americana
TRACK: Bill Callahan – ‘Let’s Move to the Country’: Bill out-smogs himself
BESIDES being a songwriter we should grasp close to our chests, we’ve seen time and time again this summer that Bill Callahan has an incredible capacity to surprise. First he goes and pulls a whole new LP out of the hat, Gold Record, laid down quickly and announced unexpectedly. Then – ka-bam! – he starts …
ALBUM REVIEW: Ian Skelly – ‘Drifter’s Skyline’: Coral man takes a country-psych sabbatical
THEY came rushing off the Wirral back in 2002 – was it really that long ago now? – with the woozy and seductive psych shanties of “Dreaming Of You” and “Spanish Main”, brimming with swagger and confidence like a young Stone Roses. They knew they were good. Since then The Coral, its side projects and …
TRACK: Whitney take on The Roches’ ‘Hammond Song’; full covers set next month
CHICAGO’S Whitney, who set all kindsa ears on fire with that fragile, world-weary crossover slice of Americana “No Woman” back in 2016, have released a video for their cover of The Roches’ “Hammond Song” ahead of a ten-song covers set, out via Secretly Canadian on August 14th. Following their acclaimed 2019 album Forever Turned Around, …
SEE: Jerry Joseph – ‘Sugar Smacks’: tellin’ it like it is with The Drive-By Truckers
JERRY JOSEPH is a singer who’s been there, got the tee-shirt; hell, got the entire arm-sleeve tattoo. He made his first steps into music after living a little on the wild side as a kid growing up in San Diego and, in order to quell his waywardness, his folks sent him to boarding school in …
TRACK: Bill Callahan makes it a Monday quartet with ‘Protest Song’
BILL CALLAHAN’S ongoing Monday afternoon pledge to gift us a song from his September Gold Record reached its fourth instalment today, with the downhome and evocative porchside “Protest Song”. Today’s is a bluesy, spontaneous and raggy fragment, with the meta-theme of being a protest song about a protest song on the television. “Somebody must stop …
SEE: Emily Barker – ‘The Woman Who Planted Trees’: bell-clear Americana
EMILY BARKER, the British-based, Wallander theme-gracing singer-songwriter, has released a beautifully animated lyric video for her track “The Woman Who Planted Trees”, ahead of her new album, A Dark Murmuration of Words, which Thirty Tiger will be releasing on September 4th. And Emily, who grew up in Western Australia, brought an African ecological activist and …
Track: Low Cut Connie – Private Lies
Low Cut Connie have announced that their new double album ‘Private Lives’ will be released on October 13th via Contender Records / MidCitizen Records. In celebration they have released second single – ‘Private Lives’ Released against the backdrop of a global quarantine, Private Lives reminds us that our isolations and connections relate to so much more than the external, physical …
See: Chuck Prophet Releases new video for Nixonland
Chuck Prophet, formally of cult 80s new-psych outfit Green On Red, has just released a new single and accompanying video for ‘Nixonland’, taken from his latest album ‘The land that time forgot’, which has been recently pushed back until August 21st via Yep Roc Records. The album will be his 15 solo record, and for …
Album Review: The Hanging Stars – A New Kind of Sky (plus tour news)
Folk music seems to be a genre I dip in-and-out of; the multi-faceted style manages to have different elements that have the roots of traditional folk music underpinning those subversions that make it so sprawling. Anti-folk, neofolk, Americana – there is a list that can go on. Be it the earnest, lo-fidelity accomplishments of Willy …
Not Forgotten: Neil Young – Live Rust
One of the things that strikes you when you look at Neil Young’s extensive discography is just how many live albums he has put out over the years. No matter how much his muse has waxed and waned over the last thirty years, Young has always remained a brilliant live performer and his live albums …