In recent years there have been a number of articles written about the difficulties and resistance that female country artists have faced in improving the gender parity at music festivals and getting their music played on American country radio. in April 2019, Dr. Jada Watson of the University of Ottawa, in consultation with WOMAN Nashville, …
AN INTIMATE CONVERSATION Thousands of songs have been written about heartbreak but on her latest album, Old Flowers, Courtney Marie Andrews has found a captivating way to breathe honesty and intimacy into the subject matter. By Chris Familton It’s late in the afternoon in Nashville, TN and Courtney Marie Andrews is reflecting on her past …
Here’s our mid year list for 2020. In alphabetical order, the albums (and one EP) that have hit our musical sweet-spot over the last six months. Big hitters and newcomers cosied up together in a smorgasbord of country, folk and Americana goodness. Dig in and have a listen… Andrew Tuttle Alexandra Andy Golledge Namoi EP …
Lucinda Williams Good Souls Better Angels Highway 20 / Cooking Vinyl Australia After a year spent looking back with her Car Wheels On A Gravel Road 20th anniversary tour, Lucinda Williams has now turned her mind to the modern world in the here and now, from internal battles of individuals to the heartless idiocy of …
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit Reunions Caroline Australia Jason Isbell cemented himself in the pantheon of 21st century songwriters with his Southeastern album in 2013. Since then he’s continued to release strong records but Reunions stands as his most consistent set of songs to date. Sure it might not have the exquisite emotional songwriting …
Drive-By Truckers The Unraveling Ato Records by Chris Familton Over nearly quarter of a century, Drive-By Truckers have slowly established themselves as one of the great American bands of modern times. Harnessing the grit and swagger of alt-country and embracing and challenging the notion of being a Southern rock band, Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and …
Australian songwriter Riley Catherall returns with a new single, ‘Leave Me Out To Dry‘, the second release from a forthcoming full album. Catherall has a real knack and ability in crafting songs that sound lush and warm, yet they still resonate with a wonderful sense of space and poise. Built on the light dance of … Continue reading
There’s a woodsy, hypnotic quality to this new track from New York songwriter Rachel Angel. ‘Strapped’ quickly finds its pulse and the equivalent of circular breathing in the cyclical guitar. It’s wonderfully mesmerising as her ethereal voice intones and drifts across the speakers. It’s a bucolic Mazzy Star folk vibe that sparkles and floats along, … Continue reading
New York quartet Echo Bloom recently released ‘Three Little Birds‘, the opening track from their forthcoming new album Wake. The song caught our ear immediately with its Iron & Wine and Calexico sound that incorporates a wonderful junk shop percussive quality that Tom Waits would be proud of. There’s also a wonderful emotive wail courtesy … Continue reading
This week there are three quite wonderful new albums hitting the virtual stores. First up it’s the prolific Charley Crockett who releases his new album Welcome To Hard Times, a record he’s been teasing with a run of thematically linked video clips. In the absence of a new album of original material (it’s been nine … Continue reading
D.C Cross Terabithian No Drums Records Bridge To Terabithia is a 1977 novel (and 2007 film) about two kids who discover an abandoned treehouse and create their own fantasy world to escape the trauma of their daily lives. Darren Cross has dialled into his own sonic Terabithia, in this unprecedented time of upheaval, and created … Continue reading
Sydney alt-country trio The April Family released their second album House Of Cards last year but they’ve already pooled their creative talents and written, recorded and filmed a clip for their brand new single ‘Fortune Teller‘ (Social Family Records), the first single from their third album, due out early in 2021. The song hits a … Continue reading
This new track form Wild Earp & The Free for Alls, which pays homage to their home base, the California Clipper Lounge, is all about the rhythm and groove. Total head-nodding, line-dancing good times abound as the tune shimmies across the dance floor. “Wild Earp & The Free for Alls played every month for 4 … Continue reading
A laidback sway of a song with some ghostly heartworn pedal steel and a fine ache of a vocal are the hallmarks of this new track from Robert Chaney, an American songwriter based in London. Chaney says about ‘Before I Go‘… “This is that 4am energy, when you’re hanging with someone special and you don’t … Continue reading
Some classic cowboy serenading on this new track from American songwriter Kyle Cox. There’s some Willy in the jazz-influenced, soft-shoe shuffle and a subtle doo-wop element that gives it an old-timey feel. Apparently the song was written for Cox’s 2.5 year old son – “Working through the emotions of everything in my life changing, missing the … Continue reading
The Forresters are a Sydney band that combine a melodic power-pop sound with a light Americana touch that recalls everyone from Tom Petty, Wilco and The Jayhawks to fellow locals Fallon Cush. ‘I Need To Know’ is a brief two and half minute song but they cut to chase quickly finding the melodic sweet spot … Continue reading
Man, what a song. Ridiculously catchy and most effectively it’s all delivered with an effortless and breezy, light-headed and heavy-hearted, sway and swagger. Like The Lemonheads and The Jayhawks – that nexus of sweet Americana and power-pop. Just a perfect country-rock, guitar pop nugget. Russel Taine Jr. is a band from Austin, TX comprised of … Continue reading
Any song that starts with the line ‘Satan is my father” is a winner straight off the bat in our books. It’s nicely balanced by the line “My mother is an angel”, from Kentucky band Wayne Graham, in collaboration with Nuremburg folk group The Green Apple Sea. This track has a wonderfully lazy, back-porch vibe … Continue reading
Simple, sad and sombre sounds courtesy of Minneapolis resident J.E. Sunde, taken from his upcoming new album 9 Songs About Love, due out on 20th November on French label Vietnam (distributed by Because Music / Universal). ‘I Don’t Care To Dance’ is clearly in debt to the work of Leonard Cohen but one can also … Continue reading
Wyatt C. Louis is a Cree-Métis folk singer-songwriter, based in Moh’kinstsís (Calgary). ‘Dancing With Sue’ is the first taste of his new album, due for release in the next few months via Canadian label Slow Weather. The song is one of those comforting, nostalgic sounds that draws you in. There’s a strong melodic thread that runs … Continue reading
To mark its one year anniversary, Mark Moldre has today released the fourth single and fifth video clip from his acclaimed 2019 album Fever Dreams. ‘White Lightning‘ is a raised-glass country sway, an intoxicating tale of love lost and found – with soft shuffling drums, woozy electric guitar and a loose and heady, end-of-the-night vibe. ‘White Lightning’ was a … Continue reading
