Married couple Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore return with their second album and they stick close to the game-plan on this one with its upbeat rock-lite country pop, near-perfect harmonies and clinical yet accomplished guitar and fiddle playing. The problem is that it’s all too polished and nice. When they tackle melancholic subject matter it … Continue reading
Gretta Ziller has already generated a great deal of critical and industry acclaim in the 2013 Telstra Road to Discovery Grand Finals at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, as well as her 2013 TSA/APRA New Songwriter of the Year award. Now she has released her debut EP Hell’s Half Acre which captures the essence and graceful Americana beauty of … Continue reading
Kasey Chambers sits in that rare artistic position having sold 1.2 million albums as a hugely successful commercial songwriter/performer, while still retaining integrity and respect from the country and alt-country communities where she first established her talent. Bittersweet is Chambers’ first album since she split from husband Shane Nicholson after they released their 2011 collaborative … Continue reading
Lucinda Williams has a new 2CD/3LP album called Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone coming out on Ocotober 3rd. We’been listening to it this week and it’s a superb album, her best in years in our opinion. She hits all the right Williams’ moods and styles, a swampy, often Dylan-esque vibe and some incredible players including … Continue reading
Will Oldham has, by his own prolific standards, been a tad quiet on the album front since his Everly Brothers-inspired album from 2013. That all changed when today he announced a new Bonnie “Prince” Billy record called Singer’s Grave ・ a Sea of Tongues will be released on September 23rd via Drag City and Spunk here … Continue reading
Hannah Aldridge is a new discovery for me, even though the Muscle Shoals native released her debut album Razor Wire back in May this year. Aldridge is the daughter of Alabama Music Hall of Famer, Walt Aldridge, who is one of the most prolific songwriters of the modern music era having written countless Number One and Top … Continue reading
Melbourne band Eaten By Dogs released their self-titled debut album via Black Hats Rackets a few weeks ago and yesterday they posted the clip for its second single ‘Fallen Not Broken’. I like what I hear in this track and also the first single ‘If it Ain’t Killing You, it’s Sure Killing Me’ which you can … Continue reading
Robyn Chalklen and Chris Parkinson are the core duo of The Yearlings and this, their fifth album, finds them at the top of their game. All The Wandering is the kind of album that fires melancholic shots straight to your heart. With weeping pedal steel courtesy of Lost Ragas’ Shane Reilly alongside a raft of … Continue reading
The last few years has seen Little Bastard gain a reputation as one hell of a live band, the septet causing raucous, drunken partying with their punk-spirited folk and bluegrass. Now they’ve finally stepped off the road to try and bottle some of that stage magic on their debut album. The good news is … Continue reading
Folk music comes in many styles and levels of intensity from brisk strumming and foot stomping to plaintiff torch song but it’s alway at its best when stripped back to its essence – words and accompanying raw instrumentation. On her debut album Lyttleton’s Aldous Harding (Hannah Harding) has a direct line to the heart and … Continue reading
Justin Townes Earle has today announced that his new album Single Mothers is due out September 9th via his new label, Vagrant Records. It will be the 32 year old’s fifth full length release. Continue reading
Jenny Queen is an Ohio native, based in Sydney, who sits on the stylistic fence on her third album. Her sound is firmly in a pop country vein that wouldn’t be out of place on the soundtrack to the TV series Nashville yet there is a constant undercurrent of mild emotional turbulence and the sense … Continue reading
Jolie Holland has always operated outside the conventional restraints of folk, jazz and country music. She’s dabbled in and blended those styles and more but on Wine Dark Sea she throws them all in the air, managing to juggle and reconnect them (and others) in thrillingly madcap, visceral, primal and intellectual combinations. Instruments rattle, grate … Continue reading
Hollie Fullbrook’s debut album and other releases as Tiny Ruins have been critically lauded, as have her many live shows over the last few years. Brightly Painted One, her long overdue follow-up to Some Were Meant For Sea continues the exceptional journey of this New Zealand singer/songwriter whose reputation is now one that spans continents. … Continue reading
The Irish folk singer returns with a new album of songs that are noteworthy for both their skeletal, laid-bare arrangements and the instrumentation provided by The Phil Ware Trio – Phil on piano, Dave Redmond on double bass, Kevin Brady on drums. Comprised of a number of covers and a couple of Bloom originals this … Continue reading
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