THE WEEKLY ROUND-UP: 24th April, 2015

It has been a big week for Americana related tour announcements with news that The Milk Carton Kids, Mary Chapin Carpenter & Tift Merritt and Ryan Adams & Jenny Lewis will be touring here over the next few months. Local acts have also got in on the action with Marlon Williams announcing an Australian and New Zealand run of dates and Josh Rennie-Hynes heading back for a winter tour of New Zealand. Scroll down for dates…

The Morrisons @ The Basement

Here at Post To Wire we caught a superb show last Sunday evening at The Midnight Special in Newtown with Jason Walker playing tracks from his forthcoming solo album on Lost Highway Records as well as a raft of incredible covers of songs by Gram Parsons, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ryan Adams, Townes Van Zandt and Blaze Foley. Earlier that evening at the Union Hotel we also saw a strong solo set (accompanied by fiddle and bass) from Mark Lucas who was celebrating the release of the first single from his forthcoming solo album Little Town Blues. We also got along to Lost Highway Records’ showcase gig Country & Inner Western at the Basement where Jenny Queen, Ruby Boots and The Morrisons showed why they have major label interest.

Speaking of Ruby Boots, we reviewed her brand new debut LP Solitude and gave it 4/5, saying “Across ten songs she rouses deep and ragged emotion, tugs on heartstrings with authentic ache and yearning and succinctly nails tried and true subject matter with infectious melodies and deft lyricism. Hers is one of those red wine-stained voices that’s as comfortable with sweet frailty as it is with full-blooded and brassy rock’n’roll and deep gospel/country soul.” Other prominent new releases this week include Marlon Williams’ stunning debut which we’ll have a review of next week, Raised By Eagles’ Diamonds In The Bloodstream (review), Ryan Adams‘ Live at Carnegie Hall hit the streaming sites, The Honeycutters‘ Me Oh My, John Moreland’s incredible High on Tulsa Heat and Liam Gale & The Ponytails‘ The Lonely Throne which we also reviewed, saying “An immensely absorbing album, it draws the listener in with its transportive qualities”.

There were a bunch of new video clips including Marlon Williams’ Strange Things, Dan Parsons’ I’ll Live And I’ll Die, Calexico’s Falling From The Sky feat. Ben Bridwell of Band Of Horses and Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard’s It’s All Going to Pot.

Gig of the week ahead is without doubt Ramblin’ Man Sessions III at the Petersham Bowling Club this Sunday from 5pm featuring Jason Walker, Dan Waters and Nick Barker. Also on Saturday 25th are Spurs For Jesus at The Vic On The Park, She Hangs Brightly at Brighton Up featuring Ruby Boots, Fanny Lumsden, Amber Rae Slade and Cookie Baker and Laura Jean and Aldous Harding over at Django Bar in Marrickville. On Monday night you can catch Walker yet again, this time back at The Midnight Special with Toby Martin and ‘The King Of Koori Country’ Roger Knox who will be celebrating the reissue of Clinton Walker’s seminal Buried Country book on Aboriginal country music.

TOUR DATES

Ryan Adams & Jenny Lewis

14 July | Town Hall, Auckland (All Ages)
16 July | Opera House, Wellington (All Ages)
19 July | Forum Theatre, Melbourne (18+)
23 July | Enmore Theatre, Sydney (All Ages)

The Milk Carton Kids

28 June | City Recital Hall, Sydney, NSW
30 June | The Athenaeum, Melbourne, VIC
03 July | Old Museum, Brisbane, QLD
04 July | Bello Music Weekender, Bellingen, NSW

Mary Chapin Carpenter and Tift Merritt