With her famous surname and the album’s opening shimmering tremolo guitar chords you’d think you were in for a straight country trip. There’s certainly a strong country streak, of the Nikki Lane kind, that runs through Walking Proof, but just as equally there’s an indie rock aesthetic that runs from Liz Phair to Jenny Lewis … Continue reading
Melbourne alt-country/Americana songwriter Mitch Dean released his debut solo album Holding Back The Levee last Friday. “I wanted to make something that sounded like all the albums I love to listen to. From Neil Young through to The Jayhawks.” Evocative storytelling, rich musicality and the heartfelt conveyance of human emotion. Those are some of the hallmarks … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
‘The Lonely Hunter’ is the third track released from The Wine of Youth, the new album by San Diego-based singer-songwriter Zach Phillips. Based around a simple repeating guitar motif, Phillips weaves some sublime vocal melodies that rise and fall, circling those exquisite guitar notes and the subtle rhythm section. Lovely stuff. “The Wine of Youth” is … Continue reading
James Chapman and the Blue Moon have a new single out called ‘I Don’t Try’, an excellent rumbling rabble rouser of a track that channels Dylan and Elvis and was apparently recorded live and late at night on an abandoned US air base. The song is one of three on their new self-titled EP of … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
We love the nexus between alt-country, dark folk, post-rock and slowcore music. That rarefied air that people like Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Jason Molina, Bon Iver and others have all breathed and created in. When we heard ‘Mountain Kin / Anodyne‘, by group State Park Ranger, we knew they were kindred spirits of those musicians and … Continue reading
Brandon Dodd What A Way To Die Independent ‘Absolute’, the opening track on Brandon Dodd’s debut solo album sets a high standard with its warmth and intimacy, a wonderful blend of country, folk and heart-on-sleeve soul. The subtlety and restraint in the guitar playing and Dodd’s voice introduce a solo artist who has treaded the … Continue reading
Kansas City native Fritz Hutchison has just released Wide Wild Acres, an album that bristles with heartfelt intent and cascading melodies that tumble across a landscape of Americana and indie rock. ‘Fortunate Flaws’ sounds like a lost Creedence Clearwater Revival meets Wilco gem, built on the back of Hutchison’s gloriously lazy and wide-ranging voice. The push and pull … Continue reading
Birmingham Alabama’s Dan Sartain has a new tale of western gothic noir for your listening pleasure. There’s drama aplenty in his sound that contains a tinge of Nick Cave in its moody salute to the cowboys of the silver screen and television. ‘The Return Of Ringo’ comes from Sartain’s album Western Hills (Out now with vinyl … Continue reading
We posted excitedly about Tommy Alexander a few weeks ago, or maybe it was last month, life’s something of a blur at the moment. Regardless, we shouted from an isolated hilltop about the greatness of his first singles from his new album Waves which is out next Friday, June 5th. ‘Whatever You Say’ is the … Continue reading
Charley Crockett, today announced his latest studio album Welcome To Hard Times, released July 31st on Thirty Tigers. A bold new record from the definitive young voice in country and western’s modern reinvention. Produced by Mark Neill, with songwriting contributions from Pat McLaughlin and Dan Auerbach, Welcome To Hard Times’ is a genre-bending mix … Continue reading
Secretly Canadian have announced the release of a new Jason Molina LP ‘Eight Gates’, his last collection of solo recordings, made in London in January 2009. Pre-order HERE Sometime in 2006 or 2007, Jason Molina moved from the midwest to London. Separated from his bandmates and friends and never one for idleness, Molina explored his … Continue reading
John Moreland LP5 Old Omens/Thirty Tigers John Moreland is a master of melancholy, a chronicler of the downhearted and down on their luck, with his weathered and worn ache of a voice. He has a knack for delivering maximum emotional impact from minimal window dressing in his songs and he’s as much a soul singer … Continue reading
Tami Neilson Chickaboom! Outside Music/Neilson Records On her latest album, Canadian-Kiwi Tami Neilson strips things right back to the core essence of song, rhythm and particularly a spotlight on her exceptional voice. Her focus was to record the songs as they would sound on stage, as performed by a three-piece band – her current preference … Continue reading
