LA based Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls release their new album Packed for Exile on July third. It is an impressive release with a blend of Americana roots and 70’s Album Rock. Interestingly, the band’s keyboardist is Jason Federici, who is the son of the late E Street Band member Danny Federici. The band may be from […]
Langhorne Slim- The Way We Move
In March of this year, I caught a Langhorne Slim headlining show at one of my favorite dive bars back home. I had seen Langhorne before (opening for a pretty epic DBT-Lucero double bill in Boston), so I figured it would be a good show. It wasn’t. It was extraordinary. Note: I’m still unsure if […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2012, Part 3
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH The Lumineers, by The Lumineers I discovered the Lumineers thanks to, of all things, an airline who shall remain nameless. When they botched my return to Boston from a day gig work trip to LA, I found myself stranded in Denver. Others might have been upset, but I relished the chance […]
Cory Branan- Mutt
I’ve been listening to Mutt for a while now and have heard numerous reactions to it, ranging from ecstatic to dismissive to ambivalent. At this point, I can understand almost all viewpoints, but personally have come down pretty firmly on the ‘ecstatic’ side. This sort of debate is about par for the course for a […]
Delta Moon – Black Cat Oil
Delta Moon features unique dueling slide guitar leads that give the band’s music the swampy, gritty sound that has made it one of Atlanta’s best kept secrets. Black Cat Oil, the seventh album to feature the lap-steel guitar-work of singer-songwriter Tom Gray and bottleneck slide guitar of Mark Johnson, is a solid offering.   Delta Moon, which until 2007’s Clear […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2012, Part 2
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH The Great Despiser, by Joe Pug If you listen closely to The Great Despiser, Joe Pug’s latest release, you’ll hear a theme carrying through the songs. The songs map a journey in which the protagonist seeks to find his path, generally with clear intent yet often daunted by societal expectations and […]
Company/Dear America,
There’s a Charleston, South Carolina band that goes by the moniker Company, not to be confused with the Brooklyn band of the early 2000’s of the same name. (Or the cover band that also apparently plays in Charleston called “The Company Band.â€) Unlike the folkier rock of the Brooklyn band, the Charleston collective focuses on […]
Fathers and Sons – The DB’s and The Only Sons
For those who remember the DB’s from the early 80‘s, especially if you saw any of the shows they performed as openers for REM, the band conjures up memories of good times in college. They no doubt were good times, but in retrospect the DB’s were seminal innovators paving the road for the Alt-Country / […]
Luther Dickinson – Hambone’s Meditations
Someone should sit Luther Dickinson down and tell him he needs to figure out what he’s going to do with his life. Still in his 30s, Dickinson laid down his first recorded guitar licks at the age of 14 on the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me (produced by Luther’s father Jim) in 1987. He established […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2012, Part 1
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH Women & Work, by Lucero Lucero jumped on the major label train for their last release, 2009’s stellar 1372 Overton Park. Things didn’t go quite as planned but Lucero are a band that just won’t give up. Good thing, too, as the band are in peak form with a sound that […]