Hat Fitz & Cara are an Australia-based blues and folk duo who have gradually built a great reputation both on stage and on record for their authentic and organic approach to the form. Unfortunately their lives and music were derailed by a terrible car accident at the end of 2012 that left Cara with severe … Continue reading
Here’s the latest video from Dan Waters‘ acclaimed album La Vita E Bella which won Best Country Album at The Age Victoria Genre Awards last year. Ah, guilt and shame, two of the age-old corner posts of great country music. Continue reading
Fanny Lumsden and her band The Thrillseekers did a live session at Cleveland’s late in 2013. Here’s a great new song Your Rattle & Your Roll, gently overflowing with that magical melodicism that Lumsden seems to fill each song with. It’s set to be a big year for the band with plans to record and … Continue reading
I’ve been fortuitously bumping into a few articles, mentions and the music of Phil Ochs lately so I really want to track down a copy of the 2010 documentary There But For Fortune, directed by Kenneth Bowser. Here’s the trailer… I also came across this Channel 4 documentary Chords of Fame from 1984 that is … Continue reading
by Chris Familton Johnny Green celebrated his 60th birthday with an opening set that also featured his son Hank Green on guitar. With The Detonators’ drummer as a late ring-in the band eased the arriving crowd into the world of country blues, rock n roll and honky tonk. Green’s laconic voice and laid-back demeanor made … Continue reading
Here’s an excellent four hour documentary detailing the history of Country Music including the Carter Family, the Louvin Brothers, Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Ray Price, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton and more. Sit back, pour yourself a drink (or three), watch and learn… Continue reading
Lucinda Williams’ out of print 3rd album from 1988 gets the remastered and expanded treatment plus (thankfully) a vinyl reissue release. Out on January 14th it also includes a 1989 live set from The Netherlands plus other live tracks culled from radio sessions. Lucinda Williams: 25th Anniversary Edition (Thirty Tigers, 2014) LP: Amazon U.S. Disc 1: Original … Continue reading
Modern Blue is track 4 on Rosanne Cash’s new swamp-tinged, moody Americana LP The River & The Thread out Jan 14th via Blue Note Records. https://soundcloud.com/bluenoterecords/rosanne-cash-modern-blue Continue reading
After collaborating on the 2012 album Sad but True – The Secret History of Country Music Songwriting Vol. 1 and picking up Best Album and Best Country Song at the NZ Country Music Awards, Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams will be releasing Sad But True Volume III – Juke Box B Sides on January 31st via Lyttelton Records/Southbound … Continue reading
It’s been another superb year of Americana releases both here in Australia and from around the world. It also feels like a well balanced collection of great music that makes up out twenty favourite albums of 2013 with alt-country rocking guitars, sensitive songwriters, both male and female, as well as a spread of ages that … Continue reading
by Chris Familton Two years on from Jordie Lane’s well received second album Blood Thinner, the Melbournian returns from some overseas jaunts with a new EP of warm, bucolic folk and alt-country songs that further enhance his stock as a quality singer/songwriter. Lane is one of those contemporary singers who sounds very much like the … Continue reading
Mark Moldre has released another video clip as part of his mission to release one for every track on his excellent 2013 LP An Ear To The Earth. Gloriously shot in black & white by Darren Cross at Bernstein Studios, the song is the tale of a lost soul, lyrically magnificent, poetic and rich in … Continue reading
by Chris Familton New Zealander (now Melbourne-based) Marlon Williams opened the evening with an impressive set of originals and covers (Townes Van Zandt). Williams’ voice is a beautiful instrument capable of soaring falsetto, yodel hiccups and he used it to near perfection singing songs of tear-stained loss and heartache. One in particular, State Hospital, was … Continue reading
On the back of his superb album 2013 album Southeastern, strangely not released locally in Australia until February, Jason Isbell has announced a series of dates in addition to his appearance at Boogie Festival next April. In addition to performing with a full band, Isbell will have Tift Merritt opening for him. Merritt locally released her Travelling Alone LP earlier … Continue reading
On January 28th, 2014, Legacy Recordings will reissue Uncle Tupelo’s debut LP, 1990′s No Depression as a special two-disc remastered and expanded edition featuring rare and previously unreleased material. Included is the recently unearthed 10-song demo tape Not Forever, Just Now, recorded by the original trio of Jeff Tweedy, Jay Farrar, and Mike Heidorn in 1989. The reissue will also include … Continue reading
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