The Heartbreak Store, Lizzie No (from the Thirty Tigers / Miss Freedomland release Halfsies)
Lizzie No’s remarkable Halfsies is warmly fulfilling, even as it explores the depth of heartbreak. No sets the tone with the powerful and percussive title track, declaring:
Even your love is a one lane road
It’s honor among thieves
Dive in head first, come up for air alone
Shoulda gone halfsies
Shoulda gone halfsies
The focus of “Sleeping in the Next Room” is apparent from the title alone. An a capella opening verse gives way to a gently insistent arrangement as No describes a disintegrating relationship. “You’re sleeping in the next room,” she reveals, “I’m falling out of love”.
“Heartbreak Store” is a brilliant dose of indie folk. The song is airy and light, the lyrics less so:
The cashier knows the drill
I came to sell all the hurt I couldn’t keep
And she gives me that box to fill
Don’t know who’s buying what I’m selling cheap
If I can’t fall out of love, at least I’ll set it down
“Done”, as the title suggests, is a brutally honest break-up song. Against a simple musical backdrop of acoustic guitar and piano, No sings:
Half of all my dreams are braided still
Into your black hair
It took more than time to pull them free
Along with myself
Lest anyone think that the album is quiet and restrained, No cranks up the electric guitars on “Lagunita” and “Getaway Car”. The latter of which is particularly rousing and, as the title suggests, is a perfect roadtrip anthem.
Halfsies is a tremendous showcase of No’s musical range and depth. The album resonates with its combination of lyrical intensity and musical allure.
Independence Day, The FBR (from the self-released Ghost)
This year is already off to a great start in terms of new artists and Tennessee’s The FBR are high on the list. The group, anchored by Malarie McConaha and Tim Hunter, have just released their debut album, an intense and brooding collection of songs that is rooted in Southern rock.
They open the album heavy with “Before I Drown”, a dark tale of fighting loneliness with alcohol. “Sometimes faith just ain’t enough, the pain is deep and I need my crutch,” sings McConaha against a foreboding musical backdrop.
The darkness continues on “Empty Room”, this time reflecting on a lost relationship and the desire to overcome the sorrow:
I’m just a ghost without a voice
Encased in a cracked and broken tomb
Like a sunset gaze against the break
or hope that once lit an empty room
They kick up the tempo on “Bottle of Blues” and “Deadman’s Highway”, both nicely rooted in Southern rock. “Bottle of Blues” is a particular highlight, a rollicking drinking song anchored by a tasty slide guitar. “Deadman’s Highway” is most certainly a driving song, fueled by chugging guitar and harmonica.
“Independence Day” and “Still On the Run” are both glorious anthems with rousing melodies. The former chronicles a couple who have drifted apart. McConaha sings about the couple attending the party together yet declaring “I might have well have been all by myself, I might as well have been somewhere else”. The latter tells a very different tale, the singer admitting that she wasn’t ready for the relationship but wants to rekindle it. “ I’m hoping you don’t mind if I light another fire,” she declares, “This time I’m ready to burn”.
The close the album with a bruising take on “Hurricane”, a song notably covered by Levon Helm (among others), that segues into the classic folk song “House of the Rising Sun”. Their fiery version, led by McConaha’s powerful vocals, is nasty in all the right ways.
Nothing But a Shadow, The HawtThorns (from the Red Parlor Records release Zero Gravity)
The HawtThorns really shine on their latest album. It’d be easy to talk about the group’s Nashville home and Americana leanings, but that wouldn’t do the album justice. From the songwriting to the performances it is ambitious and accessible, a sometimes tough balance to make.
They set the tone early with “Nothing But a Shadow”, the warmth of KP Hawthorn’s voice contrasting with the tremelo of Johnny Hawthorn’s guitar. The title track, which follows, describes the longing for a departed loved one. Heavy percussion and the crescendo of a guitar solo giving the song a bristling intensity. “I let you go in zero gravity,” sings KP, “I’m awake now and in my dreams you’re coming back.”
“Hands on a Clock” is foot-tappin’ pop at its finest while “Long Game” has echoes of 1970’s California country, albeit with an alluring sheen. Equally smile-inducing is the Johnny sung Americana romp “Don’t Wait By the Phone”.
“Don’t Plan to Lose” starts with some R&B flair before bringing in some roadhouse boogie. There’s anlso some gospel testifying with lyrics that, well, don’t quite fit the gospel spirit: “I didn’t come here as a witness, I came to get in on the crime”.
They close the album with a tasty cover of The Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved”, giving the song a Nashville flavor and injecting the song with their own charm. The proverbial icing on the cake.
Fresh Dew Drippin, The Northern Belle (from the Die With Your Boots On Records release Bats in the Attic)
Norway’s The Northern Belle create their own brand of Americana. The songs are folky, singer-songwriter at their core but are delivered with effervescent pop melodies and sheen. “Merchant Navy Hotel”, which we premiered last fall, and the folksy “Japanese” draw their inspiration from letters that songwriter Stine Andreassen’s grandfather wrote her grandmother while he was on a ship traveling the world.
The pop gem “Hell and Back” is a kinda back-handed love song. “I can’t look away you’re too good to look at,” Andreassen declares before admitting “I try to stay cool but I’m ready for combat” and confessing “I don’t know how to act around you.” The equally catchy album opener “Treat You Better” takes a different perspective, the singer encouraging someone to walk away from a troubled relationship, “stand your ground, trust your voice, he will let you down like he did before.”
They rock out in their own way on “Fresh Dew Drippin’”, electric guitars and insistent percussion providing a backdrop for the group’s glorious harmonies. About half way through the song the harmonies give way to an extended guitar solo with some Southern rock flair.
They call it Noridicana; we’ll call it refreshingly good.
Right Words, Wrong Song, James Mastro (from the MPress Records release Dawn of a New Error)
Early in his career, James Mastro gained notoriety as the musical force behind New Jersey’s beloved The Bongos and the Health & Happiness Show in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He then went on to become an in-demand guitarist for Ian Hunter and Alejandro Escovedo, not to mention a producer and session musician for countless others.
2024 finds him making a welcome returning to the studio with his own songs and emerging with the amusingly titled – and rocking – Dawn of a New Error. He kicks it off with the catchy and jangly love song “Three Words”. You can undoubtedly guess the three words of note.
Mastro digs into the tumultuous world we live in today on the rocking “Right Words, Wrong Song”. “Some claim to walk on the water, then lead the lambs to the slaughter,” he decries, “they sing the right words to the wrong song”.
Perseverance is a recurring theme on Dawn of a New Error. On “Trouble”, a song that Mastro says was inspired by both Levon Helm and Dr. Seuss, he sings “one day my trouble’s gonna have trouble with me”. “Face of the Sun” and the gospel-tinged “Someday Someone Will Turn Your Head” both focus on the glory of finding someone who inspires fortitude and companionship.
Not surprisingly, Mastro’s masterful guitar-playing plays a prominent role on the album. Yet the real star here is a songwriter who demonstrates that he still has plenty to say. Dawn of a New Error is a welcome return and, hopefully, a harbinger of more music to come.
Saturday Night Comes Once a Week, John Baumann (from the Terlingua Spring Records release Border Radio)
I finally got around to listening to Texas singer-songwriter John Baumann’s October 2023 release at the end of the year. It’s stuck with me ever since.
Baumann arguably writes about what he knows – finding love and good times in South Texas. The title track speaks to the beauty of music as Baumann recalls being captivated by a song on the radio even though it is being sung in a language he doesn’t understand. “I can’t tell what she’s singing, it’s a language I don’t know,” he shares, “but if she’s singing of her homeland, that’s where I wanna go.”
Baumann goes honky-tonk in several songs about the quest for good times, Texas style. “Saturday Night” describes it in classic style – “You got a box of cold Budweiser, two cans of Cope snuff” – concluding with a comical nod to the Sunday morning after effects, “Oh, to hell with Sunday morning, you ain’t going to church,” he declares, “You haven’t been in a decade, I think they called off the search.”
The festivities continue on the restrained “South Texas Tradition”, which chronicles a weekend hunting trip where the revelry as important as the stated objective. “My wife knows me best, she just sends a text,” he sings, “Says, ‘See you on Sunday, my love’”.
And then there’s his colorful tribute to El Caminos, the classic utility vehicle manufactured from the 1960’s through the 1980’s. “ I got a cross ‘tween a pickup and a Chevrolet coupe, flatbed in the back and a chrome hood scoop,” he sings, later adding, “Bought it up in Houston, paid for in cash; came with a bobblehead of Jesus on the dash”.
Border Radio overflows with charm, filled with catchy melodies and entertaining lyrics, not to mention plenty of Texas twang.
City Where Summer Never Ends, Phil Hurley (from the self-released Stay Gold)
Phil Hurley has traversed geography as much as musical styles. He cut his teeth as co-founder of Buffalo to Boston (via the upstate NY town Potsdam) power poppers Gigolo Aunts before de-camping to LA where he co-founded harmony-drenched Americana rockers Stonehoney. Stonehoney relocated to Austin where Hurley later co-founded Texas-flavored rockers South Austin Moonlighters. Quite a musical journey, one that continues as he steps out on his own.
“City Where Summer Never Ends” – written about his former home in LA – contrasts the beautiful weather with the harsh realities of pursuing an artistic career there. “Once you’re here you’ll see the sunshine every day; another year, another dream just slips away.”
A slide guitar punctuates the resolute tell-off “I Don’t Need Your Love” while Hurley veers towards the blues with the relaxed love song “Guilty”. He offers up a nice blend of pop and Americana on “Growing Up” and “Sarah’s Too Dumb to Die”, the latter of features an extended electric guitar solo that showcases his bonafides with the instrument.
Lost in the Flood, Jon Dee Graham (from the Strolling Bones Records release Only Dead For a Little While)
It’s been a rough several years for Austin’s Jon Dee Graham – the album’s title is not a joke – but his latest album shows that his musical heart is beating strong. He opens with the growling “Where It All Went Wrong”, admitting “pretty hazy on the shouldn’ts and the shoulds”. A slide guitar adds a mournful texture to his lament of lost friends on “See You By the Fire”
He gets sentimental, gruff voice and all, on the ambling “Brought Me Here To You”. The song closes with a flash of his wit as he sings, “all the mistakes that I have made, all the many mistakes I’ve made, I repeat every single mistake I’ve made it brought me here to you yes, it brought me here to you.” The repartee gets even stronger on “Goin’ Back to Sweden”, a love song to that country that covers lyrical ground that ranges from Stockholm Syndrome to Lee Hazelwood.
Graham gets serious on the acoustic “Brave As Her (Marie Colvin)”, a tribute to the late journalist that mediates on the meaning of freedom and, in Colvin’s case, someone who was fiercely committed to exposing the realities of violent conflicts around the world.
A constant across the album is Graham’s electric guitar, an instrument that is as dirty as it is melodic. There are even a few moments where he can’t help himself from expressing the joy it brings, extending the solo on “Goin’ Back to Sweden”, declaring “we’ll go around again” and exclaiming “woo, yes… yes, yes, yes… let’s do this another time while I’m feeling this way now” at the conclusion of “Where It All Went Wrong”.
So glad you’re still here with us, Jon Dee. See you at SXSW this week.
Nothing At All, Clay Parker and Jodi James (from the self-released Your Very Own Dream)
There’s something special about Your Very Own Dream, the latest album from New Orleans duo Parker and James. Maybe it’s the stripped down arrangements built around their restrained electric guitars, occasionally accompanied by a rhythm section. Or the way that voices weave around one another with a rootsy charm. Or maybe it’s the thoughtful storytelling of their writing. Whatever it is, the songs come together as a collection that is as intoxicating as is it earnest.
About the author: Mild-mannered corporate executive by day, excitable Twangville denizen by night.