Jun 27

Jun 27 Review - Silverada: Self-Titled

It was a bold move back in January when Mike and the Moonpies made the sudden announcement that they were changing their name. The announcement came during this year’s Mile 0 Festival where just a few years before they had emerged triumphant as one of the hottest live country bands on the road, gaining thousands of new fans. In retrospect, it was just the latest in a series of bold moves for this group that has been surprising fans and critics since they made the decision to break out of the Texas touring cycle and try their hand at the rest of America.

Nov 17

Nov 17 Review- Tanner Usrey: Crossing Lines

Derek Scudder

2023 has been a good year for Tanner Usrey. In addition to the hundreds of shows in clubs and on festival stages, he has racked up millions of all-important streams and unleashed a series of singles which are part of his debut full-length album, Crossing Lines, releasing November 17 on Atlantic Records. Since 2019, he’s been hard at work on his music career with the release of his Medicine Man EP. Two singles, each generating over 18 million Spotify streams, led to the SOL Sessions EP as part of being named “Emerging Artist” by the Peacemaker Music Festival in 2021. With over 180 shows in 2022, word continued to spread about the emerging star from Prosper, Texas.

Mar 25

Mar 25 The Wilder Blue: Self-Titled

Victoria Scott

Just in time for the bluebonnets in Texas to pop, so does The Wilder Blue’s self-titled sophomore album. This sonically crisp ear candy makes the listener wonder if Badfinger and Alabama didn’t have a pandemic love child. The Wilder Blue is refreshingly classic while maintaining the group’s hard-fought originality.

The five-piece band, comprised of solo artist and songwriter Zane Williams, songwriter and talented guitarist Paul Eason, Lyndon Hughes (former drummer and vocalist for Roger Creager), Austin bassist Sean Rodriguez, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Rogers, self-produced the album with engineer Matt Pence (The Lord Baltimores, Shakey Graves) at Echo Lab Studios in Denton, TX.

Mar 22

Mar 22 William Clark Green: Baker Hotel

Derek Scudder

15 years into his music career, William Clark Green found himself turning 35 and suddenly forced off the road by the pandemic. Like so many other artists he took that time to take a hard look at what he was doing and re-evaluate everything. “It’s like, ‘Where am I at in life? Where do I want to be? Where did I think I would be?’ Not being able to work [during the lockdown], I had a lot of time to sit and think about myself, and what’s really locking me down,” Green says. The result of that self-scouting is Baker Hotel, his sixth studio album (out on March 28 and released on his own Bill Grease Records label).

Nov 13

Nov 13 Josh Abbott Band: The Highway Kind

David Overstreet

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 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 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.