It’s like the beer bottle you never saw coming. One moment, everything’s fine. The next, you’re looking up to the underside of the table. Jesse Daniel, on his latest record, Rollin’ On, wields a Bakersfield bucket of sound like a drunk with a longneck, intent on righting a mighty load of wrongs. The album blasts […]
Saints Eleven Premiere – The Crown
Saints Eleven is garnering a lot of attention in the Texas country music scene, especially since they won the Texas Country Music Association’s Band of the Year award last year. Their last record, Coming Back Around, really showcased the band’s red dirt, almost rock and roll, but country in the end, sound. They have a […]
Trout Steak Revival – The Light We Bring
For me, a certain style of bluegrass instantly brings back random memories of sunny, summer days outside listening to music. Many call that style front-range, or Colorado bluegrass. I suppose that all makes sense since, aside from John Hartford, much of my early bluegrass influence came from Hot Rize and New Grass Revival. That, in […]
Pi Jacobs – Two Truths And A Lie
“Divorce…whiskey…legal problems…cheaters…lies. I’m a pro at what not to do.” Whatever story comes next, it’s going to be a good one. That line comes from Broken Cup, the opening cut on Pi Jacobs’ latest release, and what comes next is indeed good. Two Truths And A Lie is collage of stories about female characters that […]
Glenn Jones – Ready For the Good Times
Some songwriters have a sort of osmosis whereby they can synthesize wonderful stories from the lives of people they meet, or sometimes just read about. Others are destined to write about the life they live and live the life they write about. Glenn Jones seems to be cut from the cloth of the latter. He […]
Nick Pagliari – Midway
You can picture it, the big old Impala cruising slowly down the street, spring humidity from the nearby river making late spring feel like mid-summer, the music from the radio originating from the nearby Stax Studio. Memphis in the late 60’s gave rise to a soulful line of rock, resplendent with horns and electric organ. […]
Flying Buffaloes Video Premiere – Loaded And Rollin’
At some point, most everyone comes to the realization they should be spending more time doing what they want instead of what others want. The title track from the Flying Buffaloes debut album, Loaded And Rollin’, takes that sentiment and interweaves a musician’s perspective, laid to a rock and roll beat. The band went out […]
Folk Alliance International 2020 – Shawn’s Picks
With 10 simultaneous official stages and over 80 private ones across 4 nights and 8-10 hours per night, there’s no shortage of music at FAI. There are a number of strategies you can employ, from just picking a room and letting the curator’s choices wash over you, to a mad-dash scramble after every couple of […]
Folk Alliance International 2020 Conference
One of the things I look forward to coming out of the holidays is the annual Folk Alliance conference. It’s equal parts business conference and music festival: so work and play together. This year it was held in New Orleans, where the food added a third segment that was a big part of many conversations. […]
Thunder And Rain – Passing In the Night
I am continually fascinated how some bands hew to the same sound in their music for decades, and yet it somehow still sounds fresh. Other bands wander the musical landscape and manage to make many genres their own. Such is the case with the latest from Colorado’s Thunder And Rain, entitled Passing In the Night. […]