, some amps and a stock of Modelo beer. That first night we stayed at one of three ‘Worst’ Westerns on the trip— I’m a Platinum member,” Surge puns. “Of course, we had to unload all that gear every motel stop. It looked like we were setting up a music shop in the motel rooms.”
Calling them the “Austin Haymakers," Surge and Detamore assembled an amazing band to bring life to what were mostly voice memo demos: drummer Tom Lewis, bass player Brad Fordham, and piano legend Floyd Domino. Through Detamore’s relationship, noted western swing singer-songwriter Brennen Leigh was enlisted to provide harmony on 9 of the 10 tracks. “The pace was pretty amazing thanks to these great players,” Surge admires. “They have credits that include Merle, Waylon, Lucinda, and the Alvin brothers to name a few. And they were great to work with. We had a blast.”
Nine days later, Almost Time was born. “I would say the thread that runs through the album is barroom tales—people sharing their troubles, bragging, pontificating, revealing their vulnerabilities,” explains Surge. “As a working band, we spend a lot of time in nightspots and there’s a lot of unfiltered conversation. I had my antennae up and those moments got captured and expanded into the songs I wrote for this album.”
Almost Time consists of 10 songs: 9 originals and one cover—Chip and Tony Kinman’s “Big Train.” “It’s a song they recorded with their post Rank And File project, Blackbird and the western duo Cowboy Nation,” Surge explains. “We injected some honky tonk into the song, and then I invited Chip to play on it. We wound up doing a duet while he added harmonica and guitar. Rank And File is a big influence for me and I love honoring bands that mean a lot to me.” (On Your Wonderful Life, the band did a Beat Farmer’s cover, “Gun Sale at the Church”).
A lot of honky tonk territory is covered on this record, from the country shuffle of “You’re So Right" and the roadhouse country of “Rattle Me," to the Texas sounding “Tricks of the Trade” with Volin and Detamore playing dueling electric rhythm guitars.
“I Should Have Known” is a duet with Brennen Leigh with a crying pedal steel from Detamore and a beautiful piano solo by Floyd Domino of Asleep at the Wheel fame. “All You Gotta Do” is a co-write with friend and musician David Serby that features flat-picking guitar, fiddle, and dobro. The album ends with a 6/8 country folk song, “Sister Honeybee” that’s a tale of a free-spirited woman who follows her own path and makes honey wine.
“For this record, I wrote more material than I planned to record, and I worked and reworked songs until they got to the right place rather than just taking what came top of mind,” said Surge. “The recording was more influenced by Tommy’s production than the location. I hear this record as an evolution from the last. It’s still spirited, rockin’ roadhouse country with this album having a more traditional country instrumentation, including fiddle, more pedal steel, dobro and acoustic guitar. It’s a moment in time and only time will tell how people will react to it, but the experience is one I’ll always feel was perfect.”
Almost Time releases on Blackbird Record Label September 15, 2023
Set upon the hard scrub granite slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. Anchored in bedrock, bathed in dust, Old Californio defy easy categorization. Their country-folk tinged rock & roll; rooted, organic and expansive in spirit, traces its homegrown beginnings to a converted chicken coop garage on a forgotten street straight out of the imagination of R. Crumb. If you know, you know.
The band has released 6 albums over the course of their 16 year history; Along the Cosmic Grass (2007), Westering Again (2009), Sundrunk Angels (2011), Songs from the Sea of Cortez (2021), Old Californio Country (2022). Now with 2023’s Metaterranea, Old Californio reaffirm that they have their own vernacular to speak and a distinct tale to tell.
Led by ambling dreamer, songwriter and lead singer Rich Dembowski, whose lyrics evoke the vast rolling oak savannahs that inspire him, along with guitarist/ vocalist Woody Alplanalp, known for his inventive work with Bobby Womack, Aloe Blacc, Nels Cline, and Thomas Mapfumo, (not to mention his own solo work). Old Californio are at their heart, a conglomeration of old friends with long histories and varied pasts.
Longtime drummer/vocalist Justin Smith (Howlin Rain, The Seeds), anchors a firm rhythmic foundation, while keyboardist Jon Niemann (GospelBeach), has made a name for himself in the greater LA area as a sought after session player/arranger. Longtime bassist for the Californios, Jason Chesney (Mike Nesmith) marks his return offering an imaginative tapestry of Beach Boys-eque harmonies, while guitarist Paul Lacques (I See Hawks In LA, Chris Hillman, and Stan Ridgeway) adds his unique guitar and lap steel.
Old Californio’s lineup is again augmented by bassist Corey McCormick and drummer Anthony Logerfo both of Neil Young’s rhythm section via Lukas Nelson’s Promise of the Real. Lon Hayes and Andres Renteria contribute additional drums and percussion work respectively.
After their last release of 2022’s Old Californio Country, an album of mostly cover songs, Metaterranea marks a return to form for the band. Album opener “Old Kings Road” kicks off with the intertwining B- bender harmonies of Woody Aplanalp and Rich Dembowski. The song retraces the route of the once lost El Camino Real which runs the seam of the Golden State and is sung from the vantage point of the dive bars and old town watering holes found along the way. As Dembowski remarks: “It was the first time I really embraced the fact that Old Californio is a barroom band. But, the barroom isn’t just a bar, it’s a ritual. People actively are out there relieving their weekday. So, it's ritualistic, like religion. I wanted to speak truth to what we are, which is we're a kick ass barroom band,” he continues, “If you're listening, the lyrics are actually a little heady and we're actually singing about some heavy shit. But we don't want you to worry about that. You create these stories that are larger than life, they tell of everyday life that help you get through the week. I thought that's probably the most noble thing this band could do, is just be that.”
“Out of the folds unfolding - everything comes undone by design”, the opening line of “Come Undone” unfurls like an Origami mystery. Underpinned by Jon Niemann’s barrelhouse piano, the song speaks with an ease and familiarity which harkens back to The Band or Slim Chance. Life can be terrifying, but as Dembowski, joined here on harmony by drummer Justin Smith, explains, “And though the past has passed, it’s not behind you, The soul keeps no curfew, And where you finish everything begins, And everything else starts where you end”. It reminds us that life is for discovering, so let’s keep the wonder in mind.
“The Swerve”, along with the acoustic and understated “Timeless Things”, are companion pieces based loosely on Lucretious’ poem “On the Nature of Things”. Dembowski explains: “It speaks to the idea of we are not the center of the universe, we are particles swerving in a bigger process,” continuing, “We're made of atoms that only recycle, and we assemble into this thing that’s momentary. We’re timeless stuff given a short time before we turn back into timeless stuff. It is the idea of we're divine creatures, caught in space.”
“It’s a long and winding road we are on, I wonder where it will leave us.” “Destining Again’s” opening lyrical optimism paints a mid-tempo, country-esque picture of a future opening up before you, a journey forward in the same spirit and feel of Moby Grape’s “Ain’t That A Shame”. However, the song’s optimism is quickly belied by an inner struggle, it's not a destiny that you're waiting for, it’s what will always eternally happen. The tune opens as a simple number, sung in harmony by Dembowski and Justin Smith, buttressed by Jon Niemann’s B3 and Woody Aplanalp’s multi-faceted guitar, while Jason Chesney weaves a soaring tapestry of vocal harmonies through its end sequence.
Framed as a winsome acoustic pastoral, “Weeds (Wildflowers)", Dembowski sings of weeds as a perspective, cast out, but whimsically shrugging it off. Joined by the delicate, old-timey harmonies of Jason Chesney, the song is rounded out by Corey McCormick on upright bass and Lon Hayes on brushwork, while Woody Aplanalp’s nylon guitar flourishes and bounds through rays of optimistic sunlight.
Ragged and brash, “The Seer” is a Crazy Horse-esque stomp, opening with the line “There’s a crack in the fabric of reality through which, if you wish, you can slip”. The lyric sets the scene: we are ephemeral, temporary beings, just shades of light broken into forms, and ultimately, as sang on the chorus by Dembowski and Aplanalp, “I’m just another trick of the light, unfolding myself across time.”
“Tired For a Sea” is an acoustic and orchestral hymnal sung in baritone. Dembowski, Aplanalp and Niemann are joined by Corey McCormick on upright bass and Anthony Logerfo on drums. As Dembowski notes, “The song was originally conceived with an entirely different feel, but Corey (McCormick) came in with a bass figure that changed the nature of the tune, making it much more psychedelic. Lyrically, the idea was to keep it simple. No big words, no psychedelic stuff, just simple words that would work and describe an idea. ‘I am a river growing weary for a sea’.
A ¾ time baritone inspired in style by Fred Neil, “Just Like A Cloud” shifts between heavy dirge and amiable swing. Performed live in the studio by Aplanalp, McCormick and Logerfo, its place as the album closer is no accident. As Dembowski states on his instructions to them, “I want this to be full on jazz. I want this to be you guys expressing your musicianship. As the last lyric sings, ‘I'm going to discorporate’, you guys become all of eternity disintegrating in a jazz idiom”.
As their 6th full length release over a 16 year history, Metaterranea affirms Old Californio as a band existing in a consistent state of musical evolution. Its line-up recurring yet flexible, its sound familiar yet unexpected, its roots in earth
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To the NYE info:
New Years Eve, December 31st, 8pm / $60-$120
Jerry Knight’s River Theater, River Theater
16135 Main Street Guerneville, CA 95446
The Gang: Scott Guberman, Alex Jordan, John-Paul McLean, Sean Nelson and Jenifer Freebairn
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