2019 delivered another bounty of homegrown treats in the form of full-length albums that captured the range and spirit of Australian and NZ Americana music. We encourage you to hit the links to read reviews, listen and buy any new discoveries you might make from our list of favourites, head to a show, buy …
The Cryin’ Pedal Steel You’d be hard pressed to find an instrument so intrinsically linked to the sound of country music as the pedal steel guitar. Acoustic guitars and fiddles are ubiquitous instruments that cross a number of genres but for the pedal steel, country music is its undeniable home. Developed from the lap-played Hawaiian …
D.C CROSS ECSTATIC RACQUET No Drums Records D.C Cross is the latest chapter in the career of Darren Cross, he of Gerling fame and more recently as a solo artist and one half of the folk noir duo Jep and Dep. His solo albums have been sonically varied affairs with alt-country, folk, electronica and psychedelic …
THE LIFE OF A BIG BOSS MAMA The Australian market is becoming more of a priority for Tami Neilson, she’s was recently here in May for the Blues On Broadbeach Music Festival and now she’s set to return for the Dashville Skyline and Out On The Weekend festivals. Chris Familton gets the lowdown on all the …
1969: A Watershed Year For Americana Music Half a century ago, in a single calendar year, an avalanche of albums were released that would go on to have a lasting and monumental impact on what would become known as alt-country and more recently Americana music. Looking back at 1969 and pursuing the list of albums …
SONGS OF TRIBUTE For my Waitin’ Around to Die column in Rhythms I recently took a look at some of the outstanding releases in the field of tribute albums. Specifically those that fall under the umbrella of Americana and alt-country, whether it’s in recognition of an artist’s body of work or a fundraiser to assist them …
THE MIRROR OF TRUTH On his new album The Crossing, Alejandro Escovedo takes an unflinching and poetic look at America and the immigrant experience. By Chris Familton Alejandro Escovedo has been surrounded by music his entire life. His father played and listened to Mexican music, his mother loved big band jazz music and his rocker …
“It’s a cautionary tale about love lost, drunk dialing your ex and driving while on Xanax.” Joe Wortell (Chicago) has a new track out and it’s a pure country tune steeped in Haggard and early Sturgill. Rough and ready yet musically polished, especially the great pedal steel playing by Jeff Lyman. Hell of a chorus hook … Continue reading
New Yorker and Nashville resident Hayes Peebles has just released this brand new track ‘When I Find My Love’, which follows his excellent 2019 singles ‘Riding High‘ and ‘Riddle Me‘ which we’ve previously shared. It’s yet another slice of country folk that brings to mind that effortless melodicism of an artist such as Ron Sexsmith. … Continue reading
This song from Tortilla Flats jumps out of the gates on the back of a Dr Feelgood scratch and urgency and it doesn’t let up. Countrified and wired, it’s a blues boogie of sorts? Who knows! What it does do is kick like a mule. Great stuff from the Swedish group, who we haven’t actually … Continue reading
Heavenly harmonies abound on this beautiful piece of country folk from The Sweet Water Warblers from Michigan. There’s an ethereal, night sky atmosphere to the song, the ghosts of Appalachia drifting high in the aether as the voices of Rachael Davis, Lindsay Lou, and May Erlewine intertwine soulfully and harmonically in unison with guest Maya … Continue reading
Tracy McNeil & The Goodlife You Be The Lightning Cooking Vinyl Australia Across four albums, Tracy McNeil has woven a wistful strain of Americana that conjures up US West Coast country-rock and Australian East Coast sun-kissed FM pop. You Be The Lightning is her most realised and well executed iteration of that blend to date. … Continue reading
A new name to us here at PTW but British-born Canadian Sass Jordan has apparently sold over a million albums across her 40 year career! Rebel Moon Blues (March 13th) is her first album where she’s focused solely on singing the blues and if her cover of John Adam Estes’ ‘Leaving Trunk’ is anything to go … Continue reading
There’s a kaleidoscopic, psychedelic folk quality to this new Dan Croll track that sounds like it was plucked from the 60s and dropped into a modern 21st century studio. Indie folk I guess is where it’s landed but it has all the hallmarks of contemporary Americana in its Laurel Canyon melodic harmonies, the interplay of … Continue reading
Sturgill Simpson Sound & Fury Elektra Records Sturgill Simpson’s last album, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth was a soulful, expansive and personal welcome-letter to his infant son. It was his first major step away from the traditional worlds of country and alt-country and showed he was someone prepared, and able, to follow his muse and … Continue reading
North Mississippi Allstars Up And Rolling New West Records The new album from Luther and Cody Dickinson’s North Mississippi Allstars was inspired by photos on a forgotten roll of film from the ‘90s. It got the brothers and their fellow musicians back into the studio, along with guests Mavis Staples, Jason Isbell, Cedric Burnside and … Continue reading
Dori Freeman Every Single Star Blue Hens Music The evolution of Dori Freeman continues on this fine third album from the Southwest Virginian songwriter. Her first was rooted in Appalachian folk but since then she’s added studio polish and incorporated wider influences (sixties pop, jazz balladry) and a lush and more nuanced sound. Teddy Thompson … Continue reading
Charley Crockett The Valley Thirty Tigers / Cooking Vinyl Australia Descendant of legendary frontiersman Davy, traveling troubadour and heart surgery survivor – Charley Crockett sure has a big back story. The most pleasing factor is of course his music, a lackadaisical country blues sound with a New Orleans soul swing to it, which he’s been slowly … Continue reading
The group harmonies and the rough and ready blend of country, bluesy rock and bluegrass from the Scottish group Bone Idle Bros are what caught our ear when we trawling the wild frontier of the internet for some new sounds. ‘Lately’, their second single, mixes things up but never overcooks things. It sounds just like … Continue reading
Paul Cauthen Room 41 Lightning Rod Records Out of misery and heartache comes great art. That seems to be one of the great recurring themes of all the artistic mediums. On his new solo album, Paul Cauthen has clearly lived and by the sound of it, learned from a particularly low period in his life … Continue reading
For a decade now, Dan Brodie has been a master at skirting around the edges of a number of musical genres. He’s taken from rock, blues, alt-country and rockabilly, combining them all into his own decidedly Australian take on rock ’n’ roll. It’s the sound of cold beer and back porches in the summertime, sweaty … Continue reading
Last year, Australian group Billy Roberts & The Rough Riders released their latest album The Southern Sessions and one of its highlights is this slow burning gem ‘Special’. Elsewhere on the album they dig into some bluesy rock ‘n’ roll territory, straight country rock and folk rock. With a voice that reminds me a bit of … Continue reading
