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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
Joe Pug, American Troubadour
Chicago musician Joe Pug has spent the better part of the past year with a guitar over his shoulder. Since releasing his debut ep Nation of Heat in spring of 2008, Pug has followed in the figurative footsteps of Woody Guthrie by performing his music whenever and wherever he can. And like the great folk […]
Scott Warren – Quick Fix Bandage
I have really enjoyed digging into the new album from Californias’ Scott Warren. Quick Fix Bandage (Jungular Music), is one of those great singer/songwriter albums that deftly tosses folk, rock, country and pop into a wholly satisfying creation. Warren’s vocals contain a gentle rasp that seems to help the fusion of different styles, much in […]
Listen Up: Gretel’s “The Dregs”
I suspect that every songwriter dreams of writing a song like “Car Bomb Times.†It’s a triumph of songwriting that matches provocative lyrics with a hypnotic melody. What begins as a quiet folk song built around singer-songwriter Reva Williams banjo and hushed vocals builds into a rich tapestry of harmonies. It is these types of […]
Twangville Best So Far ’09: The Albums
It’s been a solid year of music so far in 2009. We’ve had the requisite releases from the marquee names like Springsteen and U2, but we’ve also seen stellar releases from the cherished and emerging artists that are the life-blood of Twangville. Below, then, are the 2009 favorites from the Twangville posse. What were yours? […]
Mayer’s Playlist for June 2009, a Video Companion
We kick the June video companion off with selections from this month’s spotlight artists: Missouri’s Ha Ha Tonka and Athens, Georgia’s Patterson Hood. From there we get a bevy of performances from Rhett Miller, Amy Speace, Crooked Fingers, A Camp, Andrew Ripp, The Roadside Graves, Pete Yorn and Matthew Grimm (covering Billy Bragg). We finish […]
Win Big: The Low Anthem
It has been one heck of a year for Providence, RI trio the Low Anthem. When we first wrote about the band in January, they had just recently self-released the magnificent Oh My God, Charlie Darwin. Fast forward six months and, as band member and baseball fan Jeff Prystowsky might say, it’s a whole new […]
Advice for Father’s Day
Father’s Day will soon be upon us and with it comes the sophomore release from Nashville’s Daddy. Daddy For a Second Time was reared by Tommy Womack and the mighty Will Kimbrough and is chock full of Southern-tinged acoustic rock, not to mention their trademark wit. Womack’s “Early to Bed, Early to Rise” offers up […]