I’m a big fan of Tommy Alexander‘s Waves album of last year. He’s followed that up with a new double A side release called Light & Drama. Here’s the ‘Drama’ side of things, a very cool and lazy drawl of a song that shuffles along on the back of Alexander’s unassuming yet infectious vocal melody. Continue reading
‘Seven Hundred Second Chances’ is the brand new single from Lawrence, Kansas Americana band The Roseline. It comes form their forthcoming new LP and follows the release of their 2020 album Good/Grief which we’ve previously written about. Here they get even more widescreen with a Ryan Adams melodicism and sway in the verses before electric … Continue reading
I dig the way this track dances so lightly across the speakers. There’s a baroque folk feel, a touch of the pop nous of Harry Nilsson and a freak folk freedom going on. The Nielsen Family Band know their way around a charming and clever melody on ‘Fragile Flowers’, it sits on a solid backbeat … Continue reading
‘I’m Made’ is a brand new track from Stone Jack Jones and featuring the vocals of Adia Victoria. Dense, desolate, driving psych country folk and blues sounds are the order of the day here. It reminds me a lot of New Zealand band The Renderers who trade in a similar form of gothic psych country. … Continue reading
Wildie are a Swedish quartet who, from the sound of this track ‘Old Man’, excel at writing and performing country flavoured West Coast sounds with a classic pop streak. There’s Wilco, Ron Sexsmith, a dash of early Midlake and above all some lush, melodic 70’s style songwriting that sounds effortless. The song comes from their … Continue reading
Oh man I love this track. It stopped me dead in my tracks when I first heard it. All the elements are perfect – the pacing and tempo, the grit and twang in Mac Greer‘s voice, the country tropes of heartache and pain, the simplicity and repetition of the lyrics, the way the electric guitar enters … Continue reading
I love the way this track lazily bounces along, draped in jangly cosmic twang and has this wonderfully swelling, spiralling feel, like it could spin on and out forever. It features the warmly melodic lead vocal of Netta Dor, who says of the song… “I love that final chorus. Where everyone becomes entangled with each … Continue reading
It’s hard to go past a name like Dash Hammerstein isn’t it?! Luckily his music is equally as compelling. ‘Sun Dancer’ lopes along like Harry Nilsson tripping on a sunny afternoon down a country lane. Pedal steel plays the coy and alluring sidekick to this Brooklyn songwriter’s heavy-lidded jaunty sound. ‘Sun Dancer’ comes from Hammerstein’s … Continue reading
Authenticity and originality are key ingredients in the country and folk music that catches our ears and Melissa Carper‘s songwriting and voice immediately caught our attention when we heard ‘Back When’. The song comes from her new album Daddy’s Country Gold (released last Friday), one of the finest vintage country albums we’ve heard so far … Continue reading
Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams Plastic Bouquet New West Records A chance Spotify encounter with the music of Kacy & Clayton led Marlon Williams on an adventure that ended up in sub-zero Saskatoon in Canada and Nashville, TN to record this wonderful collaborative album. There’s a clear simpatico between the three of them, with … Continue reading
Here’s some bewitching and baroque English folk that possesses hints of Kate Bush, Aldous Harding and Joni Mitchell. Loris and the Lion (songwriter Georgia Harris and musician/producer Rich Bond) create a rich, shape-shifting piece of hallucinogenic Albion folk. What begins as an ornate and sparse sound is gradually transformed as elements are added to the … Continue reading
Acoustic guitar, pedal steel and glockenspiel form the delicate musical filigree that hangs behind the vocals of The Wicked Messenger‘s Jimi Beavis and Janey Mac on their brand new single ‘I Am Here’. There’s a meditative quality to the song that feels like those quiet, reflective moments where calm pervades the atmosphere of a room … Continue reading
Greg Farley used to be a member of The Felice Brothers but since his departure he’s slowly but surely carved out an impressive and promising solo career. In 2018 he released his album Taker Easy, featuring the excellent track ‘Make It Out’. His new album Brown Bag was released last month and one of its … Continue reading
THE SEEDS OF COLLABORATION Marlon Williams talks about Plastic Bouquet his new album with Kacy & Clayton and gives an update on some of his other upcoming projects. by Chris Familton In 2017, New Zealand songwriter Marlon Williams was on tour across Europe when the algorithms of Spotify dropped a Kacy & Clayton song in … Continue reading
Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys Late Night Essentials Evening Records Caitlin Harnett’s 2014 debut album The River Runs North was an accomplished exercise in confessional, acoustic-based contemporary folk with a strength of songwriting at its core. As part of a an established collective of movers and shakers in the Sydney Americana scene – aiding … Continue reading
