Remember when MTV and VH1 used to play actual music videos? Well apparently the big-wigs at the music video channel discovered YouTube and thought, “hey, we should do this ourselves.” Here, here. Having spent countless hours over the past week staring at my computer screen watching videos, I’m happy to a few choice blasts from […]
Twangville Recommends: Paul Kelly in Song
A tour through Paul Kelly’s catalog is a musical journey filled with sharp themes, clever lyrics and engaging melodies. Here are a few choice selections. Everything is Turning to White (from 1989’s So Much Water So Close to Home) A woman’s spine-tingling tale of her husband finding a young woman’s brutally murdered body on a […]
Twangville Recommends: Paul Kelly
“I’m a legend not a star,†sang Australia’s Paul Kelly on 1998’s Words and Music. It is an apt description for one of the world’s most distinctive songwriters. With a career that dates back to the late 1970’s, Kelly displays a songwriting capacity that crosses numerous boundaries. His base is pop and rock but he […]
Butch Walker Listening Party & Give-Away
We’re chock full of goodies today celebrating the US release of Butch Walker’s Sycamore Meadows. The title comes from the name of the street where Walker was living in Malibu when wildfires swept through Southern California in late 2007. Walker lost everything in the fire. Everything, that is, but his spirit. And it’s that spirit […]
Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) Election Tune
From the Drive-By Truckers web site: UNCLE PHIL AND AUNT PHYLLIS IN THE MONTH AFTER THE ELECTION I wrote this song the week after the 2004 Presidential Election. I was in a state of semi-shock and near-depression as my daughter’s birth was impending and I was depressed to think of her born into the world […]
Mayer’s Playlist for October 2008, A Video Companion
October’s video companion kicks off with live performances from Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts and Matt Mays & El Torpedo, two of our featured artists. Then we settle into a nice groove with live performances from Dar Williams, Sometymes Why, Gretel, Dan Baird, Backyard Tire Fire, Brandi Carlile, Jesse Malin, Paul Weller and the […]
Mayer’s Playlist for October 2008, Part 2
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH: Waylon Forever, by Waylon Jennings “You can take my life of luxury,” sings Waylon Jennings on the opening track of this posthumous release, “but you cannot take my soul today.” Backed by his son Shooter’s band the .357s, Jennings tackles heartfelt ballads and raucous rockers with equal aplomb. “Outlaw Sh*t” is […]
Waylon Forever!!
In this day and age where posthumus releases are as plentiful as well, releases of artists that are still alive, we have seen a mixed bag of good and bad, well done and hastily produced. With the recent release of Waylon Forever (Vagrant), we see the late and legendary Waylon Jennings’ (Official Site) teaming up […]
Mayer’s Playlist for October 2008, Part 1
ALBUMS OF THE MONTH: Temporary People, by Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts Apparently Joseph Arthur still has a few things left to say this year. After releasing four EPs this spring and summer, Arthur serves up a proper full-length release just in time for fall. The album has a loose an energetic feel to […]
Cloud Cult – Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)
First off, I’d like to start by saying that many of my recent reviews have been lacking in what many would call twang. Having said that, this specific review will follow suit. For any sort of twangy, countrified needs you may have, please check-out these relatively–recent–releases…now, moving on. It has been said over and over […]