SOBRIETY & SINCERITY So often artists are touted as the best new thing or re-inventors of a genre or style. There is of course a time and a place for all those things but there’s equally much to be said about an artist who captures the purity and authenticity of a style. An artist like … Continue reading
Marlon Williams, The Weather Station @ Metro Theatre, May 17th 2018 Five years of hard work, countless hours in airport lounges, nights on friends’ couches and in bars and clubs is paying off big time with Marlon Williams’ current Australian tour sold out in the largest venues he’s headlined to date. This time around he he’s brought … Continue reading
Rhino have finally gone and done what plenty of people have been calling for, for a long time now – remastered reissues of the Buffalo Springfield catalogue. On June 29th they’ll release What’s That Sound? The Complete Albums Collection comprised of 5-CD and 5-LP box sets of the band’s three albums as originally issued between 1966 and … Continue reading
His debut album heralded the arrival of a timeless and exciting new country and folk voice, yet for Marlon Williams he’s only just starting to realise his songwriting ambitions with the baroque pop sound of his new album Make Way For Love. Down the phone line from New Zealand, Marlon Williams has just landed at … Continue reading
On first listen to Ross Cooper’s third full length, I Rode The Wild Horses, you’d be excused for mistaking the subject matter as just another songwriter assuming the role of cowboy. However a little research reveals the Texan native is in fact a cowboy assuming the role of writer. Born and raised into rodeo, Cooper’s … Continue reading
A couple of years ago, with little money in her bank account, approaching 40 and feeling burnt out, Lindi Ortega contemplated giving music up but instead she left her label, management and agent, got engaged and left Nashville and moved to Calgary. That led to the release of her EP Til The Goin’ Gets Gone … Continue reading
Reflecting on The Disarmers previous record, Sidelong, it is near impossible for this reviewer to hear train beat and tremolo without immediately conjuring the Old 97s, and if this is the jump off, think of Sarah Shook as Rhett Miller’s badass younger cousin. Sidelong, re-released on Bloodshot in 2017, was originally recorded and self released … Continue reading
Ben Mastwyk is currently a busy gent with a run of interstate shows with Luke Elliot (USA) and today he’s sent the video clip for new single ‘This Country’ out into the world. It’s a great horn-led slice of honky tonk and country groove, matched by an equally fine video complete with gold satin jackets, … Continue reading
NASHVILLE DREAMS AND WHISPERING TREES Lo Carmen has imagined making her Nashville album since she was a teenager and now that dream has come true with Lovers Dreamers Fighters, an album written in rural Georgia and featuring a duet with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy. Lo Carmen and her family have been based in the USA for … Continue reading
From all the entries that were submitted for the 2018 Americana Music Prize of Australia, the panel have whittled down the list to the fifteen finalists who are in with a chance to win a $10,000 prize pack. The joint initiative between esteemed country musician Shane Nicholson, the Forbes Street Studios and Lost Highway Australia, … Continue reading
It’s been a long time coming but Sydney band Not Good With Horses are set to release their debut album Faultlines on March 29th, via Compadre Music Co. They’ve just released the video for the second single “What’s Done Is Done’, a smouldering, snaking groove, richly ornamented with some subtle and evocative guitar interplay and … Continue reading
John Prine seems to be going through a late career purple patch of late with collaborations, plenty of live shows and the “Artist of the Year” award at the Americana Music Honors & Awards. Now he’s announced that his new album The Tree Of Forgiveness will be released on April 13th on his own independent label … Continue reading
In the long history of duets and collaborations in the world of country music comes a new triple threat in the form of Robert Ellis, Cory Chisel and Jonny Fritz. Each are distinct artists in their own right but together as Traveller they’ve captured a really special musical atmosphere and creativity that highlights each of … Continue reading
Based in America for the last few years, Lo Carmen has slowly been absorbing that country’s country music, blending it with her atmospheric slowcore sound and emerging with beautiful new album that seamlessly connects both worlds. Lovers Dreamers Fighters is just what it says, a document of the highs and lows of relationships, the bruises … Continue reading
Rising through the country and Americana ranks, Margo Price hit pay-dirt with her 2016 album Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, drawing critical acclaim from all quarters of the country world. Now she’s gone one step further on her new album, never pulling punches and wrapping it all up in a wonderfully wide-ranging classic and soulful country palette. … Continue reading
