No Hard Feeling by Balto Released quietly in late December 2024, Balto’s surprise album opened 2025 on an incredibly powerful note—impassioned, defiant, and beautifully crafted. From the slow-burning heartbreak of “Big City” to the searing catharsis of “Black Snake, Mojave Blues,” the band channels their frustrations and fading faith in music into a collection that’s […]
Monday Morning Video – John Hartford
There’s something special about a song that strikes such a deep chord with fellow musicians. John Hartford’s “In Tall Buildings” is a perfect example. Its gentle folk melody carries words that speak to the quiet heartbreak of all that’s lost when life becomes consumed by work in “tall buildings.” I was introduced to the song […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2025, Part 2
True Believer, Jason Isbell (from the Southeastern Records release Foxes in the Snow) Foxes in the Snow finds Jason Isbell in a raw, reflective space, drawing from the emotional wreckage of heartbreak and the cautious hope of starting over. These songs live in the aftermath—where pain lingers, memories echo, and new love emerges slowly, shaped […]
Big Love Car Wash – Daydream
A few weeks back we premiered a single, 21st Century Telegraph, from a recently formed Austin band, Big Love Car Wash. Formed after a fateful one-time gig organized by mandolinist/vocalist Sol Chase, the group discovered they had a musical chemistry that begged further time together. They gathered in an Austin studio and put together their […]
Moonshroom – Take A Trip
There’s no doubt choosing a life as a professional musician requires you to chart your own path. That’s pretty evident with Kansas born-and-raised songwriters Lily B Moonflower and Jake Keegan. Growing up a few miles apart, but not meeting until years later, they had similar musical experiences that fed their creative streaks. While still fronting […]
Monday Morning Video – Radney Foster
With Father’s Day coming up this Sunday, it feels like the perfect time to share this song. One of the standout moments from last year’s AmericanaFest was seeing Radney Foster perform it during a songwriter round hosted by Sunny Sweeney. As the event was winding down, Sweeney asked Jack Ingram to close it out. Ingram […]
The Lowtimers – Cracks
One of the recurring characters throughout the history of civilization is the traveling bard. Telling stories, singing songs, and just generally passing along information, the bard was the original influencer, millennia before social networks. Portland’s Mark Tegio and Santa Cruz’s Austin Smith spent a decade modeling that troubadour lifestyle up and down the west coast, […]
E.W. Harris on Being an Opportunivore and His Advice For Young Musicians
Brooklyn-based E.W. Harris talks about a memorable two months working at World of Science in Athens, GA, recalls his mother’s review of his first band., and explains what it means to see his occupation in its “most ancient sense”.
Big Love Car Wash Premiere – 21st Century Telegraph
I guess you could call Austin musicians Taylor Turner and Everett Wren serial band members. Taylor has been in more bands than he can remember; 15 during his college years alone. In addition to his solo projects, Wren has played with the Arkansas Youth Orchestra and formed groups Wagon, Lost & Nameless, and Chalkboard Poets. […]
I’m With Her – Wild And Clear And Blue
Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins and Aoife O’Donovan met each other when Jarosz was still in her early teens, and the other two barely in their twenties. By 2014 they were singing together in no less a venue than Telluride’s bluegrass festival. In 2018 they released an album, See You Around, and received a collective Grammy […]