“Tradition in Transition” is the title of the cover article in next to last No Depression It focuses on how young bands such as Crooked Still, The Avett Brothers, Uncle Earl and Chris Thile’s new project the Punch Brothers are innovatively changing traditional acoustic music. A couple of bands that aren’t as young as the […]
Cartridge Family – Shine Like a Bottle
“I still remember what you look like, buck naked riding your bike.” I am not a songwriter myself and it is hard to pin down exactly what constitutes a good roots rock song. However, I know this; if you write a song that involves someone getting buck naked and riding something, you have succeeded. The […]
American Gun – Twangville House Band
Todd Mathis is a Twangville posse member and front man of the up and coming alt-country band American Gun, along with friend and fellow songwriter Donald Merckle. I guess that would make them the official house band here at Twangville. Based on their new CD, that is a good thing. They recently released The Means […]
Death to Anders/The Hollyfelds
I’ve recently received Submissions from a couple of upstart bands I think are worth a look. They are Death to Anders and The Hollyfelds. Death to Anders has just released a new album Fictitious Business. Their sound has it’s basis in the L.A. Indie Rock scene but it is also heavily influenced early 90’s Sonic […]
Willie Nelson – Moment of Forever
I have to admit I didn’t want to like this album. I was not at all happy with the fact that Kenny Chesney was producing the album. Preconceptions are often wrong. That is a lesson I have learned in my life, and this is one example of that lesson. This is definitely one to have […]
Hidden Gems Part 2 – Jewly Hight
Previously I identified Twilight Hotel as a gem that could be easily missed in the plethora of releases on July 29th. The other one is Jewly Hight – Darlin’ Understand. Hight is a music critic who is releasing her first album. In fact, you have probably read her in No Depression. Well, she needs to […]
Hidden Gems Part 1 – Twilight Hotel
Tuesday is going to be a big day for new releases. Because of this fact, a couple of Gems releasing on 1-29 that could easily get lost in the Hoopla. Twilight Hotel Highway Prayer is the first one I would like to point out. This Winnipeg based male-female duo enlisted fellow Canadian Colin Linden to […]
Drive-By-Truckers – Brighter Than Creation’s Dark
When a band has a shakeup in its’ lineup critics will often look skeptically at their follow up album. But when the follow up is an epic 70 minute 19 song project, even a reasonable critic has to wonder if they can pull it off. Fortunately for us the Truckers not only pull it off, […]
Dan Israel – Turning
A late release in 2007 that I almost overlooked is Dan Israel’s Turning. In fact this albume has become a late year Twangville fave. Israel has been around a while from the Midwest to Austin and back again. He has opened for acts as diverse as Morissey, Spoon and Peter Himmelman. He has won songwriter […]
Sara Lynn Single and Video to be Released to US Country Radio in early 2008
Steel Jack Music Group released Sara Lynn’s debut album Thing for You on September 30th. However, they are going to do a major US radio promotion for the album and the first single, which is the title cut, in early 2008. The Canadian Country Diva has all of the ingredients to a popular mainstream country […]