Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for March 8th, 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.
Joe Pug
Sketch of a Promised Departure (Nation of Heat Records)
As the origin story goes, Pug dropped out of the University of North Carolina and moved to Chicago, where he hardly knew a soul. First day there, Pug walked up to a job site and asked the general contractor for a job. Eventually he dropped the laborer job and hit the road as a touring musician, scraping together a living at $100 or so a night. “(I had) no backup plan, no college degree, no plan for anything besides the next couple of shows and the next album cycle,” Pug says. In the 15 years since, Pug has released a half-dozen albums, started the weekly podcast The Working Songwriter, and earned comparisons to vaunted singer-songwriters for his literary, working-class songcraft. Sketch was the first album Pug recorded entirely in his home studio in Maryland. This allowed him to continue drafting his songs and toying with variation and nuance much later in the process than he had before. “I hope that where I’m going is to a place where the guiding force and the overall effect of the music is pure inspiration,” Pug says. (edited from No Depression review)
Josh Fortenbery
No Such Thing as Forever (independent)
Josh Fortenbery’s debut album, No Such Thing as Forever, distills that uncertain, anxious mood of the last three years down to 12 acoustic tracks that deftly blend elements of folk, country, and bluegrass. Recorded in Juneau, Alaska over the course of two weeks, the project announces the arrival of gifted storyteller and lyricist whose explorations of family dynamics and unflinching self-examination will stay with you long after listening. Self-absorbed but rarely self-serious songwriter based in Juneau, Alaska. Sings sad songs but smiles a lot and usually means it. Likes: dogs, blood harmonies, happy hour. Dislikes: earnestness, gore, the internet. (from Bandcamp page)
Also new this week…
Lisa Bastoni – On The Water (independent)
The Dust-Ups – The Dust-Ups (independent)
The Hanging Stars – On a Golden Shore (Loose Music )
Sam Outlaw – Terra Cotta (independent)
Taj Mahal – Swingin’: Live at The Church in Tulsa (Lightning Rod Records)
Chip Taylor – Behind the Sky (Train Wreck Records)
The Wicked Lo-Down – Out of Line (Gulf Coast Records)
Coming out soon … Wonder Women of Country, Waxahatchee, Sierra Ferrell, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Charlie Parr, Aoife O’Donovan, The Coal Men, Alejandro Escovedo, Anna Moss, The Secret Sisters, Charley Crockett, Pi Jacobs, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, Lost Dog Street Band, Pokey LaFarge, Grant Langston, Old 97’s, Chris Smither, Richard Thompson, The Mavericks and more!
