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

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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

Americana Music Releases for June 28th

Posted on June 27, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for June 28th, 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.

 

Kaitlin Butts
Roadrunner!  (New West Records)

Though she’s a new name to many, Butts is establishing herself as one of the most dynamic artists to grow out of the Oklahoma Red Dirt scene, unafraid to test boundaries for which the regional (and male-dominated) sub-genre is known. Her 2022 sophomore album found her fiercely fighting for a reclamation of power for her characters and herself, wading through domestic violence, addiction, and family trauma. Roadrunner! meets Butts at the intersection of everything she’s ever loved: musicals, country, and her home state. And it lets her lean into the theatricality and drama she’s always sprinkled into her persona and live show, where the costumes are fringed to the heavens and her huge voice fills the room even on the gloomiest songs. “I don’t ever want to be the kind of artist where people can nail me down,” Butts says, “Red Dirt is where I learned the basics of storytelling. But I want to be unpredictable.”  (edited from Rolling Stone interview)

Silverada
Silverada  (Prairie Rose Records)

Previously known as Mike and the Moonpies, the Austin-based band surprised the independent country world when they announced the new name change in January. “We spent the first part of our career figuring out who we are and what we’re good at,” says lead singer Mike Harmeier. “Now we want to evolve not only the sound of the band, but the dynamic of the live show, too. We’re all lifers here. We’re in this for the long haul. Silverada is us setting the stage for the next leg of the journey.” Harmeier wrote the album in his backyard studio while reading a bunch of books for inspiration, including astronomy texts and sci-fi novels. “We’d been on tour for so long, playing the same set for almost two years, and I wanted to write something that was a departure,” Harmeier says. The album also does expand further away from the band’s original Austin honky tonk sound more than any album before, and it might strive for perfection but fall just short of attaining it from a couple of sleepier songs. (edited from Saving Country Music review)

 

Also new this week…

Rory Block – Positively 4th Street  (Stony Plain Records)  +
Johnny Cash – Songwriter (UMG Recordings)
Dawn & Hawkes – Light Outside  (independent)
The Del McCoury Band – Songs of Love and Life  (McCoury Music)  +
Marques Morel – Tales and Tellings  (Edgewater Music Group)
Josh Morningstar – Josh Morningstar  (Late August Records) –
Madeleine Peyroux – Let’s Walk  (Just One Recording, Inc.)
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – South of Here (Stax Records)
Alan Walker – A Little Too Late (Aunt Mimi’s Records)
Alice Wallace – Here I Am  (Mulekick Records)  +
Wilco – Hot Sun Cool Shroud EP (dBpm Records)
Jubal Lee Young – Wild Birds Warble  (self-released)  +

 

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, The Deslondes, Pony Bradshaw and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for June 21st

Posted on June 21, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for June 21st, 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.

 

Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore feat. The Guilty Ones
TexiCali  (Yep Roc Records)

The title of their new album, TexiCali, like their first collaboration, Downey to Lubbock again plays up their geographical roots, and like the combination of words in that title, their individual styles continue to mesh smoothly. But there are some differences. The first one contained only two originals, and the duo was backed mostly by West Coast roots session cats. TexiCali contains six top-notch originals, and the backing throughout is by Alvin’s excellent band, The Guilty Ones. Gilmore’s distinctive warble makes everything he sings seem connected to a long tradition, adding heft and vitality to the ringing country-rock of his own “Borderland,” and a revved-up take on the Stonewall Jackson country chestnut “Why I’m Walking.” That voice and style also blend well with Alvin’s nicotine-scarred baritone when they share vocals, as on Brownie McGhee’s “Betty and Dupree,” among others. That theme of survival gets a more light-hearted, if still pointed, treatment on the finale, “We’re Still Here,” the only Alvin-Gilmore cowrite on TexiCali. In a rollicking roadhouse romp, the Downey guy and the Lubbock guy celebrate their longevity in the face of all kinds of hurdles while stubbornly doing things their own way. “We just keep on rolling,” they sing. Indeed they do.  (edited from No Depression review)

Also new this week…

Eden Brent – Getaway Blues  (Yellow Dog Records)
Cody Dickinson – Homemade (Strong Place Music)
George Ducas – Long Way From Home  (Loud Ranch Records)  +
Harry Lee Follon – Uncle’s Lament  (Down by the Point Records)
Matt Hillyer – Bright Skyline  (State Fair Records)  +
Lake Street Dive – Good Together  (Fantasy Records)
Jim Lauderdale – My Favorite Place  (Sky Crunch Records)  +
Linda Thompson – Proxy Music (StorySound Records)
Various Artists – Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration Of Tom Petty (Petty Legacy/Big Machine Label)  +
Robert Vincent – Barriers  (independent)

 

Coming out soon … Yarn, Silverada, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Kaitlin Butts, Jubal Lee Young, Dawn & Hawkes, Melissa Carper, Donovan Woods, Joe Ely, Rory Block, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Billy Strings, Norman Blake, The Cactus Blossoms, The Deslondes and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for June 14th

Posted on June 13, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for June 14th, 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.

 

Hermanos Gutiérrez
Sonido Cósmico  (Easy Eye Sound)

The title of Ecuadorian-Swiss band Hermanos Gutiérrez’s new album translates to “cosmic sound.” It’s a bit literal for the type of moody, cross-cultural, instrumental music that the band makes, but the name also seems to capture something deeper, more spiritual between brothers Alejandro and Estevan. Although Sonido Cósmico is the brothers’ sixth album together, it’s just their second album with Black Keys band member and label owner Dan Auerbach and Easy Eye Sound, rendering them still fairly new to US audiences. Although instrumental records can be difficult for many lyrics-centric listeners to tap into, Sonido Cósmico is a remarkably visual album. Both the English and Spanish language song titles seem to serve as portals for the imagination. Together, these multicultural sounds and themes of spiritual and psychic connection showcase how Hermanos Gutiérrez’s contemporary, instrumental music exemplifies the widening umbrella of roots music.  (edited from No Depression review)

Oliver Wood
Fat Cat Silhouette  (Honey Jar Records)

The shared manifestation of roots in folk, rock, blues, country, and gospel notwithstanding,Oliver Wood’s two solo albums stand distinctly apart from his work with his Brothers Chris and Jano. And the distinctions of Fat Cat Silhouette fully reaffirm those of its  predecessor Always Smilin’: while there’s little doubt about how carefully crafted this and the previous album sound, the music still radiates a sense of one sustained moment of impromptu inspiration. That the man generally refuses to take himself too seriously only renders more emotionally genuine the forthright expression of feeling from this latest endeavor from this restlessly creative Wood Brother.  (edited from Glide Magazine review)

Also new this week…

Annie Bacon & her Oshen – Storm  (independent)
The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again  (YABB Records)
Jenny Don’t and the Spurs – Broken Hearted Blue  (Fluff and Gravy Records)  +
Ryan David Green – Off and Running  (independent)
Madeline Hawthorne – Tales From Late Nights & Long Drives  (independent)
Michael Lawson – Tennessee River Shakedown  (independent)
Lonesome River Band – The Winning Hand  (Mountain Home Music Company)
Jake Neuman & The Jaybirds – Little Bitty Town  (Peacedale Records)  +
Grace Pettis – Down to the Letter  (MPress Records)
David Serby – Low Hanging Stars  (Blackbird Record Label)
The Smith & Western Jury – Hotel Texas  (independent)
Sugaray Rayford – Human Decency  (Forty Below Records)
Surrender Hill – River of Tears  (Blue Betty Records)
The Whiskey Charmers – Streetlights   (independent)

 

Coming out soon … Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Yarn, Silverada, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Kaitlin Butts, Jubal Lee Young, Dawn & Hawkes, Jim Lauderdale, Melissa Carper, Donovan Woods, Joe Ely, Rory Block, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Billy Strings, The Cactus Blossoms and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for June 7th

Posted on June 6, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for June 7th, 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.

 

Keegan McInroe
Dusty Passports and Empty Beds  (independent)

is Texas singer-songwriter, Keegan McInroe’s seventh studio album and very much a product of post 2020; when the world went into lock down, and what managed to come out at the the other end was our ambition. With time for reflection, McInroe was holed up at his mother’s home in Dublin, TX for the duration. “If hindsight is 2020, I hope to never look back again”, he states. Opening track, Big Year somehow reminds me of New York-born singer-songwriter, Chip Taylor as the vitality it possesses literally jumps up at you as McInroe speaks of all the bad news around him, but how here and there the sun still shines out. McInroe covers John Prine’s Lonesome Friends Of Science. Taken off John’s last album, The Tree Of Forgiveness and is a beautiful piece of writing. McInroe has been around for quite a while and proudly carries the torch for insightful Texas songwriters for the generations, old and indeed new.  (edited from Rocking Magpie review)

 

Tony Trischka
Earl Jam: A Tribute To Earl Scruggs  (Down The Road Records)

One afternoon during the height of COVID, Tony Trischka opened a small package with a thumb drive. It contained some extremely rare recordings of Earl Scruggs and John Hartford jamming, mostly taken from private gatherings at Earl’s house during the 1980s and 90s – over 200 songs and tunes – and Tony’s mind was blown! He’d been studying Earl for over 60 years, but now he heard exciting new information in these solos, chock full of twists, turns and exciting revelations. Tony immediately began transcribing and learning his favorites. Tony plays on this album is his own, inspired by Scruggs, every solo is note-for-note Earl’s, from those jams. Tony felt that these tapes might never see the light of day, so he recorded this album in hopes that a host of others could experience the same excitement he felt on hearing Earl’s “new” music. The album was recorded with guest vocalists Sam Bush, Dudley Connell, Sierra Ferrell, The Gibson Brothers, Vince Gill, Del McCoury, Billy Strings, and Molly Tuttle.

 

Also new this week…

Bonny Light Horseman – Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free  (Jagjaguwar Records)
Jesse Daniel – Countin’ The Miles (Die True Records)
Fantastic Cat – Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat  (Missing Piece Records)
Robert Earl Keen – Western Chill  (Scriptorium Rex Records)  +
Katie Knipp – Me (independent)
Nolen Sellwood – Cadence to the Flame  (New Folk Records)
Parker Smith – Short Street  (independent)
Quinn Sullivan – Salvation  (Provogue Records)
Joanne Shaw Taylor – Heavy Soul  (Journeyman Records)
Nichole Wagner – Plastic Flowers  (Star Catcher Music)

 

Coming out soon … Hermanos Gutiérrez, Yarn, Silverada, Ryan David Green, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Kaitlin Butts, Oliver Wood, Jubal Lee Young, David Serby, Jim Lauderdale, Melissa Carper, Joe Ely, Rory Block, Billy Strings and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for May 31st

Posted on May 30, 2024 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for May 31st, 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.

Laurie Lewis
Trees  (Spruce and Maple Music)

On her new album, Laurie Lewis invites listeners to join her on a ramble through the natural world as she experiences both loss and joy. This project is her first without the mandolin accompaniment of long-time collaborator and partner Tom Rozum, due to his challenges from Parkinson’s disease. Rozum’s artwork, however, is featured on the album cover, and he provides harmony vocals on three of the cuts, including the haunting title song. On the album, Lewis incorporates a range of musical styles — bluegrass, old-time, folk, and more. Among her originals, she also includes Tom T. Hall’s “Hound Dog Blues” and John Hartford’s “Down on the Levee,” which conjures up images of a muddy river with “a real steam boat with double-swinging stages / compound condensing engines, and real old-timey looking gauges.” Rather than an escape into nature, Trees is a collection of songs artfully arranged to accompany an introspective journey.  (edited from No Depression review)


Swamp Dogg
Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St  (Oh Boy Records)

Entering his seventh decade of recording, the musician born Jerry Williams Jr’s new album is bluegass-based with a core backing band which includes Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs and Kenny Vaughan. “Not a lot of people talk about the true origins of bluegrass music,” the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg said, “but it came from Black people. The banjo, the washtub, all that stuff started with African Americans. We were playing it before it even had a name. I’m trying to touch on every kind of music I grew up loving and listening to. This is my way of letting people know that I’m not just a soul singer or whatever they think I am. I’m so much more.” A family affair, the album includes guest spots from Margo Price, Vernon Reid, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and the Cactus Blossoms and it was produced by Ryan Olson.  (edited from press release)

 

Various Artists
Long Distance Love – A Sweet Relief Tribute to Lowell George  (Flatiron Recordings)

 

Lowell George’s musical journey began as a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention before co-founding Little Feat with Bill Payne. Over his seven-year tenure with the band, they produced eight albums that continue to captivate audiences worldwide. Although George’s untimely passing in 1979 left a void in the music industry, his spirit lives on through the timeless melodies and heartfelt lyrics showcased in this album. In collaboration with Sweet Relief, an organization dedicated to providing financial assistance to struggling musicians and industry professionals, Long Distance Love serves as a testament to the enduring impact of Lowell George’s musical legacy. Featuring a lineup of artists including Elvis Costello, Ben Harper, Taylor Goldsmith, and Dave Alvin, and many lesser known artists. This collection comprises 25 tracks that breathe new life into George’s timeless classics and lesser-known gems.  (edited from Grateful Web review)

 

Also new this week…

Wyndham Baird – After the Morning  (Jalopy Records)
Jessie Baylin – Strawberry Wind  (New West Records)
Jesse Dayton – The Hard Way Blues  (Blue Elan Records) +
The Infamous Stringdusters – Songs from the River  (Americana Vibes)
The Gringo Pistoleros – The Rise And Subsequent Fall Of The Texas Alien  (independent)
Jim Keller – Daylight  (Orange Mountain Music)
Kirby Lyle – Down in Nashville – Songs from the Rounds  (independent)
Curtis McMurtry – The Pollen & The Rot  (independent)
David Myles – Devil Talking  (Turtlemusik)
Willie Nelson – The Border  (Legacy Recordings)  +
Noelle and the Deserters – High Desert Daydream  (independent)  +
Red Shahan – Loose Funky Texas Junky  (Lemon Pepper Records)
Richard Thompson – Ship to Shore  (Yep Roc Records)
Anna Tivel – Living Thing   (Fluff and Gravy Records)  +

 

Coming out soon … Yarn, Tony Trischka, Katie Knipp, Silverada, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Jesse Daniel, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Kaitlin Butts, Oliver Wood, Jubal Lee Young, David Serby, Jim Lauderdale, Melissa Carper, Joe Ely, Rory Block and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for May 24th

Posted on May 23, 2024 by

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

Kim Richey
Every New Beginning  (Yep Roc Records)

Sometimes our obsession with the ‘next big thing’ or newer wave of singer-songwriters in Americana has us overlooking the stalwarts that shaped the genre. This is not to suggest that Kim Richey has been invisible. Her stature, though perhaps not top-of-mind for many, has remained undiminished, and this new collection of ten songs on Every New Beginning, her tenth album, strongly reinforces her artistry – her soothing voice and precise articulation, rhyming couplets, singalong hooks, keen observations, and relatable emotional fare. While it may seem like a heavy dose of sad songs, you’ll likely relate to the emotions, admire the songcraft, find comfort in her soothing vocals, and, yes, find these tunes lingering in your head for days.  Richey delivers superb songcraft, as top-shelf as any album she has made.  (edited from Glide Magazine review)

 

Also new this week…

Stephanie Chapman – Under an August Sky  (self-released)
Bronwyn Keith-Hynes – I Built a World  (self-released)  +
Old Man Luedecke – She Told Me Where To Go (Outside Music)
Sweet Megg – Bluer Than Blue (Turtle Bay Records)   +

 

Coming out soon … Richard Thompson, Curtis McMurtry, Anna Tivel, Jim Keller, Willie Nelson, Swamp Dogg, Tony Trischka, Yarn, Jesse Dayton, Silverada, Laurie Lewis, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs, Jesse Daniel, Oliver Wood, David Serby, Jim Lauderdale, Melissa Carper, Joe Ely, Rory Block and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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