Everybody’s Someone In A Honky Tonk.  Anyone who’s reading this blog probably knows the David Allen Coe song, You Never Even Called Me By My Name (written by Steve Goodman), about the perfect country western song.  This tune, from the latest Carolann Ames release, may not be the perfect country song, but it has the [...] more »

by Shawn Underwood

If you are looking for hot, fun country music by folks who are playing it because they love it, The Little Willies’ newest release, For the Good Times, should be your destination.   A side project by several artists on separate musical paths, the best known of whom is the enchanting Norah Jones, this second album by The [...] more »

by Bill Wilcox

 1) R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now: OK, I’m willing to admit maybe this was a little bit of a sentimental choice for me since it may be their last album.  But darn it, I still think this is their best effort since the 80′s and 91′s Out Of Time.  The jangly guitars, the inexplicable Stipe [...] more »

by Shawn Underwood

The invisible line separating the United States from Canada appears to be an impenetrable wall for Murray McLachlan. One of the most respected singer-songwriters in Canada, McLauchlan doesn’t seem to have much of a following south of the border. Perhaps he doesn’t care.  Over the years, McLauchlan has won 11 Juno awards (Canadian Grammys) and [...] more »

by Bill Wilcox

#1. JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT, Here We Rest (Lightning Rod) I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t hoping for a full-on rock assault from Isbell and crew. What I got was something better — a nuanced musical tour of his home state of Alabama. From the back porch acoustic sway of [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

ALBUMS OF THE MONTH: Too Drunk to Truck, by Roy Sludge This album was tailor-made for Twangville. Old school in all the best ways, it might as well be a collection of lost classics from the Sun Studios archive. The title track kicks off the album with a strong indication of what will follow. Yup, [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

Few legends shine brighter than Johnny Cash. Over the course of a nearly 50 year career, he defined and re-defined American music in his own iconic style. And as anyone who has seen footage of his appearances at San Quentin or Folsom Prisons can attest, his live performances are the stuff of legend. Over the [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

MUSCLE SHOALS TRIBUTE SHOW Detroit may have by Motown and the Funk Brothers, but Alabama had Muscle Shoals. Side-stepping which was the better musical factory, it is impossible to ignore the impact that Muscle Shoals has had on American music. This performance provided irrefutable evidence to the greatness of this legacy. The set was loose [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

The release of new albums by two masters of roots music this summer flew pretty much under the radar. Both David Bromberg and Ry Cooder have churned out album after album of Americana spanning folk to R&B since the early 1970s. Bromberg’s career has been the oddest, with long periods of withdrawal from public performance [...] more »

by Bill Wilcox

This year, Twangville made it’s first trek to Nashville for the annual Americana Music Conference and the 10th Annual Americana Music Awards. Over the next week I’ll be highlighting some the moments, musical and otherwise, from this year’s event. WHAT’S IN A NAME? The running joke all week was how to define Americana. The context [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

Listening to Mark W. Lennon’s new release Home of the Wheel, I felt as if I was transported back to depression era America without leaving 2011. At times it is the music that takes you there, and other times it is the lyrics. Lennon draws the parallels between the Modern and the past with a [...] more »

by Chip Frazier

We here at Twangville get to hear tons of great music. We share as much of it as we can with you and just hope that you like it as much or more than we do. On a personal note, in the past year or so, I’ve had a hard time getting as excited about [...] more »

by Kelly Dearmore

It is hard to believe that summer is nearly over. How do I know this? I was at a music club on Saturday that had changed over their Sam Adams tap from Summer to Octoberfest. Talk about jumping the gun! Anyway, the next few weeks will unleash an abundance of great new music just in [...] more »

by Mayer Danzig

Like the aunt that you only see at Christmas, some people put out a vibe that’s fun to be around.  Same thing with some records.  My case in point is the second release from Nashville-based singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon, Anybody’s Darlin’.  I’ve listened to this record half a dozen times now and I can’t really put [...] more »

by Shawn Underwood

By now, surely it’s no secret that country and punk go together about as good as peanut butter and chocolate. And typically, when these two classic American forms of music are welded together, the result seems to resemble a harder, thrashing product. Of course, the overall ethos attached to artists that practice either style in [...] more »

by Kelly Dearmore