I think in many ways we’d all like to erase 2020 and start again, but still with the release of the many great albums that came out this year. I’m guessing, like me, most of you found solace, escape, distraction and comfort in listening to music – new and old – to get you through …
Lists! We have a couple for you as usual as we wind down at the end of another year. I won’t rabbit on about the trials and tribulations of 2020, the good news was that the music still came down the pipeline with the same amount of quality and reward. We’ll have our overall list …
Kyle Jenkins Love Lost Love Near Enough Records Kyle Jenkins, the prolific songwriter and frontman for Toowoomba alt-country band Suicide Swans, has also found the time to release his second solo album. His debut, Meltdown, shared a lot of similarities with Suicide Swans but on Love, Lost Love, things get darker and starker. Predominately acoustic … Continue reading
Some songs just roll along with a near perfect vibe and melodic flow and we recently came across the gem from the group Toler Gibson. They describe themselves as a “group of mountain dwellers living high above the clouds in California.” Their back story is that it all started when Gibson, a Canadian born, Texas raised … Continue reading
Described by Savannah Gardner as “a timeless break up anthem wrapped up in celtic string arrangements and the echoes of the slide guitar and piano. The ultimate message is one of hope, where no matter how hard life gets, the sun will always rise again.” The lush and immersive new single from the Californian songwriter, … Continue reading
Sydney singer-songwriter Katie Brianna has already had a fascinating musical journey, from Paul Kelly and Tamworth approved teenager to one of the most riveting and melancholically melodic vocalists on the local Americana scene. Now with three solo albums to her name, her latest, This Way Or Some Other, is hands-down her finest work. Brianna’s previous … Continue reading
This track reminded me of Robert Ellis when I first heard it. The Athens GA songwriter Tyler Key has a similar vocal tone that cuts through the sweet country stylings on this really great new single that balances rough swagger and nuanced playing. As Key explains, “Most everyone I know in their mid-to-late twenties has … Continue reading
Ahead of the release of his new album My Friend Defiance (Blind Date Records) next week, Jeb Cardwell has shared these two tracks – ‘Blood Moon’ and ‘Storm Clouds’. The former is a low-slung rhythmic delight, steeped in the effortless cosmic country sound of Tony Joe White and J.J. Cale with it’s loping groove and … Continue reading
What do you get when you cross T-Rex with Wilco and The Rolling Stones? Something akin to the soaring country rock of ‘Catch A Glimpse’, the new single from Aaron Ross & The Peach Leaves. Ross was a member of math rock band Hella (with Zach Hill of Deathgrips and Spencer Seim of sBACH and … Continue reading
A very cool slice of talking blues with a country folk heartbeat courtesy of Griffin Winton out of middle Tennessee. You can hear Blaze Foley, Townes Van Zandt and Dylan running through Winton’s delivery on the track, accompanied by a perfect blend of strummed acoustic guitar and a chorus that’s right on the money. Winton … Continue reading
From the get-go this new single from Swedish band Carnation Blue reminded us of a really great mix of peak Houndmouth, Hurray For The Riff Raff and Shovels and Rope in the way it revels in its sparse instrumentation and thrills with the character-filled lead vocal of Helene Åhström. There’s pop, country and folk in … Continue reading
The Weeping Willows are Australia’s finest exponents of the stripped-down duo format. One guitar, two superb harmony-rich voices and a talent for both their own songwriting and the interpretation of other’s songs. They’ve just announced the release of a brand new EP called Southern Gothic, which is out this Friday (June 4th), and it finds … Continue reading
For fans of John Prine, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Townes Van Zandt; Album out Sept. 3rd via Fat Possum Records “The Ferg is a bonafide card-carrying legendary hillbilly genius, and when he talks you better shut up and listen.” -Sturgill Simpson A Grammy Award-winning recording engineer, studio owner, video game soundtrack composer, and collaborator with … Continue reading
I love the laidback, lilting melodic sway of this slice of mellow honky tonk flavoured country-folk from Ozark Mountains group Pawns or Kings. The song has a touch of Townes and Blaze Foley about it too. Above all it’s the sweet vocal hooks of ‘No Way Home…’ that work their way deep into your short … Continue reading
There’s a heavy, dreamy ambient country intro to this brand new single from Georgia State Line. That evocative beginning gives way to urgent acoustic guitar and upbeat drums, perfectly countered by the devastating heartache of Georgia Delves‘ voice. Streaked in melancholy and yearning, it’s the centrepiece of the song and an impressive first taste of … Continue reading
This new single from Ghost Prom is a wonderfully unassuming slice of country folk that rides some sweet melodies and harmonies over a shuffling backbeat and loosely strummed guitars. There isn’t much info on the Hurley, New York band but their Bandcamp page does state that “two kids from a missing milk carton never got … Continue reading
Who woulda thought rejection could sound like so much fun. That’s what Los Angeles duo The Deltaz have done on this slice of 70s style country funk. Check that bass-line and try not nod along as a smile slowly spreads across your face. ‘I’ve Been Rejected’ was inspired by a night of drinking and line … Continue reading
