Americana Music Releases for the week of Feb 21st, 2012

Posted on February 21, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of February 21st, 2012. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

THE CHIEFTAINS
Voice Of Ages (Hear/Concord)

The Chieftains are credited with being one of the first bands to popularize traditional Irish music around the world. Many artists now fill their albums with guests to increase their viability but The Chietains have been doing it forever having collaborated with a who’s who of illustrious names across the genres, from Ziggy Marley to Mick Jagger and Alison Krauss.  Keeping the  trend alive on Voice Of Ages, by enlisting mostly Americana guests like Punch Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Secret Sisters, The Decemberists, Imelda May and others. Download available today, (Feb. 21st) for only $3.99!

Voice of Ages Trailer | The Chieftains from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

MOOT DAVIS
Man About Town (Highway Kind)

After a short hiatus from music, Moot Davis is striking back with a record that deserves to be heard. Man About Town is a not so much a departure from the past for Moot, but more of a branching out to new horizons. He has not forgotten his traditional country roots, those are very much on display here, but he has also included songs which carry more punch and variety than in his prior releases. Produced by Kenny Vaughan, who of course also contributes on electric guitar, the record features Harry Stinson on drums, Paul Martin on bass, Chris Scruggs on steel and guitar, Hank Singer on fiddle, and George Bradfute on slide guitar. This stellar lineup truly shines throughout the record, accentuating the fine writing and vocal talents which Moot has on display here. (By John Walker, Americana Roots)

TOMMY WOMACK
Now What! (Ceder Creek)

On his last album,  There, I Said It!, Womack, sang about how his better days appeared to be behind him. Now What! picks up where he left off. “The last record was all about being washed up.” he says, “This one is about what happened when I got me my career back. Songs about home and family “Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play” collide into songs about the perils of road life “On and Off the Wagon” to the album closer “Let’s Have Another Cigarette”.  Tommy is not afraid to show you his dirty dishes, insecurities and deep love of God and smoking pot. His easy-going style get some help from co-producer John Deaderick and a few trombones.  Good stuff!

 

Also new this week…

ERIK BRANDT – The Long Winter (House of Mercy)
THE IVEYS – Days & Nights (self released)
KEVN KINNEY & GOLDEN PALOMINOS – A Good Country Mile (Redeye)
LAMPCHOP - Mr. M (Merge)
MAD BUFFALO - Red And Blue (Mad Buffalo)
MICHAEL MARTIN MURPHEY - Campfire on the Road (Western Jubilee)
JIM WHITE – Where It Hits You  (Yep Roc)

Coming soon…  LYLE LOVETT, CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS, CHUCK MEAD, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A., CHIP TAYLOR, NANCI GRIFFITH, TODD SNIDER, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN…  more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater

Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Americana CD releases, Americana Music, Bluegrass, Country Music, Music, Nashville, New music releases, Roots Music | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Feb 14th, 2012

Posted on February 13, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of February 14th, 2012, otherwise known as Valentine’s Day. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

DAVE CARTER & TRACY GRAMMER
Little Blue Egg (Red House)

Grammer discovered the tracks for Little Blue Egg during an emergency archiving project in the summer of 2010, a full eight years after Carter’s death. Rescuing the original ADAT tapes from a moldy basement where they were stored, she happily discovered that the tapes were in pristine condition. “Tears flowed, I laughed out loud, memories flooded back,” Grammer remembers. “It felt like a miracle to hear Dave’s voice, and our voices, together, singing old songs that sounded new again, along with others I had forgotten about entirely.” Recorded in their home studios between 1997 and 2002, the album offers a glimpse into the duo’s musical process. Fully fleshed-out folk and Americana songs left off of other albums find a home alongside intimate, late-night living room recordings.

KEVIN GORDON
Gloryland (self released)

“We’ll empty your spit-valve for life if you find us anything more stunning than ‘Colfax,’ Kevin Gordon’s undeniably superb song that could only have come from one mind, and from one person’s experience. It’s ostensibly about a kid in the marching band but winds up being about the heart of American darkness and the steel that it takes to move beyond.”
- Peter Cooper, The Tennessean

PUNCH BROTHERS
Who’s Feeling Young Now? (Nonesuch)

Mandolin monster Chris Thile’s ‘bluegrass supergroup who don’t play bluegrass’ check in with another batch of songs that stretch the boundaries of whata gifted group of acoustic musicians are capable of. The album features a couple covers, namely “Kid A” by  Radiohead, and “Flippen” by VÄSEN.  Two of the songs on the new album are co-writes with Josh Ritter.  Below is a video of the band recording a song from the CD.

Punch Brothers – “Clara” Who’s Feeling Young Now? Preview from Punch Brothers on Vimeo.

 

Also new this week…

MARY BLACK - Stories From the Steeples (Blix Street)
ANGELA EASTERLING  - Mon secret (De l’Est)
THE DUNWELLS - Blind Sighted Faith (Playing in Traffic)
ALBERT LEE & HOGAN’S HEROES - On the Town Tonight (Heroic)
AMOS LEE - As The Crow Flies (EMI)
DAVE McGRAW & MANDY FER - Seed Of A Pine (self released)
DREW NELSON - Tilt-A-Whirl (Red House)
OTIS TAYLOR - Contraband (Telarc/Concord)
WINTERPILLS - All My Lovely Goners (Signature Sounds)

Coming soon…  LYLE LOVETT, CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS, MOOT DAVIS, JIM WHITE, THE CHIEFTAINS, CHIP TAYLOR, KEVN KINNEY & GOLDEN PALOMINOS, MAD BUFFALO,  CHUCK MEAD, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A., NANCI GRIFFITH, TODD SNIDER, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN … more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater

Freight Train Boogie

Posted in AMA, Americana CD releases, Americana Music, Bluegrass, Country Music, New music releases | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Feb 7th, 2012

Posted on February 6, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of February 7th, 2012. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

CHUCK PROPHET
Temple Beautiful (Yep Roc)

Chuck says “This my New York. I would never put myself next to Lou Reed, but in some ways that’s what it is. The record’s an unsentimental (though loving) tour of San Francisco. My effort to tap into the history, the weirdness, the energy and spontaneity that brought me here in the first place. All the songs are SF related somehow.” Rootsy rock at it’s finest.

MARTIN ZELLAR & THE HARDWAYS
Rooster’s Crow (Owen Lee)

Recorded at the Zone Studio in Dripping Springs, Texas, Roosters Crow features,along with The Hardways (bassist Nick Ciola and drummer Scott Wenum)  a list of respected and  talented Austin-based musicians, including Kelly Willis, Lloyd Maines, Kevin McKinney, Bukka Allen, Chojo Jacques, Billy Bright and Terri Hendrix. Zellar led a 90′s early-Alt.Country band called the gear Daddies. Recommended!

Various Artists
Sixties Transition (Floating World)

Rare studio recordings from the archives of noted L.A. record producer and the father of the folk-rock sound, Jim Dickson (Byrds, Flying Burrito Bros., Country Gazette). Highlights include: the first, never before released recordings of the 60s peace anthem, “Get Together” by it’s composer, singer Dino Valenti and rarest of all Byrds recordings: Hamilton Camp & The Byrds with a newly discovered 1965 studio recording of Dylan’s “The Times They Are A Changing” plus a rare instrumental recording by David Crosby and jazz musicians Bud Shank and Joe Pass, along with never before released bluegrass-rock recordings of the original Dillards. Very interesting collection and reasonably priced for an import.

Also new this week…

ANNA COOGAN - The Wasted Ocean (self released)
DR. DOG - Be The Void (Anti-)
BEN KWELLER - Go Fly A Kite  (The Noise Company)
Various Artists - Hearts Across Texas (Thirty Tigers)
JOE LOUIS WALKER - Hellfire (Alligator)

Coming soon…  THE PUNCH BROTHERS, KEVIN GORDON, LYLE LOVETT, CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS… more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater

Freight Train Boogie

Posted in New music releases | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Jan 31st, 2012

Posted on January 30, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of January 31st, 2012. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

DARRELL SCOTT
Long Ride Home (Full Light/Thirty Tigers)

“I was baptized in country music” says Darrell. Recorded in Scott’s living room over several days last spring, the project is an intimate homage to the music Darrell remembers from his childhood and the father and mother who presided over that country music baptism. The core band features some of the best… Hargus “Pig” Robbin, Kenny Malone, Lloyd Green, Dennis Crouch, Charlie McCoy, Tim O’Brien and others.  Darrell’s chops on guitar and steel, and warm vocal tones, have earned him elite sideman gigs like Robert Plant’s current Band of Joy.  Now on Long Ride Home, the country music that shaped his musical character and that has informed his prior work, comes to the surface.  It also features his father Wayne, who just died this past November. The record is passionate, bluesy, neighborly and emotional and an early vote for Album of the Year.

GRETCHEN PETERS
Hello Cruel World (Scarlet Letter)

Explaining Hello Cruel World‘s genesis, Peters says, “In 2010 the universe threw its best and its worst at me. Some of it was personal, some global. All of it seemed to demand that I redefine my ideas of permanence and reevaluate what I believe in, to literally rethink what is real.” First the Gulf of Mexico oil spill put an eco-disaster at the doorsteps of the cottage in the Florida panhandle where Peters writes much of her music. Then a friend of 30 years committed suicide, followed quickly by the worst flood in the history of her adopted hometown of Nashville. The title of Gretchen Peters’ new Hello Cruel World is a pun on the famed exit line – sweetens this captivating music spun from a year of turmoil. Peters call it her “most close-to-the-bone work, written at a time when I felt absolutely fearless about telling the truth.”

MATT FLINNER TRIO
Winter Harvest (Compass)

Drawing from their individual diverse and vast performance histories, the Trio, featuring Matt Flinner on mandolin, Ross Martin and Eric Thorin – comes together  unified voice—part string band, part chamber group, and part jazz trio—and in the process raises the bar for acoustic instrumental music.  “Winter Harvest is really what good music sounds like. A perfect blend of bluegrass tone and instrumentation with the harmonic themes and complexity of jazz.” -Fiddle and Creel

Also new this week…

LEONARD COHEN – Old Ideas (Columbia)
RUTHIE FOSTER – Let It Burn (Blue Corn)
SUSAN GREENBAUM – This Life (GreenTree/Compass)
THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR – Turn Into The Ground (Mulewax Music)
ORBO AND THE LONGSHOTS – Prairie Sun (Blue Mood)
THE PINES – Dark So Gold (Red House)
TONY RICE – The Bill Monroe Collection (Rounder)
JOE LOUIS WALKER – Hellfire (Alligator)

Coming soon… CHUCK PROPHET, BEN KWELLER, ANNA COOGAN, DR. DOG,  THE PUNCH BROTHERS, KEVIN GORDON, CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS… more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater

Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Americana CD releases, Americana Music, Bluegrass, Country Music, Music, New music releases | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Jan. 24th, 2012

Posted on January 23, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of January 24th, 2012. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

FRED EAGLESMITH
6 Volts (Bluewater)

Produced by Fred and Scott Merritt at Fred’s studio in Vittoria. It’s a one mic, analogue, reel to reel recording, that has an awesome, swamp rock, songwriter sound. Vintage sound, vintage recording, vintage Fred. A few songs about Love lost and ones called “Trucker Speed” and “Johnny Cash” hint at a return to Fred’s “golden era” despite to minimal recording audio.

Various Artists
Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan  (Amnesty International)

Four CD collection containing music from Patty Smith, Mark Knopfler, Pete Townshend, Diana Krall, My Morning Jacket, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Jackson Browne, Lucinda Williams, Joan Baez, Flogging Molly, Kris Kristofferson and many others. The subtitle of the release is “Honoring 50 years of Amnesty International”, that combined with the songs of Dylan are saluted by the diverse collection of musicians who contribute new or previously unreleased tracks.

Also new this week…
LAURA GIBSON - La Grande (Barsuk)
MAGGIE & TERRE ROCHE - Seductive Reasoning (Real Gone Music) [Original Recording Remastered]
MARTIN SEXTON - Fall Like Rain (Kitchen Table) (5-song EP)
RICHARD SHINDELL – Thirteen Songs You May or May Not Have Heard Before (Signature Sounds)
RANDY THOMPSON - Collected (Jackpot)

Coming soon… DARRELL SCOTT, RUTHIE FOSTER, LEONARD COHEN, GRETCHEN PETERS  … more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater

Posted in Bluegrass, Country Music, Music, New music releases, Roots Music | Tagged | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Jan. 17th, 2012

Posted on January 17, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of January 17th, 2012. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

ANI DIFRANCO
Which Side Are You On (Righteous Babe)
The newly recorded version of the title track is a funk-fueled epic, incorporating not just Ani’s band, but Pete Seeger himself alongside The Rivertown Kids, a Hudson Valley-based children’s chorus, and The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, a brass band consisting of students from The Roots of Music, a music education program for at-risk middle-school students in New Orleans. DiFranco contributed her own straight-from-the headlines verses to the song and has used it to close her own live shows ever since. The album represents an extraordinary snapshot of DiFranco’s own life as well her sense of where the country stands at this particular moment in time.

KATHLEEN EDWARDS
Voyageur (Zoe/Rounder)
This is her fourth album, and first since 2008, and it just might be the best. Everything comes together on this one. The songs are just right for the times and the tunes have a solid sound that takes full advantage of the accompanying musicians. She’s also really arrived as a singer. Her voice is rich and expressive which suit’s these selections. (Village Records)

Also new this week…
CAROLANN AMES – Laurel Canyon Road (self released)
ROGER CREAGER – Surrender (Fun All Wrong/Thirty Tigers)
HUMMING HOUSE – Humming House (self released)
THE REFUGEES – Three (Wabuho)

Coming soon…  FRED EAGLESMITH, MARTIN SEXTON, LAURA GIBSON, DARRELL SCOTT, RUTHIE FOSTER, LEONARD COHEN, GRETCHEN PETERS  … more new releases

amazon-americana-airplay-thumb

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Americana CD releases, New music releases | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Jan. 10th, ’12

Posted on January 9, 2012

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the first “real” week of  2012. A slow start but look for some good stuff coming out later in the month. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

 

JEFF BLACK
Plow Through The Mystic (Lotos Nile)

This album actually came out in November but I just heard about it so I thought I’d post it… ‘Nashville-based singer/songwriter Jeff Black has some heavy friends, including mandolinist Sam Bush, guitarist Jerry Douglas and singer/songwriters Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters and Kim Richey. And though they all lend a hand on his fifth solo album, it’s Black’s voice ­ both singing and writing ­ that gives the album its soul.  Black’s voice takes on many different shades, at various times recalling the downtown soul of Willy DeVille, the gruff side of Springsteen, the melodic saloon growl of Tom Waits, the deadpan of James McMurtry, the rye twinkle of Randy Newman and even a few moments of Neil Diamond’s pop-soulfulness. (No Depression)

THE LITTLE WILLIES
For the Good Times (Milking Bull/EMI)
The Little Willies have reconvened to record For The Good Times, a rousing follow-up to their eponymous 2006 debut and it’s another fun set of country covers with Ralph Stanley, Dolly Parton, Lefty Frizell and of course, Willie Nelson all getting nods.  Norah Jones and Richard Julian trade lead vocals and the smokin’ Jim Campilongo handles the lead guitar chores with chops that would make James Burton & Scotty Moore proud. Here’s a link to a terrific 8 minute video interview with the band with songs.

JEAN SYNODINOS
Girls, Good & Otherwise (Fortunate)
In her third disc, Austin songwriter Jean Synodinos delivers eleven tracks of good intentions and misdeeds, told with discreet winks and powerful nudges. Features thoroughbred performances from some of the city’s finest players.

 

Coming soon… KATHLEEN EDWARDS, ANI DIFRANCO, FRED EAGLESMITH, LAURA GIBSON, DARRELL SCOTT, RUTHIE FOSTER, GRETCHEN PETERS,  … more new releases

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Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Americana CD releases, Americana Music, New music releases | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

FTB Reader’s Favorite Music Releases of 2011

Posted on January 4, 2012

Here’s what some of the Freight Train Boogie readers chose for their favorite music from 2011.

 

1.  Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Here We Rest
2.  Blackie & the Rodeo Kings – Kings and Queens
3.  Dawes – Nothing is Wrong
4.  The Black Lilies – 100 Miles of Wreckage
5.  Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire
6.  Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive
7.  Ollabelle – Neon Blue Bird
8.  Guy Clark – Songs and Stories
9.  Amanda Shires – Carrying Lightning
10. Slaid Cleaves – Sorrow & Smoke

Don Parsons
Spring Valley, MN

 

1.  Ashes & Fire, Ryan Adams
2.  Here We Rest, Jason Isbell
3.  The Whole Love, Wilco
4.  This is Indian Land, Cody Canada & the Departed
5.  Middle Brother, Middle Brother
6.  Revelator, Tedeschi Trucks Band
7.  Mockingbird Time, Jayhawks
8.  Paradise Lost, Great American Taxi
9.  The Harrow & the Harvest, Gillian Welch
10.  Divine Providence, Deer Tick

Jeff Johnson
Tulsa, OK

 

1 The King is Dead | Long Live The King – The Decemberists
2 The Whole Love – Wilco
3 Indestructible Machine – Lydia Loveless
4 Here We Rest – Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit
5 Field Songs – William Elliott Whitmore
6 Photographs – Robert Ellis
7 The Harrow and the Harvest – Gillian Welch
8 All That The Rain Promises – Bombadil
9 Go-Go Boots – Drive-By Truckers
10 Own Side Now – Caitlin Rose
11 Nothing is Wrong – Dawes
12 Screws Get Loose – Those Darlins
13 WHOKILL – tUnE-yArDs
14 The Place I Left Behind – The Deep Dark Woods
15 KMAG YOYO – Hayes Carll
16 Helplessness Blues – Fleet Foxes
17 Billy Jack – HoneyHoney
18 Middle Brother – Middle Brother
19 Haste Make | Hard Hearted Stranger – Mandolin Orange

20 100 Miles of Wreckage – The Black Lillies

Chase Barnard
  • Cahalen Morrison & Eli West: The Holy Coming of The Storm
  • Pokey Lafarge And the South City Three: The Middle of Everywhere
  • Pharis and Jason Romero: Passing Glimpse
  • Matraca Berg: The Dreaming Fields
  • The Once: Row Upon Row Of The People They Know
  • Abigail Washburn: City of Refuge
  • Diana Jones: High Atmosphere
  • Ray Bonneville: Bad Man’s Blood
  • The Gibson Brothers: Help My Brother
  • Jonathan Byrd: Cackalack

As you can see, there’s a high Old-Timey level in my top 10!
Furthermore, also top 10 worthy: Putnam Smith, Eilen Jewell, April Verch, Downtown Ramblers, Paul Geremia, Scott Cook, Nell Robinson, Jason Isbell, Kyle Carey, BettySoo and Doug Cox, Rod Picott and Tom Russell (and I probably forget some others).

Wim Tijskens
The Netherlands

 

 

New releases due in January include KATHLEEN EDWARDS, FRED EAGLESMITH, DOLLY VARDEN, RUTHIE FOSTER, LEONARD COHEN…

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

 

 

 

Posted in New music releases | Leave a comment

Freight Train Boogie Favorite Music Releases of 2011

Posted on December 10, 2011

Here’s my Top Ten plus Ten list for calender year 2011. I say calender year because the awards shows like to break up the year for some reason.  Keep in mind that this is just my opinion, and there have been more great new releases this year by so-called big Americana artists that it’s a difficult and sometimes random task. I only have so much time to really listen to new music and there are some albums that I’ve heard are great that I either never received or haven’t gotten into yet (Gillian Welch).  So here ya go, I’d love to hear what your picks are.  Send them to me (frater@freighttrainboogie.com), and I’ll post some here and put you in the hat to win 3 grab-bags of extra rootsy CD’s that I have around here… And you can listen to the podcast of the Freight Train Boogie #143, Favorite Music Releases of 2011 from this link.

Top 10 Major Label Releases

JASON ISBELL & THE 400 UNIT - Here We Rest
DEEP DARK WOODS - The Place I Left Behind
STEVE EARLE – I’ll Never Get of This World Alive
TARA NEVINS -  Wood and Stone
BLACKIE AND THE RODEO KINGS -  Kings & Queens
THE CIVIL WARS -  Barton Hollow
THE DECEMBERISTS - The King Is Dead
EMMYLOU HARRIS – Hard Bargain
RY COODER – Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down
BUDDY MILLER’s THE MAJESTIC SILVER STRINGS - The Majestic Silver Strings

Top 10 Independent Releases

JUBAL LEE YOUNG - Take It Home
OLD CALIFORNIO - Sundrunk Angels
JONATHAN BYRD - Cackalack
ROD PICOTT - Welding Burns
THE BLACK LILLIES -  100 Miles of Wreckage
CAM PENNER - Gypsy Summer
GREG TROOPER -  Upside-Down Town
TED RUSSELL KAMP -  Get Back To The Land
POKEY LAFARGE AND THE SOUTH CITY THREE – Middle of Everything
NELL ROBINSON – On The Brooklyn Road

Various Artist’s and Tribute Releases

Various Artists – The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams
Various Artists – I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow

 

The Americana Music Association has announced its year-end Top 10 & Top 100 Albums of the Year.  The Top 100 albums are based on those records reported to the Americana Airplay Chart during the period of November 16, 2010 through November 14, 2011.

This years’ Top Ten most played albums are:

1) Hayes Carll, KMAG YOYO / Lost Highway
2) Lucinda Williams, Blessed / Lost Highway
3) Steve Earle, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive / New West
4) Alison Krauss & Union Station, Paper Airplane / Rounder
5) Emmylou Harris, Hard Bargain / Nonesuch
6) Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues / Rounder
7) Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, Here We Rest / Lightning Rod
8) John Hiatt, Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns / New West
9) Decemberists, The King Is Dead / Capitol
10) Band of Heathens, Top Hat Crown & The Clapmaster’s Son / BOH Records
To view the full 2010-2011 Top 100 Albums, visit  http://www.americanamusic.org and click the Top 100 Albums link.
Happy Holidays!

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Americana CD releases, Americana Music, Country Music, Music, New music releases, Roots Music, Top Americana CD's of 2011 | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for the week of Dec. 6th, ’11

Posted on December 5, 2011

Here’s some of the new Americana and roots-type music for the week of December 6th, 2011. We’re headed into the holiday season where things slow down quite a bit… don’t look for too much in December. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  The Freight Train Boogie podcasts feature mostly songs from new releases.  Playlists with players and iTunes links are posted at FTBpodcasts.com.

‘The Gathering’
LAURELYN DOSSETT, RHIANNON GIDDENS, MIKE COMPTON

This project started out as an idea for a group of songs about a journey home on a winter’s night; it became collaboration between a symphony, a songwriter and a string band. That group of traditional musicians then gathered in a cabin in the August woods to make a December record. Featuring songwriter Laurelyn Dossett (Polecat Creek), Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Mike Compton, Joe Newberry & Jason Sypher.

NILS LOFGREN
Old School (Vision)

Nils Lofgren’s new solo album release is a classic Nils, rock album featuring a collection of 12 songs. 11 are new originals by Nils and “Irish Angel” is beautiful ballad written by Bruce McCabe that Nils has been performing in his hows recently. “Let Her Get Away” is a haunting acoustic gem co-written with Root Boy Slim. Featuring rough, raw blues dobros and searing electric guitars on beautiful acoustic tracks, “Old School” is classic Nils at his diverse best. Featuring the legendary Paul Rodgers, Lou Gramm and Sam Moore as guest vocalists, this album has it all and promises to rank among his best. (Village Records)

Various Artists
This One’s For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark (Icehouse)

This folks is the best tribute album I have ever heard. Make that, that I’ve heard at least a dozen times and counting. It’s an overused sales tool for the most part these days, but there’s always room for someone to do it right. That’s what we have here. Here’s why this one succeeds where others fail: All thirty performers on these two one hour discs pick the perfect song to cover. This was assembled to help Guy celebrate his seventieth birthday. No one ever got a better present at any age. (Village Records)
Here’e a You Tube link to Hayes Carll talking about his contribution to the collection, “Worry be Gone”

Also new this week…

Various Artists – Warren Haynes Presents The Benefit Concert, Vol 4 (Evil Teen) (2 CD set with Robert Randolph, John Hiatt, Bob Weir, Gov’t Mule)

Coming soon… not much until January … more new releases

amazon-americana-airplay-thumb

Here’s a link to this week’s Americana Music Association Americana Airplay Chart

 

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

Posted in Country Music, Music, New music releases, Roots Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment