I don’t quite get Jonny Corndawg. But I’m tryin’. Here’s his first song off the forthcoming album Down On The Bikini Line. It’s a little ditty about life in a small town and all the ups and downs (homophobia, the mall, unbridled patriotism, ruining the environment).
God know there’s a lot of music out there. Hell just look at my inbox if you have any doubt. But how much is there with any real soul? From my experience there’s not very much. That’s why I’m excited to share with you a duets record from old time country musicians Pharis & Jason Romero called A Passing Glimpse. The record is a collection of covers from the 20’3 thru the 50′s as well as an original or two. From reading their bio it seems Pharis and Jason literally eat, drink, and breath music whether that’s performing, writing, leading workshops, or working on their hand crafted banjo’s.
Here’s an original from Pharis as well as the title track. You can pick the record on there or online at Elderly Instruments.
Bonus stream courtesy of Bandcamp:
“Forsaken Love”
So far only the local music blog Side One Track One (here) has written about the new release from Austin underground stalworts Leatherbag. But this release deserves to bring Leatherbag out of the (self-imposed) corner they’ve been hiding in.
“Imitation Generation” off the new full length Yellow Television takes a shot at high tech culture and disposable music while at the same time wryly coping a Stones sound. While “We’re Broke” off the companion ep espouses the freedom of being broke.
We’re Broke (from the “live” ep Patience)
Pokey Lafarge has come a long way since he performed in my living room a couple years back. His touring band has evolved and become a top notch ensemble, his popularity is growing too as are his media appearances (NPR and the like). He’s got a new record coming out any minute called Middle Of Everywhere. Here’s a song off it that plays to his riverboat soul persona. Pick it up here.
So Long Honeybee, Goodbye – Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three (Official Music Video) from bill streeter on Vimeo.
P.S. Here’s the new video/song from the Piney Gir Country Roadshow
What do you get when you combine gypsy punk music from Australia with Steve Albini’s Chicago based production. Well it’s just what you would expect and their name is The Crooked Fiddle Band. This is their second album and it was produced in Chicago with Steve Albini one cold winter.
Overgrown Tales is 8 tracks of mostly instrumental tunes of whirling dervish string band music. Listen to “Countess Bathory’s Finishing School for Girls” to see how punk and string music can possibly be mated.
Here’s just a little something I stumbled upon that will be of interest to guitar hounds and pedal steel fans. Jason Loughlin is a first call guitarist for the likes of Amos Lee, Rachael Yamagata, James Burton and others. He lives in Brooklyn and has a little trio that plays country and rockabilly. He just released his debut guitar record on his own label called Big Pop Records.
James created Big Pop Records to release instrumental gems like this. To try to return to a day when guitar records were popular. His new record is called Peach Crate and here’s the title track. Record release party is in Brooklyn at the Gutter Back Room on July 23.
You would be amazed at how many bands and singer-songwriters I’ve got to pore over before coming upon something I would even consider posting on Songs:Illinois. Now take those few bands and imagine the same process again to find something I was truly exited about writing about. Willy Gantrim is a troubadour that fits this later category. I haven’t heard anything this captivating (while admittedly a bit rough) since first hearing Frontier Ruckus, The Felice Brothers or even early Avett Brothers.
My Songs & Others is his new record (“others” meaning at least one cover – Hank Williams’ “Ramblin Man”) which came out on July 4th (quite fitting for this collection of songs that have at their heart that oddly American blend of folk, blues, and early jazz). Willy has a bunch of shows coming up in and around Brooklyn but if you’re lucky you’ll catch him in some doorway or other busking. Check out the new website that features this record as well as Will Gantrim’s debut Willy Gantrim Sings Country, Blues, And Ballads. Or if you’re the digital type check out his Bandcamp page here.
So here’s the song a “Brief Sigh” about the coming winter and the loneliness that will surely accompany it. He’s got more of a full band sound on this one that lends it a ragtime feel.
For a moment I was convinced Graham Weber was going to be the next great singer-songwriter coming out of the Austin scene. But at least from my perspective he dropped the ball a bit. Instead of hitting it hard he seemed to sit back and take a break (from recording, playing out, writing songs). That could just be my perception and perhaps he’s been super busy with music related projects for the last few years (he did release a live record of rareties and b-sides in 2009).
What is clear is that sometime soon he will return with a new record being mastered as we speak and tentatively titled Women. It will feature a bunch of his favorite female musicians/singers. This song is a demo but as I’ve said before for me a demo with its stripped down essence is often times superior to the final version and this one is a beautiful song.
Baltimore (Demo) (Via Austin Sound)
Bonus:
