Americana Music Releases for Sept. 6th

Posted on September 5, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 6th, 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.

 

The Deslondes
Roll It Out  (New West Records)

Sometimes, even after a period of fruitful reinvention, it helps to go back to the root of the thing. The Deslondes, one of the most consistent bands putting out music today, are doing just that with their latest release, Roll It Out. After the extensions and experiments of 2022’s Ways & Means, the group is taking a back-to-basics approach with this new set, a callback to the days when they’d gather to play and jam together just for fun. Anchored mainly by the wildly different vocals of Sam Doores and Riley Downing — arguably at two opposite ends of a sonic spectrum — The Deslondes wrap their arms around any and all genres, just like they always have. Whether they’re singing the blues or a folk or country tune, there’s an ease to the way The Deslondes make songs together. This is as evident on the record as it is at one of their live shows. Roll It Out captures that sweet spot when each finds a way to bring their singular ingredient to the mix, shaken and served straight-up. (edited from No Depression review)

Amy Helm
Silver City  (Sun Records)

Amy Helm is the immensely talented daughter of Levon Helm, drummer and co-lead singer for The Band. With that kind of background and a life infused with music, including years of playing and touring with Levon Helm, she has developed some serious chops. Silver City is  Helm’s fourth album. Intensely personal, each of the songs represent individual stories and glimpses into Helm’s life and experiences including her roles as artist, mother, wife, and woman, while also drawing inspiration from the strength and struggles of women generally. Helm’s voice draws the listener into her world and into the experiences and feelings she shares, taking one down her paths. Through her songs and her voice, as she opens her soul to examination, Helm achieves a kind of emotional release as if to say, life is hard and tests us all, but we will overcome in the end. While the ten songs on Silver City portray raw personal emotion and angst, they never become maudlin or exercises in self-pity. Instead, they are deeply cathartic, also allowing the listener to find a kind of emotional release. If there is any complaint to offer about Silver City, it is that each song simply seems to end too soon, leaving the listener wanting more.  (edited from Americana Highways review)

 

Also new this week…

Eva Cassidy – Walkin’ After Midnight   (Blix Street Records)
Jeffrey Foucault – The Universal Fire  (Fluff and Gravy Records)
The Heavy Heavy – One of a Kind  (ATO Records)
Steve Louw – Between Time (independent)
David Luning – Lessons  (independent)  +
Andy Statman – Bluegrass Tracks  (Shefa Records)
Shovels & Rope – Something Is Working Up Above My Head  (Dualtone Music Group)
Luke Winslow-King – Flash-A-Magic  (Bloodshot Records)

 

Coming out soon … Kevin Gordon, Jerry Douglas, JP Harris, Lisa Morales, Shawna Thompson, Randall Bramblett, Eliza Thorn, Twisted Pine, Billy Strings, Amy Speace, Eric Bibb, Wyatt Flores, Benjamin Tod, Donavon Frankenreiter, Yasmin Williams, Amythyst Kiah, Nick Lowe, Dwight Yoakam, and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Aug. 30th

Posted on August 29, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for August 30th, 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.


Caleb Caudle
Sweet Critters  (Missing Piece Records)

The American South is often referenced for its sweetness: its teas, cobblers, soul music, and the like. Caleb Caudle sings and writes like a Southerner. The title of his sixth release, Sweet Critters, suggests its rural authenticity, hokum, and sugariness. Who says “critters” these days? The North Carolina native affects a deep drawl, a slow cadence, and a head full of tropes that peg him in the tradition of classic country music from the Appalachian part of the country. He’s got a soft spot for the natural beauty of its woodlands and the memories (real and invented) of the people who live there, and that’s just part of the picture. Working within genre limitations (i.e., Southern culture) encourages Caudle to reference past traditions and show their present currency. For example, the “Sweet Critters” of the title song are not live animals. They are “brass figurines” meant for display whose existence evokes Tennessee Williams’ Glass Menagerie. Caudle doesn’t romanticize as much as present the reality, whether describing an authentic small-town rock club or imaginary “Rivers of Fire” that separate us. The actual and the factual aren’t always the same thing! People’s feelings can be as real as a fiddlehead fern or a “Hollywood Ending”. The power of Caudle’s songwriting is that he convinces us of this just by telling us the story.  (edited from Pop Matters review)

 

Also new this week…

Ray Benson – Swingin’ and Skankin’  (Tafari Records)
The Boxmasters – Love & Hate In Desperate Places  (KeenTone Records)
The Cactus Blossoms – Every Time I Think About You  (Walkie Talkie Records)  +
Shemekia Copeland – Blame It On Eve  (Alligator Records)  +
Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr and the Zydeco Twisters – More Fun  (ATO Records)
The Grass Daddies – Missin’ That Drawl  (Prairie Grass Records)
Hannah Juanita – Tennessee Songbird  (self-released)
Charlie Peacock – Every Kind of Uh-Oh  (It’s Time To Art)  +
Amy Rigby – Hang in There with Me   (Tapete Records)
The Steep Canyon Rangers – Live at Greenfield Lake  (Yep Roc Records)
Strung Like a Horse – Dirt  (Transoceanic Records)
Sunny Sweeney – Still Provoked  (Aunt Daddy Records)  +

 

Coming out soon … The Heavy Heavy, The Deslondes, Shovels & Rope, Jerry Douglas, Mac Leaphart, JP Harris, Lisa Morales, Randall Bramblett, Eliza Thorn, Amy Helm, Billy Strings, Donavon Frankenreiter, Amythyst Kiah, Nick Lowe and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Aug. 23rd

Posted on August 22, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for August 23rd, 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.

 

Colin James
Chasing the Sun  (Stony Plain Records)

It has taken way too long for veteran Canadian bluesman Colin James to receive recognition in America. This is a guy who, at just 24 years old, broke out of the blocks as one of Canada’s biggest blues stars. Thirty-six years and some 20 award-winning albums later he’s not just still going strong, but the terrific Chasing the Sun might be his finest offering yet. Perhaps it will provide much needed stateside visibility to one of contemporary blues/roots music’s most vibrant and consistently engaging players. Lucinda Williams, Rolling Stones bassist Daryl Jones, harmonica icon Charlie Musselwhite are aboard for these sessions. Longtime James producer and fellow countryman Colin Linden is a key component to the project’s success. He adds omnipresent second guitar besides helming the controls and coordinating the overall spacious musical feel from his Nashville home studio. It’s ominous and emotional, leaving the listener with a final bookend to a diverse testament for Colin James’ talents. All of which are captured in the stirring, blues-based Chasing the Sun.  (edited from Rock & Blues Muse review)

 

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
Woodland  (Acony Records)

Traditional music is full of wild weather and woe. It’s discomfiting, but apt, that life should imitate art in the lives of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – two singing guitarists feted for their upholding of old musical forms. Recipients of three Grammys and numerous other gongs over a 30-plus-years career, the Nashville-based couple’s most often record collaboratively, but under separate names. Their latest album is a duo record named after their studio, Woodland, where, in March 2020, a tornado tore most of the roof off just as Covid hit. Roughly 100 songs by the pair, seemingly destined for two albums, were whittled down to these 10 exquisite tracks. Woodland is, as ever, steeped in Americana. The pair’s customary stripped-back treatments alternate with more lush orchestrations. Rawlings’s trademark guitar makes lace sparingly, but elegantly.  (edited from The Guardian review)

 

Also new this week…

Colby Acuff – American Son   (Sony Music Entertainment)  +
Maggis Antone – Rhinestoned  (Love Big Records)
Paula Boggs Band – Live at Sweetwater Music Hall (Boggs Media)
Steve Cropper & the Midnight Hour – Friendlytown  (Provogue Records)
Guy Davis – The Legend Of Sugarbelly  (M.C. Records)
Ruthie Foster – Mileage (Sun Label Group)
Fruition – How To Make Mistakes  (independent)  +
Lydia Loveless – Something Else  (Bloodshot Records)
India Ramey – Baptized By The Blaze  (Mule Kick Records)
Wild Ponies – Dreamers (No Evil Records)

 

Coming out soon … Charlie Peacock, The Cactus Blossoms, Sunny Sweeney, The Boxmasters, Caleb Caudle, The Deslondes, Shemekia Copeland, Jerry Douglas, Hannah Juanita, Lisa Morales, JP Harris, Randall Bramblett, Amy Helm, Billy Strings, Donavon Frankenreiter, Nick Lowe and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Aug. 16th

Posted on August 15, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for August 16th, 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.

 

Pony Bradshaw
Thus Spoke The Fool  (Black Mountain Music)

After moving around for the first half of his life, James “Pony” Bradshaw settled in Appalachia nearly 20 years ago, and he’s spent much of that time learning more about the region, and the people, near his Mineral Bluff home. That first-hand education and curiosity led to two albums for Bradshaw, 2021’s Calico Jim and 2023’s North Georgia Rounder. Now, he has a third collection of stories. Thus Spoke the Fool continues Pony Bradshaw’s habit of telling odd stories from different angles, backed by music that seems like it was plucked right out of that Blue Ridge air. Bradshaw makes the point that his songs aren’t strictly biographical, but rather stories of the small but vibrant world around him. While North Georgia Rounder bordered on Southern jammy-ness at points, the music on Thus Spoke the Fool is overall tighter, with its brief solos and excellent musicianship fitting into the concise construct of Bradshaw’s songs. (edited from Americana Highways review)

 

Also new this week…

Ray LaMontagne – Long Way Home  (Liula Records)
Shelby Lynne – Consequences of the Crown  (Monument Records) +
Muscadine Bloodline – The Coastal Plain  (Stancaster Records)
Jason Charles Miller – Knives in the Dark  (One Opportunity Records)
Ashley E. Norton – Call of The Wild  (independent)
The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys – Wanderers Like Me  (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)  +
Ben Sollee – Long Haul   (sonaBLAST! Records)
Dan Tyminski – Live at the Ryman  (8 Track Entertainment)
Bella White – Five for Silver  (Rounder Records)  +
Jontavious Willis – West Georgia Blues  (Strolling Bones Records)

 

Coming out soon … Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Wild Ponies, The Cactus Blossoms, Sunny Sweeney, Caleb Caudle, The Deslondes, Colin James, India Ramey, Shemekia Copeland, Charlie Peacock, Jerry Douglas, Hannah Juanita, The Boxmasters, Lisa Morales, JP Harris, Amy Helm, Billy Strings, Donavon Frankenreiter and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Aug. 9th

Posted on August 8, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for August 9th, 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.

 

Justin Townes Earle
All In: Unreleased & Rarities (The New West Years)  (New West Records)

Justin Townes Earle was always a champion of the underdog and All In features in depth looks at the hopeful, and the hopeless. Fueled by empathy, baked in the blues, Justin was never without something poignant or humorous to say. Sadly, Justin passed away in 2020 at the age of 38. All In: Unreleased & Rarities is a fitting tribute to Justin’s legacy. The collection features many never heard before songs, demos, and cover tunes, spanning his time as a New West Records recording artist.

 

Amanda Anne Platt & the Honeycutters
The Ones That Stay  (Mule Kick Records)

This is the the 7th album by Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, hailing from Asheville, North Carolina, the band  drives 12 tunes through well travelled high-roads and by-roads of pure Americana that are dusted with red clay and burn like sun-drenched stone. The poetry of these roads, hypnotized by the broken white lines under speckled skies, is perfectly punctuated by pedal steel, strings and honeyed harmonies, and comes alive in each track. The Ones That Stay  is an album rich with well-crafted gems surrounded by an earnest, honest, generous voice that might not know why or what for – and a band that obviously knows how to serve the songs. Good stuff!   (edited from The Rocking Magpie review)

 

Also new this week…

Lacy J. Dalton – For The Black Sheep  (SongDog Records)
Billy Eli – Lace  (independent)
Futurebirds – Easy Company  (Dualtone Music Group)
Mike Graham – The Innocence We’ve Lost  (independent)
Johnny Irion – Sleeping Soldiers of Love  (Blackwing Music)
Karen Jonas – The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch  (independent)
Amos Lee – Transmissions (Hoagiemouth Records)  +
Rhonda Vincent – Destinations and Fun Places  (independent)

 

Coming out soon … The Cactus Blossoms, Caleb Caudle, The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys, Muscadine Bloodline, The Deslondes, Pony Bradshaw, Colin James, India Ramey, Wild Ponies, Shemekia Copeland, Shelby Lynne, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jerry Douglas, Bella White, Hannah Juanita, The Boxmasters, Lisa Morales, JP Harris, Amy Helm, Billy Strings and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Aug. 2nd

Posted on August 1, 2024 by

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!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for July 26th

Posted on July 25, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for July 26th, 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.

 

American Aquarium
The Fear of Standing Still  (Losing Side Records)

For the last two decades, American Aquarium frontman BJ Barham has seemingly willed his band to survive. Armed with an incisive pen and a love for Whiskeytown and Drive-by Truckers on one hand and Springsteen and Petty on the other, he gradually steered the rotating cast of his outfit from dive bar revelry and heartbreak toward a more thoughtful, albeit scarred, maturity. In many ways, The Fear of Standing Still, the band’s 10th album of originals, feels like it stands on the mountain of the last 20 years and surveys the field. Pairing up once again with producer Shooter Jennings, who also worked with the band on 2020’s Lamentations, Barham and company turn in a concise set of songs that aim to make more use of their rock-and-roll impulses after the more folk-inflected 2022 effort Chicamacomico. While Barham is part of a host of Southern songwriters looking to broaden and complicate the scope and vision of the region, few are as exacting and forthright in that purpose. God bless him for it.  (edited from No Depression review)

 

Yarn
Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive  (333 Entertainment)

Playing passionate but heartfelt bluegrass-influenced music with a gentle spirit but a rock & roll heart, Yarn are a band led by vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Blake Christiana. His restless search for the chords and lyrics over the past 20 years has produced a plethora of memorable music, and since 2007 he’s led Yarn, a band that’s evolved from its earliest days as a bar band in New York City. For Christiana, it’s all about the song, and the collection of songs on Born, Blessed, Grateful & Alive reflect the range of the human experience. Says Christiana, “No one has any idea why we’re here, what we’re supposed to be doing here or what comes next, and there are very few things in this life to connect us to one another, other than the fact that we all don’t know these things. I like to think our music could be one of the places where we can connect.”  (edited from band’s bio)

 

Also new this week…

Charley Crockett – Visions of Dallas  (Son of Davy Records)  +
Jeff Crosby – Another Petal Falls Off The Rose  (Runnin’ Free Records)
Connor Daly – Colors Fade  (independent)  +
Bill Filipiak – Less is More  (independent)
The Hanseroth Twins – Vera  (Elektra Entertainment)  +
Byron Hill – That Old Mountain  (independent)
The Hillbilly Thomists – Marigold  (independent)
Lasers Lasers Birmingham – Mystery Highway (independent)  +
Gary Nicholson – Common Sense  (Qualified Records)  +
The Red Clay Strays – Made by These Moments  (RCA Records)  +
Erin Ash Sullivan – Signposts And Marks  (Willoughby Music)

 

Coming out soon … Joe Ely, Norman Blake, The Cactus Blossoms, Caleb Caudle, The Deslondes, 49 Winchester, Pony Bradshaw, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Shemekia Copeland, Shelby Lynne, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jerry Douglas, Bella White, The Boxmasters, Lisa Morales, JP Harris, Amy Helm and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for July 19th

Posted on July 18, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for July 19th, 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.

 

Melissa Carper
Borned In Ya  (Mae Music)

She may have borrowed the album title, Borned in Ya, from an old interview with Ralph Stanley, but it couldn’t be better suited to anyone than Melissa Carper. Quite literally, she’s got the bona fides. Carper was raised on the classics — Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles — and grew up playing in her family’s country band. She’s earned the admiration of session masters like Chris Scruggs and Wonder Women of Country collaborator Brennen Leigh. Carper’s fifth full-length album, Borned in Ya features her signature cocktail of jazz, blues, and twang, a sound Carper can make feel brand new even as her singular warble harkens back to generations past. Carper sounds so natural in each sonic corner of Borned in Ya that trying to assign it a genre is a fool’s errand. Like the greats that she absorbed as a youngster and channels here, there’s a little of everything in the special sauce she’s making with her music, each component complementing the rest.  (edited from No Depression review)

 

AJ Lee & Blue Summit
City of Glass  (Signature Sounds)

At 26, the prodigy phase of AJ Lee’s music career has passed. It might take a little more time for the tendency to confuse her with a professional wrestler using the same name to fade away.  Rounding out Santa Cruz, California-based Blue Summit are fiddler Jan Purat and guitarist Sullivan Tuttle, one of the children of educator-musician Jack Tuttle and brother of breakout star Molly Tuttle. Lee also got her start with The Tuttles with AJ Lee. A keen sense of humor dots City of Glass, which was produced by Lech Wierzynski of “retro-soul” band The California Honeydrops. For this third album, we’re confident doing bluegrass, roots, and country, sticking with more stringed instruments, but also branching out. With Lech’s involvement, we’re leaning a little bit towards soul, R&B, and keeping it interesting, but still showcasing ourselves and what we like to play and what we like to do. (edited from The Bluegrass Situation review)

 

Also new this week…

Beware Wolves – Beware Wolves, Vol. 4  (Aqualamb Records)
Boy Golden – For Eden  (Six Shooter Records)  +
Kiely Connell – My Own Company  (Calumet Queen Records)  +
Dr. John – Frankie & Johnny  (Sundazed Music)
Elijah Ocean – Loser’s Holiday  (independent)  +
Chris Robeson – Euphoriphobia  (independent)

 

Coming out soon … Charley Crockett, Joe Ely, Norman Blake, The Cactus Blossoms, The Red Clay Strays, Caleb Caudle, American Aquarium, Yarn, The Deslondes, 49 Winchester, Pony Bradshaw, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Shemekia Copeland, Shelby Lynne, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Jerry Douglas, Bella White, The Boxmasters, JP Harris and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for July 12th

Posted on July 11, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for July 12th, 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.

 

Johnny Blue Skies
Passage Du Desir  (High Top Mountain Records)

A few years back, Sturgill Simpson let us all know that he’d be releasing five – and only five – albums under his own name. After those five records (plus two Cuttin’ Grass albums that were largely bluegrass takes on his catalog) and the erstwhile John Sturgill Simpson last year adopted the name Johnny Blue Skies. Passage Du Desir is an inspired, omnivorous work that is sometimes country, sometimes genre-less, often rock and roll, and more soundscape than singer/songwriter. Those hoping for a second coming of Sturgill’s debut album High Top Mountain, or even his magnum opus Metamodern Sounds in Country Music might be rendered somewhat disappointed. But Johnny Blue Skies owes country music nothing. Neither does Sturgill Simpson. Country is most certainly one of the aspects that Passage Du Desir is rendered in, and perhaps where it finds some of its best moments. The album is perhaps not the masterpiece some people will decree it as after a first listen—giddy that they’re even getting new music from Simpson after he said he was retired. It lacks a level of cohesion, and makes a few sonic mistakes along the way. (edited from Saving Country Music review)

 

Maya De Vitry
The Only Moment  (independent)

On her fourth full-length album, The Only Moment, Maya de Vitry exhibits a sense of self-awareness in her lyrics and in arrangements that complement her vocals. The songs, all written or co-written by de Vitry, strike a balance between a driving rock tempo and gentler rhythms, between staying put and moving on. Each of the tracks on the album showcases de Vitry’s vocal range. The harmonies and the musical accompaniment are added with a light hand. Backed by Anthony da Costa on electric guitar, Ethan Jodziewicz on bass, Dominic Billett on drums, and Wilder on organ, de Vitry delivers vocals sometimes almost wispy and other times hard-hitting.  (edited from No Depression review)

Billy Strings
Live Vol. 1  (Reprise Records)

His first live album, Billy Strings Live Vol. 1, was recorded last year and earlier this year at venues across the globe, including in Austin, Paris, New Orleans, and Atlanta, with two cuts from a February performance at the Ryman in Nashville. The album, technically 8 tracks but adding up to well over an hour of music, kicks off with “Dust in a Baggie,” which Strings has said is about a friend who he thought had done his time and licked his problem, only to slide back into using and prison. If not for the lyrics, you’d think you were listening to some vintage Flatt and Scruggs superpickin’ with spot-on high and lonesome harmonies. Strings fans, who dub themselves Billy Goats (as in “greatest of all time”), don’t expect the tunes he does live to sound like they do on his records, and he doesn’t disappoint. Strings’ solos go anywhere he feels in the moment, but always seem to land in the right place.  (edited from No Depression review)

 

Also new this week…

Sam Burchfield & The Scoundrels – Me and My Religion  (EatMusic Records)
Steve Earle – Alone Again (Live)   (Howe Sound Records/Missing Piece Records)
Jake Xerxes Fussell – When I’m Called  (Fat Possum Records)  +
Cassandra Lewis – Lost in a Dream  (Emerald City Records)
Rainy Eyes – Lonesome Highway  (Royal Potato Family)  +
Tray Wellington – Detour to the Moon (Mountain Home Music Company)
Donovan Woods – Things Were Never Good If They’re Not Good Now  (End Times Music)

 

Coming out soon … AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Yarn, Melissa Carper, Joe Ely, Johnny Blue Skies, Norman Blake, The Cactus Blossoms, The Red Clay Strays, Caleb Caudle, American Aquarium, The Deslondes, 49 Winchester, Pony Bradshaw, Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters, Shemekia Copeland, Shelby Lynne, Jerry Douglas, Bella White and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

Posted in Americana CD releases, Country music new releases, New music releases, Roots Music | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for July 5th

Posted on July 4, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for July 5th, 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.

 

can’t find much, 4th of July…

Sarah Carroll – NQR&B  (independent)
Steel Saddle – Steel Saddle  (independent)

 

Coming out soon … Jake Xerxes Fussell, Yarn, Melissa Carper, Donovan Woods, Joe Ely, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Steve Earle, Johnny Blue Skies, Billy Strings, Norman Blake, Maya De Vitry, The Cactus Blossoms, Caleb Caudle, American Aquarium, The Deslondes, 49 Winchester, Pony Bradshaw and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

Posted in Americana CD releases, Country Music, New music releases, Uncategorized | 2 Comments