The always engaging Donna the Buffalo have a new album called “Dance in the Street,” to be released this week.
Category: Americana Music
Show 29 The Accidentals and Vanessa Peters
Today’s episode of the Americana Music News Podcast features the Accidentals, a talented young trio that floored us with their dynamic performances at this year’s Americana Music Festival and WMOT showcase. And just in time for election day, we offer Vanessa Peters’ “Carnival Barker,’ a pointed and powerful song from her striking new album “Foxhole Prayers.”
Annie Oakley’s “Words We Mean”
Annie Oakley is an impressive trio from Oklahoma with compelling songs and harmonies. We spent our Saturday listening with pleasure to their new “Words We Mean.”
Show #28 Will Hoge’s “My American Dream”
At a time of intense polarization, surprisingly few artists have used their music to reflect their political beliefs. Will Hoge is the laudable exception to that, as evidenced by his compelling new collection of socially conscious songs.
RIP Tony Joe White
We learned hours ago that Tony Joe White had passed away. It was just weeks ago that we had the chance to sit down with him and discuss his new album “Bad Mouthin'” We’ve admired Tony Joe for decades, and he lived up to all expectations in both the interview and a brief set later high atop the BMI headquarters in Nashville. A classy and talented man.
Review: Scott Mulvahill’s “Himalayas”
“I wanna go where I’ve never been,” singer-songwriter-bassist Scott Mulvahill declares on the title track of his new CD, Himalayas. “I gotta find out what I’m made of.” That impulse to self-discovery has produced some impressive results in the form of this collection, which embodies pop, jazz, blues and gospel, among other influences.
Gary Nicholson’s “God Help America”
We had the privilege of having Nashville songwriting great Gary Nicholson join us for the 20th anniversary of Freedom Sings, a fundraiser for First Amendment education at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville. He shared this amazing new composition with us. It’s truly a song for our time.
Show 27: Webb Wilder’s “Powerful Stuff,” plus Cheryl Deserée
Webb Wilder’s new release “Powerful Stuff” is a real treat, a collection of long-lost and archived songs that capture Webb and the Beatnecks at their full-throttle best.
Show 26: Tony Joe White’s “Bad Mouthin'”
Tony Joe White’s “Bad Mouthin'” is indeed a return to his roots. It’s stripped down and simple, distilling Tony Joe’s music to its essence. The title cut is also vintage, a long lost song from the very beginning of his songwriting efforts.
Pilgrimage Festival This Weekend Sept. 22 and 23
Pilgrimage has been a welcome addition to the mid-South music scene, offering a happy medium between the massive Bonnaroo and the generally small venues of the sprawling Americana Festival.
Review: Kevin Welch’s “Dust Devil”
It’s been more than a quarter of a century since Welch’s “next big thing” days in Nashville, as the face of what the marketers dubbed “Western Beat.” Dust Devil, scheduled for release Oct. 15, needs no such label.
Americanafest 2018: A singular week of music in Nashville
We’re just 2 days away from the launch of the Americana Music Conference and Festival – Americanafest 2018 – on Tuesday in Nashville, the number one musical event in a city devoted to them.
Podcast 25 Band of Heathens’ “Message from the People Revisited”
The Band of Heathens release “A Message from the People Revisited,” a breath of fresh air at a cynical time.
Podcast 24 Stephen Kellogg and Ruby Boots
It’s a double feature today featuring two talented artists that need to be known by a lot more people. First up is Stephen Kellogg, who’s just wrapping up the recording of a new album in Nashville, and then Ruby Boots, an Australian artist set to tour Great Britain in September behind her striking 2018 album “Don’t Talk About It.”
Black Lillies set for Nashville show August 29
The Black Lillies have a vibrant new album called “Stranger To Me” set for release on Sept. 18, but Nashville fans can get a sneak preview at the band’s show at the City Winery on August 29th.
A new song from the album:
Kiefer Sutherland is “Reckless” in Houston
By Paul T. Mueller
If Kiefer Sutherland’s August 11 performance in Houston is any guide, the actor/musician’s forthcoming second album is likely to be a little more upbeat than his 2016 debut, Down In a Hole. Backed by a capable four-piece band, Sutherland treated a near-capacity audience at Miller Outdoor Theatre to about 90 minutes’ worth of songs, including several new ones and a few covers, and some stories about his recent turn to musical performance after years of songwriting.
The music might best be described as pop/rock with some twang, given a little more edge by the band’s two guitarists and taking on an even harder tone during a mid-set stretch when Sutherland put down his acoustic guitar in favor of a Telecaster. Some of the singer’s wardrobe choices (white sport coat and matching Panama hat) and stage mannerisms might have seemed more at home on a Broadway stage than in a honky-tonk, but his guitar skills were up to the task and his gravelly voice was well suited to his material.
Song titles weren’t always announced, but Sutherland introduced one that might have been “Something You Love” by explaining its theme as “Life’s too short to spend doing things you don’t love.” He described “Reckless and Me” as either a reference to the name of his horse during his rodeo days or a description of his personality (apparently the new album will be titled Reckless). He acknowledged being surprised at realizing how many songs in his catalog dealt with drinking; several showed up in the set, including “This Is How It’s Done,” “Agave” and “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down,” delivered as a tribute to Merle Haggard. The theme was underscored by the bottle of Scotch that was more than an onstage prop. Sutherland also sang a nice rendition of “Open Road,” a highway ballad by singer-songwriter Jude Cole, a friend and frequent co-writer.
The show was a free one, part of the venue’s annual concert series, and it’s a fair guess that many in attendance were there out of familiarity with Sutherland’s acting career rather than as fans of his music. Still, at several points he expressed his gratitude that people had come out to hear him perform music they probably weren’t familiar with. He and the band were rewarded with a standing ovation when they wrapped up. They returned after a few minutes; Sutherland told some entertaining stories from his and his twin sister’s childhood with their dad, actor Donald Sutherland, and the band closed with a fine take on Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”
Footage from an earlier show on the tour:
Robbie Fulks, Linda Gail Lewis in Nashville Sept. 11
The wildly entertaining “Wild! Wild! Wild” collaboration between Robbie Fulks and Linda Gail Lewis was released on Bloodshot Records yesterday, but the news gets even better. They’ll perform in Nashville on Sept. 11 at American Legion Post 82.
Podcast 22 The War and Treaty, plus Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets
There are fresh voices galore on this episode of Americana Music News. First, we’ll hear from the much-heralded duo War and Treaty, followed by a First Person segment featuring the Madison, Wisconsin-based trio Gin, Chocolate and Bottle Rockets.
Podcast 21 The Milk Carton Kids and Seth Timbs
In this episode of the Americana Music News Podcast, The Milk Carton Kids – Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale – talk about the duo’s career, the mixed blessing of being compared to Simon and Garfunkel and their rich new album “All the Things That I Did and All the Things That I Didn’t Do.”