Luke Winslow-King “Blue Mesa” Featured Album Featured Artist Music Features by Ken Templeton - May 8, 20180 Goddamn, Luke Winslow-King is smooth. I’ve been spinning his new record Blue Mesa (Bloodshot) this morning and it feels both like I’ve known this album all my life and like a breath of fresh air. I think that happens because he draws on so many genres to create his own brand of roots music, so it all sounds like the real thing without getting repetitive. On Blue Mesa you get ripping blues and screaming slide guitars juxtaposed with Gospel-infused ballads, with a dreamy organ setting a mournful tone. There is a real dynamism to this record and it holds together incredibly well. It’s going to be a great companion for this summer. Billboard premiered “Chicken Dinner” off Blue Mesa and
Stirring and Shaken Up: Sarah Shook and the Disarmers “Years” Hits Hard Featured Album Music Features by Brian Carroll - April 17, 2018April 17, 20180 A little more Hank than Lucinda. Perhaps an equal dosing of Johnny Cash and Joan Jett, Sarah Shook's latest record "Years" came to my ears as an unexpected shockwave to my chest cavity, stopping my heart and pounding it back to above normal heart sinus rhythm in one fell swoop. Photo by John Gessner There is something so authentic, raw and untroubled about her delivery of each tune on this record. Seemingly ok with heartache and despair, or at least accepting that its part of being human. A deadpan delivery and a break in her voice that could collapse mountains with its benevolence, that even when she sings the most scathing of her lyrics, a certain vulnerability and realness seeps through in
Heartfelt Heartache: Joshua Black Wilkins’ “Valentine Sessions” Album Reviews Featured Album Music Features Reviews by Brian Carroll - February 21, 2018February 21, 20180 I'll spare you the obvious comparisons of JBW's latest release. After listening to the album just twice through already, it is evident it is a collection that deserves to stand on its own merit. An offering of songs recorded just a week ago and released today. The process of which procured a sparsely recorded grouping of songs, a moment captured in time versus a meticulously arranged anthology of words and noises...and the songs are better as a result. Where in many cases, a situation such as this may falter as a result, but so is not the case with 'Valentine Sessions'. Wilkins voice and writing are at their zenith here and on display, fully. The confidence and grace that he sinks
Peep This: Billy Failing ‘So Many Miles’ Featured Album Music Features by Brian Carroll - November 17, 20170 We came across Billy Failing as we do so many other fantastic artists, through another artist that we love. Just back at the end of September I was fortunate to catch Billy Strings at Higher Ground in Burlington and while Strings is a marvel to behold perform live, the banjo player's mind boggling licks and tasteful classic bluegrass harmonies had me nodding and saying "fuck yea" to myself multiple times over the course of the band's set. Failing is a multi instrumentalist and singer-songwriter in his own right as well. Earlier this year he released "Calling My Trouble By Name" and this week it is our featured album of the week. Failing succeeds tremendously in an environment where we sometimes see
I’m With Her Announce Debut Full Length Record “See You Around” Featured Album Music Features by Brian Carroll - November 11, 20170 It's about time. Thats about it. When I first was able to witness the power trio of Aoife O' Donovan, Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz (I'm With Her) I knew before they took to the stage we were in for a treat, I just didn't realize how much of a treat that would be and the time between then and now has had me wishing for tours and records and more. While the three songwriters and multi-instrumentalist have provided us with a taste here and there, touring this past summer as a smorgasboard of talent alongside Punch Brothers and Julian Lage (collectively American Acoustic) and making us knee-weak puddles of emotional mush with their cover of Adele, this is just
Song Premiere: Mark Erelli, “Ophelia” (The Band) Featured Album Featured Track Music Features by Ken Templeton - September 28, 2017September 28, 20170 For those of us of a certain, ahem, vintage, we remember all too well our sweaty palms and awkward hopes as we passed somebody a mixtape of songs to say all we couldn’t say. The cases were decorated with careful and deliberate handwriting. There were themes and titles, as if naming albums, and there was an art to timing out the songs on each side so that every second of tape was used. Well, Mark Erelli made you a mixtape! These are songs that have informed his career as a songwriter, musician, and singer. They are from a wide variety of artists, genres, and time periods and it is a damn fine album. We’re please to premiere one of the
Opening Your Eyes: Muddy Ruckus Releases “Awakening Enkindled” EP Featured Album Music Features Uncategorized by Brian Carroll - August 23, 2017August 23, 20170 In the time that I have known Ryan Flaherty and Erika Stahl one thing has been abundantly clear about the duo known as Muddy Ruckus: no matter what they are doing; be it performing on a stage, watching others make music or just giving you a hug to say hello; they put their whole hearts into it. Sometimes what the heart feels, however, isn't joy or jubilance or positivity. Its can be pain or frustration or anger. Flaherty has been justifiably upset with the current state of affairs within the country and to project those emotions and feelings he did what he knows how to do best, write about it and pour his heart into playing the songs that sprang forth
I Shall Be Released…And So Shall Dan Blakeslee’s “Alley Walker”…TODAY! Featured Album Music Features by Brian Carroll - August 18, 20170 The title isn't for nothing. Dan Blakeslee's latest effort continues his tradition of meandering tales of his travels around the country and the signature finger picking sound that emanates from the octo-guitar slung across his chest, but the record as a whole takes on a warmer, full vibe...yes, perhaps ala the Band...this time around. And that, my friends is a welcome addition. Songs like the fabled "Johnny and June", which Blakeslee has previously told me he was able to sing on the steps of one of Cash's homes during a tour, amongst members of his family, really engulfs that full sound. It echoes through other tracks like "Ready for the Cinema"with the keys playing an integral role in the sound of
Fresh Tracks: The Bean Pickers Union “Caterwaul” Album Reviews Featured Album Music Features Reviews by Brian Carroll - July 14, 2017July 14, 20170 Sad songs make me happy. I am not sure what the logic is behind that, but there is something in hearing some sort of sorrow in a song that makes me feel alive and human in some way. Bean Pickers Union frontman and songwriter Chuck Melchin writes songs that strike that nerve with me more than most are able to and whenever I receive a note from him saying he has something new rumbling, I drop everything I am doing to dive into the abyss and just let myself steep there in the coffee stained smoke of his narratives. Its been 10 years since the release from the collective that made me an immediate fan. 2007's Potlatch broke my heart
Rewind/Fast Forward: Old Sky’s “Green on Fire”, Listen To This Now! Featured Album Uncategorized by Brian Carroll - March 28, 2017March 28, 20170 Though a large portion of what I listen to on a daily basis is clips and quick portions of songs that wind up in my inbox one way or another, occasionally something catches my attention by a chance meeting at a venue or a bar with someone I probably should have been listening to for a long time. The most of the music I listen to that is over a year old is either something incredibly nostalgic to me or a record I fell in love with when it was released and I can't stop from spinning it today (regardless of how full that inbox remains of new things to dig into, or discard). "Green on Fire" from Old Sky