Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for October 20th, 2023. 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.
Eli Paperboy Reed
Hits And Misses: The Singles (Yep Roc Records)
To use the cliché, the 40-year-old Massachusetts-reared artist born Eli Husock walks it like he talks it. Early on he moved to the Mississippi Delta and then Chicago to soak up the sounds of blues, R&B, and gospel from some of the masters. Now, he possesses a thorough command of those vintage styles himself. With eight standout albums behind him, this one is a collection mostly of tracks that appeared on 45s sold on European tours and spans more than a decade. The 11-song set nevertheless holds together as a powerful testament to Reed’s interpretive skills and his songwriting prowess (three of the numbers are originals). Reed gives an inspired revamp to Steely Dan’s “Do It Again,” adding horns and a swinging, hipsterish sensibility while also covering songs from Motorhead, Merle Haggard, Latimore and more. As with the “Paperboy” nickname, the title Hits and Misses: The Singles can belie its contents. Commercial considerations aside, nothing here is off the mark, and in fact everything hits like a hammer. (edited from Rock & Blues Muse review)
Chris Shiflett
Lost at Sea (Blue Élan Records)
It makes sense that Chris Shiflett’s newest solo album, Lost at Sea, is a little here, there, and everywhere. Shiflett’s own musical resume is an expansive exploration of geography and genre. From his present role as the full-time guitarist for Foo Fighters to flirting with a number of side projects — superficial and serious — playing everything from death metal to outlaw country. Suffice it to say, Shiflett’s vast experience and musical expertise allow him to feel at home in most settings, and Lost at Sea might even be a titular nod to an inability to pinpoint a proper “home” for this set of songs, that swing through honky-tonks, raise fists in arenas, and sit alone at the bar. Every glass in the house will be raised when Shiflett plays the classic country of “Where’d Everybody Go?” Drinkers and thinkers will also fall in love with Shiflett’s protagonist on “Carrie Midnight Texas Queen” with its modern Nashville flavors. Then there’s the sobering reality described on “Parties,” a straightforward rock number that closes the album by pointing out the anger underneath the surface of us all these days. (edited from No Depression review)
Also new this week…
Barbaro – About The Winter (StorySound Records)
Jon Byrd – All Your Mistakes (Longleaf Pine Records) +
The Fugitives – No Help Coming (Fallen Tree Records)
Alice Gerrard – Sun to Sun (Sleepy Cat Records) +
Harvest Thieves – As The Sparks Fly Upward (independent)
Gracie Lane – Doing My Time (independent)
Dylan LeBlanc – Coyote (ATO Records) +
Ajay Mathur – Blow My Cover (Yakketeeyak Music)
Israel Nash – Ozarken (Soundly Sounds)
Karyn Oliver – Cherchez La Femme (Buxom County Records)
Carla Olson – Have Harmony, Will Travel 3 (Have Harmony Will Travel Records)
Pert Near Sandstone – Waiting Days (independent) +
Sado-Domestics – Beach Day In Black And White (independent) +
Jonah Tolchin – Dockside (Clover Music Group) +
Robert Rex Waller Jr. – See The Big Man Cry (BFD Records) +
Coming out soon… Jessi Colter, Dylan Gossett, Robert Finley, Jaime Wyatt, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, Ben Gage, Jeffrey Martin, Terry Klein, The Resonant Rogues and more!
