Here, in no particular order, are a few more favorites from 2017. New MistakesTerra Lightfoot Letters Never ReadDori Freeman Other Love SongsFront Country Boy Crazy and Single(s)Lydia Loveless Transient LullabyThe Mastersons The World We BuiltThe Wild Reeds Youth DetentionLee Bains III and the Glory Fires Tomorrow ForeverMatthew Sweet Life Is FinePaul Kelly This Is My […]
True North – Open Road, Broken Heart
Kris Kristofferson famously wrote that “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Â Kristen Grainger, lead singer & songwriter for True North, writes a corollary, “you call it leaving, but she calls it freedom”, on One Way Ticket, the opening track on their latest album. Â While Me And Bobby McGee was about the journey […]
Mark Olson and Ingunn Ringvold – Spokeswoman of the Bright Sun
Success, as pretty much everyone has realized, gives one some freedom that can’t otherwise be earned. Â Some use that freedom to advance an agenda, whereas others look to self-improvement and creativity as the opportunity. Â Mark Olson, founder of pioneering Americana group The Jayhawks, chose the latter path along with his wife and musical partner Ingunn […]
Americana 2017: Mayer’s Picks (Part 2)
Every fall, The Americana Music Association gathers members, artists and music fans together in Nashville for its annual conference. Starting with the annual Americana Music Awards and continuing through four days of showcases and panel discussions, it is a tremendous celebration of Americana music. Here are but a few of my favorite performers and performances […]
Americana 2017: Mayer’s Picks (Part 1)
Every fall, The Americana Music Association gathers members, artists and music fans together in Nashville for its annual conference. Starting with the annual Americana Music Awards and continuing through four days of showcases and panel discussions, it is a tremendous celebration of Americana music. Here are but a few of my favorite performers and performances […]
Deer Tick – Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
It takes a bit of bravado to release two albums simultaneously. Most bands work hard to put 10 – 12 well-crafted songs together every few years. It is not uncommon to see “B-side†albums come out shortly after a release, but for the most part they are only collections of songs and not a cohesive […]
Three Diamonds In the Rough
A few weeks ago I wrote about a movie that explores the issues around how streaming has changed the economics of the music business.  The result of that plus nearly free compute power, is it’s now cheap enough to make a record that musicians can choose to make an album in support of other projects and priorities.  Here […]
Well You Heard About The Boston… Playlist, Part 1
Ex-Girlfriends Cost Less Money Than Ex-Wives, Greg Klyma (from the self-released Never Knew Caroline) There are some artists who are tireless students of music, constantly exploring the historical corners of country, blues and folk to better understand the anatomy of song. Greg Klyma is one of them. In fact, for several years he has brought […]
Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native
The dictionary defines polyglot as someone who speaks many different languages. Â As evidenced by his latest album, Ben Sollee is a musical polyglot. Â Featuring his latest band, Kentucky Native, Ben covers many of the cultural music influences that became the folk music of Appalachia, and eventually bluegrass. Â He then overlaid that with the jazz influences […]
Monday Morning Video – Korby Lenker
Typically, artists go on tour to support a new album*. Well, Korby Lenker did it a bit differently for his latest – he toured to record the recent released Thousand Springs. He started by traveling his home state of Idaho recording his vocals and guitar in places that were personally meaningful to him. Then he […]