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 …
A new weird and wonderful track from Frog, out of Queens, NYC. They’re loose and ramblin’, gloriously ramshackle in the vein of Meat Puppets, Sparklehorse, Silver Jews, Modest Mouse and more. This song sounds like a lost Neil Young outtake from the 70s where the off-kilter vocals draw you into a parallel universe where … Continue reading
Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) Fantasy / Caroline Australia Lukas Nelson has been busy over the last few years since his and Promise Of The Real’s last, self-titled, studio album. There have been tours as Neil Young’s backing band, their own shows, Nelson’s musical work on … Continue reading
Freya Josephine Hollick returns with the first taste of her new album The Real World, due for release in 2020. Recorded at Rancho De Luna (Kurt Vile, Mark Lanegan, Victoria Williams, Iggy Pop, Arctic Monkeys) in the Mojave Desert, California, this track grooves and rolls along with a dark spirit, suggesting a further shift from … Continue reading
Tami Neilson’s magic run continues with the announcement of a brand new album called CHICKABOOM! coming on February 14th. The first single/video has been released today and it’s a short sharp vibrant slice of rockabilly with hooks galore and a great clip to go with it. On the new album Tami has paired up with … Continue reading
Justin Townes Earle + The Morrisons @ The Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney 04/09/19 He’s been a regular visitor to these shores since 2008 and even though each tour has shown a new stage in the evolution of Justin Townes Earle as a songwriter, it was that first show at the Annandale Hotel that, for me, remains the most vital … Continue reading
Recommended for fans of Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife, Ruby Boots, Frazey Ford, Lydia Loveless The perfect chorus, everybody’s chasing it and some people get damn close. On ‘I Only Cry When I’m Alone’, the first track on this video clip from Beth Bombara, the St Louis songwriter has found the absolute melodic sweet spot of … Continue reading
Creating a mood is so important to this kind of music. Atmospheric folk where there are ghosts in the air and spirits in the glass. There’s a really nice warmth to this track from Dawn Riding‘s new album Last Spring. They describe the sound as part ‘Unknown Legend’, part ‘Car Wheels on a Gravel Road’ … Continue reading
Eilen Jewell Gypsy Signature Sounds There’s always the sense of an artist playing her own game when it comes to Eilen Jewell. She lets her muse dictate where she places her creative energy, whether that’s whole albums devoted to obscure blues or Loretta Lynn songs, providing backing vocals to other artists such as Pinto Bennett, … Continue reading
Super sweet and soulful sounds on this new track from The Painted Roses. There’s a folk-rock undercurrent but it’s draped in honeyed harmonies, whiskey-soaked vocals and a rolling rhythm section. Nice stuff indeed from the Utah quartet. Continue reading
For fans of subtly blended Americana and indie sounds. We shared Delafaye‘s track ‘Time & Money’ a while back and this new hits the spot just as beautifully. ‘Tattoo Dreams’ rides on a laidback acoustic guitar strum with Andrew Shockley’s burnished and grainy vocal delivering the goods over the top. There’s a full length, self-titled … Continue reading
Lozz Benson has gained a strong reputation as a musician in recent years, having toured as part of the Jon Butler Trio and played alongside Urthboy, Missy Higgins, Fanny Lumsden, Nathan Cavaleri and Tonight Alive. As a songwriter and singer, she has collaborated with Paul Kelly and Jim Moginie (Midnight Oil) but now she’s revealed her exciting new … Continue reading
” It’s a road anthem and a driving song penned in motels and hostels and highways on the route between Brooklyn, NY and Nashville.” We’re suckers for this kind of sound. Laidback, softly strummed acoustic guitar with some pedal steel casting a melancholic shadow over proceedings. Hayes Peebles really hits the mark with this single … Continue reading
There’s a nice bluesy and folkish soul groove to this track from David Place. He’s an Australian singer-songwriter based in Italy and this track brings to mind songwriters such as Jason Molina, Davey Craddock, Jo Meares and Perry Keyes with it’s stark and emotive treatment. The song comes from his 2019 album Rollercoaster, his third … Continue reading
Sydney Americana quartet Copperline have a new single and video for their song ‘Please Don’t Cry’, one of our favourite tracks from their 2019 album Rusty Fords And Weatherboards. The song is a beautiful, shuffling country track that pulls on the heartstrings with some subtle, refined playing and Brad Christmas’ yearning vocal melodies. UPCOMING SHOWS … Continue reading
Sweet pastoral sounds abound on this new slice of Americana from Party Of The Sun, the musical project of New Hampshire songwriter Ethan McBrien and producer/multi-instrumentalist Rory Hurley. ‘Slide Away’ has a weightless quality that brings to mind the clear-mindedness of an early spring morning, built on lightly strummed acoustic guitars and melodies that drift … Continue reading
