Everybody knows about Cheers, the bar where everyone knows your name. Apparently the recording studio equivalent of that is Ted Russell Kamp’s former garage, now affectionately known as The Den. Ted has a new album out, Down In the Den, that features (if I counted right) 35 of his friends, who all happen to be […]
Monday Morning Video – On the Road Again
Another day, another week, another month without live music to sustain us. The Willie Nelson classic has never been as relevant as it is today. Here’s Billy Strings performing “On the Road Again” just last year and Willie, along with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, closing out a show with it back in […]
Mayer’s Picks – The Best of 2020 (So Far), the Songs
No Time for Love Songs, The Mastersons (from the Red House Records release No Time for Love Songs) I love you so much but it’s no time for love songs We’re starting to unravel at the seams Maybe I care too much and this world is hard enough How come everybody’s gotta be so mean? […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2020, Part 4
She’s a Self-Made Man, Larkin Poe (from Tricki-Woo Records Self Made Man) Rebecca & Megan Lovell pull no punches on their latest release. Self Made Man, their follow-up to 2018’s Grammy nominated Venom & Faith is a bruising rock album pure and simple. The sisters are old souls possessed by the spirit of the legendary […]
Darlin’ Brando – Also, too…
I think the best ones are located a mile or so out of town. Far enough that no one complains about the noise, but close enough you can still get home after, well, whatever. Budweiser and Miller are the Premium options at the bar and food comes from the microwave or deep fryer. I’m talking […]
Monday Morning Video – Chris Knight
I’ve lately been drawn to great stories in song. Chris Knight is one of our leading practitioners with a catalog filled with colorful characters coping with life’s hardships. His attention to detail, both situational and emotional, brings the stories to life with a vividness that raw and captivating. Knight took to the woods of his […]
Broke Down South of Dallas – A Special Playlist
Voices, Joshua Ray Walker (from the State Fair Records release Glad You Made It) Joshua Ray Walker sure seems like he’s having fun on Glad You Made It. Sure, the album opens with the stunning “Voices”, a song of loneliness and despair. Yet as the album progresses, Walker leans into the country side and showcases […]
The Dunes of the Cape – A Special Boston Playlist
Her Town Now, Mark Erelli (from the self-released Blindsided) A song of the year nomination at last year’s Americana Music Awards put Mark Erelli on a stage that he has long deserved. Over twelve albums, Erelli has honed his songwriting craft and become one of Americana’s leading, if until recently under-appreciated, songwriters. Blindsided, his latest […]
Radio Keeps Me On the Ground
If you were born in the last century, radio, not podcasts or downloads, was the soundtrack to your life. That’s the idea behind an interesting collaboration between I See Hawks In LA and Great Willow, both LA bands. Nic Harcourt, DJ at KCSN, one of the epicenters of Americana in southern California, issued a pandemic […]
Matt Hillyer of Eleven Hundred Springs on U Joints and Reverend Horton Heat
Matt Hillyer of Dallas country outfit Eleven Hundred Springs talks about playing his first gig at age 13 and the importance of being kind to people.