With The Raconteurs, his side-project with friend Jack White, on a hiatus, Brendan Benson returns to his solo roots to unleash a power pop bonanza with My Old, Familiar Friend. Opener “A Whole Lot Better†sets the tone with a rash of electric guitars powered by an urgent beat and walking baseline. “I fell in […]
The Restoration/Faulknerian chamber pop from Lexington, South Carolina
Readers Pick: Tribute To by Yim Yames
Twangville readers picked the new EP by Yim Yames titled Tribute To as their favorite release for week of August 4, 2009. Tribute To is a six song EP from My Morning Jacket’s singer Jim James recorded as a ‘tribute to’ George Harrison. The record came together shortly after Harrison passed away back in 2001. […]
2009 Newport Folk Festival- Day Two
The second day of the 2009 Newport Folk Festival dawned with an overcast sky that slowly bled into sunshine for an excellent Sunday of folk music. My first choice would be a difficult one. Josh Ritter was playing the main stage directly opposite the David Rawlings Machine at the harbourside stage. I elected to begin […]
Mayer’s Playlist from July 2009, a Video Companion
So my quest for a Bottle Rockets video from the new release turned up empty. That won’t, however, stop us from watching the boys rock out with David Bowie’s “Suffragette City.” From there we run through a string of great live performances from Daddy (Will Kimbrough & Tommy Womack), Jones Street Station, Those Darlins, Ketch […]
2009 Newport Folk Festival- Day One
The 2009 Newport Folk Festival, officially entitled George Wein’s Folk Festival 50, was quite unlike any music festival I had previously attended. Located in the beautiful town of Newport, Rhode Island at Fort Adams State Park, the Festival clearly has a sense of place. With the 3 stages located on the outer rim of the […]
Mayer’s Playlist from July 2009
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Lean Forward, by The Bottle Rockets Now that summer has finally arrived, it’s a good time to pick out the summer albums. It starts with the latest from the pride of Festus, Missouri, The Bottle Rockets. Lead songwriter Brian Henneman is a pop songwriter masquerading as an alt-country musician. And summer […]
Plain & Simple – Acousticueticals
When a critic hears about a new act in music, a relative unknown, often the excitement at discovery is tempered by trepidation at the disappointment. Still, as music writers we attempt to somehow divide our time between trusted acts, the possibility of a new discovery that no one else has heard. With these same ambivalent […]
The Bottle Rockets – Lean Forward
Hailing from the St. Louis area, The Bottle Rockets show some of the same influences that inspired Uncle Tupelo and their progeny. In Lean Forward , their tenth release, the Rockets have a record that’s a rich bouquet of rock and roll, but nonetheless retaining some twangy alt country aromas. What distinguishes many of the […]
John Moreland/Rob’s House Demos
John Moreland and the Black Gold Band’s website states the following:  We’re from Okalahoma. We’re loud as hell. We don’t give two shits.  That may sum up the band when in full force, and it may sum up their 2008 album Endless Okalahoma Sky, but it doesn’t really capture the feeling of Rob’s […]