For those of you who prefer the acoustic heartache troubadour version of Ryan Adams, ‘My Wrecking Ball’ is your song on the new Ryan Adams LP. Stark, beautiful and up there with his finest compositions. Now it has an equally fine video clip to accompany it. Continue reading
Nashville-based Lera Lynn has a new album just out called The Avenues which blends her slow-burn shimmering country music with some soulful pop shades. Here’s a clip for the opening track ‘Out To Sea’. Continue reading
Married couple Chris Masterson and Eleanor Whitmore return with their second album and they stick close to the game-plan on this one with its upbeat rock-lite country pop, near-perfect harmonies and clinical yet accomplished guitar and fiddle playing. The problem is that it’s all too polished and nice. When they tackle melancholic subject matter it … Continue reading
Gretta Ziller has already generated a great deal of critical and industry acclaim in the 2013 Telstra Road to Discovery Grand Finals at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, as well as her 2013 TSA/APRA New Songwriter of the Year award. Now she has released her debut EP Hell’s Half Acre which captures the essence and graceful … Continue reading
Gretta Ziller has already generated a great deal of critical and industry acclaim in the 2013 Telstra Road to Discovery Grand Finals at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, as well as her 2013 TSA/APRA New Songwriter of the Year award. Now she has released her debut EP Hell’s Half Acre which captures the essence and graceful Americana beauty of … Continue reading
Later this month the new documentary film Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts is officially launched at a screening in Nashville ( Bongo After Hours Theatre on Monday 15th Sept) prior to the Americana Music Festival. The film traces the career arc of the country music singer/songwriter who has been rejected by record labels, had his songs recorded … Continue reading
Sylvie Simmons is best known as a renowned music journalist both in magazines and books (Leonard’s Cohen’s ‘I’m Your Man’ biography) but she has also played music since her childhood though primarily for herself. Bow she is finally stepping out from behind her keyboard and pen to release her debut album Sylvie, a collection of ukelele-based … Continue reading
Kasey Chambers sits in that rare artistic position having sold 1.2 million albums as a hugely successful commercial songwriter/performer, while still retaining integrity and respect from the country and alt-country communities where she first established her talent. Bittersweet is Chambers’ first album since she split from husband Shane Nicholson after they released their 2011 collaborative … Continue reading
Mark Moldre continues with his mission to make a clip for each and every track on his excellent An Ear to the Earth album from last year. This time it’s the turn of the rattling, skeletal knees-up of ‘Bone Orchard’ with its banjo limbs and junkyard spine that swings from a blues stomp to a … Continue reading
Vashti Bunyan will release her new album Heartleap on October 6th (her first in nine years and in her words, her last) and from the sound of the first single ‘Holy Smoke’ her music is still as ethereal and hypnotic as ever. Continue reading
Lucinda Williams has a new 2CD/3LP album called Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone coming out on Ocotober 3rd. We’been listening to it this week and it’s a superb album, her best in years in our opinion. She hits all the right Williams’ moods and styles, a swampy, often Dylan-esque vibe and some incredible players including … Continue reading
Will Oldham has, by his own prolific standards, been a tad quiet on the album front since his Everly Brothers-inspired album from 2013. That all changed when today he announced a new Bonnie “Prince” Billy record called Singer’s Grave ・ a Sea of Tongues will be released on September 23rd via Drag City and Spunk here … Continue reading
Secretly Canadian have announced they are reissuing Jason Molina’s brilliant Songs: Ohia album Didn’t It Rain on 2CD and 2LP on November 11th. The release includes a second set of home recorded demos for the album. About the album Secretly Canadian have written: Didn’t It Rain is Jason Molina‘s first perfect record. Recorded live in a single room, … Continue reading
James Thomson released a very special debut album in 2012 which we described as “A slow growing collection of folk, blues and country songs – stark, brooding, intimate and elegant in the way they carry and convey emotional ache and weight. There are touches of Justin Townes Earle, and the rootsier side of Ryan Adams”. Now … Continue reading
CW Stoneking is back with the single from his new album Gon’ Boogaloo, his first since Jungle Blues in 2008. ‘Get On The Floor’ finds him mixing up a glorious cacophony of swing, boogie, blues and rock ‘n’ roll. It’s infectious stuff with suitably lo-fi and raw production, recorded live over 2 days with 2 microphones to … Continue reading
POST TO WIRE 