Americana Music Releases for Jan. 24th

Posted on January 23, 2025 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for January 24th, 2025. 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.

Drew and Ellie Holcomb
Memory Bank  (Magnolia Music)

On their first full-length album together, Drew & Ellie Holcomb collaborate on thirteen new songs that celebrate love, hope, the open road, and the resilience of family, and the power of memory. Recorded during a series of live-in-the-studio performances at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville. The album marks a new chapter for Drew and Ellie Holcomb, who have spent nearly 20 years together. The new album features a rich southern sound that bridges the pair’s solo projects – from Drew’s ongoing success as frontman of Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors to Ellie’s triumphs within the CCM industry.  (from press release)

 

Also new this week…

Big Richard – Girl Dinner  (independent)
John Calvin – Greener Fields and Fairer Seas  (independent) +
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis & Karine Polwart – Looking For The Thread (Lambent Light Records)  +
The Doohickeys – All Hat No Cattle  (Forty Below Records)
Roger Street Friedman – Long Shadows  (The Playroom Records)
Joe Holt – I Love You, Say It Back  (independent)
Larkin Poe – Bloom (Tricki-Woo Records)  +
John McCutcheon – Field of Stars  (Appalseed Productions)
Courtney Patton – Carry You With Me  (independent)
Eric Selby – Starting to Sync In  (Soul Stew Records)
Jim Stanard – Magical  (Manatee Records)

 

Coming out soon … Paul Thorn, Nefesh Mountain, JD Clayton, Patterson Hood, Sunny War, The Devil Makes Three, Jason Isbell, Kinky Friedman, Chip Taylor, The War and Treaty, Sean McConnell, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters, Pete Mancini and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Jan. 17th

Posted on January 16, 2025 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for January 17th, 2025. 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.

 

Early James
Medium Raw  (Easy Eye Sound)

Early James embraces jagged, moaning blues with a writing style that includes whip-smart wordplay, upended clichés, humor both light and dark.  Instead of a typical studio setup, producer Dan Auerbach felt the album needed to be recorded in an old house, like many of his favorite Arhoolie records. Over 100 years old, the house has plaster on the walls, old wallpaper and big oak floors. They brought in all the recording gear themselves – including an old 50’s Universal Audio tube console which was originally built by FAME Studios’ Rick Hall. The album blends blues, rock and folk with an unfiltered edge, capturing Early James’ soulful storytelling and powerful vocals.

 

Also new this week…

Pam Linton – Songs Of The Carter Family  (‎New Folk Records)
Olivia Wolf – Silver Rounds (independent)

 

Coming out soon … Larkin Poe, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, The Doohickies, Paul Thorn, Nefesh Mountain, JD Clayton, Patterson Hood, Sunny War, The Devil Makes Three, Jason Isbell, Kinky Friedman, Chip Taylor, The War and Treaty, Jason Boland & The Stragglers, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Ashleigh Flynn & The Riveters and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Jan. 10th

Posted on January 8, 2025 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for January 10th, 2025. 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.

 

Ringo Starr
Look Up (Lost Highway Records)

This is Ringo’s first solo record in six years, and his first country record in 55 years. Most of the songs of Look Up are written by T Bone Burnett. “I’ve always loved country music,” Starr says. “And when I asked T Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song—but of course it was, and it was so beautiful. I had been making EPs at the time and so I thought we would do a country EP—but when he brought me nine songs I knew we had to make an album! And I am so glad we did.” The album features Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Lucius, Larkin Poe, and Alison Krauss.

 

Coming out soon …  Olivia Wolf, Larkin Poe, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, The Doohickies, Paul Thorn, Nefesh Mountain, Them Coulee Boys, Heather Maloney, Patterson Hood, The Devil Makes Three, Chip Taylor, The War and Treaty, Gary Louris, Jason Isbell, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Tobacco City and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Boogie Best of 2024

Posted on December 15, 2024 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music releases of 2024. As is frequently the case, my Top 10 ends up being more of a Top 20! Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Happy holidays and here’s to a very happy new year!

Best of 2024


1-5
Melissa Carper – Borned In Ya  (Mae Music)
Johnny Blue Skies – Passage Du Desir  (High Top Mountain Records) 
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – Woodland  (Acony Music)
Caleb Klauder & Reeb Wilms – Gold In Your Pocket  (Free Dirt Records)
Billy Strings – Highway Prayers  (Reprise Records)

6-10
Sierra Ferrell – Trail Of Flowers  (Rounder Records)
Keegan McInroe – Dusty Passports and Empty Beds  (independent)
T Bone Burnett – The Other Side  (Verve Label Group)
Laurie Lewis – Trees  (Spruce and Maple Music)
Caleb Caudle – Sweet Critters  (Missing Piece Records)

10-19
Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood  (-Anti Records)
Hayes & the Heathens – Hayes & the Heathens  (BOH Records)
Chris Smither – All About the Bones  (Signature Sounds Recordings)
Jim Kweskin – Never Too Late (Storysound Records)
Kelly Wills, Brennen Leigh, Melissa Carper – Wonder Women of Country  (Bismeaux Records)
The High Hawks – Mother Natures Show  (LoHi Records)
Sweet Megg – Bluer Than Blue (Turtle Bay Records)
John Moreland – Visitor (Old Omens Records)
Various Artists – Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney  (New West Records)

 

Coming out early in 2025 … Ringo Starr, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, Paul Thorn, Nefesh Mountain, Patterson Hood, The Devil Makes Three, Chip Taylor, The War and Treaty, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Dec. 6th

Posted on December 6, 2024 by

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Lucinda Williams
Lucinda Williams Sings The Beatles From Abbey Road  (Highway 20 Records)

Following her recovery from her stroke, Williams turned her attention to a volume seven of Lu’s Jukebox that would focus on the songs of the Beatles. In early 2024, she and her band traveled to England to record the album at Abbey Road studios, becoming the first artist ever to go into the studios to record Beatles’ songs. Williams covers a wide range of the Fab Four’s storied catalog spanning from early hits like “Can’t Buy Me Love” to later gems like “Let It Be.” The album opens with a straight-ahead version of “Don’t Let Me Down” on which William’s vocals plead, conveying the emotional urgency of the song. Lucinda doesn’t stray too far from the  originals, preserving the sonic structure of each track on the album. She does, however, work within those spaces to innovate and to convey the depths of the songs in inventive ways, showcasing her distinct talents as an interpreter of the songs of others.  (edited from Folk Alley review)

 

Also new this week…

J.R. Carroll – Dark Cloud  (independent)  +
Field Medic – boundless & true (independent)
Nick Gusman & The Coyotes – Lifting Heavy Things  (independent)

 

And that’s it for 2024!

 

Coming out soon …  Ringo Starr, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, Paul Thorn, Nefesh Mountain, Patterson Hood, The Devil Makes Three, Chip Taylor, The War and Treaty, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 29th

Posted on November 28, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 29th, 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 Milk Carton Kids – Christmas In A Minor Key (Far Cry Records)
Pinkerton Raid – Jagged Valance: Winter Songs by Other People   (self-released)

 

Coming out soon … Lucinda Williams, Nick Gusman & The Coyotes, Ringo Starr, Drew and Ellie Holcomb, Paul Thorn, Patterson Hood, The Devil Makes Three and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 22nd

Posted on November 22, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 22nd, 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 Coward Brothers
The Coward Brothers (New West Records)

The exact relationship between Henry (T-Bone Burnett) and Howard Coward (Elvis Costello) remains ambiguous. They often referred to themselves as “One and a Half Brothers,” which might hint at their height difference or imply they were not actually siblings but were involved in an elaborate ruse. Their musical partnership, known as The Coward Brothers, was initiated by Smiley “Doc” Snipson, who discovered Henry Coward in 1956 and signed him for a UK tour. The brothers’ hit single, “My Baby Just Squeals (You Heel),” was followed by less successful records and a controversial Cold War-themed song. To preserve their fading fame, Snipson orchestrated their supposed death in a plane crash, but they were actually in hiding on a Caribbean island, secretly recording music and sending it back to Snipson. They later resumed recording, but their partnership eventually fractured, leading to years of estrangement. Their music, from early rock and roll hits to later, more introspective songs, is compiled in the album, The Coward Brothers. After years of silence, their story was explored in a radio program, revealing the complexity of their relationship and their enduring bond. Despite their tumultuous history, their music remains a testament to their unyielding spirit.

Also new this week…

C. Daniel Boling – Love, Dan  (Perfectly Stable Records)
Ags Connolly – Your Pal Slim: Songs of James Hand (Happy Valley Music)
Eddie 9V – Saratoga  ( Ruf Records)
Evie Ladin – Riding the Rooster 2  (self released)
Ramona and the Holy Smokes – Til It’s Over  (EP)  (self released)
Letitia VanSant & David McKindley-Ward – Eye of the Storm   (self released)

 

Coming out soon … The Milk Carton Kids, Lucinda Williams, Ringo Starr and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 15th

Posted on November 14, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 15th, 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 Klauder & Reeb Wilms
Gold In Your Pocket  (Free Dirt Records)

This talented duo originates from Washington State & yet, their “Appalachian” mountain sound of authenticity is evident in the warmth of these songs. Good lyrics & storytelling that are intriguing & sung with genuine purist dulcet tones. It has that wood-burning smoke & necessary obligatory bluegrass-folky euphoria. It’s a unique niche. The duo makes every tune sound contemporary without compromising the musical credibility. Recorded in both Tennessee & Louisiana the songs were produced by Joel Savoy, Chris Scruggs & Klauder. Gold in Your Pocket is a mix of mostly original songs by Klauder and Willms, with a handful of thoughtfully chosen covers thrown in. “I’m kind of new to songwriting, but when I have sat down to write songs, I just feel like our world needs joy and love. That’s really important for us to connect to that as humans. And the style of music we play, by nature it’s social music,” Willms says. “That feels super important in this time, too, that people gather in person and have a common experience, musical or if there’s dancing, all the better.” (edited from Americana Highways review and No Depression review)

 

Dwight Yoakam
Brighter Days  (Via Records)

For the first time in nine years, Dwight Yoakam has returned with new material. Brighter Days includes 11 originals and three artfully made covers. It’s a showcase of his unique rock-country style and his songwriting ability. Written over the course of the last three years and self-produced, it’s a great showcase for everything that’s made him beloved. Yoakam has hung his hat on the L.A. cowpunk style of music for a long time, and he continues in that vein here. Rather than attempt to keep up with the ever-changing nature of popular country music, Dwight Yoakam does what makes him happy on Brighter Days. The record feels genuine and optimistic, and country music is short on artists like him.  (edited from Riff Magazine review)

 

Also new this week…

Clover County – Porch Lights   (Undercover Lover Records)
Ron Houston – R.O.A.M.  (independent)
Dolly Parton – Dolly Parton & Family: Smoky Mountain DNA  (Owepar Records)
Cris Williamson – Ravens and the Roses  (Wolf Moon Records)

 

Coming out soon …  Evie Ladin, The Milk Carton Kids, Lucinda Williams, Ringo Starr and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 8th

Posted on November 7, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 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.

 

Jamey Johnson
Midnight Gasoline  (Big Gassed Records)

For the first time in 14 years, Jamey Johnson has a new album out produced by Dave Cobb (the first half of the album was produced by The Kent Hardly Playboys) and marks Johnson’s sixth studio album in total. This is also the first of Johnson’s Cash Cabin Series, which is a collection of albums recorded at the famed studio in Hendersonville, that was owned by Johnny Cash. “There is a spirit in the place. Maybe it was born there from Johnny and June, and maybe it was born there from the countless other artists who have come to that studio to record. But there is a spirit there and I love it.”Johnson continues,”It feels like home to me. I think the only common thread would be me. There isn’t an overtone or some underlying theme in the songs. They are just glimpses of my life. Some of them are just funny stories, and not all of them were written recently.”   (edited from Whiskey Riff review)

 

Yonder Mountain Stringband
Nowhere Next  (Frog Pad Records)

The 21st century popularity of bluegrass is not something I would’ve predicted a couple decades ago – I knew it mostly as something my hillbilly neighbors played (too loudly) while growing up in Upstate New York. But, even before it began to peak (via Billy Strings) over the past five years, it was on a slow but steady rise. Turns out, the stellar musicianship required to succeed in our most American form of music also lends itself to jammy-ness, and it’s been that melding of two summer-ready genres that’s made jamgrass/newgrass a huge concert draw, especially at Red Rocks. Fortunately for Yonder Mountain String Band, they formed in just the right place – beautiful Nederland, Colorado – roughly a quarter century ago. Their newest album, Nowhere Next, continues to provide ample amounts of their mountain-ready bluegrass, while also pushing deeper lyrically, serving the song as well as the jam.

Also new this week…

Dean Mueller – Wishes Never Gone   (Ripping Glass Entertainment)

 

Coming out soon … Caleb Klauder & Reeb Wilms, Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 1st

Posted on October 31, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 1st, 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.

 

Loose Cattle
Someone’s Monster  (Single Lock Records)

Once New Orleans seeps inside you, it never seems to let go. While Loose Cattle may not seem like your typical New Orleans band, every song seems distilled in the Crescent City vibe, making Someone’s Monster a tear-stained tribute to the land of les bon temps roulette. Over the years, bandleaders Kimberly Kaye and Michael Ceveris followed different paths to Louisiana. Instead of second lines, cajun spices or zydeco swamps, Loose Cattle deliver a blend of rock that benefits from the southeastern roots of Ceveris and the college encounters of Kaye in New Jersey. Rather than rootless, the rock of Loose Cattle merges so many influences that it is perhaps the perfect roux for what ails you, with just enough Louisiana spice to give Someone’s Monster the heat that makes an undeniable classic.  (edited from KLOF Mag review)

 

Willie Nelson
Last Leaf On The Tree   (Sony Music Entertainment)

Willie’s new album, Last Leaf on the Tree. It was produced by his 34-year-old son Micah, an L.A.-based, all-disciplines artist whose musical works, created under the guise of Particle Kid, are built on traditional instruments but also feature found sounds, reversed guitar recordings, and laptop blips and bleeps. They get classified as “experimental future-folk,” as apt a description as any for the ethereal, atmospheric Last Leaf, which is a clear sonic outlier in his dad’s catalog. Last Leaf is largely a collection of covers of unexpected artists—including Beck, Tom Waits, the Flaming Lips, Warren Zevon and Nina Simone—and Willie doesn’t so much interpret their songs as experience them. Micah chose most of the cuts, but he didn’t provide his dad with any of the original recordings. Instead he put together the backing tracks, playing most of the instruments himself. (edited from Texas Monthly review)

 

Also new this week…

Jeremie Albino – Our Time In The Sun  (Easy Eye Sound)  +
Joachim Cooder – Dreamer’s Motel  (Temple Of Leaves Records)  +
John Cowan – Fiction  (True Lonesome Records)  +
Warren Haynes – Million Voices Whisper  (Fantasy Records)
Paul Kelly – Fever Longing Still (Cooking Vinyl)
Zachary Lucky – The Wind   (Wroxton Recordings)
Forest Sun – No Finish Line  (Painted Sun Records)
West of Texas – Hot Motel Nights  (Pleasant Valley Ranch Records)  +

 

Coming out soon … Yonder Mountain Stringband, Caleb Klauder & Reeb Wilms, Jamey Johnson, Dwight Yoakam, Dolly Parton, Lucinda Williams and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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