Ray Wylie Hubbard may not be top of mind to casual Country/Americana music fans, but he certainly influenced a slew of the musicians making that music today. It seems rather appropriate then that Hubbard’s peers and acolytes would come together to explain his musical brilliance in writing. The Messenger, though not the best book to explain the life and career of Hubbard (that one would be his own 2015 memoir,…
Cover albums usually go one of two ways: They are either exhaustingly mediocre exercises in stalling while the performer buys time until a new record is finished or, in very rare instances, it’s an example of an artist being able to stretch way beyond expectations and their relegated genre and deliver a satisfyingly compelling album. For Corb Lund, the latter applies here. The only real downside to Cover Year Tracks,…
Coming off with a vibe close to the first Jonny Polonsky record or the output from Daniel Johnston, Matthew Squires latest is bedroom pop at it’s best. The production, though cleaner on Squires album than the other examples, is minimal at best allowing for the songs to come across in the most organic, natural form possible. It’s been just three years since his last release, but his knack for writing…
At the invitation of longtime friend Lucinda Williams, Jesse Malin caught her opening set at Tom Petty’s final show. That moment eventually led to Malin writing the beautifully sanguine “Shinning Down” (complete with a perfect Petty jangle guitar sound throughout), a track midway through Malin’s latest Sunset Kids. The song is a brilliant encapsulation of the record, carrying on Malin’s punk-bred singer/songwriter vibe that has defined his solo career; songs…
Ezra Furman made the declaration recently that Twelve Nudes is his punk record and as much as he’s flirted with the genre over his past few albums, the anger, spiked guitars and red-throated vocals are clearly front and center here. That vibe is underscored perfectly with the scorching opening track “Calm Down aka I Should Not be Alone” careening to a crash after a Ramones-appropriate two-minutes-and-22 seconds. Some of the…
It’s been almost a decade since Rob Laufer last focused on his own music. In the interim, he served as a producer, songwriter, guitarist for hire and music director for Wild Honey Orchestra. While he was in high demand from others, his voice as a solo artist was sorely missed over the past nine years. The Floating World is proof that not a bit of rust set in on his own work.…
“The Smoke And The Stars,” the opening track off of Jason Hawk Harris’s debut album is an impressive, emotional ballad, but one that belies what’s to follow shortly. The building swell of strings and deeply personal lyrics sounds amazing, but ultimately (and thankfully), Harris devotes much of the record to a more stripped down, laid back, wink and a nod approach to Americana. “Cussing At The Light,” the very next…
Not long before Kim Fowley pulled together and ultimately terrorized (or inspired depending on whose version of the story you’re following) the brilliant teenaged, all-female rock band The Runaways, he helped establish the nearly as brilliant, but short-lived, glam rock/power pop five piece The Hollywood Stars. Fowley pulled in a disparate collection of Southern California musicians and went about co-writing, producing and working on his Svengali-in-training role with the group.…
Stripped-down blue collar punk rock anthems are certainly not a new phenomenon. Everyone from Tim Barry and Frank Turner to Dave Hause have made a living crisscrossing the globe for the past decade-plus playing Springsteen meets The Clash-inspired ditties. But, Dylan Disaster’s latest, Remission, proves there’s still room for at least one more on the tour bus. Thirteen tracks cram the latest from this Long Island native, now calling Austin…
Although Mike Jacoby offers hints of Americana and even rockabilly throughout his third solo offering, the record is still firmly planted in the world of rootsy rock and roll. Jacoby cites folk troubadour Todd Snider as an inspiration for Long Beach Calling, but it’s just as easy to pick out influences from folks like John Fogerty and The BoDeans here. The opening song, the rollicking title track with its Johnny…
Although Mike Jacoby offers hints of Americana and even rockabilly throughout his third solo offering, the record is still firmly planted in the world of rootsy rock and roll. Jacoby cites folk troubadour Todd Snider as an inspiration for Long Beach Calling, but it’s just as easy to pick out influences from folks like John Fogerty and The BoDeans here. The opening song, the rollicking title track with its Johnny…
In the 11-year span of their first run, Australia’s Crowded House could simply do no wrong, churning out one brilliant album after the next at a rate of just about an album every other year until their split in 1996. The band has since reunited twice – between 2006 – 2011 and again in 2016 – but it’s hard to find a period as creatively solid as their first four…
Geoff Palmer, best known for part in New Hampshire’s The Connection, proves his record collections contains so much more than old garage rock albums, with his Power Pop/Pop Punk-drenched new LP Pulling Out All The Stops. Combining the joyfully snotty vocals of The Ramones with the best parts of Cheap Trick and The Knack, Palmer’s latest, though brimming with 14 tracks, goes by remarkably quick, thanks in part to the…
Long before their music was co-opted for sappy TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and One Tree Hill, the Scottish rock band Travis was churning out brilliant, guitar-centered music that oozed with emotion. No where is that clearer than on the just-released live set from the group’s 1999 appearance at the famed Glastonbury festival. Out for the first time on vinyl and CD thanks to Craft Recordings, the set captures the…
Just one year shy of their 20th anniversary as a band, and eight albums into it, The Dollyrots have just turned in their best effort yet. The 14-track Daydream Explosion, their first for Stevie Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records label, is simply pop punk perfection. From the spikey, fast guitars, the gorgeous female/male tradeoff vocals, machine gun drumming, and bratty defiant lyrics, there’s a feeling that The Dollyrots have been building up…
Tribute albums are almost always a mixed bag. And this second volume of Harry Nilsson songs is no exception. The covers run the gamut from incredible (Cheap Trick covering “Ambush” and Adam Matta’s beatbox accompaniment on “Driving Along”) to the quirky (Valley Queen’s peculiar version of “I Guess The Lord Must Be in New York City” and Belle-Skinner’s ukulele-backed “Open Your Window”) to the simply uninspired (Invisible Familiar’s trippy take…
To mark the Soundgarden’s 35th anniversary, A&M and UMe are putting out a slew of re-releases by band, including classic albums in limited edition colored vinyl. So now seems like an ideal time to revisit their best-selling and arguable flawless fourth album Superunknown. Initially put out in 1994, at the crest of the grunge movement, Soundgarden – one of the pioneers of the Seattle sound and a band that had already been…
More than three decades in the making, Heal, the debut record from A Picture Made, though ridiculously long overdue, manages to have been worth the wait. The Midwest kids (though long past being kids) came together in the 1980s and managed to open for some of the best college rock bands at the time, from The Call and The Connells to The Replacements. It’s not clear if it was a…
There’s not much grey area to Ellis Paul’s music: You either like the modern day folkie’s music or you don’t. And if you do happen to fall into former category, chances are you love it. Like John Prine and Gary Clark before him, minus the country/Americana influences, Paul is first and foremost a lyricist, telling a story with each and every song he puts out. The Storyteller’s Suitcase, Paul’s 20th…
The title track to Lukas Nelson’s fifth album pretty much sums up the focus of the record; people are generally good, so let’s focus on being kind to each other. And yes, it’s the type of sentiment that gets one branded a snowflake in 2019, but damn it’s good advice. And it sounds even better coming out in Nelson’s lazy, comforting drawl, backed by one of the best bands going…