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 …
Here at PTW HQ we’re very excited to be able to share ‘Undress’, the brand new single and title track from the forthcoming new LP by The Felice Brothers. Since they released their last album, Life In The Dark, in 2016, the band have undergone some lineup changes with a new rhythm section – Will …
Yesterday we revealed our favourite 2018 local releases from Australia (and NZ). Today we go global with our 40 favourite albums of 2018. We were going to make it a list that excluded the local albums, seeing as we’ve already published those favourites, but as with previous years we decided we don’t want to separate …
2018 was another strong year for the local alt-country, folk, blues and Americana scene here in Australia. We’ve put together a list of our favourite local releases, plus one New Zealand album that made the list this year. We highly recommend all of these records – check them out on streaming services, buy a CD …
We’re digging this slice of melancholic 60s country pop from San Diego native Kimmi Bitter. It comes from her recently released EP West Side Twang which drapes her country songs in weeping pedal steel, shuffling drums and some wonderful backing vocals. Despite the melancholy, the song and the EP in general have a certain sweet … Continue reading
Some sweet country soul this morning from Omaha, NE with Ben McLaughlin cutting a breezy and melodic strain of Americana on ‘Lie To You’. The way he reaches high into falsetto at the start of the chorus is a nice surprise and a clever twist which breaks up the loping groove through the verses. Strong and … Continue reading
Company Of Others is a Nashville, TN trio comprised of singer / songwriter Billy Campbell with Parker Van Der Hyde on bass and Daniel Sauls on drums. It looks like this is the first single they’ve thrown out into the public sphere, and it’s a good one too, mixing alt-country, country-rock and a heartland vibe courtesy of … Continue reading
Trevor Stott recently released his debut album Halfway In The Night and two of the standout songs on it are the title track and ‘Carry My Soul’, both of which you can listen to below. Stott is from St. George, Utah. Outside of that we don’t know much else about him, other than he’s clearly … Continue reading
Something a bit different today, this track ‘Drugstore Cowboy’ from Swiss duo John Dear and drummer Alma June. It’s a howling stomper, a mix of the urban angst and hollering backwoods blues. There are shades of The Black Keys in their sound which isn’t afraid to get noisey and raucous with heavily reverted guitars and … Continue reading
Here’s a new video clip for the track ‘Indians Never Die’, from Black Belt Eagle Scout, the name that Katherine Paul records under. She hails from the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community in what is now known as Washington State and this song comes from her debut LP Mother Of My Children which was released in September … Continue reading
Kyle Jenkins Meltdown Near Enough Records (2018) Kyle Jenkins is the singer-songwriter behind Toowoomba-based band Suicide Swans and even though they’re in the midst of a prolific streak of excellent albums, he’s also found time to release his debut solo album which hits similarly high peaks in both song quality and sound. Suicide Swans excel … Continue reading
We posted about Swedish songwriter Marlene Oak a few months ago when her song ‘Slip Away’ stopped us in our tracks. That song was an upbeat heart yet melancholic Americana track that was draped in gorgeous guitar and vocal hooks. ‘How Can I Move On’, from her new EP Silver Moon, changes the pace and details/laments … Continue reading
Lachlan Bryan, one of this country’s more established Americana acts is teaming up with Ben Leece, a relative newcomer on the national scene, for a run of dates across NSW, QLD and VIC, from April to June. Bryan will have his band The Wildes along for the ride and Leece will be backed by his … Continue reading
Motel Mirrors are the Memphis Tennessee-based trio of John Paul Keith, Amy LaVere and Will Sexton. Originally based around Keith and LaVere, they added Sexton to the mix, giving them three guitarists and singers which accounts for the wonderfully lush and harmony-laden sound of this song, ‘Meet Me On The Corner’. This track has a … Continue reading
Six months ago we shared a song by La Dante called ‘Mexico Sunrise’ and the good news is that his latest single ‘Gambling Man (Time To Walk Away)’ hits a similarly sweet and soulful groove where Philly soul meets a kind of Laurel Canyon country folk sound on a Caribbean cruise. Max Perla has a … Continue reading
Copperline Rusty Fords And Weatherboards Independent The members of Sydney band Copperline have been playing in various bands dating back to the 90s and after ten years they’ve finally recorded their debut album together, one that certainly feels like a collective gathering of likeminded musicians and accomplished players. Led by songwriter Brad Christmas, the band … Continue reading
Jeff Tweedy Warm dBpm Records Inc. Surprisingly this is the debut solo album of new material for Jeff Tweedy (Wilco/Uncle Tupelo). He’s previously released a live-in-studio album of songs from his back catalogue and then there was the Sukierae album under the name Tweedy, with son Spencer. This though feels wholly Jeff – relaxed and effortlessly … Continue reading
Lady Dan originally hails from Birmingham Alabama and is now based in Austin, Texas. She’s got a great sound too. That blend of melancholy, shuffling drums and weeping pedal steel. It’s authentic yet wholly contemporary and she’s got one hell of a good voice to convey this song about navigating this minefield we call life. … Continue reading
Watling & Bates are Kym Watling and Geoffrey Bates, songwriters from Unumgar, on the western edge of the Northern Rivers of NSW. This new song of theirs grabbed our attention with its blend of bush ballad and gothic country – all shimmering notes, a slow noir crawl and story of a mysterious disappearance of a … Continue reading
