Here’s a brief follow up from the Last Train Home cd release party at IOTA in Alexandria, VA on February 17, 2007. I don’t have a full review from the Last Train Home show ’cause I was just having too much fun to worry about breaking down the show into a blog post. You’ll have […]
Twangville Live In Long Beach, CA
Twangville presents a local alt-country show on Thursday, March 8 at The Blue Cafe in Long Beach, CA with three great bands: The Vaquetones, Merle Jagger and Michael Ubaldini. This is one in a series of Twangville shows that happen every second Thursday at the Blue Cafe.
Careless Hearts, On the Radar
Check out San Franscisco Bay Area twangers, Careless Hearts. The foursome lead by the songwriting and vocals of Paul Kimball consists of guitars (Paul Kimball and Derek See), bass (Rob Miller) and drums (Craig Heitkam). Their self-titled debut is full of sad songs influenced by traditional country songbooks juxtaposed with rockin’ twang channeling the likes […]
Last Train Home, CD Release Shows
The former DC-based now Nashville-based band Last Train Home comes home to the Capitol City this weekend for a series of CD release shows. I gotta get my priorities straight and hit one of these shows. Its “bound” to be a historic weekend in honor of the decade old band’s fifth full-length release. @ IOTA […]
Hem, “Funnel Cloud” Reviewed
On their third studio full-length, New York City’s Hem offer up a thoughtful selection of secular hymns to the lost and broken-hearted. There is a fragile beauty in the delicate arrangements of Hem’s songs, and an often comfortably familiar tone, by turns evoking the melodies and moods of Bruce Springsteen (“Old Adam”), Tom Waits (“The […]
Twangville Live in the OC
Twangville Presents a live and local show Sat. Feb. 17 featuring Mike Stinson, Gina Villalobos and Haymaker at the Blue Cafe in Huntington Beach, CA. Three great LA-area artists bring Twangville live to this local club. Twangville Live presents Americana/Alt-Country once a month at the Blue Cafe.
I Must Have Poor Taste in Music
In the coming days I’ll be posting a top 10 list of my favorite albums of 2006. Before I do so, I wanted to comment on something I found to be odd. I’m a subscriber of No Depression magazine, perhaps the top print magazine dedicated to Americana related music. Every issue is chock full of […]
Mike’s Best Albums of 2006
I waited 24 years for The Who (my favorite band) to release a new album, and it didn’t make my 10-best list! What a drag. Oh well, maybe they’ll get it right in 2030. Not to worry, there were plenty of discs to celebrate in 2006. Drum roll… #1 John Gorka Writing in the Margins […]
Happy Holidays
LA band Shurman offer up this original holiday gem, “Santa You Can Skip Me This Year.”
Best of ’06: Shaken, a Playlist
This is the second of three playlists featuring some of my favorite songs of the year. I’m calling this one Shaken. It features songs that have an Alt-Country or Americana orientation or otherwise twanged up. They are ordered to flow (not by rank) and limited to 19 in order to fit on a single CD. […]