Welcome to the mythic world of Son of Town Hall, the unusual union of Ben Parker of London, England, and David Berkeley of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Parker, a London-based songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist, and Berkeley, a celebrated singer/songwriter/guitarist/author/auteur, have created a buoyant narrative that transcends time and space, complete with tenement-era imaging that one can feast eyes upon in real time, should you be lucky enough to find yourself in one of their November tour markets (see below for dates).

The tour will coincide with the release of both a 45 and a 4-song EP CD, eponymously titled. Check out “Honest Man,” from the EP here: https://soundcloud.com/davidberkeley/honest-man

Says the Santa Fe New Mexican, "As Son of Town Hall, Santa Fe's David Berkeley and London's Ben Parker present themselves as a duo born of the high seas, where they traveled together on a raft, crafting harmonies and writing songs about wonder and woe. Their sound is light and plucky, purposely timeless yet anachronistic, a sort of aural steampunk.

Son Of Town Hall springboards from the story of the aforementioned two finding themselves side by side aboard a junk raft crossing the mighty Atlantic in search of new lands, new inspiration and to recover squandered fortune. It’s as if the two sailed their ship back a century or so. The presentation is at once completely transporting and utterly hilarious. Neither Berkeley, nor Parker openly acknowledge the anachronistic quality in their songs or presentation. They do, however, recognize how special their sound is. “Perhaps it was the salt spray in our beards,” Parker explains when we caught up with the two of them on the coast of Maine, “or maybe the solitude out there on the open ocean. Hell, we didn’t see another soul for the better part of a month. But we learned to sing out there. More importantly, we learned to sing together.” And sing together they do, harmonies that haven’t been heard, perhaps, since the Louvin Brothers. “You learn a lot on the high seas,” Berkeley adds. “You can’t count on a whole lot. My guitar ultimately was down to just four strings, and none stayed in tune. But we developed a blend and a sound that we knew was something special. We just had to hope that it would translate on dry land.”

In other news, Berkeley’s acclaimed album, Cardboard Boat, released last year and featuring Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek) on background vocals, has more recently been interwoven with its novel accompaniment, The Free Brontosaurus, a collection of vignettes tied to the album’s ten heartfelt tracks vis-a-vis a brilliant audiobook.

The pairing of story and song has never been done in this way before (a song for each story’s main character from the book), and it provides a uniquely cathartic experience. Lyrical references are hidden throughout the tales, and listeners will find place names and details from the stories throughout the songs. The audiobook is the perfect way to present this dual creation, as listeners will alternate between story and linked song seamlessly. The Free Brontosaurus is full of dark humor and sadness, each story a profile in loneliness and grace, and Berkeley has collected a wonderful cast of songwriters to read:  Vienna Teng, Dan Bern, Garrison Starr, Kim Taylor, Natalia Zukerman and Jono Manson; plus band mates Jordan Katz and Bill Titus; Berkeley’s wife Sarah Davis (who also sings on the album’s closing track); and Berkeley himself reads the closing story.

The overall result makes for a sort of rare auteur-issued experience, fully immersive, engaging and ultimately heartbreakingly beautiful. The book has a soundtrack. The music has a book. Look and listen.

Cardboard Boat, released on Berkeley’s own label, Straw Man, was recorded in a converted adobe near Berkeley’s home in New Mexico and features an impressive list of central musicians in addition to Watkins: trumpet and banjo player Jordan Katz (De La Soul, The Indigo Girls), guitarist Bill Titus (Dan Bern, Brother Ali), bassist/keyboard player Will Robertson (Shawn Mullins) and drummer Mathias Kunzli (Regina Spektor).

Said Popmatters’ Lee Zimmerman of Cardboard Boat, “despite its hushed essence, it’s an amazingly beautiful collection of tracks,” and No Depression’s Cara Gibney who proclaimed, “Cardboard Boat travels beyond uneasiness and separation, though those are the contexts, the potential empathies, and probable sympathies. Listen and you will find connection and much more light.” San Francisco Chronicle adds “Berkeley’s a musical poet.”

SON OF TOWN HALL SHOWS:

Thurs Nov 10 – The Lilypad (Boston)

Fri Nov 11 – Dusty Ridge (Putney, VT)

Sat Nov 12 – Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3 (NYC) – 2 shows, matinee and evening

Sun Nov 13 – Casa Phoenix (DC)

Mon Nov 14 – Bourbon and Branch (Philadelphia)

Tues Nov 15 – The Atrium (NYC)

Wed Nov 16 – Secret (Brooklyn)

Thurs Nov 17 –The Great Room (Memphis)

Fri Nov 18 –The Terrace (Nashville)

Sat Nov 19 – The Loft Series (Atlanta)

Sun Nov 20 –Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta)

DAVID BERKELEY SOLO DATES:

Sat 10/22: Cave Concert (Santa Cruz, CA)

Sun 10/23 Back Room (Berkeley, CA

Sat 12/9: Meow Wolf (Santa Fe, NM)

Railroad Earth recently revisited their acclaimed 2014 album, Last of the Outlaws, pulling together a filmed live performance augmented by a string quartet on some of their favorite cuts from the record. The Castle Inn Sessions, as it was to be called, was filmed in an idyllic turn of the century hotel in Delaware Water Gap, PA, and is now a brand new 4-song EP, premiered today with RELIX (see link in header) and is now available for release.

Featured tracks include: “All That’s Dead May Live Again/Grandfather Mountain”; “Turba Mirum”; “Last Of The Outlaws”; and “Take A Bow.” What’s more, starting today, Qello Concerts is offering the Castle Inn Sessions full video performance. Fans can visit qello.com/vip/castleinn for a beautiful RRE live music experience straight from the ballroom. Viewing is available on Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire and all connected devices.

Says the band of the setting, “The Castle Inn was built in 1906. It had a coal fired, electric generator that lit 1600 lights! It also supplied power for the entire town of Delaware Water Gap. Enrico Caruso sang there. John Phillip Sousa performed there. Boxer Gene Tunney trained for his fight against Jack Dempsey there. Big band leader Fred Waring bought it in the 1950's and based his publishing empire there.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Railroad Earth press release if we didn’t have a solid new slew of tour dates to disclose. In addition to the already announced New Year’s triple header (12/29-31) at Revolution Hall in Portland, OR, the last date of which features 2 sets and is already SOLD OUT, there are 35 upcoming RRE shows slated for 2017 that take the band to all corners and coasts straight up through April 1st. More tickets and info available here: http://www.railroadearth.com/tour. See below for a full list of dates and venues.  

Tour Dates:

12/29 Portland, OR Single Day at Revolution Hall

12/30 Portland, OR Single Day at Revolution Hall

12/31 Portland, OR Single Day at Revolution Hall

1/12 Athens, GA Georgia Theatre

1/13 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse

1/14 St. Petersburg, FL Sunshine Music Festival

1/15 Boca Raton, FL Sunshine Music Festival Amphitheater

1/20 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

1/21 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

1/22 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre

1/26 Stateline, NV Harrah’s Lake Tahoe

1/27 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

1/28 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

1/29 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

2/2 State College, PA State Theatre

2/3 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer

2/4 Port Chester, NY The Capitol Theatre

2/23 Billings, MT The Pub Station

2/24 Missoula, MT The Wilma

2/25 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot

2/26 Steamboat Spr, CO WinterWonderGrass

2/28 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

3/2 Los Angeles, CA Teragram Ballroom

3/3 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern

3/4 Solana Beach, CA Belly Up Tavern

3/5 Phoenix, AZ McDowell Mountain Music Festival

3/10 Washington DC 9:30 Club

3/11 Washington DC 9:30 Club

3/22 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room

3/23 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue

3/24 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theater

3/25 Chicago, IL The Vic Theatre

3/27 Indianapolis, IN Vogue Theatre

3/29 Memphis, TN Minglewood Hall

3/30 Nashville, TN Marathon Music Works

3/31 Birmingham, AL Iron City

4/1 New Orleans, LA Hogs For The Cause Music Festival

7/26 Floyd, VA FloydFest

Announcing the premiere of The Railsplitters’ spankin’ new video, “Lessons I’ve Learned,” The band’s Lauren Stovall says of the song, "I recorded the melody on my iPhone about a year before I wrote the song, not knowing if it would ever turn into anything. As I was flipping through the old recordings one snowy night, I realized that I had the perfect story to go along with the melody. The lyrics were inspired by one Miss. Lena Dunham whom had just released her memoir, Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned".  The band heard it just after it was finished and 3 hours later performed it in Steamboat Springs, CO. It was a hit."

The unconventional Boulder bluegrass quintet spent the better of the past year in support of their 2015 album, The Faster It Goes. The celebrated record that inspired Exclaim! to boast, "It's easy to see why this band have gotten so much attention, and this impressive sophomore album is an indication that they've got staying power, too," took cues not only from palpable luminaries of bluegrass and new country, but the ‘Splitters also idiosyncratically set a mandate to allow diffusion from other corners of the musical spectrum. Think, how does the influence of Gorillaz and Thievery Corporation ease its way into the output of the group that took first place in Rockygrass’ Best New Band Competition? Apparently, very easily.

The Railsplitters’ secret weapon is two-fold: first, the innovative imagination of banjo player Dusty Rider’s songwriting, who writes with the full band in mind, imagining entire songs in his head before they’re even heard it out loud. Second, Stovall’s powerfully distinct vocals of whose voice is as clean as Emmylou, as cutting as Allison Krauss, and carrying some of the attitude of Dolly herself. New color is brought on by the band’s newest member, Joe D'Esposito, whose New England-influenced fiddling adds new directions to the band’s sound. With masterfully executed mandolin and banjo by Peter Sharpe and Rider, well supported by upright bassist Leslie Ziegler’s innovative style.

The Railsplitters are set to perform on December 30 at the Boulder Theater, opening for Yonder Mountain String Band. The two groups will continue to share the stage in early 2017, with a number of bills confirmed for January and February (see dates below).

TOUR DATES:

Dec 30 Fri Boulder Theatre Boulder, CO

Jan 15 Sun Vaudeville Mews Des Moines, IA

Jan 17 Tues Ed's No Name Bar Winona, MN

Jan 18 Wed Elbo Room Chicago, IL

Jan 19 Thu Bluebird Nightclub Bloomington, IN

Jan 20 Fri Pageant St Louis, MO

Jan 21 Sat   Orpheum Theater Madison, WI**  

Jan 22 Sun Blue Moose Iowa City, IA**

Jan 25 Wed State Theatre State College, PA**

Jan 26 Thu Cat's Cradle Carrboro, NC**

Jan 27 Fri Music Farm Charleston, SC**

Jan 28 Sat Music Farm Columbia, SC**

Jan 29 Sun 3rd and Lindsley Nashville, TN

Feb 1 Wed Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center  Lexington, KY**  

Feb 2 Thu Madison Theater Covington, KY**

Feb 3 Fri THE ORANGE PEEL Asheville, NC**

Feb 4 Sat THE ORANGE PEEL Asheville, NC**

**supporting Yonder Mountain String Band

If you consider the current domestic atmosphere of misunderstanding, vitriol and fear, there’s no better time for folks to educate themselves and their families. And so it is with great pleasure (and relief) that we announce the March 3rd release of celebrated songwriter, Ben Lee’s aptly named new album, Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam For The Whole Family.

Says, Ben himself, “I wrote and recorded this record over the past few years, but with recent events unfolding in the US, targeting Islamic people as a broad stroke threat, I felt inspired to release this album urgently, to help remind families in the US and around the world of the peaceful messages that can be found at core of the Islamic religion.”

The artist, who began his career as a young teenager in the early 90’s in the Australian lo-fi punk band Noise Addict, infers that the 9 tracks on the album are meant to enlighten, more than anything else, “All these songs contain Islamic prayer phrases, or ideas found in the Koran, designed to inspire, comfort and help human beings become more peaceful and loving creatures.”

Ben’s spiritual and philosophical quest has been well documented on his most recent efforts, such as Deeper into Dream, Ayahuasca: Welcome to the Work and last year’s Freedom, Love & the Recuperation of the Human Mind, featuring Sara Watkins and Grant Lee Phillips, but the forthcoming album, despite being largely a children’s record, is arguably his most ambitious in terms of communicating a timely message…

“I love all religions and decided a few years ago to start making music for kids and families that would highlight the beautiful concepts and teachings found in each religion and focus on their similarities rather than differences.” Ben adds, “I am not a Muslim. I am an avid student of religion and philosophy. My experiences with different faiths have been profound and varied. I was born Jewish, studied Taoism in my 20s, had a Hindu wedding, studied esoteric Christianity and mystical Islam in my 30’s and worked closely with Tibetan Buddhist monks preserving their culture.”

From his first acoustic-driven solo album Grandpaw Would in 1995 (featuring Liz Phair), Ben’s songs have always attempted to take his most complex and existential yearnings, and compress them into sublimely catchy and melodic pop songs. This seemingly paradoxical quest has yielded some wonderful results over the years: “Cigarettes Will Kill You” from 1999’s Breathing Tornados has become a  modern Australian classic, while “Hard Drive” and “All My Life” (songs Ben wrote for Evan Dando’s existential comeback album Baby I’m Bored) were hailed by Bruce Springsteen as favorites of that year, and Q Magazine who called them "tender reflections on life, love and drug-induced folly set in soulful, country-tinged guitar pop.” But it was 2005’s Awake is the New Sleep that saw Ben get the worldwide recognition his songs deserved spawning the alterna-hit “Catch My Disease” that went Top 10 in Spain and the Netherlands and was awarded the Song of the Year ARIA award (Australian Grammy) as well as going Double Platinum in Australia. This album saw Ben tour all over the world with artists like Aimee Mann, Nickel Creek, Sara Barreilles and Dashboard Confessional.

Currently, Ben is working on the release of an album of songs co-written with Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother) under the moniker Radnor & Lee, and a musical theatre production named B is for Beer co-created with legendary American author Tom Robbins (Jitterbug Perfume, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues).

Proceeds from Ben Lee Sings Songs About Islam For The Whole Family will be going to ACLU, who are focused on preventing the current US administration legislating laws against Islamic people entering or living freely in the US.

Please enjoy this music, share it with your friends, your children, your neighbors and remember that Islam, like all true religions, is a religion of peace.

For more information, please visit https://www.ben-lee.com

Earlier in month, music fans in this town witnessed a small handful of return performances from the legendary Tripping Daisy inspiring a flurry of very deserved superlative adjectives and, we are sure, new fans.

Having not set foot in front of an audience for 18 years, post the untimely passing of guitarist Wes Berggren, remaining members, Tim DeLaughter and Mark Pirro (both founding members of the Polyphonic Spree), and drummer, Bryan Wakeland, along with Spree guitarist, Nick Earl, Brandon Curtis and Phil Karnats (Secret Machines) rose valiantly to the occasion, closing time and space to deliver a set, at once, inspired by the past and by the present.

As for the near future, well, there are more opportunities for fans to experience a repertoire of Tripping Daisy classics which includes faves like “Trip Along,” the current opener, “Our Drive To The Sun,” “Piranha,” and “I Got A Girl,” among others, when the band takes to the open road with shows slated for 6/8 Houston, 6/9 Waco, 6/10 San Antonio and 6/11 Austin, and another Dallas area show 7/7 at the NYTEX Sports Center.

DeLaughter is letting things happen organically and focusing on his love of the songs and memories to mandate what happens next.

Says Tim, “I’ve missed Tripping Daisy since the day it was done… I’ve loved it from afar. A lot of those memories shaped my life, all those good times. It was an amazing time for me.”

Tripping Daisy was more than a band; it was an exclusive club that only a select few were ever members.  Tripping Daisy had an intangible spirit that was undeniable. The band began at an open mic night back in 1990 in Dallas, TX.  From the outset it was about more than the music.  It was a high energy musical and visual spectacle.  The vivacity in the room demanded your participation at their shows.

KDGE began playing their song “Lost And Found” in heavy rotation in 1992.  1993 saw the release of Bill, their debut album. The album’s sales and notorious live shows caused the major record labels to court the band.

Ultimately Tripping Daisy signed with Chris Blackwell and Island Records. Bill was re-released and the band’s already exhaustive work ethic increased tenfold.  The band was constantly on the road.

Tripping Daisy found the time to record its second album I Am An Elastic Firecracker which spawned the hit singles like the aforementioned, “I Got A Girl” and “Piranha.”  The band continued to traverse North America and abroad. They performed twice on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, hosted MTV’s 120 Minutes, and scored a gold record in the USA and platinum in Canada.

The band took a bit more time to craft its third album Jesus Hits Like The Atom Bomb. It was critically acclaimed but criminally overlooked due to Seagram’s acquisition of Polygram/Island Records at the time. Ultimately the band were released from their recording contract as were countless acts at the time.

The band continued touring and making music independently on their label Good Records.  They released an EP that showcased their uncanny knack for improvisation entitled The Tops Off Our Head.

On October 27, 1999, Berggren passed away. Soon thereafter Tripping Daisy officially disbanded on December 14, 1999. The band was hard at work on what would be their self-titled album when Wes passed which was released posthumously in 2000.

Tim DeLaughter took a bit of time off to reflect before venturing back into music.  He started The Polyphonic Spree July 15, 2000. An innovative band that continues on to this day.  Throughout The Polyphonic Spree the band has covered Tripping Daisy live and on record.  Tim also formed a band with Phil Karnats in 2011. They recorded the Preteen Zenith album Rubble Guts & BB Eye, which exhibited the characteristics of the anthemic psychedelic rock Tripping Daisy was known for. It seemed inevitable at some point Tripping Daisy would be revisited.

Tripping Daisy and the world suffered another incredible loss when member Benjamin Curtis passed away in 2013 after battling Lymphoma. The thought of Tripping Daisy reuniting became even more of a far-fetched passing idea.

For the past few years a local promoter and superfan of Tripping Daisy, Josh Florence had pitched to Tim having Tripping Daisy be a part of his Homegrown Festival, a Dallas festival that predominantly celebrates local and Texas music.  “If it didn’t happen now, it was never, ever gonna happen. My kids and their friends have been listening to Tripping Daisy and they never got to see Tripping Daisy. I think it has a lot to do with them – why I decided to go ahead and go for it.  They kept saying dad you should do Tripping Daisy,” reflects DeLaughter.  Tim called members Phil Karnats and Mark Pirro to make sure they were on board with doing a show before committing.  Mark Pirro looked at it as opportunity “to share that spirit once again with long standing fans and transform some of the tragedy and loss we've endured into a positive, healing experience for all.” They enlisted another Tripping Daisy alumni Bryan Wakeland for the drumming duties to cover the span of Tripping Daisy’s musical output.

With Phil taking over the majority Wes’ guitar parts, they needed someone to play some of Phil’s exploratory contributions to the latter day sound of Tripping Daisy. Nick Earl one of the current guitarists in The Polyphonic Spree was the right man for the job. “I am truly honored to be a part of this, and I sincerely hope that Wes would approve of Phil and I’s interpretation of the music Tripping Daisy created,” Nick declares.

With Bryan tackling Ben’s incendiary drumming there were still a few elements needing to be filled to round out the Tripping Daisy sound. Ben’s backing vocals and Wes’ keyboards were still needing to be represented.  As those were no easy shoes to fill it took a moment to figure out but one person came to mind. Brandon Curtis, Ben’s brother who toured with Tripping Daisy as part of UFOFU and went on to play with Ben in Secret Machines post Tripping Daisy, seemed the right candidate.

“We’re friends,” DeLaughter says. “The sentiment was right. I love Brandon as a musician. I’ve been a fan of his from the get-go. The fact he is Ben’s brother kind of tied it all together. He was more than happy to jump onboard.”  The band did a preliminary set of rehearsals in March to assure the chemistry and sound were there once all six were on board. “This experience has been profound to me. I have loved being able to sing Ben's parts and trying to recreate Wes's keyboards,” interjects Curtis

"I can't say 'never' about anything anymore," he says. "Because too many things I've said would never happen are happening all the time now. There’s definitely a place for Tripping Daisy and Polyphonic and my family. You never know. I never thought this was going to happen. Yet here I am doing it. Anything’s possible. Until I figure anything else out, I just hope people enjoy the songs and have a good time, because that's really the point."

TOUR DATES:

6/8 Houston, TX Warehouse Live w/ Motorcade and Frog Hair

6/9 Waco, TX Brazos Nights w/ Quaker City Night Hawks

6/10 San Antonio, TX Paper Tiger w/ Clifffs and Pinky Swear

6/11 Austin, TX Mohawk w/ Mind Spiders and Pinky Swear

7/7 North Richland Hills, TX. NYTEX Sports Centre

KINGS THEATRE, BROOKLYN has added 2 shows to the tail end of the 2018 VULFPECK Tour, Friday 9/21 and Saturday 9/22.

tickets

Seven-time Grammy winner Beck released his fourteenth album, Hyperspace, November 22, on multiple formats including a limited silver vinyl indie exclusive edition, only at record stores.

One week later, record stores across the country will have a 3” version of Hyperspace’s first single, “Uneventful Days,” as part of their Record Store Day Black Friday celebration. It’s the latest in a diverse line-up of 3” records made specifically to play on the RSD3 mini-turntable, a collaboration between Record Store Day and Crosley Radio intended to bring a little fun to desktops, picnics and basically anywhere you want to take it. Launched on Record Store Day 2019, with more than 7,500 turntables and more than 100,000 records released just this year, the RSD3 is bringing tiny back, in a big way.

Released on Capitol Records, Hyperspace is Beck’s most collaborative work to date, and “Uneventful Days" is one of seven songs on the new album that feature co-writing and co-production from Pharrell Williams. Others joining in on the album include Greg Kurstin (The Bird and the Bee), Chris Martin (Coldplay), producers Paul Epworth and Cole M.G.N., Sky Ferreira, and Terrell Hines.

The full list of Record Store Day Black Friday releases, and artwork, including artwork for the RSD3 singles can be found at recordstoreday.com

Never has the phrase “smashing success” been uttered more cautiously...

We are still in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Decisions made months ago for this time period were made fairly blind but we split ‘The List’ of 415 Record Store Day 2020 titles into three RSD Drops dates (176 on the first August Drop, August 29, with a little over 100 each coming on September 26 and October 24) and worked continuously with anxious record store owners looking for ways to be the center of their community while minimizing the chances of someone getting sick. That was a priority for everyone in this industry. In fact, vinyl manufacturing at American plants are down to one shift because they also want to take care of people. It was all not an easy task.

Thankfully, it appears, after this first of three Drops dates, that everyone is doing okay. As usual, the majority of the planned Record Store Day releases ended up where they were intended to go: in the hands of happy music fans. As far as statistics go, because we have nothing really to compare this “event” to, it’s difficult to gauge the numbers (the split List of RSD releases, and the safety precautions put in place by many stores, which sometimes limited sales of non-RSD titles, usually so important to overall Record Store Day sales totals, means there is no level playing field for comparison).  

So, this year of the 13th Record Store Day, the weirdest of all years, we are going to have to accept the data and words from the record stores themselves. The number of special titles for this first RSD Drop is about the same as on the 2019 RSD Black Friday List, and sales reports directly from the stores show RSD Drops exceeding last year’s Black Friday sales by about 10% on average. (And if we must compare the two: even with approximately 1/3 the releases, a direct comparison to last year’s Record Store Day--which broke all previous eleven years’ sales records—shows this first of three RSD Drops dates did about 50% the sales.)

In other words, it was a smashing success. And here are the words coming from actual record stores:

AUDIOPHIL’S: This was our first official Record Store Day and while not exactly what we had in mind, we made the most of it. We had a nice little line, socially distanced with their masks, everyone was patient, understanding, and really made our day awesome.  Even the folks that didn't get what they were looking for still stuck around to check out what we had, came back to dig our preloved stuff, or shared their info with us in case we saw someone that had what they were looking for.  Within an hour of opening we were through the line and seeing Instagram stories come in from folks that were home and spinning.  It went swimmingly! 

DOWN IN THE VALLEY: Our Record Store Day was unbelievably awesome. Our sales were greater than expected and if we have two more RSDs like this and compared to our RSD number last year we will be ahead by quite a bit. I think that's really positive. We had a 72% sell through which compared to Black Friday was about 52%, so again positive. We used an app to put people into a virtual line queue as they showed up to stand in line. We got glowing reviews on how that worked and as much anxiety as I had going in about using it, it worked better than I even thought it would. So our customers felt comfortable and safe yet got all the RSD titles they've come to expect from us. We might have got a few more sales as one of the stores in town closed a day before because of Covid but I don't think it made that much of a difference as we continue to see mostly regulars and RSD regulars.

EASY STREET RECORDS: Successful for us as well here at Easy Street in Seattle. Felt more like a Black Friday turnout. We did about ¼ the biz as we’d normally do on RSD. We tried our best not to complicate things, while keeping folks feeling safe and healthy. For the most part, it was a similar setup as years past. We tried to move the line without being bossy, so we deterred folks from browsing and that helped. We merch’d good sellers as grab n go’s or we’d get ‘em while they in line or checking out. Without in-stores, DJ’s, and with the line moving slower, it was a stress-free event.

EXCLUSIVE COMPANY: Our first RSD Drop day was 3.78% greater than Black Friday 2019. It was also well over a third of what we did for RSD 2019 so hopefully, the three drops combined will be greater than last year’s RSD. Fingers crossed. The top 5 sellers were Billie Eilish, Tyler the Creator Cherry Bomb, David Bowie “I’m Only Dancing,” “Motorhead 7”, and the Pretenders. Overall, I was very pleased. Each store determined how many people they wanted in the store at a given time (especially when they opened) and people were completely compliant with the rules. Everyone wore a mask and a few had gloves on. At this point I think everyone is becoming pretty used to the world we live in and are willing to go along with the various rules established by retail stores. As far as I know, there were no issues at any of the stores. I think most people were just excited to have some form of RSD they could be a part of.

GALLERY OF SOUND: We did appointment shopping for the first three hours of RSD Drop #1 and most people were more than pleased with how that went. We did a weighted lottery with sign ups in store and online. We put out our stock alphabetically for the first time ever in boxes (socially distanced) and limited the number of people inside all day long. While the vibe was much calmer and we didn’t have bands or beer it was actually better for sales. I think the pent-up demand for entertainment had a lot to do with the success. We were asked to compare sales vs. RSDBF 2019: Wilkes-Barre up 40%, Dickson City up 62% Compared to RSD 2019: Wilkes-Barre did 47% of the days sales, Dickson City did 51% of the days sales

JOSEY RECORDS: Everything went well for us overall. Including all locations, RSD Drop 1 vs. BFRSD 2019 - +20%; RSD Drop 1 vs. RSD 2019 - about 50% of normal.

All locations had a line when opening. In Dallas, we had our first person line up around 8 PM the night before. When we opened we had about 150 people in line, all spaced out 6 feet. Because our store is now 25,000 sq ft we were able to space out six feet along the inner periphery of the building and fit about 70 spots inside and had some overflow outside for about an hour. It was raining in Kansas City so they allowed people to line up inside before opening. We weren't sure what to think about how turn out would be and thus probably under-ordered what we really could have sold based on the number of people here. And still were able to do the numbers we did. We probably could have spent about 25% more and still sold out of most of what we had. Overall across all locations, we sold about 85% of our stock.

LOONEY TUNES: We had over 250 people online when we got to the store and over 500 customers before noon. We gave everyone on the line FREE bagels, coffee, (food given out in individual wrappers and safe) buttons, bumperstickers and Looney Tunes hand sanitizer bottles. Went over the rules with everyone, which were: Everyone will come into the store in the order you have arrived. Twenty at a time. All the titles are lined up alphabetically by artist and you will go through a little “S” line through the store. This way every single person will pass by every title. SLOW, DISTANCED and SAFE. EVERYONE was SUPER SUPER happy at the way we ran everything. Super safe and smooth. TONS OF LOVE! Such a wonderful day.

Remember we are comparing a full RSD 2019 to DROP #1 with about 1/3 titles: RSD DROP #1 compared to 2019 RSD: we did 58% of the sales of last year, we saw 53% of the customer count.

MOLDY TOES: The customers were great, I had about fifteen lined up when I showed up at 4:15 for the 6 AM opening. I issued cards so they didn't have to remain in line. We only allowed five shoppers in at a time, so lines would form every once in a while, but most people were very understanding. The store set-up, due to COVID, was different from past RSDs. Instead of one section, I set up four sections that had crates back to back, so people didn't have to stand side by side. So the RSD stuff was in three areas, six crates total, plus another section with two more crates for some great used product. The walls were 100% full of RSD titles. At the end of the day, we were down to three crates of RSD stuff and almost all of the wall had been replaced with used product. The used stuff was refilled throughout the day and sold briskly. When it was over, one crate was about 3/4 full plus the stuff on the wall. We sold about two crates worth of used and four crates of RSD titles (about 60 records per crate).

The Dollars: I would say that DROP 1 sold slightly more than half of April 2019 RSD, and since we have two more to go, that is very impressive. I have to admit, I was a little nervous and skeptical of the Drop system, I didn't know what to expect, was uncertain that we might not be

able to be open due to COVID and would the excitement still be there. As it turned out, Orange County was doing alright with COVID this month, the fans were out in full force, and most were talking up Drop 2 and 3. I guess I just worry too much.

MONSTER MUSIC: We did about 2/3 of what we did on Black Friday. I had muted expectations and that probably held us back. 1/3 the line of the normal RSD, owing probably to our extra carefulness, limited marketing, and only being open for RSD titles.  Line ran out in about 45 minutes and then we reopened the rest of the store.  Pretty busy all day.  Could’ve sold a lot more, but it felt like being extra careful with purchasing was the imperative at the time. 

MUSIC MILLENNIUM: Drops 1 went very well. We did not tell customers in advance but we did warn them that if too many people showed up we might need to give out time slots. I arrived at 5:30 to a crowd of 70 and gave out time slots, numbered 1 to 30 for each half hour of the day. People were very happy with it. Once people dissipated, a few showed up thinking they were the first in line and surprised about it but gladly took their time slot and came back. The store was closed to regular shopping but we did have key Friday new releases out and visible and especially our local boy Elliott Smith’s release sold extremely well. As with regular shopping, all had to wear masks and use hand sanitizer on the way in. We have always done RSD with a single file line winding through the store, walking by every single RSD title before they hit the register. That worked especially well for us this year. Each 30-minute cycle went well, usually with 5 to 7 minutes to spare. We quit giving out time slots past the 2pm period and people who showed just lined up outside on the 30 numbers that were on the sidewalk and we took them in as we could. By 4pm most of the time we only had 10 to 15 people in the store. Staff were really happy with the system and customers encouraged us to use this system all the time, post COVID-19.

We did more that I projected for the day and about 40% of our 2nd highest record store day totals last year. Thanks once again to all in the industry that made this day happen. It was a wise decision to break RSD into 3 days, as we would have had a difficult time trying to make it work with the normal amount of titles. The title selection was very good for yesterday and diverse enough to take care of a variety of genre seekers. Looking forward to RSD Drops 2.

RECKLESS RECORDS: We were more or less equal with the last Black Friday. down about 4.5% from that. Considering that we're open three less hours and one of our locations is operating at a very reduced capacity because it's very small, I'd say we did pretty good.

THE SOUND GARDEN: We had a successful first RSD Drop. Our sales were about even with a typical Black Friday. The Baltimore store placed all our RSD product under a 10’ x 20’ carport tent in the parking lot; Syracuse cleared a specific area of the store. We feel it is important that RSD shoppers have ample time to browse our vinyl sections, that is why the RSD releases are secluded. This has dramatically increased our catalog sales during RSD events. We supplemented a line with plastic, numbered coat check tickets. Then called out numbers in groups. This way people could just hang out in the parking lot, shop in the store, chill at the cafe or wander about. That system seemed to work and people appreciated it.

STREETLIGHT RECORDS: We are extremely pleased to report that both Streetlight locations enjoyed a successful RSD Drop on Saturday! Even with the strict Covid-19 protocols in place, the fans turned out in droves and we couldn't be happier. Both stores did about half in sales of RSD 2019, with San Jose moving through 88% of the titles on the first day. Santa Cruz's sell-through rate was 75%. The biggest sellers of the day were David Bowie, Tyler the Creator, Gorillaz, Billie Eilish, Bone Thugz, Pink Floyd, Lennon/Ono and The Cure. 

SWEAT RECORDS: It was pretty good. People were patient and pretty awesome all around. We did about the numbers we would typically do on an RSDBF, which isn’t bad considering we were limiting shopping to 15 minutes, 5 people at a time.

TWIST AND SHOUT: In a year of one thing going wrong after another, something going right seems like a miracle. RSD Drop # 1 indeed went right. We went to crazy lengths to create a safe and organized event for our customers and they rewarded us by following the rules, showing up and bringing their best behavior with them. It is literally impossible to compare this to past RSDs. So much is different. I will say we sold through more than 50% of the titles on the 29th and continued to sell on Sunday and now online sales are roaring. The majority will be gone this week. Jazz and HipHop titles were strong (Charlie Parker, Bone Thugs N Harmony), as were good catalog pieces (Bowie ’74, Pretenders, The Who, John Prine). Billie Eilish ruled the day with Tyler, the Creator and Gorillaz right behind her. Nice to see contemporary stuff at the top. It gives hope for the future of the whole enterprise. Overall, I’m very happy with the way it went. I am cautiously optimistic about the next two RSD drops in September and October, and Black Friday in November. This was a good day in a not very good year.

VINTAGE VINYL (New Jersey): The line started at 8PM night before. When I arrived at 6AM line had about 80 people, when we opened at 8 AM, about 120, all spaced 6 feet apart! We had posted our Covid rules on all our media and thankfully they were adhered to. We exceeded last Black Friday by 15%, and exceeded my goal number by 20%. Sell through was over 90% Thanks to all who made this day possible!

YOUNG ONES: We are lucky that Pennsylvania is pretty good, so we tried to do things as normally as possible and it worked out pretty well.  Besides social distancing, etc., the only other changes that we implemented were a limit of 10 people in the store to shop at a time and no one was allowed behind the counter to browse the RSD titles.  We also kept the line of customers purchasing exclusively RSD titles outside until it was their turn to pay. Sales were good.  I hoped that 1/3 of RSD would equal 1/3 of the sales and we pretty much hit that right on.  

About Record Store Day: 

Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, has taken place annually in April. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 13th annual Record Store Day will be replaced by RSD Drops, three separate title drop dates set to take place on three Saturdays in the 4th Quarter of 2020: August 29th, September 26th and October 24th. 

Record Store Day Sponsors:

ADA, Audioengine, Broadtime, Caroline, Crosley Turntables, D’Addario, Dogfish Head Brewery, Furnace Record Pressing, Glowtronics, Ingram Entrtainment, InGrooves, Music Business Association, MVD Entertainment, The Orchard, PlayARt, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, ThinkIndie, Traffic Distribution, URP Distribution, WEA

For more information about Record Store Day, please visit www.recordstoreday.com

Climate Control Projects is proud to present the SOS Sessions, a new series of live streamed performance events featuring an array of innovative artists that traverse the musical landscape. The SOS Sessions are co-presented by Emmy Award Winning climate storytellers The YEARS Project and are set to stream the first Sunday of every month, having first begun in late August of this year. 

November kicks off with celebrated jazz trumpeter, jaimie branch, (Sunday, November 1st), followed by ambient multi-instrumentalist, Laraaji on December 6th, and longstanding experimental indie psych-rock group  Gang Gang Dance on January 3rd, 2021. 

branch, who played in the Chicago and NYC new jazz circuits for most of the aughts, is a part of a new jazz vanguard of artists on Chicago’s International Anthem label alongside label mates such as Makaya McCraven, Jeff Parker, and Angel Bat Dawid. She released  her acclaimed solo album, Fly or Die and a sequel album, Fly or Die II: Bird Dogs of Paradise in 2019 to equitable accolades. branch is Brooklyn-based, but will stream her SOS Session from Alaska, where she is currently recording. 

Ambient music icon Laraaji unveils his SOS Session on Sunday, December 6th bounding off two album releases just this year alone. The ethereal Moon Piano and Sun Piano albums are part of a legacy of 50+ releases over the past 5+ decades, including Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance, (1980), produced by Brian Eno, who discovered Laraaji performing in Washington Square Park. 

An SOS Session from New York City’s own Gang Gang Dance will stream on Sunday, January 3, 2021 with a mixture of new work,  material from their latest 4AD release, Kazuashita (2018) and, if we’re lucky, material that will reach back through their repertoire to 2004’s Revival of the Shittest.  

Previous installments of the series featured: electronic artist Hieroglyphic Being on October 3rd, and another from much-loved NYC-based Lot Radio DJ Christine Renée. Alex Czetwertynski acts as creative director for the sessions by enhancing the live streams with visuals and integrating the Years Project climate-focused footage. 

The SOS Sessions are co-produced by Climate Control Projects partner, Par Neiburger, a veteran curator whose work has been presented at BAM, Pioneer Works, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other notable venues. Neiburger previously served as artistic director to the World Music Institute for many years, acting as stateside ambassador to countless acts from all corners of the globe. 

Says Neiburger of the sessions, “With Climate Change truly posing an existential threat to life on this planet, I feel privileged to be able to work on projects that enable artists to come together to create awareness and point audiences toward actionable solutions. It is a special honor to be able to work with artists that I hold in such high esteem to work towards making a difference on such an important issue.”

Other Climate Control Projects programs include The Creative Climate Podcast, exploring the intersection of creativity and activism, and a brand new Radio Free Brooklyn program, Audio Atlas, that debuts on October 28th and is hosted by the aforementioned Neiburger. The Audio Atlas radio show will feature music from a different country or region of the world each episode and use music as a gateway to discussing how climate change is affecting that part of the world with a boots-on-the-ground climate expert or activist living and working in the region. 

Climate Control Projects was founded in 2020 with a mission of working within popular culture to create awareness, accountability and action around the issue of climate change. We produce content and events that engage mainstream audiences and connect them on a personal level to the climate crisis, leading them to immediately accessible and actionable solutions.

For more information about Climate Control Projects, please visit: 

http://www.climatecontrolprojects.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/climatecontrolprojects

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/climatecontrolprojects

On February 5th, independently owned record stores across the country will be selling a limited edition benefit compilation titled “A Benefit For Equality Vol. 1”. It celebrates black artistry in the blues genre with proceeds going to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This one-time pressing is limited to only 500 copies.

The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.

“We are proud to be associated with the NAACP and the wonderful artists represented on A Benefit For Equality. This illustrates the intersection of artistic merit and social activism we all seek.” 

--Twist & Shout Records – Denver, CO

“I’m honored to be a part of this collection of great blues artists to support the NAACP. It’s a great cause and I’m grateful they’d have me! I’m also excited to partner with all the great independent record shops that’ll sell this thing— they’ve always had my back and I appreciate that so much.  Thank you!” 

– Cedric Burnside 

"I am truly honored to be asked to support the efforts of the NAACP. My life has been momentously changed by their efforts through the years. I am proud to have been asked and wish my grandmother was here to witness this. Thank you and I look forward to working with the NAACP and all the other great artists on this project."  - Sugaray Rayford

“Independent record stores allow all of our voices to be heard and to matter.” - Ruthie Foster

You can preorder at a record store near you HERE.

“A Benefit For Equality Vol. 1”

Jontavious Willis “The World Is In A Tangle

Magic Slim & The Teardrops “I’m A Bluesman”

Mud Morganfield “Who’s Fooling Who?”

Keb’ Mo’ “Somebody Hurt You”

Cedric Burnside “Hard To Stay Cool”

Sugaray Rayford “Dark Night Of The Soul”

Fantastic Negrito “The Nigga Song”

Ruthie Foster “Brand New Day”

T-Model Ford “Take A Ride With Me”

Ironing Board Sam “Super Spirit”

Atlanta based folk rock harmonic trio, Highbeams are thrilled to announce that their forthcoming single “Take Care of Me'' will be released on February 14, 2020. The band formed by brothers and bestfriend (Adam Pendlington, Ian Pendlington, and Stephen Quinn) will also be releasing an animated music video created by Tony DeSantis on February 21, 2020.

“Take Care of Me” will be Highbeams’ first release in 2021 since their last single, ”Inspired,” which dropped last November. The forthcoming release is musically inspired by Shakey Graves, Avett Brothers and Mumford and Sons. In their own words, “Take Care of Me” is about “self doubt, and letting the fear of failure keep you stagnant. Not letting go of something (or someone) because you’re afraid, when moving on would make your life a whole lot better. But, it’s not that easy sometimes.”

Highbeams have lit up stages across the southeast with their emotive, high-energy performances and rich three part harmonies. The three piece band have performed hundreds of shows across the Southeast every year; including opening slots for acts like Vertical Horizon, Chase Bryant, Col Bruce Hampton, and the Grammy nominated, Brothers Osborne.

The band constantly adds to their extensive body of work, all released through their own record label, Blanket Fort. Expect new singles from Highbeams in the upcoming months and in the meantime, keep up with the band via their official website highbeamsmusic.com.

Vans, the original action sports footwear and apparel brand, is teaming up with Record Store Day to release two albums, Songs for You, Vols. 1 & 2, to spotlight and support Black-owned record stores. The limited-edition vinyl releases will be available to purchase at independent record stores on Record Store Day 2021.

As a salute to the community power of Black-owned businesses, Vans and Record Store Day will reinvest proceeds from the albums into Black-owned record stores across the United States. 

Nineteen tracks from prolific Black artists are featured across the two compilations, including previously unreleased music by Roberta Flack, whose uplifting rendition of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” pays tribute to the 50th anniversary of Gaye’s groundbreaking album and song.

According to Flack, a six-time Grammy Award-winning female trailblazer and one of the music industry’s most iconic R&B artists, the Black-owned record store experience is as important and influential as ever: “Black-owned record stores have historically served as places where our community has gathered to learn, listen and celebrate. They have been places of political activism, where we find our voices through the music we hear. Marvin’s song that I include in this project is sadly as relevant today as it was when it was released 50 years ago.”

Grammy Award-winning artist Common also contributes a track to honor the influence of Black-owned record stores on his life. “I owe so much to record stores and specifically Black-owned record stores,” Common recently told Variety. “It’s so beautiful to know that there’s record stores that existed in the ‘60s that are still alive and people are taking that business to those record stores and supporting vinyl,” he said. “And it’s so incredible to think about a record store opening because that means younger generations are participating.”

“Black-owned record stores have always represented something more than just a place to buy music in their communities. These businesses have been hubs for social and political activism, self-expression, culture and belonging,” said Michael Kurtz, co-founder of Record Store Day. “They are at the heart and soul of the music industry and the impact they have had on their communities to push for important social and political progress is immeasurable.”

Both volumes of Songs for You feature artwork from award-winning artist Aamba Chavis, an emerging young voice in Black visual arts. Other young changemakers lending their voices to the album include Grammy-nominated Tank and the Bangas from New Orleans. “As an artist, it's empowering to be a part of such an amazing moment in history with people stepping up and speaking up,” said the band’s Tarriona “Tank” Ball. “This particular Record Store Day release will shine a much-needed light on the Black-owned businesses that inspire artists like us. We salute Black-owned record stores for their role in pushing music and culture forward.”

The collaboration between Vans and Record Store Day also includes the upcoming launch of Vans’ “Open Doors” campaign which tells the stories of Black-owned record stores across the United States.

For more information about Record Store Day, please visit www.recordstoreday.com

With vaccines on the horizon and a few events being penciled in for later this year, Record Store Day organizers around the world look forward to the future, but recognize that in 2021, celebrating independent brick and mortar record stores is still best done in the Drops format introduced so successfully in 2020.

RSD Drops will take place at participating record stores, globally, on June 12 and July 17.

Throughout the past year, record stores have found creative, flexible ways to operate under changing regulations and conditions, with tremendous support from their local communities. The ongoing worldwide pandemic makes it impossible to predict the status of any stores or locations in the next few months, and brings with it many unexpected side effects, including production and distribution issues that continue to disrupt record store supply chains. The decision to once again shift the "Record Store Day energy"--usually focused on in-store performances and crowds and the world's largest single-day music event--to focus on revenue generation for these local independent businesses, as well as for the artists, labels and distributors who play a major role, allows the largest number of stores worldwide to participate.

The Lists of specially created titles coming to record stores as part of the RSD Drops dates will be launched soon.

RSD Drops artwork can be found here: bit.ly/RSD2021DROPSUSLOGOS

About Record Store Day: 

Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, takes place annually. The worldwide pandemic in 2020 required the creation of RSD Drops dates in 2020 and in 2021, RSD Drops will take place on June 12 and July 17 at record stores worldwide. 

Record Store Day Sponsors:

ADA, Alliance Entertainment, All Media Supply, Andover Audio, Concord, Crosley Turntables, Dogfish Head Brewery, Furnace Record Pressing, Glowtronics, Ingram Entertainment, InGrooves, Music Business Association, MVD Entertainment, The Orchard, PlayArt, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, ThinkIndie, Traffic Distribution, URP Distribution, Vans, Virgin Music Label and Artist Services, WEA

The much-revered South African singer/songwriter/guitarist, Steve Louw releases, “Crazy River,” the first track from his forthcoming album, Headlight Dreams to be released in May via BFD/The Orchard.

The song itself is an upbeat, transcendent ode to the beauty of a river, its timelessness against the impermanent world it runs through, and the aspects of ourselves that long to be just like it. Louw, with a rich lifetime of music making under the belt, gets it and embraces the moment. The video puts him occasionally front and center, singing and playing with millennial enthusiasm, yet with the confidence that experience brings, his image juxtaposed with footage and stills of lives lived large against a backdrop of mountains, valleys and rapids. So lush is it all that one could just jump at the screen before getting a hold of themselves.

Says Louw of the song, “I once took a long canoe trip down the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon and out again. It was a very spacy spiritual place and it felt like I was on a journey to the middle of the earth. I wrote this after the trip. On one level the song is about the river trip and the journey deep inside the raw power and beating heart of nature, but it also reflects on time, our time on Earth, how we experience it, and how the bonds of deep personal relationships with our fellow travellers nurture our souls. I played the acoustic guitar using a few African-style riffs and the band picked up on that feel. Guitarist Rob McNelley contributed beautiful slide guitar”

From the moment he jumped into the South African music scene in the eighties, he was swimming with the best of em. At that time, he fronted All Night Radio, a group that would release two hit records, The Heart's the Best Part (1984) and The Killing Floor (1986) and establish Louw as a force to be reckoned with on the SA music scene. But in 1990, Steve achieved legendary status after forming Big Sky, who won the honor of Best South African Rock Act in 1996 and were subsequently accepted into the SA Rock Hall of Fame. In 1998, they supported Rodriguez on tour and were incidentally featured in the film, Searching For Sugarman.

In 2003, Steve collaborated with Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Anastacia and Brian May (Queen) on a song called "Amandla" that was performed for the Madiba's 46664 concert in Cape Town by Beyonce and Bono.

He also played and recorded with the aforementioned Rodriguez, Blondie Chaplin and Kevin Shirley, who produced Headlight Dreams. The new album also features a guest spot from heroic guitarist Joe Bonamassa on "Wind In Your Hair.”

Collectors and vinyl evangelists have marked their calendars for this year’s version of Record Store Day: RSD Drops, a two-part celebration this June 12th and July 17th. To commemorate #RSDDrops, Crosley Radio has teamed up with Apple Corps Ltd to release what could be the most highly anticipated exclusive turntable in Record Store Day history: The Beatles Yellow Submarine Portfolio Turntable. The deal was brokered by Thread Shop, Sony Music’s licensing and merchandising division.

“We really can’t top having The Beatles Yellow Submarine Portfolio Turntable as the exclusive turntable of Record Store Day 2021, and I say that fully aware of the 20th Century music and pop-culture icons we’ve offered in previous years. The 1,500 Yellow Sub Turntables available for the June 12 RSD  Drop will be offered at hundreds of indie record stores in the US and will be collectors items for years to come,” says Scott Bingaman, President of Deer Park Distributors, LLC.

Slated to release on June 12th with just 1,500 turntables available, the custom Portfolio Turntable will be decked out in the unmistakable Yellow Submarine style with an MSRP of $159.95. The official turntable of Record Store Day 2021 will be sold at participating indie Record Store Day retailers in the US while quantities last. The turntable  graphics

In 2020, Record Store Day was postponed accommodating safety concerns amid our global pandemic. “This project has been a labor of LOVE  for all involved and having it finally come to fruition for RSD 2021 is an even better way to cap the project, both old and new fans alike will want to own this collectible” said Joe Marziotto, Thread Shop’s Vice President of Branding and Licensing”.

"Record Store Day has worked with Crosley on some really fun turntables in the past, Disney, The Ramones, Star Wars and Peanuts, but their Yellow Submarine turntable is my absolute favorite. It's beautiful, bright, fun and it's The Beatles. We're hoping it brings a smile to everyone's face the same way the song and movie did when they were first released," shares  Michael Kurtz, Co-founder, Record Store Day.

Charging forward into a new year with two drop dates, Record Store Day continues to seek to support independent brick and mortar record stores with exclusive releases, collectors’ items, and socially distanced celebrations.

Details on the table: Each Crosley limited edition Yellow Sub Portfolio turntable offers the following features:

• Audio-Technica cartridge and stylus mounted on tonearm with adjustable counterweight

• Belt-driven three-speed turntable with pitch control

• Built in dynamic stereo speakers for music anywhere

• Headphone jack

• RCA output, AUX input and built-in Bluetooth receiver

Fifty years ago, Roberta Flack released her third studio album, Quiet Fire, just six months after Marvin Gaye’s groundbreaking masterpiece, What’s Going On came out in May 1971. At the time, the nation’s emotions were heated and raw with the Vietnam War raging and the Civil Rights movement bringing racial injustice, societal inequality and the ugly truth behind police brutality to the forefront of the American consciousness.    

While recording Quiet Fire, a studio engineer quietly captured Flack and her band in a moment of inspiration as they reflected on Gaye’s still-true-to-life hit.  

This previously unreleased track appears on Songs for You, Vol. 1 which becomes available on Record Store Day’s first drop date, Saturday, June 12, at participating independent record stores across the United States. Songs for You, Vol. 2 will be available on July 17. To find a record store near you, visit recordstoreday.com.

For this two-volume collection, Record Store Day and Vans, the original action sports footwear and apparel brand, brought legends like Curtis Mayfield and Roberta Flack together with current musicians, including Common, Run the Jewels and Lupe Fiasco to create a compilation series spotlighting Black artists and benefitting Black-owned record stores across the United States.

Today, at age 82, Ms. Flack, a five-time Grammy Award winner and cultural icon, shares her thoughts on this track and why she decided to release it now on this limited-edition vinyl record.

Record Store Day: How did this track come to be?

Roberta Flack: I was very involved in the Civil Rights Movement. On my Quiet Fire album, I wrote a song with Reverend Jesse Jackson called “Go Up Moses.” The day(s) that we recorded that track, my band, Ron Carter, Richard Tee, Terry Plumeri, Hugh McCracken, Chuck Rainey—we were so inspired by Marvin’s song. We were improvising and riffing in the studio with each other. I’m so glad that the engineer recorded what happened that day.

Record Store Day: How do you feel about “What’s Going On” and its message 50 years later?  

Roberta Flack: Marvin (Gaye) and Obie (Benson) wrote this song in 1971 about police brutality that they witnessed. Fifty years later, we are still struggling with police brutality. The song was and is about injustice, struggle and that what connects us is stronger than what divides us. I feel so sad about its continued relevance.

Record Store Day: What are your thoughts on new artists sampling your music and celebrating you as a cultural icon?  

Roberta Flack: I’m honored that the kids connect to artists like me. Music crosses all borders, languages, ages, and religions. As the universal language, music speaks to us through our feelings. I love hearing how they integrate my tracks in ways I could never have imagined at the time I recorded them.

Record Store Day: You've donated this track to support Black-owned record stores. Why are these stores so important to music, culture and society in general?  

Roberta Flack: These stores were places where the Black community came together to discover music, share thoughts and find inspiration. A part of our legacy, these stores are an important part of our history.

About Record Store Day: Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, takes place annually. The worldwide pandemic in 2020 required the creation of RSD Drops dates in 2020 and in 2021, RSD Drops will take place on June 12 and July 17 at record stores worldwide.

Record Store Day Sponsors: ADA, Alliance Entertainment, All Media Supply, Andover Audio, Concord, Crosley Turntables, Dogfish Head Brewery, Furnace Record Pressing, Glowtronics, Ingram Entertainment, InGrooves, Jack Daniel’s, Music Business Association, MVD Entertainment, The Orchard, PlayArt, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, ThinkIndie, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Traffic Distribution, URP Distribution, Vans, Virgin Music Label and Artist Services, WEA

It’s a pleasure to announce that the indie folk rock trio, TEOA (The End of America) will be releasing their forthcoming single “Push Back” on July 30, 2021. The track is set to premiere with UNDER THE RADAR and we can't wait for it to be released!

Last month, TEOA released their track “I.F.H.”, which “was born out of pure therapeutic necessity”. While humorously letting go of their woes, the band hoped that their listeners could relate to their lyrics and accept that pain is a fundamental part of life.

TEOA fronted by James Downes, Trevor Leonard and Brendon Thomas have written numerous songs that shine a light onto important messages. Through continuously writing honest and deeply rooted songs they hope that their listeners will feel less alone and connected to the music. Band member, Downes, wrote “Push Back” in hopes that he may feel less alone whenever he belts this powerful tune in a crowded audience.

In Downes’ own words he writes his story behind “Push Back, “I had band practice in Newtown, CT on December 14, 2012. I’ll never forget standing on the front lawn of my drummer's house with my bandmates, watching in frightened awe as an endless train of first responders and news trucks blasted down the suburban streets.

Only a few hours later we heard the news, along with the rest of the world, about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary. It all happened less than a mile from where we stood. Being that close to unthinkable darkness leaves a boot tread on the brain.

I wrote "Push Back” eight years later, the sound of those sirens still branded into my memory. With lawmakers continuously offering nothing more than "thoughts and prayers," I was feeling nauseated by the insanity of American politics and its complete failure to pass any meaningful gun control legislation. I needed this song to pull me out and into a place where I could breathe again.

"Push Back" was written to feel good singing at the top of my lungs with a live audience. It's a comfort thing: the raised voices of the crowd shouting the very words that will ease my worries.

A song like this won't fix anything outright. It won't help us get the bad guys or bring back anyone we've lost, but in that brief moment that we're playing it live, I hope it makes us feel just a little more connected.”

“Push Back” will be included on TEOA’s highly anticipated LP “Night is Alive” due out September 17, 2021. So stay tuned for album release details and in the meantime keep updated with TEOA on their socials!

STAY CONNECTED WITH TEOA

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE | TEOA

The annual Ten Bands One Cause charity initiative, which was founded in 2014 and includes notable past participants such as Metallica, John Prine, Run The Jewels, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sturgill Simpson, Modest Mouse, Jason Isbell, The Black Keys, and Anthrax, will be launching around National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October. Pink colored vinyl will be pressed for various albums, with a portion of the proceeds from each sale benefitting Red Door Community where no one faces cancer alone. The nonprofit's mission is to create a welcoming community of FREE cancer support to bring knowledge, hope, and empowerment to anyone and everyone impacted by cancer and their families. They are committed to expanding their program and broadening their reach to meet the growing needs of individuals living with cancer, in more places, and in more ways than ever before.

Following is a full list of the 2021 “Ten Bands One Cause” titles and their release dates:

"Grandaddy is honored to participate in Ten Bands One Cause. Doing something we love and having it help foster healing, conversation and community for people living through cancer is about as positive as music can be. Thank you Red Door Community for your powerful work."  - Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy)

 "We feel truly fortunate to do what we do. To support the cause and help out those fighting cancer just by rereleasing an album... that's a no brainer."  - Andy Farag (Umphrey's McGee)

We feel fortunate to be able to contribute to a cause that helps people navigate their cancer diagnosis. I’m reminded of my mothers fight and the mountain of difficulties she faced during her struggle against breast cancer. While she ultimately lost her battle my hope is that some day no one has to deal with the realities and intricacies faced with a diagnosis like hers. In honor of Cheryl, Gilda and the millions of others that have had to or will face this truly difficult reality, KEEP GOING.  - Cory Murchy (Minus The Bear)

We had a chance to meet and dine with Gilda Radner back in 1979 at the height of her SNL fame. She was wonderfully sweet and kind to us, as she was to everyone. Tom Tom Club feels honored to help support Red Door Community with sales from our “Downtown Rockers” EP on beautiful  pink vinyl.  - Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth (Tom Tom Club)

For more information and a complete listing of all current Ten Bands One Cause titles, please visit: http://www.10bands1cause.com

About Red Door Community

Red Door Community was founded in 1995 by psychotherapist Joanna Bull, along with celebrities Gene Wilder, Mandy Patinkin, Joel Siegel, and many other generous individuals. The charity’s mission is to provide welcoming communities for people who are diagnosed with cancer, as well as for caregivers and people who have lost someone to cancer. Their innovative program is an essential complement to medical care, providing networking and support groups, educational lectures, workshops and social activities, all free of charge. A cancer diagnosis can be an extremely isolating experience, which triggers many emotions including fear, anger, depression and an overwhelming sense of helplessness. They believe no one should face cancer alone. 

TEOA (The End of America) is a band of friends, more so brothers, that have been releasing music for over a decade. The Philadelphia, Connecticut and New Hampshire based trio consist of band members Trevor Leonard, James Downes and Brendon Thomas. Through their years of being a band and road dogs, they’ve garnered many fans and have become recognized for their live performances, harmonies and songwriting. Most recently gaining attention on Spotify’s Folk Pop editorial playlist for their song “Wait No More”. After their recent release “Push Back”, they are now anticipating their next single drop “Empty Sea (Reprise)” due out on October 22. This track will be their final single release before they deliver their fourth LP Night Is Alive out on November 12, 2021.

"Empty Sea" was originally recorded for TEOA’s 2016 self-titled LP. They wrote it as a gentle anthem for staking everything on what you feel you were born to do, and pursuing it in the face of so much uncertainty. TEOA describes the feeling as, “the higher you climb the mountain, the steeper it gets, all the while howling out across what feels like an empty sea below. You have to maintain faith in yourself and keep pushing to reach the summit. And maybe you can't do it alone. For us, this song has been our anthem for being in a band.”

Over the years, "Empty Sea" has been a staple of TEOA’s live shows and it’s their one song that they’ve always felt a deep connection with their audience. The track has evolved with the band over time and now it’s turned into something greater. They recall from most of their shows there being, “an audible sigh from the audience when we hold and release that last note. The feeling is mutual.” “Empty Sea” the reprised adaptation is just as breathtaking.

It was during the pandemic that TEOA (The End of America) reimagined a version of the song with piano accompaniment and designated the guitar to a secondary role. After performing it over a livestream at Caffe Lena last March, it became clear that they needed to capture this song in its evolved state… and added some cello, too. Inspired by the piano/cello/harmony production on Brandi Carlile’s most recent albums, as well as Chris Walla era production of Death Cab For Cutie’s Transatlanticism & Plans album. The band was fortunately graced by their friend Katie Weissman’s cello arrangement, which can be heard all over their forthcoming album “Night is Alive.” Katie had already performed the song with TEOA live at a few shows, so she came in knowing exactly what to do.

This version of "Empty Sea" was virtually recorded at their home studios in New Hampshire, Philadelphia, and at the time, Bronx -- by way of passing tracks around -- and mixed by Brendon Thomas.

We can’t wait for you to stream “Empty Sea (Reprise)” and their highly anticipated LP Night Is Alive! You can stay updated on all things TEOA (The End of America) online here.

PRE-SAVE “Empty Sea (Reprise)” HERE!

Today, Joe Sumner releases a brand new track, “Looking For Me, Looking For You.” The ebullient folk/rock stomper comes complete with an exciting lyric video bounding off of the single artwork, full of eyes and purple. Curious? Watch HERE.

2022 has been nothing short of a whirlwind for Sumner. After having taken a moment to recalibrate in 2019, putting his first solo album in the can, he hunkered down like the rest of us in 2020, spending time with family, working on new material, and getting active around the crucial general election with a track called, “Hope,” that so underscored the tenor of the moment that it was co-opted by the Biden/Harris campaign for ads.

Concurrently, a version of the “Hope” video featured an eclectic who’s who of music makers, including Ben Folds, Richard Marx, Fantastic Negrito, Juliana Hatfield and Joe’s dad, Sting, among others. The video enjoyed its premiere with Rolling Stone and was tagged on MSNBC’s Morning Joe just days before the election.

Come 2021 and folks were getting back to work. Things proved no different for Sumner who saw a veritable nonstop agenda with solo dates in NYC, LA and more stateside markets, as well as support shows with Sting as his touring began to pick up where it left off before the pandemic. Continuing into 2022, Sumner dropped a second single, “You You You,” heralded by American Songwriter and supported by further dates with Sting in the UK and EU that included major European festivals and a week long stint at London’s Palladium that wrapped with a packed out Joe solo play at Piano Smithfield last April.

The new single comes with still more activity as Sumner wraps up east coast tour dates and sets off for yet another EU jaunt. In 2023, Joe visits South Africa, Japan, and Australia. Watch this space for more info.

“Looking For Me, Looking For You” is up now on all DSPs.

Music lovers, be on the lookout this Black Friday as Record Store Day, in its classic style, rolls out some truly incredible titles to celebrate RSD Black Friday, the beginning of the holidays, and the glory of shopping at independents with “weird kooky little shops” around the country on November 25.  

I mean, right around this time in 1999, Joe Strummer marched into Music Millennium, Portland, Oregon’s long standing jewel, and rocked through a 5-song set of intimate acoustic takes on “Junco Partner,” “X-Ray Style” “Island Hopping,” “The Road to Rock N Roll,” and “Trash City.”  The soundboard recording, Music Millennium’s first ever release for RSD Black Friday, pressed to vinyl and appropriately titled Joe Strummer Live At Music Millennium, continues the ongoing celebration this year of what would have been Strummer’s 70th birthday.

We always say, “Once An Ambassador, Always A Friend”, and our past Ambassadors are showing up! The list of releases includes the long-awaited vinyl debut release of Record Store Day 2015 Ambassador Dave Grohl’s Dream Widow, the album whose recording started it all in the Foo Fighters’ comedy-horror film Studio 666.  2018 RSD Ambassadors Run The Jewels take their RTJ4 album, invite some friends to help them spice it up and give us the double CD CU4TRO, all new music with a Latin American vibe. RSD 2012 Ambassador Iggy Pop also has a little international flavor on his release Apres, which comes on CD and vinyl, and that flavor is French… in the tunes he covers and the language he croons them in. And we’re even starting on the next generation:  Ottto, the face of SoCal’s new thrash metal scene, will mark their vinyl debut with the RSD Black Friday title Locos Live in Venus, featuring Ty Trujillo, son of Metallica bassist (and ¼ RSD 2016 Ambassador) Robert Trujillo. (You’ve heard Ty before, playing guitar on “Master of Puppets” in the instantly iconic Stranger Things scene.) Ottto will celebrate by performing live on Black Friday at Fingerprints in Long Beach, CA.

Both Billie Eilish and The Weeknd show their support for local record stores and create brand new artwork versions of their respective Happier Than Ever and Dawn FM albums. Silversun Pickups create a whole new band, teaming up with Butch Vig for SSVU and a single that references both David Lynch and Suzanne Ciani (and that’s just the song titles!)

The Doors finally release the fabled studio outtake “Paris Blues” –the last known unreleased studio recording– as the title track to a new blues-themed vinyl compilation. And those whose wish was for The Cure picture disc series to get to their biggest selling album, can consider that WISH granted.  Albums from Fountains of Wayne, Smash Mouth and Soul Coughing see their first ever vinyl releases, as does Low Budget High Fi Music from Madlib, one of the prolific producer’s Madlib Medicine Show Series titles.

Madonna follows her #1-charting hits collection with the limited edition 40th Anniversary 12” for the single that first got everyone to the dance floor, her very first: “Everybody”. Martha and the Vandellas throw a literal Dance Party, Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga get us dancing Cheek to Cheek Live, Goldfinger’s Hey Destiny jumps things around a little and Lullabye Renditions of Blink-182 settle everyone in for lights out.

The film Moonage Daydream may put some new David Bowie fans on your gift list, and there are two titles to make them happy: a candy-cane swirl 12” of the now-classic duet with Bing Crosby, “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth” and the Next Day Extra EP, featuring various album outtakes and remixes from Bowie’s The Next Day album, including a ten-minute opus by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy.

There will be some lovely jazz highlights in record stores this RSD Black Friday, with Mingus and Monk both popping up on the List, along with the first two releases from Deep Digs, a new label started by “The Jazz Detective” Zev Feldman: Emerald City Nights Live At The Penthouse (1963 -1964) and (1965 - 1966) capture pianist Ahmad Jamal as only Jazz Detective packages can.

Box sets are easy to wrap up, and there’s a nice selection on the list this year. Rival Schools box up their United By Fate album with all the b-sides, acoustic tracks and a hardbound book, in a limited, numbered linen case. Fleetwood Mac combine the individual Alternate albums that are a favorite of Record Store Days past into both vinyl and CD box sets, and all the Jerry Garcia vibes of a past November night on Pure Jerry: Coliseum, Hampton, VA, November 9, 1991 box set.

Fans of the RSD3 mini-turntable get some new sounds to spin on it’s 3” deck with a series of 3” singles featuring Czarface (“The Czarlacc Pit”) and Czarface with MF Doom (“Nautical Depth” and “Mando Calrissian”). Beck takes another mini-spin as well with his second 3” single, “It’s All In Your Mind,” as part of the 20th anniversary of his much acclaimed Sea Change album.

We haven’t even gotten started, but you can find more details on these and other titles on the RSD Black Friday List, along with artwork and participating stores at recordstoreday.com

About Record Store Day

Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, takes place annually.

Record Store Day Sponsors:

ADA, Andover Audio, Crosley Turntables, Dogfish Head Brewery, Furnace Record Pressing, Glowtronics, InGrooves, Music Business Association, MVD Entertainment, The Orchard, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, ThinkIndie, Traffic Distribution, URP Distribution, Vans, Vinyl Styl, WMX

On 4th November, Norway’s Real Ones released their 3rd single “Early Evening” from their upcoming album, Love Your Mother.

Following on the themes of the world's ecological crisis and unity as expressed in the first two singles– the album title track and “Brother”-- “Early Evening” proves to be yet another folk rock gem, boasting the band’s signature lush, melodious sound while tracking the arc of our uncertain future. The song’s VIDEO, also released on Friday, was shot by the band in their hometown of Bergen, Norway.

Real Ones continue to see dedicated audiences wherever they play: From Svalbard to Yukon to Shanghai to Mumbai to Brussels to New York, the band continues to grow new audiences globally. Touted as one of the best live acts in Norway, Real Ones’ distinctive sound has now reverberated for some 28 years, with 12 albums, 4 EPs, 2 Spellemenn (Norwegian Grammy Awards) and over 1,000 concerts in 15 countries (on 3 continents under their belts. And these 5 childhood friends are still ready for new adventures.

Real Ones were formed in 1994, starting out as a traditional folk music band. A constant search for new sounds and new ways subsequently transformed the band into one of Norway’s most unique and experimental outfits working within the genres of folk, pop and rock, with clear inspiration from world music and from modern electronic music. Their lifelong brotherhood only fortified development of their own musical lexicon.

The result of effort and collaboration over the years earned Real Ones critical acclaim as well as warm reception by audiences around the world. Whether in a small church in Northern Canada, in front of thousands of people in China, at a cricket club in Kolkata, at folk and jazz festivals, or at hipster clubs in London, Real Ones have always had an exceptional ability to move audiences.

The group started working on Love Your Mother, the follow up to their 2018 release, Hey Future, Hey Past, on March 7, 2020. As with many other music makers, Covid shuttered their performance plans, so the band decided, instead, to head into the studio. The results proved to be magical– this time, leaning on more acoustic strains than past offerings, inspired by Latin American folk music, and sporting vocals armed with gorgeous 3-part harmonies. The album, produced by Matias Tellez (Norwegian Grammy winner), was recorded and mixed at the band’s Fram Studio, in the shadow of an old warehouse near the Bergen harborside.

“It’s organic, it's natural, mostly recorded live in the studio, and mostly about nature and how to live during an ecological crisis,” says Real Ones Ivar Chelsom Vogt (Guitar/Vocals) of the new material, “we had two dogmas: (1) no synthesizers. If we felt we needed something similar, we’d record clay flutes, bought when we were in Mexico in 2006. And (2), if electric guitar, no amp, just plugged into the mixer.”

Love Your Mother, and is set for release on January 13, 2023.  

‘Early Evening’ is out now on Breaking Records.

Real Ones are: David Chelsom Vogt – violin, vocals, keyboards, Ivar Chelsom Vogt – guitar, vocals, keyboards, Jørgen Sandvik – guitar, vocals, sitar, banjo, Øystein Skjælaaen – bass, backing vocals, Kåre Opheim – drums, backing vocals.

If this press release is crossing your desk, chances are likely high that you’re a serious music fan. And if you’re a serious music fan, you’re likely obsessed with vinyl: the anxious unwrapping of an anticipated reissue; the gawking at fresh, vibrant artwork; the smell… for some of you, the taste– I dunno, but then that coveted moment when the needle drops to the grooves for the first time, and those moments become manifest. Oh, what a perfect world!

If all of this is familiar to you, then there’s absolutely no better place for you to spend your holiday gift-giving budget than an independent record store. This season of wish lists and good cheer, like they do all year long, it’s the indies from Burlington to Miami, Sarasota to San Jose, Peoria to Portland (either one), that will be stocking the good stuff for your stockings: CDs, books, games, audio equipment, accessories, and yes, vinyl, including those super special, long awaited titles that, frankly, you can’t get anywhere else, which will appear in the record store bins starting on November 25, RSD Black Friday.

We could go on and on about the diverse releases set for RSD Black Friday right here, but you might as well take a gander at THE LIST yourself. And while you’re checking it (at least) twice, “tune” into The Record Store Day Podcast, hosted by writer, producer, audiophile, Paul Myers.

Part 2 of the special two-part RSD Black Friday preview set drops this week, featuring a conversation with Marshall Crenshaw (whose debut album gets a double vinyl 40th anniversary reissue this Friday) and Part 1 is up now celebrating the life and music of the late  Joe Strummer (1952-2002). Joe's surviving life partner Lucinda Tait remembers life with Joe during the time of his last band The Mescaleros, and discusses the expansive Joe Strummer 002: The Mescaleros Years box set recently released on the Dark Horse Records label. Joe's friend, filmmaker Don Letts talks about Joe, forming Big Audio Dynamite (B.A.D.) with Mick Jones, and the new documentary about Letts' life, Rebel Dread. And Music Millennium’s Terry Currier returns to the show to remember the 1999 in-store at the iconic Portland Oregon record store that is at the heart of this year's RSD Black Friday limited edition vinyl release, Joe Strummer - Live At Music Millennium.

Folks can subscribe to the Record Store Day Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Paul Myers on Twitter and Instagram @pulmyears.

Speaking of social media (and engaging conversations with artists doing cool stuff), follow @recordstoreday on Facebook  and @recordstoredayus on Instagram for an upcoming chat this Friday when RSD talks with the one and only Butch Vig and his new SSVU bandmates (otherwise known as Silversun Pickups) about their new project, an art rock band that examines pop culture through existential true-life encounters.  According to Silversun Pickups, “There was so much kinetic energy during the making of Physical Thrills and sometimes it needs a place to live. While we were listening to BV talk about his adventures with the famous, we would bounce around and start turning them into songs. And just like that, SSVU.” SSVU’s limited edition RSD Black Friday exclusive 7” “David Lynch Has a Painting Made of Flies Eyes” b/w “Suzanne Ciani” is in record stores this Friday.

*LIST OF RSD BLACK FRIDAY SPECIAL RELEASES AND PARTICIPATING STORES: recordstoreday.com

*RSD BLACK FRIDAY FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS: bit.ly/RSDBFFAQ

*RECORD STORE DAY PODCAST: Wherever you get podcasts or bit.ly/RSDPODCAST

*RECORD STORE DAY ON SOCIAL MEDIA: @recordstoreday (FB and TW) @recordstoredayus (IG and TikTok)

Record Store Day has worked hard over its 16 year tenure to support some of the most impactful charities and social initiatives on radar. Today,  in conjunction with Marshall Headphones & Speakers, Record Store Day announces a donation to Todd Rundgren’s Spirit of Harmony Foundation, a nonprofit whose mission is to emphasize the moral imperative of music education.

Rundgren’s classic album A Wizard, a True Star sees a special 50th Anniversary release on April 22 as part of Record Store Day, the celebration of independent record stores. US organizers have pledged to donate $1 per copy sold of the stunningly beautiful reissue at US record stores that weekend to the Spirit of Harmony Foundation, combined with a generous donation from Marshall Headphones & Speakers.

The donation will be presented to Rundgren later this summer by Record Store Day co-founder, Michael Kurtz. Kurtz says “I grew up with Todd’s music, and more importantly, the message found in much of his music. It’s a real honor to be able to lend support to his efforts to provide financial support for music education and appreciation in the classrooms through the Spirit of Harmony Foundation. To me, it’s just one victory, but an important one.”

"We’re proud to be able to support Todd Rundgren's Spirit of Harmony Foundation. The impact grassroots foundations like this offer often reaches beyond music to the communities as well as the children: developing their creative, communication and life-skills and offering a safe place centered around the joy of music," says Peter Wijk, Brand Director of Marshall Headphones and Speakers.

Todd Rundgren adds “I can’t over-emphasize the importance of the brand association with Marshall. Modern music would have evolved in a different direction were it not for the ‘sound’ that every aspiring guitarist wanted- and it was stackable! To have them on our side brings the legacy of thousands of performances behind us and we are truly grateful.”

The Spirit of Harmony director, Jean Lachowicz adds, "The Spirit of Harmony is very grateful to Record Store Day and Marshall for their generous support of Music Education Advocacy, and we thank them for investing in today’s children by encouraging their enthusiasm about creating and listening to music."

About A Wizard, a True Star

Released 50 years ago, A Wizard a True Star, wasn’t a smash commercial success. What it was was a musical  template for artists who are truly creative, honest, and bold. Recorded in Todd’s nascent  NYC studio with music partner Moogy Klingman (You Got To Have Friends and Dust In the Wind) among others, the album pushed musical boundaries in unexpected ways. It was an education for those people who were curious enough to go there. Recently, those people include the likes of Tame Impala and Daft Punk. The Record Store Day 50th Anniversary edition is pressed on vinyl that explodes with color and is packaged with the original  dye-cut psychedelic album cover , complete with a Patti Smith poem written on a bandaid.

About Record Store Day

Record Store Day, the organization, is managed by the Department of Record Stores and is organized in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Media Stores (AIMS), the Coalition of Independent Music Stores (CIMS) and promotes independent record stores year-round with events, special releases and other fun things.

Record Store Day, the global celebration of the culture of the record store, takes place annually. The 16th Record Store Day is coming up on April 22, 2023.

About Marshall

Marshall is a true rock legend. A distinct and expressive sound combined with an iconic stage presence that has inspired music fans around the world for over five decades. This unparalleled amount of wisdom has been distilled and fused into every part of Marshall headphones and speakers. Nothing has been compromised when expanding the Marshall heritage of big stage performance to the individual enjoyment of good music.

The legacy began in a small Hanwell drum shop in the 1960s, where Jim Marshall sought to give a bunch of then-local guitarists the sound they wanted – a sound that was harder, crunchier and more rich. The result was the JTM45, an amp that reverberated with a sound that was much heavier than anything ever heard before. In a twist of rock and roll fate – those guitarists, much like the Marshall name, would go on to revolutionize music forever.

Record Store Day Sponsors:

ADA, BCW Supplies, Crosley Turntables, Dogfish Head Brewery, Furnace Record Pressing, Glowtronics, InGrooves, Music Business Association, Marshall Headphones and Speakers, MVD Entertainment, The Orchard, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, ThinkIndie, Traffic Distribution, URP Distribution, Vinyl Styl, WMX

For more information, logos, full list of RSD 2023 titles and participating stores visit recordstoreday.com

Instrumental alt-country dream pop duo, Quiet Cowboy have released their first single, “The Space Between,” from their self-titled debut album set for release on July 14, 2023 on Declared Goods.

“‘Quiet Cowboy’ plays like an exquisite soundtrack,” says AMERICAN SONGWRITER’s Tina Eves-Benitez of the encroaching full length effort. The publication’s feature, posted today to coincide with the aforementioned single release, could be read in its entirety HERE, as a Q&A with Quiet Cowboy members Michael Chacon and Ron Raymond.

From the gritty streets of New York City to the pristine wilderness of the Boise Mountains in Idaho, Quiet Cowboy roams across a musical landscape inhabited by the unmistakably expressive sounds of the pedal steel guitar. Constantly moving through the wide open spaces of ambient, electronic and rock, Quiet Cowboy inspires everything from trance-like reveries to a sudden shock of recognition, sliding into your consciousness with melodies and textures that will linger long after the last sound dissipates into the wide open sky.

Quiet Cowboy is the collaboration between Chacon and Raymond, fueled during pandemic weekly Zoom calls with the CBC (Composers Breakfast Club) Agoura Hills (LA) chapter. The Zoom meetings resulted in a musician’s collective The Sum of All Music, which has created an extensive sound library for Film and TV. Michael had recently finished an album of his original songs, with Ron playing pedal steel on 8 of the tracks. While recording his new pedal steel tracks, Ron heard Michael’s songs re-imagined as instrumentals, with pedal steel guitar replacing all the vocal tracks. Intrigued, Michael sent Ron the raw instrumental tracks from his previous CD without any vocals or lyric sheets. Ron stripped the songs apart, cut them up, rearranged sections, creating new original songs from the pieces, with his pedal steel as the expressive vocalist. They were recorded and mixed in Ron’s home studio on the Lower East Side of NYC and at a rural rental house on Old Kingston Road in upstate New York’s Hudson Valley.

Ron Raymond is a multi-instrumentalist known for his pedal steel guitar, lap steel guitar, dobro, mandolin, upright and electric bass, guitar, vocals. Ron has played with legends Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, co-written songs and recorded pedal steel guitar tracks with producer Ned Douglas (Dave Stewart, Mick Jagger, Katy Perry, No Doubt), Benny Reitveld (Santana, Miles Davis); worked with Andy Shernoff and JP Patterson of The Dictators; played the legendary NYC rock clubs - CBGBs, The Continental, Trash Bar, etc.

A Southern California boy, Michael Chacon, came of age surrounded by the Beatles, Stones, Beach Boys, Carole King, James Taylor, Motown, and basically all the music that was built on the backs of the Wrecking Crew. With music at the center of his universe, he absorbed the sounds bouncing off the walls of his hovels in Topanga and Laurel Canyons, playing his songs at open mics at places like the Palomino and moving through transient groups and jams across the San Fernando Valley. Continuing through the years, Michael also built out a consulting career that took him around the world, guitar always in hand, performing in restaurants, parks, pubs, and bistros with pianos against the back wall.

Coming round full circle his original musical comrades brought him to the composing collaboration group Sum of All Music (SOAM) where he met and worked with Ron to add Pedal Steel to a few of songs. This collaboration grew into the exquisite Pedal Steel driven ambient sounds that are Quiet Cowboy.

We are pleased to announce the release of Sunshine In The Night, the debut solo album by Joe Sumner, set for October 6, 2023 on Rooley Records/BFD/The Orchard. Not that it hasn’t been a long time coming, but things tend to happen when they should.

A full album, delivered just before COVID, sporting 12 brilliant folk-pop gems, sat on the loading dock for the better part of 2 years before there was even a discussion about next steps. Be that as it may, an impending 2020 Presidential Election prompted the release of a first single, “Hope,” rush ordered by the Biden campaign and co-opted for the soon-to-be-POTUS’ good fight. Concurrently, Sumner enlisted a diverse list of friends (and family) to participate in a singalong video of the song that included folks like Ben Folds, Juliana Hatfield, Gaby Moreno, and Sting, not to mention Joe and Mika from MSNBC Morning Joe, debuted it on-air the Friday before the now-controversial Election. Subsequently, “Hope” was also released as a 7” single for Record Store Day Black Friday later that November.

Two more album tracks, “You, You, You” and “Looking For Me, Looking For You,” were rolled out in 2022 with the help of American Songwriter, Rolling Stone and others amid an almost ceaseless touring agenda supporting Sting and playing solo dates the world over. A November 2022 date in France was captured for a live EP, Feelin’ The Love, Tastin’ The Fear.

The rest of Sunshine In The Night, produced by Tom Syrowski, graces us with a full platter of truly memorable sounds. “Live Life,” the album’s upcoming single, is an ebullient salvo to the resilience of the human spirit and the impermanence of life itself. “Don’t Change The Love,” jumps out big like Lennon in the ‘70s. “Don’t Go Away” is, at once, heart wrenching and triumphant in its honesty, with a seductive psychedelic break to boot, and the lush blue-eyed soul of “See You Again” takes us through an ethereal portal that begs multiple listens.

Kicking off his musical career in London in the nineties, Sumner spent far more than the mandatory 10,000 hours perfecting his craft. There, he formed a band called Santa’s Boyfriend, which subsequently became the beloved trio, Fiction Plane. The band enjoyed several years developing a well-cultivated, worldwide fan base and playing an 18-month tour supporting another trio, The Police before parting ways.

Sunshine In The Night, Sumner’s long-awaited full-length, is the best of two worlds - a sonically epic masterwork that somehow manages to also feel intimate.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

All dates in support of Sting, except where noted.

Thu 31 Aug    Vienna, VA        Wolf Trap            

Fri 01 Sept    Vienna, VA        Wolf Trap            

Sat 02 Sept    Vienna, VA        Wolf Trap            

Sun 03 Sept    Atlantic City, NJ    Hard Rock at Etess Arena    

Tue 05 Sept    Toronto, ONT        Budweiser Stage        

Thu 07 Sept    Boston, MA        MGM Fenway Music Hall    

Fri 08 Sept    Wantagh, NY        Jones Beach Theater        

Mon 11 Sept     New York, NY        City Winery Loft  *SOLO*         

Thur 14 Sept     Boston, MA        City Winery Haymarket    *SOLO*     

Fri 15 Sept    Atlanta, GA        Chastain Park Amph.         

Sun 17 Sept     Austin, TX        Moody Center            

Wed 20 Sept    Denver, CO        Red Rocks                    

Thu 21 Sept    Denver, CO        Red Rocks            

Sat 23 Sept    Salt Lake City, UT    USANA Amph.            

Tue 26 Sept    Portland, OR        Moda Theater            

Wed 27 Sept    Seattle, WA        Climate Pledge Arena        

Fri 29 Sept    Vancouver BC        Rogers Arena            

Mon 02 Oct    San Francisco, CA    Concord Pavilion         

Wed 04 Oct    San Diego, CA    Cal Coast Open Theater    

Sat 07 Oct    Los Angeles, CA    Hollywood Bowl            

Mon 09 Oct    Phoenix, AZ        Arizona Financial Theater    

Thu 12 Oct    Rogers, AR        Walmart Amphitheater        

Sat 14 Oct     Dallas, TX        Toyota Music Factory        

Sun 15 Oct    Houston, TX        Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pav.    

For more information, please visit: https://www.joesumnersings.com/ and follow @thejoesumner on all social media platforms.

Today, Joe Sumner releases his long awaited debut album, Sunshine In The Night on his Rooley Records/BFD/The Orchard In an article posted this past week in Variety, Linda Laban offered, “Sunshine in the Night  is a humdinger loaded with chamber pop ditties and swirling, synth-y power-ballads.”

Humdinger, indeed! The long player, originally delivered just before the pandemic, boasts 12 brilliant folk-pop gems, including “Hope,” rush ordered by the Biden campaign and co-opted for the soon-to-be-POTUS’ good fight. Sumner enlisted a diverse list of friends (and family) to participate in a singalong video of the song that included folks like Ben Folds, Juliana Hatfield, Gaby Moreno, and Sting, not to mention Joe and Mika from MSNBC Morning Joe, debuted it on-air the Friday before the now-controversial Election. Subsequently, “Hope” was also released as a 7” single for Record Store Day Black Friday later that November.

Two more album tracks, “You, You, You” and “Looking For Me, Looking For You,” were rolled out in 2022 with the help of American Songwriter, Rolling Stone and others amid an almost ceaseless touring agenda supporting Sting and playing solo dates the world over. A November 2022 date in France was captured for a live EP, Feelin’ The Love, Tastin’ The Fear.

The rest of Sunshine In The Night, produced by Tom Syrowski, hands us with a full platter of truly memorable sounds. “Live Life” is an ebullient salvo to the resilience of the human spirit and the impermanence of life itself. “Don’t Change The Love,” jumps out big like Lennon in the ‘70s. “Don’t Go Away” is, at once, heart wrenching and triumphant in its honesty, with a seductive psychedelic break to boot, and the lush, blue-eyed soul of “See You Again” takes us through an ethereal portal that begs multiple listens.

Kicking off his musical career in London in the nineties, Sumner spent far more than the mandatory 10,000 hours perfecting his craft. There, he formed a band called Santa’s Boyfriend, which subsequently became the beloved trio, Fiction Plane. The band enjoyed several years developing a well-cultivated, worldwide fan base and playing an 18-month tour supporting another trio, The Police before parting ways.

Sunshine In The Night, Sumner’s long-awaited full length, is the best of two worlds - a sonically epic masterwork that somehow manages to also feel intimate.

See below for remaining stateside tour dates, as well as a now-announced solo shows at London’s Slaughtered Lamb (Nov. 21), at Podium Laurentz in Heemskerk, NL (Nov. 29), and New Morning in Paris on Dec. 2, along with additional dates supporting Sting in the EU.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:

All remaining dates in support of Sting, except where noted.

Sat 07 Oct    Los Angeles, CA    Hollywood Bowl            

Mon 09 Oct    Phoenix, AZ        Arizona Financial Theater    

Thu 12 Oct    Rogers, AR        Walmart Amphitheater        

Fri 13 Oct.        New York, NY          Piano’s - MondoNYC Closing Night.    SOLO

Sat 14 Oct     Dallas, TX        Toyota Music Factory        

Sun 15 Oct    Houston, TX        Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pav.    

UK/EU TOUR DATES:

All dates in support of Sting, except where noted.

Tue Nov 21    London UK        The Slaughtered Lamb    SOLO

Thu Nov 23    Oberhausen, GE    Rudolf Weber Arena        

Sat Nov 25    Brussels, BE        Forest National            

Mon Nov 27    Hamburg, GE        Barclays Arena            

Tue Nov 28    Leipzig, GE        Quarterback Immobilien Arena     

Wed Nov 29    Heemskerk NL    Podium Laurentz    SOLO

Thu Nov 30    Amsterdam, NE    AFAS Live             

Fri Dec 01    Amsterdam, NE    AFAS Live             

Sat Dec 02    Paris FR            New Morning        SOLO

Sun Dec 03    Paris, FR        Accor Arena             

Mon Dec 04    Cologne, GE        Lanxess Arena             

Wed Dec 06    Nuremberg, GE    Arena                

Thu Dec 07    Hannover, GE        ZAG Arena            

Sat Dec 09    Luxembourg, LUX    Rockhal                 

Mon Dec 11    Milan, IT             Forum                

Wed Dec 13    Lyon, FR            LDLC Arena            

Fri Dec 15    Madrid, SP        IFEMA                

Sat Dec 16    Pamplona, SP    Navarra Arena             

For more information, please visit: https://www.joesumnersings.com and follow @thejoesumner on all social media platforms.

Albert Hammond’s words and music flow through more than half a century of modern popular music. From his earliest hits “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “The Free Electric Band” to his songwriting collaborations on classics such as ”One Moment In Time” (Whitney Houston), “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” (Tina Turner), “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (Starship), “The Air That I Breathe” (The Hollies) and “Creep” (Radiohead), his presence and influence reverberate across genres and generations.

“Gonna Save The World” is the latest single and video from Hammond’s forthcoming new album, Body of Work, his first new album of original material in almost 20 years to be released on March 1st, 2024, on earMUSIC. Listen to “Gonna Save The World” HERE.

The album was written and recorded between Nashville and Berlin, during a time in which the world had dramatically changed for all of us. As Albert states it was “One of those moments when you see it’s time to retreat from the world. Monks do it… so do writers… it’s a hunger to connect again to the inner person… the one that has the wisdom, words and music.”

“Gonna Save The World” is all exotic guitars, a pulsing bassline and Albert’s knowing, not-quite-world-weary voice, spinning images of modern times and everything within our reach to react and have our voices heard, but the true answer is to “talk about peace/sweet and lovely peace.” That’s how we’re gonna save the world.

Watch the Video for “Gonna Save The World” HERE.

Body of Work is a career-defining album that defies categorization and lithely interweaves genres, attitudes, and perspectives. From rock to folk to Americana to rhythm and blues to balladry, from resignation to determination to loss to recovery to looking back to seeing hope for the future, Body of Work is Albert drawing on 50 years of expressing the human condition through music. It’s a fully connected and considered vision of the world from the angle of an accomplished artist seeking to make sense of it all from his particular vantage point.

Preorder Body Of Work HERE.

“This is the first step I had to take a while back and the album that I call “Body of Work” is what I discovered about me and all of us once I started here,” muses Albert. “Yeah …. I can feel the discomfort and impatience in it. That’s just the honest feeling when the world changes for you from Oasis to desert, from beauty to chaos …freedom to fences.”

From gutsy opener “Don’t Bother Me Babe” through the wistful “Looking Back” and closing with the reflective “Goodbye LA,” Body of Work is an album for the ages, crafted with 50 years of words, experience, and wisdom.

“I’m glad I made it back. I hope it helps you not to feel alone…really.” – Albert Hammond

Tracklisting:

1. Don’t Bother Me Babe

2. Shake A Bone

3. Gonna Save The World

4. Both Ways

5. Like They Do Across The River

6. Somebody’s Child

7. Knocking On Your Door

8. Young Llewelyn

9. Gonna Be Alright

10. Let It Go

11. The American Flag

12. Bella Blue

13. Anything You Want Me To

14. Looking Back

15. Another Heart To Break

16. Living In The Universe

17. Goodbye LA

Before Small Business Saturday or Cyber Monday--the organizers of Record Store Day began the RSD Black Friday event as a way to highlight and include independent record stores in the biggest shopping day of the year. Since then, record stores have started the holiday shopping season with an RSD Black Friday twist: a curated list of releases created especially for them, adding to the mix of items already found in record stores, all of which make exceptionally good gifts.

It has been a phenomenal success and this year’s Black Friday sales of the Top 500 bestsellers were up 25% over 2022, and individual stores report weekend year-over-year increases as high as 40%!  

According to the data collection company Street Pulse, the best selling records at independent record stores that weekend was Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts: the secret tracks which was released on opaque deep purple vinyl, etched with a Butterfly on Side B. And even though Taylor Swift did not have a specific RSD Black Friday release, she was still the 4th biggest-selling artist at record stores on Black Friday weekend.

Though some titles, like the never-before-on-vinyl Cape Elizabeth from Noah Kahan sold out quickly, other releases across all genres, including special packages from Post Malone, De La Soul, Joni Mitchell, U2, Dr. Dre and Jerry Garcia remain, as intended, for shoppers to discover in record store bins this season, ready to be wrapped up! A chart of the Top 50 RSD Black Friday titles can be found on the Record Store Day website or at bit.ly/RSDBFCHART

This year, there’s another way to bring home record store exclusives: the RSD MRKT publicly launched at https://rsdmrkt.com.  A brand-new marketplace platform for brick-and-mortar record stores to sell new product, the RSD MRKT offers customers a chance to search for and find specific releases, including Record Store Day and RSD Black Friday releases from 2023 and past events, titles in the RSD Essentials line from Cured Vinyl/Think Indie and indie-exclusive variants of wide releases. With more than 260 stores and over 25,000 titles at launch, the 24/7 online record store fair is off to a booming start!

Black Friday Top 25 Best Sellers at Independent Record Stores

HELMET have announced a second North American leg of their Look Left Tour on the band’s site and socials. The band’s 9th album, Left, was released last November on earMusic to accolades. Louder Sound proclaiming it, “... the best record they’ve done in nearly 20 years,” and Guitar World musing, “Left… has (lead singer/guitarist, Page) Hamilton expressing himself with antagonistic, full-throated fervor. Helmet’s latest is likewise a nuanced, parameter-expanding release for the veteran unit.”

A North American tour in the fall of 2023 was followed by a slew of sold out dates in the UK and EU in late 2023. The tour commences on April 14th in Detroit at The Magic Stick with HELMET returning to select markets while hitting a few more not slated in the first run.

Seminal NYC hardcore legends Cro-Mags are set to be special guests for all dates.

Tickets for HELMET Look Left Tour go on sale this Friday, February 16th at 10am Local Times and can be purchased by visiting: https://www.helmetmusic.com/

See below for confirmed dates.

Body of Work, released today, is Albert Hammond’s first album of new music in almost 20 years. Critics are calling it “his most rooted, reflective work to date” (Record Collector UK), which is quite a feat for the songwriter behind “The Air That I Breathe” (The Hollies), “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” (Tina Turner), and his own “It Never Rains in Southern California” (among many other global hits).

Stream and order “Body Of Work” HERE.

For the new album, Albert turned to longtime songwriting collaborator John Bettis with whom he wrote “One Moment in Time” for  Whitney Houston. “I love working with him,” Albert says. “Everything is so creative, and we have so much respect for each other… and there is a chemistry.” Nowhere is that chemistry more apparent than in “Looking Back,” the new song and video accompanying the album’s release.

“Looking Back” reflects the environment it was created in. Recorded at Berlin’s famed Hansa studios following a tumultuous time in the artist’s life and against the backdrop of a pandemic, it has a timeless feel… modern, but retro, nostalgic, but looking towards the future. “Looking Back/ I cherish the sun that warmed my face / Looking Back/ I’m glad that I ran every losing race.”

Watch the Video for “Looking Back” HERE.

Albert explains, “People would think, ‘why are you glad that you lost?’ Well, because it’s the experience, isn’t it? And if you don’t do it, you don’t know if you’ll win or you’ll lose.”

Producer/multi-instrumentalist Mathias Roska was key to the creative process.

“Mathias had this idea to put me in the room with a mic and just sing the songs,” Albert explains, “because he wanted to get to know the songs.”

From there tracks were fleshed out through collaborative jams, resulting in flourishes like mellotron on “Gonna Save The World” and Mathias’ mesmerizing guitar solo on “Looking Back.”

Body of Work is the soundtrack of an extraordinary lifetime that goes from jagged, jolting opener “Don’t Bother Me Babe” through to the quiet, gentle, and contemplative “Goodbye LA,” touching on all points folk, alt. country, pop and balladry in-between.

“Listening to what we’ve achieved at the end,” Albert reflects, “I am just so grateful and happy that I was able to go through this incredible life experience.”

Body of Work is now an incredible album experience, shared by a timeless artist looking to bring a little light and enlightenment to the world.

“The world is in darkness because we don’t shine.”

Albert Hammond, 2024

Beloved singer/songwriter/guitarist Richard Hawley will release a new album, In This City They Call You Love on May 31, worldwide. The album’s first track, “Two for His Heels” was premiered last month with host Lauren Laverne on BBC 6Music, who gave the song an incredible talk up. Listen back HERE.

In This City They Call You Love is Hawley’s first album since 2023’s Very Best of… Now Then which is his 4th long player to reach top 10 in the UK, commanding outstanding reviews across all media, including Uncut Magazine, who proclaimed, “Immaculately crafted records combining his rich and timeless vocals with artfully sincere studies of his hometown. Hawley remains a beautiful singer and astute observer.”

In the two decades that have elapsed since Hawley abandoned band life full-time, first with The Longpigs, then as Pulp’s guitarist, the 57 year old songwriter has forged one of the most singular and diverse careers in modern music.

As well as releasing a string of solo albums that have managed the rare feat of being both critically acclaimed and commercially successful, Hawley has worked with a host of impressive collaborators- friends such as the Arctic Monkeys, Manic Street Preachers, Elbow and Paul Weller, alongside personal heroes that include U.S. guitarist Duane Eddy (his 2011 album Road Trip was co-produced by Richard), Shirley Bassey (for whom he wrote the smoldering ballad “After The Rain” in 2009), Nancy Sinatra, the late Lisa Marie Presley and British folk royalty Martin Carthy and the late Norma Waterson (he was an integral part of 2013’s Bright Phoebus Revisited tour). There are also bona fide pop stars such as Robbie Williams, All Saints and Texas, all of whom Hawley has played with in differing capacities down the years. His song “Tonight The Streets Are Ours” was featured in The Simpsons and Exit Through The Gift Shop: A Banksy Film.

In recent times, his songs have appeared in television dramas Peaky Blinders, The Full Monty and Hijack, as well as the hugely acclaimed and award-winning musical named after his 2012 album, Standing At The Sky’s Edge. “Dear Alien (Who Art In Heaven),” co-written with Jarvis Cocker and Wes Anderson for Anderson’s film, Asteroid CIty was recently shortlisted for “Best Original Song” at this year’s Oscars.

The successful, award-winning Standing At The Sky’s Edge musical features 20 Richard Hawley songs and won Best New Musical and handed Hawley Best Original Score at the 2023 Olivier Awards. Following its sell-out runs at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre and London’s National Theatre, in February it began a six-month run at London’s West End Gillian Lynne Theatre.

Richard also played five acclaimed shows with John Grant, performing the songs of Patsy Cline.