HONORARY 2025 PICK: No Hard Feeling by Balto Released on December 20, 2024—too late for my 2024 list, but technically not a 2025 album—Balto’s surprise farewell record lives in an in-between space that mirrors the band’s own bittersweet moment. Songs like the epic “Big City” and the blistering “Black Snake, Mojave Blues” build from restraint […]
Kiss Off – a Special Twangville Playlist, Part 8
A few times over the years I put together a series of special playlists featuring my favorite kiss off songs. Despite what some may think, I’m really not that cynical. Rather, I just appreciate how some songwriters can tackle the topic with humor and bite. It’s kind of like a genre unto itself. There have […]
Twangville Turns 20: Anniversary Shows in Dallas and NYC
We started Twangville twenty years ago to champion the artists creating songs with craft and conviction—the kind that deserve your attention. This month, we’re marking two decades with three shows that capture everything we’ve been about from day one. Dallas gets two this weekend, New York City gets one on the 24th. Here’s the lineup. […]
AmericanaFest 2025, Mayer’s Picks (Part 2)
SOPHIE GAULT Sophie Gault kept busy at AmericanaFest this year. I managed to catch her three times—solo, with the SiriusXM house band, and with her own crew—each performance more electrifying than the previous. There’s something about an artist finally making music on her own terms, and the new songs she previewed suggest her 2026 album […]
AmericanaFest 2025 – Shawn’s Favorites
I saw one estimate that in addition to the 150-ish musical acts with official showcases at this year’s AmericanaFest, there were another 150 you could only see at an unofficial event. If rumors of the dramatic slashing of music at SXSW are true, that may make AmericanaFest the largest event of the year, at least […]
Hey NYC: Join Twangville at Café Wha? – October 24th
GET TICKETS We’ve hosted shows in living rooms and backyards over the years — but this one’s different. On Friday, October 24th, Twangville takes over the legendary Café Wha? in NYC’s Greenwich Village, where Dylan played his first NYC shows and the walls still echo with Hendrix, Springsteen, and a hundred other legends. Now it’s […]
Mayer’s Picks – The Best of 2025 (So Far), the Songs
Wrong End & Black Snake, Mojave Blues, Balto (from the self-released No Hard Feeling) These two songs represent the scope of Balto’s musical power – the unbridled rock and roll fury of “Black Snake, Mojave Blues” and the powerful emotion of “Wrong End”, the band’s seeming farewell to music: I don’t believe in songs no moreIn the long dead horse […]
Mayer’s Picks – the Best of 2025 (So Far), the Albums
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 […]
Mayer’s Playlist for Spring 2025, Part 1
The Van Pelt Parties, Patterson Hood (from the ATO Records release Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams) Patterson Hood has long been a master of Southern storytelling, and on his latest album, he delivers a collection of tales—some real, some imagined—that reflect the complexities of life in the Deep South, particularly his native Alabama. These aren’t […]
Olivia Ellen Lloyd on Apples, Joni Mitchell, and Monel Guitar Strings
County singer Olivia Ellen Lloyd talks about avoiding the toxic feedback loop of the music business, the time she out guitar-guyed a guitar guy, and the story behind the first song that she wrote.