R&B master Eli Paperboy Reed and his band cram themselves onto a small stage and set fire to the folk gospel classic “God’s Gonna Cut You Down”.
Mayer’s Playlist for Feb/Mar 2022, Part 2
Not Ready Yet, Jamie McDell (from the ABC Music release Jamie McDell) I’ve been not so patiently awaiting the latest release from New Zealand’s Jamie McDell. Her 2019 EP was a tremendous introduction to her songwriting talent, especially the pull no punches “Botox” and the raw emotion of “Worst Crime”. Both songs are featured, alongside […]
Birds Of Play – Murmations, Volume 2
Musical inspiration comes from many sources, but life experience surely has to rank at the top. You’d be hard-pressed to find lives lived to the degree of friends Alex Paul, Eric Shedd, and Jack Tolan. So when they decided to trade-in their outdoor, world-traveling, adventurous lifestyle for equally lucrative careers as musicians, they had some […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Feb/Mar 2022, Part 1
The Ballad of Sissy & Porter, The Whitmore Sisters (from the Red House Records release Ghost Stories) There’s a throwback quality to the Whitmore Sisters’ Ghost Stories. Sure, sisters Eleanor and Bonnie have magical familial harmonies that recall The Everly Brothers. It’s the songs and arrangements, however, that hearken back to a bygone era when […]
VanWyck Video Premiere – Maybe, Maybe Not
Singer-songwriter VanWyck started taking notice of all the people adrift, washing up on the steps and benches of her native Amsterdam. Realizing the gap between their demons and the ones we all fight is narrow, she started writing a story, a landscape, an alternate reality where everyone has a safe space, a place to recover […]
Good Morning Bedlam – Lulu
Rochester, Minnesota-based Good Morning Bedlam says, “we want to surprise our audience.” Ostensibly a folk music trio, they accomplish that feat admirably on their latest album, Lulu. The record careens between indie folk and speed-grass, with side trips to Balkan jazz, klezmer, and Roaring 20’s pop music. One thing that does remain constant is the […]
Monday Morning Video – Steve Goodman
Steve Goodman was a songwriter’s songwriter whose compositions have been recorded by everyone from Jimmy Buffett to Willie Nelson. Here’s the master performing a few himself, including “Banana Republics” and “City of New Orleans”, the latter of which earned Goodman a posthumous Grammy when Nelson covered it in 1984.
Tammy Rogers and Thomm Jutz on Good Coffee and Teaching College
Tammy Rogers (of the SteelDrivers) and Thomm Jutz talk about their cars (and how much they love them) and their shared effort to avoid fast food on the road.
Eliza Gilkyson on Recovering the “Football” and Shopping at the “Death Star”
Folk singer-songwriter Eliza Gilkyson talks about why survival is an art form on the road and why success is relative.
Jamestown Revival – Young Man
You can just picture Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance, also known as Jamestown Revival, sitting in rockers on the porch of a ranch in the blistering midday sun of southeast Texas. They’re strumming acoustic guitars, working on some songs and complaining about “them damn kids nowadays.” At the end of the day they have a […]