Hard Times was released on January 1, 2010 by Texas singer-songwriters Adam Carroll and Michael O’Connor. I’m pretty well acquainted with the former as the laconic, yet sharp witted songwriter who writes the funniest folk songs this side of Todd Snider. And while I haven’t heard of O’Connor before, his contributions to this record are […]

As the new year approaches, I’m getting more and more excited about what 2010 holds. So, I’m going to do a quick run down of some of the records I’m looking forward to in 2010…..and then my favorites of 2009. Joe Pug- Messenger This is probably my most anticipated release for 2010. Pug’s 2008 EP […]

American Gun is a rock and roll band, albeit one that can’t let a song sit still. You won’t find these five guys from Columbia, SC taking the back seat and spinning their wheels on any song in their catalog, but particularly not on their third full length, Devil Showed Me His Hand. Following on […]

Justin Townes Earle has had a busy year, but he was gracious enough to allow Twangville a couple of minutes to discuss his catalog, touring with Lucero, the Big Surprise Tour, and landing a review in Rolling Stone Magazine….. Your last record Midnight at the Movies, had a little bit different sound to it, a […]

Micah Schnabel is the principle singer/songwriter behind the Columbus, OH rock band Two Cow Garage. He’s put out 4 stand out records with TCG and has recorded some rather more lo-fi sounding material with his father John Schnabel. When the Stage Lights Go Dim is his solo debut. It was originally suppose to be a […]

A Friend of A Friend is the debut record from the Dave Rawlings Machine, but in reality it is the re-emergence of the Gillian Welch-Dave Rawlings brand.  They’ve hardly been in hiding, contributing to records by Solomon Burke, Sara Watkins, Uncle Earl, Conor Oberst, and numerous others, but their last full length effort was all […]

This record threw me for a loop when I first heard it.  I wrote a quick blurb a couple weeks ago that described the record, somewhat offhandedly, as ‘a young artist exploring new sounds.’  The suggestion being that I was not totally enamored with the record.  After yet another late night listening, I have to […]

We here at Twangville are pretty big Joe Pug fans.  We’ve written about him in general (here).  We’ve written record reviews (here).  We (I) have reviewed his live show (here) and posted an extended interview (here). Not bad for a 25 year old singer-songwriter with a scant two EPs credited to his name.  But somehow, […]

Hey folks, Today is the last day of the giveaway, so get your entry’s submitted (and/or read the original review) here. For the obsessives among us, I’ve written up a quick blurb about each song.  Mostly it’s all lyrics, cause Ben writes better than I do. “Smoke” This song is getting some radio play across […]