We’ve been impressed with Pauline Andrès‘ music for a few years now, particularly her 2018 album Fearless Heart. When a tornado alert came up on her phone in Nashville and then the coronavirus restrictions kicked in, the songwriter bunkered down and took a swing at the Sia song ‘Elastic Heart’, stripping it back to to … Continue reading
Category Archives: Alt-Country
NEW MUSIC: Norma MacDonald – Wonder In The Summer
We’re digging this song by Halifax, Nova Scotia songwriter Norma MacDonald that we came across online. She released her new album Old Future a few weeks ago and ‘Wonder In The Summer’ is just one of its many highlights. MacDonald’s voice is a classic country sound, soaked in that ache and melancholy that we love. … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Nathan Kalish – Delta Woman
Nothing beats a well-written song, with strong playing and topped off by a voice brimming with soul and character. All the boxes are ticked on this new single (and the accompanying album) from Nathan Kalish. ‘Delta Woman’ comes from Kalish’s tenth album Songs For Nobody. It’s pure country but it also contains a strong streak of … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Tommy Alexander – End Of The World
Tommy Alexander has a new album coming out on June 5th and that’s a promising prospect based on the sound of this track – ‘End Of The World’. A mid-tempo piece of alt-country rock, it channels Prine and Kristofferson as he chronicles troubled times. The song has that weary, poetic grain to it that we … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: The Roseline – GOOD/GRIEF
The Roseline GOOD/GRIEF The Roseline hail from Lawrence, KS and are the band that singer/songwriter Colin Halliburton gathers around his songs in order to fully realise and bring them to life. He’s done just that on GOOD/GRIEF, an album written in response to the death of his best friend (and keyboardist/musical co-conspirator in The Roseline), as well … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: James Thomson – Golden Exile
James Thomson Golden Exile Independent Thomson returns with his third album, and his most accomplished work to date. Golden Exile is a record that will bring to mind the loose rhythms and grooves of The Rolling Stones and the melodic nuance of The Beatles. Throw into the mix that sweet intersection of 70s folk rock … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Ride Til Dawn – (Ooh Baby) When I Can See Past The Shadows
Everything about this song we love. The way Ride Til Dawn‘s singer Mitch Grier sings the first line and leaves it hanging that bit longer until the next lines adds further details and context. There’s the chorus that swells skyward with a sweet ache and yearning. The song remind us a bit of the music … Continue reading
ALBUM REVIEW: Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling
Drive-By Truckers The Unraveling Ato Records by Chris Familton Over nearly quarter of a century, Drive-By Truckers have slowly established themselves as one of the great American bands of modern times. Harnessing the grit and swagger of alt-country and embracing and challenging the notion of being a Southern rock band, Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley and … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Ron Pope – Dodge Aries Wagon
Last month, Nashville-based Ron Pope released his new LP Bone Structure, a 15-track set of songs that are presented in both subtle and overt form as a collective letter to his young daughter. Pope seems to have had in interesting and at times challenging life to-date, as an impoverished child of teenaged parents to broken-hearted New … Continue reading
VIDEO PREMIERE: Sam Newton – Stare Into The Dark
“The neighbourhood is stuck on pause, I can see no cars, street lamps hung like a VCR” Sam Newton released his most recent album, Stare Into The Dark, in 2018 but it’s proven to have a wonderful shelf-life across live shows, both solo and with his band, and now the wonderful new video clip for … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: August Knight – Arizona Rain
August Knight gets bare and desolate on this stripped back take on his song ‘Arizona Rain’. Though minimal in its musical dressage, it still sounds lush within its high and lonesome pedal-steel draped sound. Over all of that, Knight hits the sweet spot between heartache and simple lyrical impact. “Arizona rain bring me an angel, … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Secret Emchy Society – Everything Was Fine
The enigmatically named Secret Emchy Society from Oakland has a new track out which races along on a quick-shuffle, honky tonk heartbeat as Cindy Emch barrels out the song with high spirits and playful verve. Emch has been named by the Huffington Post as the ‘First Lady of Queer Country’ and No Depression christened her “Equal … Continue reading
Waitin’ Around To Die Column: Between The Pages
BETWEEN THE PAGES As any righteous fan and music nerd will attest, biographies and autobiographies of their favourite artists and albums are an invaluable insight into the life and creative journey of a songwriter. Even in this day and age of smorgasbord information access via the internet, an in-depth and well-researched book by a writer … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Cave Flowers – Upper Hand
Yeah I know we’ve posted a couple of Cave Flowers‘ songs from their new self-titled album already, but damn it’s a cracker of a record and this track, the most recent single, is maybe our favourite. ‘Upper Hand’ has that windswept, slacker country vibe, perfectly enhanced by singer Andy McAllister’s gravelly voice and the way … Continue reading
NEW MUSIC: Thomas Bryan Eaton – Keep Us Free
Promises is the name of (Nashville, TN) Thomas Bryan Eaton‘s new EP and ‘Keep Us Free’ in particular highlights his strengths as a singer-songwriter. This track hustles along with vim and verve, bursting with guitars, pedal steel, fiddle and piano as he sings vividly of optimism and moving forward. It looks like Eaton has been treading the … Continue reading