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Cindy Lee Berryhill has shifted her focus somewhat over the last decade or so. Who’s to blame her? The world’s changed and she with it. Her style has morphed from that of an art house folk siren to a twisted alt-country chanteuse (admittedly not a great difference to a layperson). Her songs also seem more topical and she’s running with a new unruly peace crowd. In fact she’s the host of an ongoing series of nights at Club Largo in LA called “Songs Of Protest”.

She’s also about to release her new record on her very own label Popdeluxe. Beloved Stranger is the title and we have the title track as a preview. Guests include John Doe, Peter Case and Dave Alvin.

Beloved Stranger

Plus the Neil Young approved:

When Did Jesus Become A Republican

I’ve been waiting for news of the new David Dondero record to break. I think he’s brilliant and I think his 2005 release for Team Love, South Of the South, was one of the best records of that year. If you think I’m full of shit NPR backed me up recently by naming him one of the top 10 living songwriters.

So in lieu of any one else breaking the news I’ll have to do it myself. David dondero’s new record, Simple Love, comes out August 21 on Team Love Records. The album artwork nails David’s laidback persona and adds a little folk-art spin. And the two songs below continue the long line of amazing songs about humanity and the human condition that David’s become known for. For me “Rothko Chapel” is nearly perfect with it’s allusion to the importance of the church of life, music and art. David Dondero likens deeply religous experience with the music of John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, the art of Mark Rothko, the wonders of nature and the beauty of science; while deriding the rest of the world of organized religion. Pre-order Simple Love here.

Rothko Chapel
Simple Love

“Rothko’s Chapel”

“Boulevard Of Broken Hearts, Busted Dreams”

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In my never ending quest for new music that fits the Songs:Illinois bill I came across the band Carolina Chocolate Drops. The name itself was enough for me to want to poke around and learn more. The fact that The Music Maker Relief Foundation is involved solidified things for me. Music Maker is a not for profit organization that helps blues musicians deal with some of their everyday problems and strife; be it health insurance, paying the bills, etc.

Carolina Chocolate Drops are a bridge back in time to the African-American Piedmont stringband groups. Their style of stringband traditionally puts more emphasis on the banjo than the fiddle. It’s said that it’s the banjo that drives the song forward. Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind is the new record that initially may have been self-released, but has now been re-released with a little better packaging and more distribution muscle by Music Maker.

Starry Crown
Ricketts Hornpipe
Short Life Of Trouble

Bonus back catalog blues courtesy of Music Maker

Cat Squall Blues – Freddie King
The Things that I Used To Do – Adolphus Bell
Liquor Still – Cora Mae Bryant
Drinkin The Wine – Drink Small And Cootie Stark
Piece Behind The Bridge – Etta Baker
My Wife Left Me – Lee Gates

This is the best song you’ll hear all week. Period. That used to be quite a boast but with the number of blogs and online/offline music possibilities it may not hold the same weight. Nonetheless this little gem from West Dakota’s upcoming debut full length, Turn Around Leaders on Swim Slowly)(Doveman, The Robot Ate Me), hits all the right warbly high notes, strums just the right banjo chords, references the perfect number of mythical beasts, and namedrops the coolest philosophical theories (deterministic vs. free will).

West Dakota is Edna Rosenburg with help from Ryland Bouchard (T.R.A.M,), Sam Amidon, and Thomas Bartlett (Doveman).

Buy it here for $10.

Winners

Bonus songs from Samamidon’s new record But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted:

Louis Collins
Tribulation

Bonus song from Doveman:

Honey

Something from The Robot Ate Me:

Good World

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Chris Bathgate (here, here) is in the news quite a bit lately. First, one of his songs is featured on the Yer Bird compilation Folk Music For The End Of The World. It’s a great little comp that puts a bunch of indie folk artists of like minds in one place (Chris’ contemporaries on End Of The World are J. Tillman, Hayden, and The Gunshy). Secondly the great little label (or not so little depending on how Canada’s This Cursed House sold through) Quite Scientific is releasing Chris Bathgate’s next record, titled A Cork Tale Wake, on July 26.

Of course I haven’t heard much but this little sneak peak shows why Quite Scientific signed him, why he was named “Best Solo Artist in Michigan” by the Detroit Free Press and why he’s a favorite of Songs:Illinois. “A flash of light followed by” has the wonderful finger picked acoustic guitar that we’ve heard before from Chris, his always expressive voice and now a fuller production with horns and distorted guitars. To kill two birds with one stone here’s the one song that’s on both the excellent new Yer Bird compilation and on Chris Bathgate’s upcoming Quite Scientific debut A Cork Tale Wake.

A flash Of light followed by

“Buffalo Girl” from Throatsleep

Buffalo Girl

Here’s a live version of “Buffalo Girl” (link down)(courtesy of Cherbonsy)

MP3, Music

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I still get a huge rush discovering something new that I love and that I hope others will love, Sonny Smith (MySpace) easily goes down as one of my favorite finds. Others are excited as I am. It seems his record label, Belle Sound, was started solely to get Sonny Smith’s new record, Fruitvale, out to a larger market. The label is somehow related to the great Chuck Prophet (I think he “owns” it since the label’s previous releases were Green On Red collectibles).

“The characters in Sonny’s songs are so real, don’t be surprised if they crawl out of your speakers and bum your last smoke off you. I wouldn’t wish running a label on my worst enemy. Sonny is so good I had no choice.” (Chuck Prophet)

Sonny’s previous albums have been concept records (one a series of one act plays, another made up of songs about broken love). The new one is also a loose concept record with all the songs based on his neighborhood of Fruitvale within the city of Oakland. “Curtis On The Corner” is a microcosm of the entire album writ small. In one song you get plenty of imagery about the neighborhood of Fruitvale (“2 bird cages on a windowsill”, “a singing butcher at the grocery store”, “a pit bull singing to a police siren”, and “a dead bottle rocket on my front porch”), and also a sense of the folk troubadour sound found throughout. I hear a kind of roughed up Paul Simon (circa “Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard”) meets a woozy and now urban Townes Van Zandt. Guests on the record include Leroy Bach (Wilco), Dave Hilliard (David Byrne), Mathew Luz (Azita) and three of the most fabulous Chicago singers ever – Nora O’Connor, Edith Frost and Kelly Hogan.

I’m so not surprised that Sonny has dates coming up with David Dondero and Neko Case. Here’s a couple of dates:

Wednesday 28th at Park West in Chicago with Neko Case
Sunday April 15th at Make-Out Room

PRE-ORDER this April 17th release here and save two bucks.

Curtis On The Corner

Bonus songs from 2005′s One Act Plays:

Eddie and Rita
Weird Fantasy/Strange Adventure

“Rothko Chapel” from David Dondero’s 2007 release Simple Love

Rothko Chapel

Avett Brothers sing “For Today”

“Shame” in NYC

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One of the pluses about writing about music that generally now one has ever heard of is that their are few experts to correct you. Sure, people have heard about the Avett Brothers but on the whole they’re a very new and as yet undiscovered band. So when I say that I hear shades of Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison on their new record there are few around who can disagree.

At least iTunes agrees with me and instead of filing them under indie or country or folk they get the more obtuse genre tag of “unclassifiable”. I like the new album title too, the new record is called Emotionalism. Like a combo of emo and turntablism, strange. The first track, “Die Die Die”, is a fine example of the sound that I’m trying to describe. Layered yet simple. Romantic yet somehow down to earth. On first (and second) listen this sounds like a slight departure/evolution for the band. I can’t find a pre-order link yet but you can get this new release at the band’s upcoming shows.

Die Die Die

PS Seth Avett Solo:

Some Bad Dream
Walkin The Line

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Gill Landry is a young New Orleans singer-songwriter who draws from many different styles, natch since he’s from the melting pot of jazz, blues and funk. Depending on the song you might hear shades of mariachi, a spanish bolero, Dylan, Sonny Landreth, Boozoo Chavis, etc. etc. The Ballad of Lawless Soirez is Landry’s debut and it just came out on the Canadian label Nettwerk. The disc was recorded in Portland with Nick Jaina (remember him) with Nick assembling a diverse group of musicians to beef up this former busker’s sound.

The cd’s artwork is apropo as well. The pulp novel lettering and fim noirish photo convey well the sounds you’ll encounter within. I contacted Gill for permission to post any one of the four songs he’s got streaming on myspace, and he sent me the title track. But you should check out the others and then buy his debut here.

Lawless Soirez

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Gill doing “Lawless Soirez” at Safari Sam’s in Hollywood, Ca.

MP3, Music

Silent Night
The Little Drummer Boy

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This post is not ready for prime time, despite the fact I started writing it two weeks ago. What prompted me to post it today (unfinished) is an email touting the band’s arrival. Vandaveer is unabashed (indie) folk from The Apparitions frontman Mark Charles Heidinger. His MySpace page lists his genre as “Folk Folk Folk”. And you can hear it loud and clear in the two songs below from his debut out soon on Gypsy Eyes.

There’s some of the nasally troubadour folk of Bob Dylan as well as a bit of his way with words but there’s also a Crosby, Stills and Nash California vocal harmonies sound peeking through. You can hear the “indie” influences in the processed vocals, beats and somber themes of “Marianne You’ve Done It Now”. This is a pretty auspicious start of the year for Gypsy Eyes Records and I’ll have more from them soon.

However Many Takes It Takes

Bonus song:
Marianne You’ve Done It Now

MP3, Music

I’m not calling this a “Best Of” list since I don’t do those. I haven’t heard The National’s record or Radiohead’s for that matter, but I’ll concede that they’re two of the best (over-hyped) records of the year. They certainly don’t need me piling on and adding to all the fawning attention they’ve received in the last couple of weeks. So let’s call this the “Most Deserving Artists of the Year List” list.

Here’s my first repost of 2007. Warts and all.

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Needless to say I’ve heard a ton of great music over the past few years. I’ve written about a portion of it on Songs:Illinois and Swedesplease. Still with all that great music there are still only a handfull of artists that I would dare say are my favorites. Tom Brosseau (MS) is one and if you’re a longtime reader you can guess the rest. Tom is set to release his new record in January on Loveless Records. It’s creatively titled Grand Forks (his home town) and is said to be a concept record of sorts about the great flood that hit Grand Forks in 1997. I imagine this is a concept record more along the lines of Ramona Cordova’s The Boy Who Floated Freely than The Who’s Tommy. The songs are inspired by the event and all relate in some way to the city but it’s not like track one has the storm approaching and track two it hits and track three everything gets really wet.

The most obvious aspect of Tom Brosseau’s style is his lilting high pitched vocals. When you see him live you also are immediately drawn to his humble, shy manner and equally humble (yet masterfull) guitar playing. But it’s his songs that at times strike right to the core. “Plaid Jacket” is the tale of a homeless character who clings to the contents of his shopping cart and his plaid lined jacket. The switch is that Tom has made it so that the homeless character is a more appealing person then the more stable but garish people in the song. Grand Forks was produced by Gregory Page (here) and co-produced by John Doe. Pre-order Grand Forks here.

Plaid Lined Jacket

“Good Night Irene” at Club Passim

MP3, Music