The Alabama Shakes jump into the Americana Music Association airplay chart at #14 this week with Boys and Girls. Other chart debuts: Nanci Griffith’s Intersection at #34, Jason Eady’s AM Country Heaven at #36, Hank Williams III’s Long Gone Daddy at #37 and Madison Violet’s The Good in Goodbye at #39. Most added this week: Paul Thorn’s What The Hell Is…
Category: Reviews
Review: Dar Williams’ “In the Time of Gods”
By Ken Paulson — Dar Williams on her new album In the Time of Gods: “I thought why don’t I really freak out my record company and make a whole album about Greek mythology?” Note to Dar: This has a similar effect on music writers. In the Time of Gods works on a couple of levels, the first being the…
Turnpike Troubadours’ “Goodbye Normal Street”
By Ken Paulson —Goodbye Normal Street, the Turnpike Troubadours’ third album, boasts driving roots and country music, strong narratives and a disproportionate number of songs about really bad relationships. From the aptly titled “Wrecked:” “But you wrecked it all/ you wrecked my heart/you wrecked our house and you wrecked my car.” “Good Lord Lorrie” suggests a bit of the Band,…
Review: 2012 Houston International Festival
By Paul T. Mueller –You couldn’t have written a better script for the opening day of the 2012 Houston International Festival. After a stormy Friday that saw high winds and thunderstorms rake the city, Saturday, April 21 was clear, cool and breezy – near-perfect conditions for Houston’s premier cultural and musical celebration. Festival-goers were rewarded with excellent performances by a…
Mountain Song at Sea: Bluegrass cruise set for 2013
We’ve raved about Cayamo, the annual cruise featuring top Americana artists. Now Sixthman, the company behind Cayamo, has announced a new cruise called “Mountain Song at Sea,” featuring top bluegrass performers. Already booked: The host Steep Canyon Rangers, The David Grisman Sextet, Del McCoury Band, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Tim O’Brien and Bryan Sutton, the Kruger Brothers, Peter Rowan, Larry Keel…
Charting: Steep Canyon Rangers, Lumineers
Last week we confidently predicted a long run for Lyle Lovett’s Release Me at the top of the Americana Music Association airplay chart. So much for that. This week Justin Townes Earles’ Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me moved past it to the number one position. Chart debuts this week: The Steep Canyon Rangers’ Nobody Knows You…
Re-issues: “The Red Bird Girls” in stereo
By Ken Paulson –The Red Bird Girls Very First Time in True Stereo is a stunning collection of pop songs recorded almost half a century ago on the Red Bird label founded by legendary rock ‘n’ roll songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The title says it all: Girl groups and singers in impeccable stereo, taken from recently discovered masters.…
Review: Keith Moody’s “Dreaming Out Loud”
Keith Moody’s Dreaming Out Loud is an album of another era, colection of soaring rock with terrific hooks and strong melodies. If Moody were 65, you’d call it classic rock, but this is a young man who learned from the masters. The most obvious influence is Tom Petty, but that takes the form of inspiration, not mimicry. There’s a hint of Gin Blossoms and…
Review: Matt Harlan’s “Bow and Be Simple”
By Paul T. Mueller –Ever wonder where songs come from? At a recent in-store performance at Cactus Music in Houston, Texas singer-songwriter Matt Harlan described the genesis of one of the best tracks on his latest CD, Bow and Be Simple. Headed east toward Louisiana early one morning, he watched the sun come up in a profusion of colors. The…
New to chart: Yarn, Bonnie Raitt, JD McPherson
Lyle Lovett is on top of the Americana Music Radio airplay charts again this week, and is actually picking up momentum, with a total of 486 spins of tracks from Release Me. New on the chart this week: Yarn’s Almost Home at #34, JD McPherson’s Signs and Signifiers at #38, Bonnie Raitt’s Slipstream at #39 and Sirens by Sons of…
David Olney’s Solid “Stone”
By Tommy Womack –I don’t always like modern Christian records. They’re often maudlin affairs percolating with manufactured ecstasy. But nothing captures my fancy more than a healthy dissertation on the Historical Jesus. Leave it to David Olney to marry the two notions without the fakery of the former or the dry academic tedium of the latter. The Stone is Olney’s…
Review: Levi Lowrey’s “I Confess I Was A Fool”
by Paul T. Mueller –Let’s hope that Levi Lowrey’s debut CD, I Confess I Was a Fool, is at least partly a work of imagination and not completely autobiographical. It’s easy to imagine that the excesses he writes and sings about so well might cut short his promising career, if not his life, and that would be a real loss…
Tin Pan South Festival: Jimmy Webb, Jack Tempchin and Felix Cavaliere
By Ken Paulson –Tin Pan South is a weeklong festival in Nashville featuring fine songwriters and engaging songs, but there was no question that the event’s epicenter was at 3rd and Lindsley tonight, as pop and rock songwriting royalty performed. Felix Cavaliere of the Rascals took the stage first, and he remains in astonishingly fine voice. He began with “It’s…
Concert review: Spanky and Our Gang
by Terry Roland –The new Spanky and Our Gang played to a sold-out audience at Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena, California this month, not so much a reunion as an acknowledgement of the way Americana music connects us to our past and to each other. With the exception of Elaine ”Spanky” McFarlane, the original players are gone. They included Oz…
Review: Chelle Rose’s “Ghost of Browder Holler”
By Ken Paulson —Ghost of Browder Holler is a striking new album by Chelle Rose, a Nashville-based singer and songwriter with roots in Appalachia. Songs like “Browder Holler Boy,” “Caney Fork Tennessee” and “Weepin’ Willow on the Hill” reflect those rustic origins but it also sounds like copies of Beggars’ Banquet and Let It Bleed made their way into the holler.…
Review: Charlie Faye’s “Travels with Charlie”
By Ken Paulson — Charlie Faye’s Travels with Charlie is built on a cool concept – residences in ten different cities for a month each, but it’s no travelogue. With the exception of the honky tonk song “Two-Timer” cut in Nashville with Chris Scruggs, Kenny Vaughan and Buddy Spicher, the songs don’t reflect their roots. What they do reflect is…
The Steep Canyon Rangers’ “Nobody Knows You”
By Joe Ross— Years ago, I predicted that by the time the members of the Steep Canyon Rangers were thirty, they would be well-known far and wide for their brilliant performances and excellent recordings. Now this tight unit from western North Carolina could be one of the most recognizable bands in bluegrass today. Besides having talent and youthful appeal, their…
Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival sets 2012 line-up
Tin Pan South, the pre-emiment songwriters festival, has just released its line-up for the 2012 event scheduled for March 27-31. It’s a wide-ranging collection of talent, spead over ten venues. Attendees can pay cover at the door or buy a weeklong pass that offers preferred access. Many of this year’s performers are songwriters who have also had successful recording careers, including…
New on chart: Carolina Chocolate Drops, Joan Osborne,Sugar + the High-Lows
The top three positions on the Americana music airplay chart remain steady this week, with Darrell Scott’s Long Ride Home, the Guy Clark tribute This One’s For Him and the Little Willies’ For the Good Times remaining first through third. Lyle Lovett’s Release Me jumps into #4 in just its second week. It’s also one of the three most-added albums,…
Review: The Hobart Brothers with Lil’ Sis Hobart
By Ken Paulson — Crosby, Stills and Nash offered up a successful template, but the merger of singer-songwriters in a group can have widely varying results. Souther-Hillman-Furay fell short of their promise; Bryndle never took off; the Thorns (Pete Droge, Shawn Mullins and Matthew Sweet) sounded great together, but that’s apparently as far as the harmony went. And then there…