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
After a stint in federal prison for bank robbery, singer-songwriter Killer Bee (Danny Walker) decamped to Southern California last year and has written an album, When The Soul Lies Down In That Grass, featuring this track ‘Bluebird’. There’s a heartfelt simplicity and rawness to the song with just an acoustic guitar and a raspy voice … Continue reading
Gillian Welch Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 2 Acony Records Followers of Gillian Welch are hardy folk, having to endure long periods between albums to satiate their fandom. Sure they get to hear her on David Rawlings excellent albums as well but there’s no substitute for a pure Welch album, as she’s proved … Continue reading
Trees Trees (50th Anniversary Edition) Fire Records The name Trees might not inspire immediate recognition for music fans but the English group’s brief, but bright three year existence from 1969-1972 has played the long game as obsessive psychedelic and folk musicologists discovered them and quietly spread the word. Fifty years later we have this wonderful … Continue reading
Kyle Jenkins, the ever prolific frontman of QLD alt-country group Suicide Swans, has released the first single from his second solo album Love, Lost Love. ‘Rosey Red Day’ sees Kyle reflecting on positivity in the face of the terror and destruction that’s rife in contemporary society. Over a flurry of strummed acoustic guitar strings and … Continue reading
Straight from the opening guitar licks you know this track is going to hit the spot. It kicks along like a hot-wired boot heel on a wooden honky tonk dancefloor. Sass, humour and hooks to burn, ‘Everything Is Trash’ is the debut single from new solo country / Americana act Roberta Faceplant, who is Philadelphia-based … Continue reading
Rose City Band, the project of Ripley Johnson when he’s not immersed in the world of Wooden Shjips or Moon Duo, has announced that album number three will be released on May 21st. Based on ‘Lonely Spaces’ (below) expect more of his amazing blend of dreamy, chooglin’, cosmic country. Press release spiel… Rose City Band … Continue reading
Sam Newton returns with his first single since the release of his 2018 album Stare Into The Dark. Since then he’s built up his own home studio and ‘Ground Me’ is one of the first results of that endeavour. As has become Newton’s signature sound, a widescreen intimacy casts a warm and resonant shadow across … Continue reading
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