One of the best things about travel is the occasional chance to just sit there and observe the people around you. Not being held to a schedule opens your mind to different perspectives. Musical duo and long-time friends Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski were afforded probably a lot more of that perspective than most while […]
Tawny Ellis – Love Life
On pretty much any night of the week on network television, you can find a show featuring contestants with incredible vocal talents. What most of them are missing is soul. Not literally like soul music, but spiritually like the non-physical essence of someone. If you don’t know what that sounds like, you can hear it […]
Ted Russell Kamp – Down In the Den
Everybody knows about Cheers, the bar where everyone knows your name. Apparently the recording studio equivalent of that is Ted Russell Kamp’s former garage, now affectionately known as The Den. Ted has a new album out, Down In the Den, that features (if I counted right) 35 of his friends, who all happen to be […]
Nocona – Los Dos
They say you should always dance like you think no one is watching. I think the same thing applies to air guitar and drums. Wail and flail. If you want a good soundtrack to do that to, I’d suggest the new album from LA-based roots rockers Nocona. Entitled Los Dos, it has a garage band […]
Darlin’ Brando – Also, too…
I think the best ones are located a mile or so out of town. Far enough that no one complains about the noise, but close enough you can still get home after, well, whatever. Budweiser and Miller are the Premium options at the bar and food comes from the microwave or deep fryer. I’m talking […]
On the Road: A Tribute To John Hartford
For the most part, Bill Monroe invented the bluegrass genre over a period of years. The progressive/new grass/indie grass branch of the tree, though, can possibly be related to a single album, John Hartford’s Aereo-Plain. Therefore it’s fitting that so many of that strand’s best known groups jumped in to contribute a cover of one […]
Kristen Grainger & True North – Ghost Tattoo
As a writer, I suppose it’s natural for me to have a soft spot for well-written lyrics. I was gobsmacked, though, at some of the turns of phrase on the latest record from Oregonian Kristen Grainger. For instance, “outside the traffic clattered, like a sky full of geese drawing fire.” Does that draw you a […]
Garrett Owen – Garrett Owen
Everyone has stories. Some more than others. In the case of Garrett Owen, growing up a missionary’s kid in East Africa, and later South America, he has a bucket load. I think having those stories has a secondary benefit in that you recognize the good ones from other people, too. Garrett has transformed some of […]
Turkeyfoot – Promise Of Tomorrow
With the festival season cancelled this year I’m discovering my longing for live music is taking twists and turns in its desire. Recently, no doubt partly due to summer settling in on the central California coast, I was having acute pangs for some hardcore bluegrass. Fortunately, out of the blue the Postal Service delivered the […]
Radio Keeps Me On the Ground
If you were born in the last century, radio, not podcasts or downloads, was the soundtrack to your life. That’s the idea behind an interesting collaboration between I See Hawks In LA and Great Willow, both LA bands. Nic Harcourt, DJ at KCSN, one of the epicenters of Americana in southern California, issued a pandemic […]