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.
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.
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 don’t feel like I can take credit for this post. I was only notified about the new Charlie Parr record 4 hrs ago by Nine Bullets (in a tweet no less). So all accolades about what a great song this is, and how you can’t believe you’ve never heard of him, had your head under a rock, etc. etc. please direct to Nine Bullets.
Obv. I’m a big Charlie Parr fan and for the last few years I thought it was just me and the rest of upper Minnesota who were his fans. But starting in Sept/Oct Charlie is touring the UK and Australia with Frank Fairfield so I think word is going to get out about him. The new album was just released, it’s called When The Devil Goes Blind. Get it from Charlie here. I’m not going to go into great detail about Charlie’s sound – it is what is – great acoustic blues. “I Dreamed I Saw Jesse James Last Night” is recession-escaping-blues if I’ve heard it. The song is about a guy trying to flee his life, wife, and kids. Any and all Charlie Parr records are highly recommended, this one is no different.
I live near Chicago. I follow the local scene pretty closely. In the last six years of blogging I have only found a handful of Chicago artists to get excited about. I think I’m about to get excited about Andrew Francis. Andrew is a member of a local jugband (The Barehand Jugband) so that’s automatically a plus in my book. His delivery is a nasal concoction equal parts Bob Dylan and Pokey LaFarge. Musically the songs are simple guitar and voice (with occasional amateurish harmonica – and I mean that in a good way). On the song “I’m Only Trying To Say What Comes To Me” he admits his songwriting naivite but then goes on to speak from the heart and string together an unusual but affecting chorus. Andrew has just released two records. The first is his solo self titled debut and the second is a collection of songs inspired by and about Chicago called It’s Chicago!.
I’m on vacation (at the beach) so I thought what better song to share with you than some new surf rock from the Denmark based band El Ray. The band’s new record Chasing Ray is out now.
Alright. Good news. The recently fairly prolific ex-leader of Hefner, Darren Hayman, has a new record coming out. It’s the second in a three lp cycle about his home county of Essex. This record is called Essex Arms. The first single is “Nothing You Can Do About It”. The album comes out Oct 4 on Acuarela Records in Spain and FortunaPOP! in England.
I generally like to have lots of kettles in the fire. I like to have new and exclusive songs arriving in my inbox at least on a weekly, if not daily, basis. But the summer doldrums have set in, as well as the fact that there are now so many music bloggers plying their trade. So I was happy to finally have the new song from the Ditty Bops arrive this morning. You may have heard of the Ditty Bops because of their numerous times on Grey’s Anatomy, or for the press their bike tours received, or for their support of same sex unions (they were married in 2008). But all that is a distraction from their music. Playful, old timey, swinging, circus cabaret would be an apt description.
The new song “Lemon Tree” is from an 8 track cd called The Color Album (previously on Warner the girls now are self released). You can buy the new album here. Here
s what Abby and Amanda have to say about the new record:
“Songs inspired by the colors of the rainbow, plus bonus color PINK. With everything from soothing lullabies to upbeat zesty tunes, this new colorful folk album is great for kids and grown ups. Each recycled paper CD jacket is hand-painted by The Ditty Bops,
so every cover is unique!”
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.
I have made it a rule at Songs:Illinois to write about everything Tom Brosseau does. Whether it’s his solo stuff with an indie folk bent, the more full band sound he’s developed over the years or now his duo project with Angela Correa called Les Shelleys.
On “The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise” these two accomplished singer songwriters weave their voices in and around this classic song. You should be able to order the new record soon via Fat Cat Records.
It’s been two years since I wrote about Gwil Owens’ debut record Gravyhere. I was lucky to stumble upon Gwil’s music two years ago and my luck continues as I just happened to hear about the new record Ahab’s Birthday. Where Gravy was a little funky, Ahab’s Birthday has turned a little twangy. It helps to have first class guests like Will Kimbrough, Jeff Black, and David Olney. Besides the music it’s the songs that Gwil Owen gets right. Here are two from the new record that is for sale now here at Village Records.
At the moment I’m uploading all my cd’s onto iTunes in anticipation of some sort of music in the cloud announcement coming in June. Occasionally I’ve been posting little tweets like “Best Felt record = A Poem By The River and “Best Steve Earle record = Train A Comin’“.
So anyway I’m going to do a tweet saying “Best Michael Hall record = All of them.” I thought I would expand a bit here on the music of Michael Hall. There’s plenty of biographical info on the web but I know Michael Hall as the lead singer of the 90’s band Wild Seeds. He’s since become an eclectic and until the past few years prolific songwriter. I’m taken in one way or another by all of his records and 99% of his songs. It seems like the majority of his catalog including his work with The Wild Seeds and the Austin supergroup The Setters (Walter Salas Humara and Alejandro Escoveda) is still available. Click here to order anything from his catalog. Here’s a sampling:
I imagine a simple song is one of the hardest to write. I imagine it must seem every combination of words has already been used up. I imagine there are lots of false starts and endless revisions. I imagine at the end of the day you hope you’d wind up with something like “My Bird” off the new record The Cartographer’s Wife by Danielle Doyle.
This is Danielle Doyle’s debut record and was put together with the help of a bunch of up and coming Boston based artists. She has already been rewarded by being named a 2009 Mountain Stage New Song Youth Winner, as well as opening up for a bunch of luminaries (Loudon Wainwright III, Dawn Landes, Heather Masse). She’ll be appearing this Saturday at the fabled Club Passim in Cambridge for a matinee show with friend Beth Colegrove.
There is a direct correlation between a female singer’s beauty/shape/age and the amount/level of success that she can attain. Give me any example of a famous or even “indie” famous female singer and beauty/thinness/age plays a role: Cat Power, Sheryl Crow, Laura Marling, Sarah Harmer, Tift Merritt, Liz Phair the list is endless. Even in the more level playing field of folk/americana music beauty still plays a role. Not as much but nonetheless.
I blame the lack of success of Sarah Elizabeth Campbell to this attitude that we need our women singers to be a certain shape, have a certain look, and exude a certain sexual prowess. Admittedly there could be instances where artists shoot themselves in the foot (see the Little Tenderness artwork below). But on the whole looks have way more of an impact on a person’s career than is necessary. Sarah Elizabeth Campbell in her prime could out-write and out-sing anyone else on the scene. Her two independently released records A Little Tenderness (1990) and Running With You (1994) are stellar examples of the genre but despite critical acclaim went nowhere.
If you want to read more about Sarah Elizabeth Campbell’s interesting life in and out of music her bio can be found here. Here is her song “Geraldine & Ruthie Mae from the debut album A Little Tenderness. It’s a song about the fear of being homeless, infirm and losing your natural abilities (in this case Sarah Elizabeth Campbell’s voice). It’s a chilling tale of the fear we all must have about what our future life may be like.
P.S. I’m finally uploading all my CD’s to iTunes so I may occasionally revisit a song or an artist from the past. Rest assured the songs will be out of print and the artists obscure but deserving. This is the first such post.
I never thought to put the two words “country” and “funk” together. But that’s just what the guys in Stone River Boys are up to. You can hear both ends of that spectrum on “The Struggle” from their latest record Love On The Dial with it’s incessant bass line, groovy horn section, and and both funky and country guitar. I’m honestly not sure if it works for me.
The band consists of Dave Gonzalez of the Hacienda Brothers and Mike Barfield of the Hollisters. Live they have a full band with pedal steel and I imagine it’s a funky good time.
I was hoping this song from the forthcoming Watermelon Slim record “Ringers” had a touch of twang so I could fit it into the Friday honky-tonk feature. Luckily for me (and you) it’s got a full size heaping of twang from the pedal steel to the duet to the lyrics about “good old boys”.
Preorder this June 1st release through Northern Blues here and receive a signed copy.
If someone were to ask me what type of music blog I would start right now I think I would say a Spanish twee blog. Spain is the new Sweden. There is a ton of great music, particularly twee, coming out of Spain for some reason. Today’s post is by the band BIGott.
BIGott is really just this one hairy guy (see above) who combines the innocence of Jonathan Richman with the pop sensibilities and European accents of Herman Dune. It’s a nice combination as you can hear on the song “Sparkle Motion” taken from his new record This Is The Beginning Of A Beautiful Friendship.
If I were to rename this blog I think something like “Awkward Dude With Guitar…” might be apropo. Some of the best music of the last few decades could be described as such. Think Bob Dylan, Bright Eyes, Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, etc., etc. I’m not saying Happiest Lion is in the same category as those guys but he’s at least on the same planet. Happiest Lion is Caleb Groh. He’s now based in Boston and Mammoth Moon is his second record. Til the month of June Mammoth Moon is for sale for $1 as a digital download from Bandcamp here.
I’m smitten by Caleb’s vocal style, obtuse lyrics (and song titles), and the eclectic sounds on this record. The style of music is a nearly indescribable mix of folk, indie rock, Appalachian jugband (not really, but that’s a vibe I’m getting on a couple of songs) and some kind of butchered bluegrass (mandolin, banjo on many tracks). Here’s one of the more simple songs on the record and one of the loveliest.
Alright let’s go from one living national treasure (Johnny Dowd here) to another (Bob Cheevers). I jumped the gun writing about this record back in January. It seems the February 2010 release date was pushed back and now Bob Cheevers’ new record, Tall Texas Tales, just got a proper American release on April 20 with a record release show at Saxon’s Pub on May 15th.
“Luckenbach” with it’s tex-mex accordion and references to Lone Star Beer, banditos, and breezy front porches is a perfect example of the songs on this Texas themed record. Buy it now here via Village Records.
It’s interesting and a somewhat sad commentary on music blogs that someone like Johnny Dowd, whose new record was released in March of this year, is nowhere to be found. While the regular cast of music bloggers that I like write about stuff that is under the radar, on the whole it seems like if you don’t issue multiple press releases with several different pr firms you’re not going to get any attention on the blogs. It’s a shame because Johnny Dowd is a living national treasure. He’s Alex Chilton if Chilton didn’t have a hit with The Box Tops, Tom Waits if he never made it and was still a barfly in Ensenada, and Nick Cave without the long face (and occasional pretension).
“Yolanda” is a swampy rock thing that describes a woman and her abusive father (who eventually gets what he deserves). It’s from the new record called Wake Up The Snakes. A perfect title for a record that at times recalls a Pentecostal revival. Buy this here via Johnny’s site.
Miss Leslie is both a fan and creator of real country music based out of Houston, Tx. Her own music blog is a treasure trove of music videos of legends from the past as well as a diary of a woman who juggles her music, her life, and her family. Wrong Is What I Do Best is her new CD. She is releasing it herself and doing all the press and promotion.
Here’s the title track “Wrong Is What I Do Best”. It’s your basic good-girl-mixed-up-with-a-bad-guy” country music song elevated to another level with guitar by the amazing Bill Kirchen, pedal steel by Ricky Davis, and fiddle by Miss Leslie herself.
Get your signed copy of this record here for only 8 buck via Miss Leslie’s blog.
Glad you found me at my new url. Songs:Illinois is committed to writing about music that is under-appreciated and unique. I've found that the music I write about shares a couple of traits. And they are: lyrical integrity, musically diverse, and written/performed by compelling characters.
Most songs found here are free and legal and have been provided by either the artist or label. If for some reason you'd like to have a song removed, please email me at cbonnell (at) gmail.com.
