Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 29th, 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.
Lindsay Lou
Queen of Time (Kill Rock Stars Nashville)
“I saw a literal manifestation of the sacred feminine, and had this profound sense that I was meant to embody it,” recalls celebrated singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou after journeying through a hallucinogenic ritual that would inform the way she processed waves of grief in the sea of change ahead of her. The loss of her grandmother, the end of her marriage, and the overwhelming turmoil of the last few years found the Nashville-based artist on a spiritual journey of self-knowledge and healing with this gift from the mystic swirl. Featuring a gamut of guests including Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, Queen of Time celebrates love and loss, but above all, the art of living as an unattainably—a vibrant, powerful woman who can share herself with the world, and yet define a mighty sense of inner self as well.
Jeff Plankenhorn
Alone At Sea (Blue Corn Music)
After two decades in Austin, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Plankenhorn moved with his wife to Canada’s picturesque Vancouver Island during the pandemic. Years of touring with Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and others, as well as playing his own music regularly in Austin’s clubs, gave way to livestreams plus an increased focus on writing and recording. Now he’s back on the road to support his fourth solo album, which builds on the rootsy foundation that has long been his bread-and-butter. Plankenhorn can crank out upbeat blues-groovers such as “Juggling Sand” and (fittingly) “Do a Little Dancing” in his sleep, even as he digs deeper and darker on the acoustic opener “Bird Out on 9th.” The real revelations here, though, are the title track and “Bluer Skies,” which chime and ring with richly melodic guitars as they draw upon Plankenhorn’s natural charm as a singer. The latter song was written with Michael O’Connor, one of several writing partners on these tunes; others include Michael Fracasso, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and the album’s producer, Colin Linden. (edited from No Depression review)
Owen Temple
Rings on a Tree (El Paisano Records)
Kerrville-born Owen Temple has been a mostly under-the-radar journeyman on the Texas songwriter scene for more than a decade now, debuting with his Lloyd Maines-produced General Store way back in 1997. But Stories They Tell, his seventh album, is the one that should finally earn Temple a seat at the table next to the best Texas/Americana troubadours of his generation. He’s always had a great voice for the medium, but it’s never sounded better than it does here: as rich, warm and comforting as Don Williams and as dry, worn and wizened as Townes Van Zandt. The production, by Gabriel Rhodes, is equally earthy and inviting, leaving plenty of room for every instrument and note to breathe. But best of all are the songs. Every one of them is a keeper. (edited From Lone Star Music Magazine review)
Also new this week…
Sandra Bouza – A Sound in the Dark (self-released)
Ross Cooper – Lightning Heart (self-released) +
Charley Crockett – Live From The Ryman (Son of Davy Records) +
Jerry Joseph – Baby, You’re the Man Who Would Be King (Cosmo Sex School Records) +
The Howdies – Howdies All Around (Normaltown Records)
Meredith Lane – Greyhound (self-released)
No-No Boy – Empire Electric (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)
Natalie Price – Natalie Price (self-released)
Jason Ricci & The Bad Kind – Behind The Veil (Gulf Coast Records)
Martin Simpson And Thomm Jutz – Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs Of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry (Topic Records)
Wreckless Strangers – Orange Sky Dream EP (self-released)
Coming out soon… Ray Bonneville, The Steel Woods, Ida Mae, John R. Miller, Billy Don Burns, Kathy Kallick Band, Kelly Hunt, Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Mick Flannery, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North and more!
