The first time I drove CA 1 through Big Sur it was on a rainy day in a big, 80’s rental car with more of a rudder than a steering wheel. Â A few years later I had the chance to drive it in something much sportier and the difference was exhilarating. Â All those curves changed […]
Short Takes – Three Gems For Summer
There has been a lot of good music cross my desk in the last couple of months, and I’ve finally internalized I’m not going to get to all of it.  Summer’s here, though, and it’s important to have some new music in your player.  So here are some short takes on albums I’m really enjoying, but […]
Sour Bridges – Sour Bridges
The simple fact is, some bands are better when they’re in the studio and some are better out on a stage.  Ray LaMontagne literally made me squirm at a show given how obviously uncomfortable he was on the stage.  Carrie Rodriguez has never managed to capture the magic of her stage charisma on a record. I […]
The Railsplitters – The Faster It Goes
Bluegrass used to be learned from family members and neighbors in the rural parts of America. Â In the last decade or so it”s become a conscious choice of genre by a variety of musicians who are trained and adept in many styles of music. Â Along the way they”ve fused all of those styles on top […]
Trout Steak Revival – Brighter Every Day
There’s something about bluegrass that always seems slanted toward picking up your spirits. Â It’s not that the genre doesn’t have its share of good murder ballads–a couple of doozy’s come immediately to mind–but as a rule it’s not somber music. That’s true in spades in the debut album from Colorado-based Trout Steak Revival. Entitled Brighter […]
Old Settler’s Music Festival 2015 Edition
My favorite weekend of the year has come and gone again. Â A couple of weeks after the over-sized crowds, egos, and marketing campaigns of SXSW comes a music festival in the hill country outside Austin that’s just about the music. Â With only 15,000 attendees, and a couple of stages, you can see at least a […]
MilkDrive – Places You’ve Not Been
“Sophisticated” and “bluegrass”. Â Not often you see those two words paired. Â On Places You’ve Not Been, the latest album from Austin-based MilkDrive, however, the two adjectives clearly belong together. Â The disc certainly holds its own blasting as background rolling down the highway on a sunny California day. Â But it really rewards you when you take […]
Taarka – Making Tracks Home
You could probably argue that all music, regardless of genre, falls into two categories.  There’s music celebrating (or bemoaning) the here and now, and there are songs that take you back to a time or place.  The latest release from Colorado-based Taarka, Making Tracks Home, does a superb job of exploring both of those buckets in […]
Kiss Off — A Special Twangville Playlist, Part 6
A few years back I put together a series of special playlists featuring my favorite kiss off songs. Despite what some may think, I’m really not that cynical. Rather, I just appreciate how some songwriters can tackle the topic with humor and bite. It’s kind of like a genre unto itself. Over the past year […]
Josh Erwin of Packway Handle Band Talks Hotel Breakfasts and Why Bands Are Like Communist Organizations
Josh Erwin of Athens, GA’s Packway Handle Band chats about engine troubles with the group’s Ford passenger van, a rather interesting day job and the distractions to be found while rehearsing at musician Jim White’s house.