Some things sound better in retrospective. For instance, if everyone who owns a Ramones t-shirt today had actually bought a Ramones record back in the day, they’d make Taylor Swift’s music sales seem like pocket change. I have to profess that perspective on countrypolitan music. As a typical, limited viewpoint teenager growing up in rural […]
The Lowtimers – Cracks
One of the recurring characters throughout the history of civilization is the traveling bard. Telling stories, singing songs, and just generally passing along information, the bard was the original influencer, millennia before social networks. Portland’s Mark Tegio and Santa Cruz’s Austin Smith spent a decade modeling that troubadour lifestyle up and down the west coast, […]
Big Love Car Wash Premiere – 21st Century Telegraph
I guess you could call Austin musicians Taylor Turner and Everett Wren serial band members. Taylor has been in more bands than he can remember; 15 during his college years alone. In addition to his solo projects, Wren has played with the Arkansas Youth Orchestra and formed groups Wagon, Lost & Nameless, and Chalkboard Poets. […]
I’m With Her – Wild And Clear And Blue
Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan met each other when Jarosz was still in her early teens, and the other two barely in their twenties. By 2014 they were singing together in no less a venue than Telluride’s bluegrass festival. In 2018 they released an album, See You Around, and received a collective Grammy […]
True North Duo – Time And Materials
Folk music has, I think, always had a DIY aesthetic. You strum your guitar, sing into the microphone (if available), and there you have it. Simple enough that more than a few artists have chosen to tour by bicycle. Oregon-based couple Kristen Grainger and Dan Wetzel have raised that quite a few notches on their […]
Mason Via – Mason Via
They say you can’t go home again, but that’s really about the mistaken idea nothing will have changed. What I do think is true, especially as you get older, is there’s something comforting and centering about returning to your roots for a visit. After a stint with Old Crow Medicine Show and recording with the […]
Graham Sharp – How Did We Do It
Wishes do come true. Four years ago I wrote about the debut solo album from Steep Canyon Rangers’ banjoist and frequent lead singer, Graham Sharp. I finished the post expressing a hope that, as much as I like the Rangers, the record wouldn’t be his last solo effort. Well, just out is another release from […]
Marina Rocks – S.O.S. Texas
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or in the case of Houstonian Marina Rocks; when in Texas, be a Texan. The Austin-born guitarist/singer/songwriter has long embraced the musical styles she heard around her, and in the process developed a unique sound that nonetheless ties her to the Lone Star State. So it was […]
Grey DeLisle – The Grey Album
Back in the 60’s Nashville country music was feeling the pressure from honky-tonk hits coming out of Bakersfield, and from the blues-rock edge the Brits were putting on pop. So the A-list producers decided to replace the fiddle and steel guitar with orchestra strings and the nasally vocals with polished choruses. The resultant sound became […]
Tony Kamel – We’re All Gonna Live
You’ve all heard the saying about death and taxes. Many a songwriter has written a story about someone’s journey to make the most of life given the inevitable end. Grammy-nominated Austin musician (and former front man for Wood & Wire) Tony Kamel took that a few steps further and centered his new album, We’re All […]