“Lookin’ over my shoulder, hopin’ nobody told her, I’m back in town.” So goes the chorus on the opening track of John R. Miller’s new album, Depreciated. It’s a good introduction to a loose theme that you can’t go home. And even if you could, maybe you shouldn’t. He wraps those observations up in a […]
Jeremy James Meyer – Alive & OK
Listening to the new album from Jeremy James Meyer, Alive & OK, I realized that not only have I missed live music, but I’ve missed the sound of an entire band in a studio. During the pandemic, when bands recorded material, everyone did their own piece and then software assembled it all together. It sounds […]
Ben Reddell Band – ¡LA Baby!
After coming to LA almost 20 years ago, having been raised in Texas, Ben Reddell has become a common sight in the LA country and roots community. Whether playing in another band, running sound, or just pitching in, he’s always around. So it’s a little surprising that’s he’s just released his first EP since 2012. […]
Afton Wolfe – Kings For Sale
It’s burned in my memory, the exact moment I first heard Afton Wolfe. Coming down out of the mountains on an impossibly bright day in southern Utah, I hit play on his new album, Kings For Sale. Like when you flip down a pair of polarized lenses after squinting into the sun, the textures hidden […]
Stoney LaRue – Double Live 25
Virtually all the new records that have crossed my speakers in the last year were studio albums. They were material that was semi-finished and just needed some polish, or were new songs inspired by elements of the pandemic. Leave it up to Stoney LaRue to find a third path. LaRue is a road warrior, typically […]
Korby Lenker – Man In the Maroon
Many, many years ago I was gifted a high-end chocolate sampler that ranged from toothachingly sweet, milk chocolate to a bitter, floral 90% sample. It opened my eyes to how wide an experience chocolate could deliver. I had that same observation with Korby Lenker’s new album, Man In the Maroon. Yes, it’s all roots, folkie […]
Graham Sharp – Truer Picture
I know better, but I still do it. I develop a presumption about a musician’s style based on their performance with a specific band. Then they join a different group, or step out on their own, and it’s like that scene in Wizard Of Oz where the world goes from black and white to color. […]
Shay Martin Lovette – Scatter & Gather
For song writers that lean to the introspective, the pandemic’s forced isolation gave them some quality composing time. That seems to be the case with North Carolina’s Shay Martin Lovette. Holed up in a remote cabin he crafted some fine indie folk material. Mipso’s Joseph Terrell took over production duties, added some pop structure to […]
West Of Texas – Heartache, Hangovers & Honky Tonks
All across America, in places where the asphalt having a shoulder elevates it to highway status, there stand big metal buildings with gravel parking lots. Twenty-first century honky-tonks, they feature cheap beer, fried food, and a band playing country music. Besides the style of music, a differentiator of those bands is their enthusiasm. You don’t […]
Ted Russell Kamp Premiere – Path Of Least Resistance
Like many musicians, Ted Russell Kamp found himself with time on his hands and songs in his mind churning to be finished while stuck at home last year. One of those, “Path Of Least Resistance”, earned a position on Ted’s latest album, Solitaire, set to release this Friday. The song was written prior to the […]