Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for August 2nd, 2024. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon, iTunes, Bandcamp or the artist’s site for ordering or downloading. A + sign means although not a featured release, it’s a notable album that’s still worth checking out. Also, this page will be updated as I find out about other new releases so check back again.
Norman Blake
Pilgrimage To Rising Fawn (Avondale Records)
Pilgrimage to Rising Fawn, featuring legendary guitarist Norman Blake and an all-star lineup of musicians. The album, produced by John Carter Cash, captures a year-long journey of music, friendship, and collaboration recorded in the timeless home of Norman and Nancy Blake in Rising Fawn, Georgia. Norman Blake has graced countless notable recordings with his unique guitar style, character, and mastery, influencing musicians worldwide. Even as his career in studio work and road life slowed, Blake’s creativity and playing continued to flourish. Over the course of a year, John Carter Cash transported recording equipment from The Cash Cabin Studio to the Blakes’ ageless wooden home, capturing music in an environment steeped in history and natural beauty. The project saw contributions from an array of musical talents, including Nancy Blake, Carlene Carter, Ana Cristina Cash, John Carter Cash, John Cowan, Jerry Douglas, Jamie Hartford, Jamey Johnson, and more. Jamie Hartford’s involvement connects the project’s legacy with his father, John Hartford, who recorded and performed with Norman Blake for many years.
Joe Ely
Driven to Drive (Rack ‘Em Records)
“I’m a rovin’ soul,” Joe Ely confesses on the haunted opening to “Drivin’ Man,” the number that opens and sets the thematic tone for his sparkling new album, Driven to Drive. Since bursting out of Texas in the ‘70s like a Lone Star Springsteen, his rocking dynamism colored by country accents, Ely has been fascinated by the road. The artist who once titled an album Lord of the Highway has spent a lot of time there, following his own muse in the grand tradition of stubbornly iconoclastic Texas tunesmiths. Driven to Drive collects 12 numbers — 10 originals — with all but one recorded at home over the course of several decades, and they revolve, more or less, around travel and motion. With Ely joined by just one or two accompanists, the tracks have the unadorned intimacy of demos but also the bracing immediacy of live performance. It sounds as if he’s still up to the task, and given how good Driven to Drive is, it makes you wonder what other treasures Ely has in his vaults. (edited from No Depression review)
Also new this week…
The Honey Dewdrops – Here in the Mountains (independent)
Maygen & The Birdwatcher – Leap Year (Yellow House Music Collective)
Los Lonely Boys – Resurrection (Shelter Records)
Orville Peck – Stampede: Vol. 1 (Warner Records) +
Heart Of Pine – Southern Soul Revival (independent)
Tiffany Williams & Dalton Mills – Wasted Luck EP (independent)
49 Winchester – Leavin’ This Holler (New West Records) +
Coming out soon … Johnny Irion, The Cactus Blossoms, Caleb Caudle, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, The Deslondes, Pony Bradshaw, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Shemekia Copeland, Colin James, Shelby Lynne, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jerry Douglas, Bella White, The Boxmasters, Lisa Morales, JP Harris, Amy Helm, Billy Strings and more!
