We’ll cut right to the chase with this live performance only edition of the Video Companion. The Drive-By Truckers burst out of the gate with Patterson Hood’s fiesty “The Righteous Path” followed by Austin’s (by way of Somerville) Porterdavis singing “Smack You Back.” We carry on with Ian Hunter, Delbert McClinton, Sam Baker, These United […]
An Interview With Joe Pug
A couple of months ago, I was driving somewhere with my twin brother. Â He’s yammering on and on about this new songwriter that I have to listen to. Â Now my brother has pretty good taste and has introduced me to many if not most of my favorite artists, but he’s still my brother–so I mostly […]
Mayer’s Playlist for August 2009, part 2
Showerhead, Rachelle Van Zanten (from the RZV Records release Where Your Garden Grows) Canada’s Van Zanten sure can play a mean guitar. What really caught my ear, however, was the confidence and brawn in this track. Mix the rawness of a Lucinda Williams tune with the slide guitar chops of Bonnie Raitt and a touch […]
Mayer’s Playlist for August 2009, part 1
ALBUM OF THE MONTH: Late Music, by Dennis Diken with the Bell Sound Who knew? After nearly 30 years sitting behind the drums with the Smithereens Dennis Diken emerges as a pop maestro. Diken and collaborator Pete DiBella shine with an album that brims with echoes of the Beach Boys and the Who, circa the […]
A.A. Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose
A.A. Bondy’s new album, When the Devil’s Loose (Fat Possum – due next week), is absolutely beautiful. I would like to come up with a more elaborate way of explaing how I feel about the album – and rest assured I will – but for the most part it’s just really beautiful. Bondy employs his […]
Mindy Smith – Stupid Love
The best way to understand the present state of Mindy Smith’s career is to put that career in the context of how it really began. Mindy Smith was included in an all-star tribute album to Dolly Parton, Just Because I’m a Woman (Sugar Hill, 2003). However, in 2003 Smith was no All-Star, but there she […]
Ritter and Kweller take North Adams
With its first music festival, you might think that Mass Moca (Museum of Comtemporary Art) would go for something really progressive like Deerhunter or experimental electronica Panda Bear. Something that changes the way we look at music (and thus alienating nearly every member of the audience with the exception of the Pitchfork’s uber-music geeks). But […]
Rocky Mountain Folks Festival – Day Three
As the saying goes, Life Is Good. Especially when the agenda of the day involves sitting outdoors, temps in the 70’s with the occasional cloud, listening to music, with the Rockies as a backdrop and the crystal clear, glacier-fed St. Vrain river steps away if you need to cool off. Such was my plight on […]
Porterdavis – Porterdavis
The new, self-titled disc from Austin’s Porterdavis is a Country-Blues gem. With stomping rhythms, a menacing harmonica weaving it’s way through the melodies, and the dark, smokey and soulful vocals of Dan Barrett, much of the disc seems to be rooted in the mud of Mississippi rather than dusty soil of Texas. If another band […]
Readers’ Pick: Acousticueticals by Plain & Simple
Twangville readers picked fan write-in Acousticueticals by Plain & Simple as their favorite release for week of August 11, 2009. Plain & Simple is the work of B.J. Purnell a middle-America father of five who appears to live up to the “plain and simple” moniker. The album contains 11 original songs written by Purnell accompanied […]