Twangville


Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell- Old Yellow Moon

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“We’ve both grown tired/ Of running from each other/ Here we are/ Darling, here we are”- Rodney Crowell Old Yellow Moon feels lived in. The record feels instantly comfortable, like an old pair of shoes that align perfectly with the arches of your feet. Harris and Crowell’s musical partnership dates back a quarter of century [...] more »

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George Glenn Jones (1931-2013)

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“I would give anything if I could sing like George Jones. If we could all sound like we wanted to, we’d sound like George Jones.” -Waylon Jennings Growing up in flyover country in the 70′s George Jones represented what I hated so much about country music, particularly with his wife at the time, Tammy Wynette. [...] more »

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Deadstring Brothers- Cannery Row

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Look. It only took me eleven words to drop in my Exile On Main Street reference. Sorry Kurt Marschke, you ain’t never out running that one. The Deadstring Brothers front man and sole surviving member has had his music compared to the golden era of the glimmer twins for so long he probably thinks “Moves [...] more »

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Caitlin Rose- The Stand-In

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Writing this review is difficult for me, and not because my feelings about the album are ambiguous. I almost uniformly adore the record. The difficulty arises in attempting to write about the record. Because, despite my adoration of The Stand-In, I can’t really put my finger on the reason why. Every thought comes across as [...] more »

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Friday Morning Video: Holly Williams

This was suppose to be an elegant review of the excellent new album from Caitlin Rose. Unfortunately, one of the Twangville posse (me) fell down on the job. So instead you get a video from the artist who caused me to lose all sense of time and place this week. Meet Holly Williams.     more »

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Duck Tape Saves Lives: Old 97′s- Too Far to Care [15th Anniversary Edition]

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Here is another entry in the recurring feature that demolishes the normal review protocol in favor of cheap jokes, extended digressions, and an occasional interesting thought or two. Duck Tape Saves Lives is inspired by long back and forth emails between myself, fellow Twangviller Todd Mathis, and my twin brother Kyle Petersen. We only intend [...] more »

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Frank Turner- Last Minutes and Lost Evenings

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“because there’s no such thing as rock stars/ there’s just people who play music/ and some of them are just like us/ and some of them are dicks”- Frank Turner   Just who is Frank Turner? This is the question that confronts the audience on a retrospective like Last Minutes and Lost Evenings. As applied [...] more »

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Eli’s Favorite Records of 2012

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1. Langhorne Slim- The Way We Move The #1 record of the year is traditionally an easy pick for me to make. This year was no exception. The Way We Move is Langhorne Slim’s definitive statement. The band rollicks from stumbling soul music to acoustic folk rock anthems and finally captures the insane energy of [...] more »

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Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit- Live In Alabama

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By: Chip Frazier OK. I am not afraid to admit that I get emotional. I cry like a girl in movies. (I apologize for any politically incorrect sexism. None was intended.) Music can have the same effect on me. Jason Isbell is one of the few musicians who has stopped me in my tracks and [...] more »

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Duct Tape Saves Lives: Thoughts and Opinions From 3 Southerners On Jason Isbell’s Live In Alabama

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Ok Twangville readers, here is another entry in our recurring feature that switches up the normal review protocol. Inspired by frequent long email chains over the years between myself, fellow Twangviller Todd Mathis, and my twin brother Kyle Petersen, Duct Tape Saves Live is more of a critical conversation than a formal review. Though to [...] more »

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Andrew Combs- Worried Man

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“Lonely as these days are long/ as dark as the night bird’s song/ strange way of living, let my heart cry/ I’m lonesome and too stoned to cry”- Andrew Combs, “Too Stoned to Cry” Every once in awhile a voice comes along that is stunning in its capacity to evoke the spirit of Americana. Andrew [...] more »

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Duct Tape Saves Lives: Thoughts and Opinions From 3 Southerners on Dwight Yoakam’s 3 Pears

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Ok Twangville readers, this will hopefully be a recurring feature that switches up our normal review protocol. It was inspired by frequent long email chains over the years between myself, fellow Twangviller Todd Mathis, and my twin brother Kyle Petersen. Though to be fair, the conversation below is a bit cleaner and more serious than [...] more »

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John Hiatt- Mystic Pinball

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Mystic Pinball is an awesome name for a record. Just sayin’. Anyway, this is John Hiatt’s third album in as many years following The Open Road (2010) and Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns (2011). But since those records found Hiatt in late career resurgence, it’s not that surprising that the 2012 edition of Mr. Hiatt [...] more »

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American Aquarium- Burn. Flickr. Die.

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“you’re a two pack habit with a southern accent/ I’m a pearl snap poet with bad tattoos”- BJ Barham Burn. Flickr. Die. opens up with a gnarly southern blues guitar tone ringing out over a persistent rhythm section. Frontman BJ Barham’s first lines are “I was born in the valley of the Cape Fear River, [...] more »

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Leeroy Stagger- Radiant Land

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Leeroy Stagger is a Twangville artist. What makes an musician a Twangville artist you may ask? In my mind, it’s an artist we here at Twangville think (a) is awesome and (b) should be appreciated by a greater number of people. Stagger is perhaps the epitome of such an artist. A Canadian singer songwriter who [...] more »

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