Just when you think you’ve got a handle on all the great Americana albums that have been released in 2014 another one shuffles up beside you and taps you on the shoulder. Thanks to a recommendation from Spreading The Seed and their best of the year list I’ve been made aware and fallen under the spell … Continue reading
Doug Paisley has already released two superb records this decade with this year’s Strong Feelings and Constant Companion from 2010. No Quarter have just released a deluxe version of the former which includes a 7″ single with the A-side being this gorgeous track also featuring the voice of Will Oldham. Continue reading
Josh Rennie-Hynes is a Brisbane singer songwriter who released his debut album February in July. Produced by Shane Nicholson it’s an accomplished and mature set of songs that carry themselves with a nice sense of balance between earthy emotiveness and catchy hooks. There’s a carefree Australian flavour to much of Rennie-Hynes’ music as much as … Continue reading
Canada has always had a strong country scene which is too often overshadowed by their southern neighbours. In recent time Lindi Ortega and Corb Lund have released great records and now Del Barber, a new name to us, has just released his 4th album. Barber’s sound is a comfortable one that shape-shifts between folk, honky … Continue reading
On her long-awaited debut album Caitlin Harnett finds a lush and harmonious middle ground between folk and country music. There’s a lightness to her music and voice in the vein of the carefree sound that came out of Laurel Canyon in the 1970s, with Joni Mitchell an obvious touchstone. Strings, harmonica, organ and horns enhance … Continue reading
Marlon Williams has been crazy busy in 2014 with festival appearances, supports and his own shows. Now he has put together a band, The Yarra Benders, including Dan Parsons on guitar. The full band played the Out On The Weekend festival and associated sideshows and now Williams has announced his own headline shows for Melbourne and … Continue reading
Les Thomas is a Melbourne singer-songwriter, activist and blogger who has built a name for himself as a strong supporter of alt-country music in Australia. His songs resonate with themes of social justice and a desire to awaken social conciousness. He recently released his full length album Survivor’s Tale, a record that tells the story of those … Continue reading
Emma Swift continues to build on the critical success of her self-titled mini album with a new live performance clip for the song ‘Woodland Street’. It possesses the same magical sway and swoon of the recorded version but with more intimacy and poignant grace in this rendition with Swift’s regular collaborator Chris Pickering. Swift has a bunch … Continue reading
As the incredible list of Americana acts visiting our shores continues (courtesy of Love Police and Out On The Weekend), last night saw contrasting shades of alt-country serenade the Newtown Social Club and a room full of music and media who’s who of the Sydney Americana scene (Emma Swift, Jep & Dep, Fanny Lumsden, Bernard … Continue reading
Bernie Griffen won plenty of hearts and minds with the dark and emotive alt-country of his last album Everything So Far (2012), accompanied by his band The Grifters. Now he has replaced nearly all of them with a new line-up called The Thin Men and jumped tracks to a rockier (in its many different forms) … Continue reading
Here’s the new single from Gothenburg-based Swedish band The Don Darlings. ‘If You Can’t Be Good’ comes from their self-titled second album due out at the end of October via HepTown Records. These guys have a nice gothic Americana feel, dark and full-blooded. Continue reading
The latest instalment of Six Strings, where we focus on an Australian or New Zealand songwriter and dig into their musical psyche, opinions and memories via our Q&A. This one features Mark Lucas, a long-time stalwart of the local Sydney scene who arrived here from England at the dawn of the ’80s and went on … Continue reading
New Zealand (Lyttleton Harbour) band The Eastern, led by Adam McGrath, have a new album called The Territory out on October 31st. Here’s an excellent track from it called ‘The Stepping Razor’. They’ve toured with Steve Earle (twice), the Old Crow Medicine Show (twice) and the Lilʼ Band of Gold as well as opening for … Continue reading
One of our absolute favourite Australian singer/songwriters James Thomson has a new album called Cold Moon due out soon and today he unveiled the first taste of it with the clip for the single ‘Can’t Go Home This Way’. It finds Thomson evolving and fine-tuning his songwriting. The blues is still at the root of … Continue reading
Willy Vlautin is best known as frontman for alt-country band Richmond Fontaine and as an increasingly renowned fiction author. Now he’s added The Delines to his CV, a band where he takes a background role as songwriter and player with the immediate spotlight falling on singer Amy Boone (Damnations) who possesses a devastating ache and … Continue reading
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