Nov 13

Nov 13 Josh Abbott Band: The Highway Kind

It will be just over 3 years since The Josh Abbott Band has released a new album. On November 13th they will release The Highway Kind, the band’s sixth studio album. It was recorded in El Paso at the famed Sonic Ranch and produced by Marshall Altman on JAB’s own label Pretty Damn Tough Records. While making the record, Abbott and his wife relocated from Austin to Nashville for three months where he embraced the collaborative songwriting scene. Abbott dubs the new album “the first real, true band album experience” that they have recorded.

Nov 12

Nov 12 Premiere: Jason Sinkhorn | "My Last Folk Song"

Derek Scudder

Like so many other artists, Jason Sinkhorn thought 2020 was going to be a big year for his career. He says, “I thought it was going to be my year in the sense that I’d be playing live more, being more social with my music, revamping old songs and introducing new songs live. I was just gonna go for it.” The songs for the next project that he was considering had already written by January or February. Those were songs he was taking to multi-instrumentalist and producer Severn Edmondson and everything was all done for the new project except to actually do it. Then March happened.

Nov 5

Nov 5 Premiere: The Ransom Brothers | Part of the Show

Melissa Payne

What began as two acquaintances with shared taste in guitars and vinyl records, has now evolved into a collision of classic Southern Rock and outlaw country music. Singer/songwriter Sean McHargue and guitarist Daniel Solis have joined to form The Ransom Brothers, an Austin-based duo that blends haunting and accessible lyrics with gritty, saturated guitar tone.

They draw their influence from legends such as Willie Nelson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Pink Floyd, as well as modern artists like Sturgill Simpson, Tyler Childers, and Whiskey Myers. While they make a concerted effort to honor the pioneers that paved the road before them, they have every intention of going off the beaten path and creating their own image and sound as stand alone, one-of-a-kind artists.

Oct 30

Oct 30 Premiere: Sean Whiting – Perfect World

Ryan Bush

Sean Whiting has a voice that melts souls …. it’s an instrument that can stand on its own. A lava that does not stop flowing. Ever. The passion and tone carry in every lyric of his newest single, "Perfect World," due to drop on November 6th, 2020.

Part of a live performance recorded at Fat Cave Studios in Jackson, Kentucky, in August of this year, Whiting pours his emotion into a bluesy tone that defines the “Appalachian Rock” genre that he so helped to create and forefront.

The sound is smooth. The words are sincere. They cut deep – but heal. The first of a possible three EP singles in the upcoming months, Whiting puts his talent to use with a tremendous backing, including Austin Lewis (Electric Guitar), Trevor Litteral (Bass), and Clarke Sexton (Drums) – not to mention the fantastic artistry of Sam Rogers (Engineer) – "Perfect World" pulls the curtain on what Whiting has to offer to the music realm, especially as a songsmith and visionary.

Oct 29

Oct 29 Sam Morrow: Gettin' By on Gettin' Down

Stephanie Blackburn

These days, many of us are just gettin’ by, and Spring, Texas native and current Los Angeles resident, Sam Morrow has a new album that will help us all get down in a good way right now. His sharp witted songwriting along with his hybrid rock and funk, Gettin’ By On Gettin’ Down is worthy of being turned up to 11. With heavy driving percussion and amplified more by the electric over the acoustic guitar, Sam and his multi-talented band bring an eclectic sound that will get you groovin’ or hit you straight in the soul on all nine tracks. Mostly recorded in just six days at an LA-based studio owned by Rock n Roll Hall of Fame guitarist Robby Krieger (The Doors), we are given a clear window into Sam’s artistic growth since Concrete & Mud. Touring internationally for eighteen months in support of that album allowed him to have diverse experiences and continue to gather musical influences that have a strong appeal across genre preferences.

Oct 28

Oct 28 Old Soul Staying on the Rails, Fighting the Good Fight: An Interview with W.B. Walker

Phillip Ring

If you find yourself asking, "Who or what is W.B. Walker?" I’m about to bring a world of joy, creativity, and intention to your attention. What started as a way to show friends and family what one smooth, southern, baritone-voiced, pirate radio DJ was listening to, blossomed into a way for artists to break into a brand new stratosphere. Being on the “Old Soul Radio Show” has become a stop on the way to stardom in the lives of many Country, Americana, or whatever genre the kids are calling twangy, honest, traditional American music these days. When you have someone like W.B. who dedicates his time without expectation of compensation, maintains integrity over popularity, and shares artists who go on to be stars, megastars, superstars and any other kind of star you can dream up, a platform like his becomes paramount to artists looking to stay fed on the road.

Oct 26

Oct 26 Zach Aaron: Fill Dirt Wanted

Jolene Horihan

Zach Aaron’s latest album, Fill Dirt Wanted, is his follow up to 2017’s Murder of Crows, released on May 15. Honestly, I didn’t know if we would even see many albums released after March this year. With the shutdown of venues, restaurants and bars, the climate of the economy of performing arts was so uncertain. Artists were no longer able to tour to promote upcoming or recently released albums. For independent artists like Zach Aaron, that is the most effective way to support their work. They don’t have big budget labels advertising their music. So many artists opted to postpone their releases or, conversely, took to heavily hitting social media and music publications to promote their albums. Zach and his team chose to do the latter.

Oct 22

Oct 22 Rachel Brooke: The Mystic Return of a Grievous Angel

Mandy Mitchell

So often in our modern age of shifting musical cannon boundaries and genre nonconformity, we hear the resounding plea for a return to simpler times and simpler songs made by purist fans and old soul hipsters wistfully clinging to a bygone era. With her newest album, The Loneliness in Me, Rachel Brooke channels a returning cosmic grievous honky tonk angel, her unembellished and commanding vocals inexplicably containing the specific sound of a haunted echo as it bounces off the baseboards of the oldest dance halls of the country music circuit.

Oct 21

Oct 21 Stephanie Lambring: Heavy Things to Say

Mandy Mitchell

In Stephanie Lambring’s upcoming album, “Autonomy,” delicate melodies combine with bare-faced lyrics forged in fire to deliver a haunting punch in the gut as the singer/songwriter reemerges after a long hiatus away from her music career. Bareknuckle truths are expertly folded into masterful lyrics aimed at ripping apart the societal cages that bind the modern woman. With topics ranging from sexuality, failed marriages, eating disorders, suicide, and the hypocrisy that often accompanies organized religion, no subject is sacred. ‘Autonomy’ will be released into the wild October 23rd, and leaves the listener examining shared hurts ages old, as well as the sometimes questionable ethics of personal moral codes.

Oct 20

Oct 20 John Baumann: Country Shade

Derek Scudder

I fear we’re living in the strangest of times /

Where no matter where you stand /

You’re always on opposing sides /

John Baumann seems to sum up 2020 with those lines from “The Country Doesn't Sound the Same,” the opening track of his latest record Country Shade. With the COVID-19 pandemic bringing live music to a sudden halt, the usual cycle of touring to promote a new release has kept Baumann off the road and you may have missed out on this record when it came out in June. It deserves a closer look.

Oct 19

Oct 19 Interview with The Jensen Sisters

Erin Elizabeth

On the list of things synonymous with Minnesota, country music isn’t exactly one of them. For The Jensen Sisters, that leaves plenty of room to blaze a trail all their own. Which is exactly what the young songwriters are doing. It was only 5 years ago sisters Kansas (17) and Kendra (20) kicked off their musical careers, performing Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman” on a whim in their high school talent show. “That was the moment. If there was ever one moment for us, that was it,” says Kendra. “It was such a natural snowball. That’s how I would describe it. We didn’t even conscientiously realize we were becoming musicians. It just kind of happened. I’m lucky that it’s never felt like something we had to push. It’s always just been something we’re behind and it keeps pulling us.”

Oct 15

Oct 15 Malin Pettersen: Wildhorse

Melissa Payne

Have you heard of Nordicana music? If you’re like me, you probably consider yourself well-versed in most things relating to the Americana music genre. However, until the recent album release of “Nordicana artists” like The Northern Belle, I confess that I’d never heard of the term. It’s a term used for artists from Scandanavian countries who are making folk and Americana music. Which brings me to Malin Petterson, the subject of this review and her new album, Wildhorse. Wildhorse is the album that you’re going to reach for on the rough days to brighten your spirits. That’s not to say that the album doesn’t have his slower, thoughtful and even sad songs, but Malin’s warm vocals are enough to bring a bit of color to any gray day.

Oct 15

Oct 15 Premiere: Tiffany Williams | Ticket to the Moon

Jolene Horihan

I immediately fell in love with the music of Tiffany Williams when I heard her January 2019 debut EP, When You Go. Her haunting, yet stunning vocals are the immediate draw, but upon more attentive listening, you are captivated by the detailed lyricism. It’s no wonder as Williams is a former English teacher and an award-winning fiction writer. Tiffany has resided in Nashville for a handful of years now, but her love for her East Kentucky roots always shines through in her writing. The generations of pride, hard work, heartache, loss and redemption shine through in everything she pens. Her most recent work from this year is remarkable and only stands to solidify her rise to the pinnacle of the Appalachian artists that are dominating the country and folk music scene as of late. Premiering today, is her latest single of 2020, Ticket to the Moon.

Oct 9

Oct 9 An Interview with Izzy Heltai

Jessie Pugh Weiss

If the goal is for a collection of songs to become a whole -- a sum of sustenance, an entirety -- Izzy Heltai accomplishes that with his debut album Father, each track serving as a stepping stone on a single path of discovery.

With arrangements by his childhood friend Micah, recorded at Sleeper Cave Records in his home state of Massachusetts and produced by Sophie Buskin, who also provides backing vocals and harmonies on the record, you get a sense of home and comfort along the way. Even without dissecting the moving lyrics and the undercurrent of growth and resolution, these are the tales of a person in bloom -- not so much the sunlit bursting of a garden bud but more the fuzzy unfurling of a woodland fern, the success of pushing up and through the ground covering that had nourished when it could have smothered.

Oct 9

Oct 9 Great Peacock: Forever Worse Better

Derek Scudder

“Don’t quit your day job” is the standard insult used by hecklers to put down performers, but the new Great Peacock record, Forever Worse Better, took shape as part of band frontman/guitarist Andrew Nelson’s day job. That job has him driving a truck delivering meat from a small farm to restaurants around the southeast. It gives him plenty of alone time which leads to inspiration for writing songs. Nelson says he would use phone apps to record lyrics and work out basic arrangements while he was on the road between deliveries. With the 2020 pandemic shutting down the live music industry, Nelson was happy to have that day job.

Oct 8

Oct 8 Michael Bernard Fitzgerald: Love Valley

David Overstreet

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is a Canadian singer/songwriter who has collected an audience of fans across North America drawn to simple honest words and a genuine smile. Having released four full-length albums to date, Fitzgerald has spent his career since 2006 creating music, touring, developing as a songwriter, and connecting with audiences. Fitzgerald’s unique and innovative ideas coupled with his inherent warmth allow him to engage with people in a way that always leaves them meaningfully connected.

Love Valley is the culmination of Fitzgerald’s experience as a songwriter and the warm vibe achieved on the LP is something he is carrying over to his live shows. Faced with very few options for touring due to COVID-19, Fitzgerald came up with the idea to set up the Greenbriar Tent in his own backyard in Calgary where he played an intimate concert for a handful of folks Tuesday through Saturday night each week. Guests were treated to a concert and conversation.

Oct 7

Oct 7 49 Winchester: III

Jonathan Oost

he Appalachian region of Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, and Virginia has a rich tradition of country music, however it does seem like a tidal wave of talent has emerged from the region over the last seven or eight years. 49 Winchester hails from Russell County, VA (minutes from the birthplace of country music, Bristol, TN) with a sound they brand as “Appalachian Soul”. An eclectic mix of country, blues, soul, and rock n roll that blends them together effortlessly with a five piece band (Isaac Gibson- Vocals/Guitar, Bus Shelton- Guitar, Chase Chafin- Bass, Noah Patrick- Steel Guitar, Dillon Cridlin- Drums)

Oct 6

Oct 6 Laid Back Country Picker: Kingsport

Ryan Bush

That sound you hear ripping through the valley and rambling over the hill is proudly brought to you by Laid Back Country Picker and his newest album, Kingsport

A stalwart in the musically-enriched soil of Eastern Kentucky, Laid Back puts his talent to work with a combination of witty storytelling, head-bouncing rhythm, and some electric guitar work that is nothing short of precise and, sometimes, down right mesmerizing.

Released by Hickman Holler Records, the label owned by Tyler Childers, Laid Back was immersed in an unbelievable wealth of talent, including Producers David Ferguson and Kenny Miles out of The Butcher Shoppe recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, Kingsport is a testament to what happens when creative forces combine – including the album art of the one-and-only Jimbo Valentine. Backed by the likes of Hayden Miles on drums, Russ Pahl on guitars, JT Cure on bass, Jesse Wells on Fiddle/Banjo and Honey (Laid Back’s sweetie) with backing vocals, there is something that is, undeniably, the “Laid Back” sound. Oh, Shady Boggs offers his talents with vocals as well. Let’s not forget him.

Oct 5

Oct 5 Band of Heathens: Stranger

Phillip Ring

We as a nation, as a people, as music lovers in the age of social media face an odd conflict. Americana and “southern” identity while not wholly unapproached, is again under the bright lights of the musical landscape. The contrast of artists you hear on the radio and indie scenes that are “dirt road, cold beer, eagles and AMERICA!” to the soft spoken compassion and activist songwriting of others saying “listen, look, we have to protect those who need us.” It can be confusing and polarizing. Are we acting on the same information? Is that information filtered to us correctly? This isn’t intended to lay out some “secret liberal leftist agenda” or convince you to “Stand By,” so put your papaw’s shotgun away and don’t come hunt me down in my little corner of southwest Virginia paradise. It’s an important backdrop for an album that asks by and large what we’re all asking in our confused southern drawl, “huh?” While some people are firmly set in their beliefs, there are a lot of people who just wonder, how do we make sense of any of this? What agency and impact do I have? What choice do I have? Does my voice matter?

Oct 2

Oct 2 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival 2020

Jolene Horihan

Typically occurring in San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Park, the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival will be switching gears to provide its attendees a virtual experience in 2020. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 virus, measures were taken to keep the fans, artists, and staff safe, as well as adhering to California’s statewide mandate against large public gatherings, while still producing a high caliber musical and community-focused event. One thing that has never changed, is the custom of this festival to remain free to its attendees. Warren and Chris Hellman initiated the festival as a gift to the City of San Francisco by sharing their love of American Roots music. Celebrating its 20th year, it was important to the Hellman Foundation, who oversees the festival, to maintain their tradition. Part of the celebration broadcast will include new performance footage, archival sets, as well as fan and staff memories from previous festival years.