Leon Majcen recalls getting overpaid at his first gig at 13, describes his old day job at a Nashville tree company, and explains why he tailors every show to the room that he’s playing.
Monday Morning Video – Patty Griffin
Patty Griffin’s “Top of the World” is a deathbed reckoning — a life examined right at the end, loss and regret laid out plain. Here it’s just her acoustic guitar and voice, with a subtle electric guitar underneath adding to the song’s melancholy and beauty. If anything, the sparse arrangement makes the regret harder to […]
Now & Then: The Yawpers’ Teething and the reach of Fire of Love
The Yawpers have never hidden the influence of bands that pushed country and blues through a punk framework. Nate Cook has specifically cited the Gun Club, which makes Fire of Love, the band’s 1981 debut, a strong reference point for Teething. The connection is not simply aggression or guitar tone. Both records treat roots music as working material, preserving its rhythmic and melodic foundations while making it fit the concerns and energy of their own moment.
RJ Chesney – A Southern Man
Sweet tea. Kudzu wrapped around anything that doesn’t move. Wearing a short sleeve shirt with a tie to church. While you can experience those things many places (less so the kudzu), growing up with their ubiquity is part of a cultural perspective that lends definition to the idea of being a southerner. In a similar […]
Twangville On The Road: The Fall Showcase Series
We’re taking Twangville on the road this fall — and you’re invited! We’re thrilled to unveil our Fall Showcase Series: seven distinct nights of live music across three states. We’ve put together an exceptional lineup of songwriters, roots revivalists, and road-tested troubadours, from folk to rock ’n’ roll and plenty in between. From a cozy […]
Clayton Nile Young on Working at the Mayo Clinic and Learning to Talk While Tuning
Singer-songwriter Clayton Nile Young talks about his tour meal strategy — since he doesn’t hit the road often, he treats touring like a vacation and eats accordingly. He recalls the 2023 house show in Jacksonville that became his first gig, which left him instantly hooked. Young also shares the story behind his first song, “Heart vs Mind,” written while he was in radiation therapy school.
Monday Morning Video – The Northern Belle
It’s been two years since Oslo’s The Northern Belle put out an album — 2024’s Bats in the Attic — and the follow-up, Even Cowgirls Get Sad, arrives August 21. For this latest release, Andreassen brought together some talented friends from across the Norwegian Americana community. The music is easy-going, anchored by the crystalline voice […]
Monte Warden & the Wagoneers – Doghouse Flowers
Back in the day, before streaming or downloading, many people (most, perhaps) discovered new music by browsing record stores. While fine for artists that were easily categorized, that presented a problem for groups that were mashing together genres and trying to create a new sound. Austin was one epicenter of that creative experimentation, and one […]
Drivin N Cryin: Still Writing the Story
Several days after speaking with Kevn Kinney, I watched a storm roll across the mesas outside Taos, New Mexico. Purple lightning split the sky, eventually forcing Drivin N Cryin’s scheduled outdoor performance indoors. The band adjusted. Instead of the full-throttle rock show one might expect from a group that has spent nearly four decades making […]
“Don’t Fence Me In” – a Premiere from Sanford
Brooklyn by way of South Carolina, Jay Sanford follows January’s Big Tent Revival with an old-school two-sided (digital) single. The A-side, “Don’t Fence Me In,” takes a honky-tonk two-step and runs it through a rock engine — same dance-floor bones, more muscle. Sanford lays out the thesis in the chorus: “I do some honky-tonkin’ but […]