It’s been a while since we last posted one of our Americana mixtapes for your listening pleasure but finally we’ve found the time to trawl through our collection and pull some gems together. This streaming mix is a themed one of sorts in that we’ve focused on some of our favourite female singers and songwriters. You’ll … Continue reading
Nikki Lane hits all the right marks on her excellent new album of rollicking Americana and sultry rock ’n’ roll. Her savvy writing style blends those genres with a pop sensibility that provides hook-laden and ridiculously catchy songs for the first two thirds of All Or Nothin’. Whether it is the big-beat honky tonk of … Continue reading
Will Wood is the latest artist to release an album on the Lyttleton Records label out of the South Island of New Zealand. The label has already released Aldous Harding’s excellent debut plus the three volumes of Sad But True… featuring Delaney Davidson and Marlon Williams. Wood is Auckland based and his debut album Broken Man … Continue reading
Shovels & Rope burst through the wall of anonymity with their debut album and now they’ve backed it up with another rollicking, rough and ready clutch of thirteen songs. Their live show gets rave reviews for its rawness and passionate delivery and they’ve bottled some of that here with throat-shredding enthusiasm sidling up next to … Continue reading
Waitin’ Around To Die ~ A place where Americana (we’re talking alt-country, folk, bluegrass, rock n roll, country…) music fans and musicians can share new (and old) music they’ve discovered, their own releases, photos, gigs, recruit new band members, source information and continue to build the Americana music community, primarily in Australia and New Zealand. … Continue reading
Nashville-based Lera Lynn has a new album just out called The Avenues which blends her slow-burn shimmering country music with some soulful pop shades. Here’s a clip for the opening track ‘Out To Sea’. Continue reading
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 … 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
For those of us unable to make it to the inaugural Out on the Weekend Americana Festival (JTE, Robert Ellis, Nikki Lane, Henry Wagons, The Delines, Emma Swift, Raised By Eagles etc) in Melbourne, this is the start of the news we’ve been waiting for. The sideshow announcements have started rolling with Justin Townes Earle … Continue reading
The story behind Corb Lund’s eight album involves a trip with his band the Hurtin’ Albertans down from Canada to Memphis’ legendary Sun Studio for a completely live recording session over two nights. That approach has certainly reaped rewards with the album sounding raw and alive. There is a real sense of the players bouncing … Continue reading
Until recently there’s been something of a divide between pop-country and alt-country but now they seem to be finding common ground more often. Jenny Queen’s new album achieves that and now Tracy McNeil finds similar gold by mining the tried and true washes of guitar distortion, twang and tremolo that characterise melancholic americana with added … Continue reading
‘Only Love Can Break Your Heart’ is one of Neil Young’s finest songs, a tear-jerking, heart-wrenching treatise on love and its glorious dangers. Here’s the version that appears on the new CSNY 1979 live boxset. With the added harmonies of CSN it is near perfect. Hit the link below to hear the song: STREAM: CSNY … Continue reading
We’re halfway through 2014 already, crazy huh?! In my opinion it has been a superb start to the year with some outstanding albums released, many of which will still be firm favourites at the end of the year. You can hit links on the many of the albums listed below to read our reviews. … Continue reading
Taken from his Black Coffee album which won a Golden Guitar award at Tamworth this year, here’s Lachlan Bryan’s brand new clip for the track ‘You, Me and The Blues’, complete with swords, Elvis and a Tarantino-esque babe. Bryan is playing a bunch of shows with Dan Waters and The Weeping Willows under the banner Follow … Continue reading
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