A trip to rehab is a funny thing. It can have so many different effects on artists. Some clean up and become repentant, some go on their merry way only to repeat, and some struggle with it for years. I’m not sure where this path will lead JT Earle but I am sure that he’ll […]
Burnin’ Down the Java with Jesse Malin
As a fan of Americana, it’d been a while since I’d seen a real rock show. But Jesse Malin certainly delivered a fist-pumpin rock show. He strolled out in his black work jacket and rivets and worked his butt off the entire show. If you were looking for the acoustic colors of “The Fine Art […]
Cary Hudson – Tree-House Party
You might think that an alt-country singer from the 80s and 90s playing an acoustic set would be tame. You might think that it’d be soft and gentle with some strumming and fingerpicking. But if you did, you don’t know Cary Hudson and his “dirty blues” and “nasty swing.” At 45, Cary may use the […]
Hoots & Hellmouth – Singin’ Up in the Trees
For my second experience at the uber-intimate Treehouse literally just steps from the DC/MD border, I had the pleasure of enjoying a bluegrass spiritual. Now I’ve seen Sean Hoots & the boys on a few other occasions but this time it was something special. A living room filled with approximately 30 seats felt just right. […]
Ryan Bingham – Junky Star
Although I’d heard his name before, my first real lasting impression of Ryan Bingham was his cameo and composition for Crazy Heart. He truly embodied the western swing cowboy image of a cowboy. His crackly voice sounds like it could’ve been recorded in the 1850s by a prospecting frontiersman. In actual fact, Bingham spent some […]
The Giving Tree – The Joke, The Threat & The Obvious
To hear about a band being “green†in today’s society seems like another gimmick. We have whole foods, organic produce, carbon footprints and alternative energy bombarding us from all action. As a music fan, I like to listen to my music to unplug and hear the “organic†side for a while. But Todd and Eric […]
Sun Kil Moon – Admiral Fell Promises
To hell with them all. It seems that Mark Kozelek has been saying this more and more lately. He started his own record label, he’s been working with fewer and fewer people on each record and using more austere instrumentation. On “Admiral Fell Promises,†Mark takes this a step further by exclusively playing the nylon […]
Deer Tick – The Black Dirt Sessions
There’s a reason that singer/songwriter begins with “singer.†It’s the most important part of the package. Dylan, Neil Young have unique voices that can revive a song place it in their own specific style with the first vocal notes. John J. McCauley III has a particularly unique rough-edged voice that takes some time but pays […]
Marah – Life is a Problem
It wasn’t too long ago when Stephen King declared that Marah “is probably the best rock band in America that nobody knows†after their 2005 record “If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry.†The band has seen changes in their lineup and sound since that comment was made and “Life is a Problem” reflects that. Serge […]
Justin Currie – Acoustic Live
Okay, I admit that I’m a little late to the Justin Currie/Del Amitri band wagon. Okay, a lot late. Maybe it’s slowed a bit in this decade. I should have known that the Scottish and their hundreds of lochs, brutal weather and amazing accents are really like the U.S. Pacific Northwest for irresistible rock-pop. Glasgow […]