Mike Farris and friends have put together a charity ep with proceeds going to the victims of the Nashville flood. This song and the ep features some great musicianship including people like Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughn, and Gill Landry.

You can preorder it here.

The Night The Cumberland Came Alive

P.S. I have recently started a new venture so the posts on songs:Illinois may get even shorter, but I don’t expect any lapse in quality. Thanks for reading, writing, and listening to me for the past six years.

Two very quick items today. I’ve always liked what The Wiyos were up to but have never written about them before. They are a band out of NYC that should really be out of Virginia. This song is a bit of a throw away but you’ll get the general idea. It’s taken from a new tour only EP.

Airline Baggage Handlers Suck

———

I noticed there was a great lineup of female singer-songwriters playing Club Passim in Cambridge on October 13. I was well aware of three of the four. But the fourth was a mystery. Her name is Datri Bean and her music has been described as “Southern-fried vintage jazz – original tunes which draw from pre-war jazz and folksy Americana, for a lazy afternoon on the porch feeling.” This song, “Foolish”, will be on her upcoming record Ruby. With its unusual combination of ukelele and tuba and Datri’s stunning voice this is a great preview of what’s to come.

Foolish

I hope I’m not jumping the gun but I just stumbled upon the new record by Austin based Yer Bird artist Caleb Coy. Caleb’s been around and been in a number of semi-experimental projects. This new record is a more traditional Texas lofi americana thing (think Townes et al). It was recorded in Caleb’s airstream out in desert outside of Marfa. It’s called Wild Desert Rose. Lots more info on this Sept 7 release here on Yer Bird’s site.

I’ll Be Damned

Here’s an update on an artist whose demo’s I reviewed back in 2008. His sound has been updated some since then with the addition of Lance Owens and Mike Grunder on various instruments. Mike Behrends‘ new record, his solo debut, is called New Feet.

“New Mexico” is a lovelorn ballad about a mythical relationship that will never happen and the dreams and plans that will be all for naught.

Buy New Feet here or here.

New Mexico

Here’s those demos I mentioned plus a couple tracks from Mike’s debut ep:

Sally Gal
If I Grew Out My Beard

Don’t You Worry About Me
Married To The Mines

Ted Pitney was one of the founders of the bluegrassy collective King Wilkie. He’s just released a solo EP called Genesee. As you might expect the record is more stripped bare than a regular King Wilkie record. Instead a full range of instruments you get just one or two (or on the more rocking tracks 3 or 4); instead of rich vocal harmonies you get just the one voice. This leaves more room for the song.

On “In & Out Of Place” you get a sleepy rock song reminiscent of the early country rock of the 70′s. Images of back roads, canyons, and hilltops attach a physical location to the idea of a better life with a loved one.

Buy the EP here via CDBaby.

In and Out Of Place

Harely Dean is an unlikely Texas troubadour. He’s a college educated man with degrees in Biology and Animal Science. He isn’t one of those guys that sat on his Dad’s knee absorbing all kinds of Texas country music. He didn’t pick up the guitar at 3 years old and he didn’t write his first song at 12. He took a more mature approach buying his first guitar at age twenty five and getting his first gig for beer and tips shortly thereafter. He released a record in 2003 and tried the whole go-on-the-road-with-a-band-and-play-shitty-clubs-for-no-money-thing but tired of it. He’s now working on a more acoustic singer/songwriterly thing.

His new record Brighter Days was produced by Walt Wilkins (wrote about his new one yesterday!!). This song features Harley’s rich vocals and splashes of organ and pedal steel. Buy the new record here.

Hell Bent On Loving You

There are a couple of sounds that I’m always on the lookout for. One of them is represented by the songs on the new EP by Austin band Black Coyote. The best way to describe it would be “ragged and frayed” (I have a feeling this new genre name is not doing to take off like Chillwave). In essence the bands sound mirrors it’s lyrics and the emotional tenor of the music. That’s a pretty fine description of the songs on the new ep Cigarettes and Dust.

Slightly unrelated but I’m heavy into all four seasons of Friday Night Lights and I’d just like to nominate this song as the new anthem of this Texas based show. “Of Strippers and Cowboys” is a perfect fit as it lays out in compelling detail the realities of life in a small Texas town.

Order the ep now here.

Of Strippers and Cowboys

I’m a big fan of Tim O’Brien and the way he is able to straddle the worlds of traditional bluegrass and modern folk. The new record, his 13th solo record, is called Chicken & Egg. This song is from it and is a bit old timey in both it’s music and its timeless themes of lost love, bad behavior, and remorse.

Preorder here now.

Gonna Try To Make Her Stay

Howe Gelb of Giant Sand fame doing Flamenco inspired music makes as much sense as his gospel project Sno Angel. But to some extent Howe Gelb is one of the artists tyhat can simply do no wrong.

In the past Howe’s music has been inspired by the Arizona desert and the rustic sounds that heat combined with despair and a level of remoteness that urban dwellers can only dream of. Now on Alegrias he has joined forces with the members of Band Of Gypsies and several other world renowned Flamenco players to deliver this new record which features older Giant Sand songs along with 4 new songs inspired by the Spanish town of Cordoba.

More info here from Eureka Music.

The Ballad of Lole y Manuel

UNEVEN LIGHT OF DAY. Howe Gelb & A Band of Gypsies [HQ] from eureka music on Vimeo.

Thanks to songs about Charlie Poole by Loudoun Wainwright III (here) and now J Shogren I have learned quite a bit about this original country music star and hard partying man of all trades (textiles, pro ballplayer, moonshiner). J Shogren is quite a charachter himself. This Wyoming born singer songwriter is a professor of Applied Philosophy and also the King’s Professor to the King of Sweden. He also received the Nobel Piece prize along with Al Gore. But it’s his unique blend of Americana inspired music that lands him on the cover of Songs:Illinois.

His new record is called Bird Bones & Muscle. Here’s the song “Charlie Poole Charlie Poole” off it. Buy it now at CD Baby here.

Charlie Poole, Charlie Poole