Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for June 10th, 2022. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon, iTunes, Bandcamp or the artist’s site for ordering or downloading. A + sign means although not a featured release, it’s a notable album that’s still worth checking out. Also, this page will be updated as I find out about other new releases so check back again.
Patty Griffin
Tape (PGM Records)
One is immediately aware this is a special collection. Griffin swaps between acoustic guitar and piano on the majority of these tracks with some of the tracks featuring a bit more accompaniment, such as percussion and organ inciting a “fuller” sound, yet still retaining the intimacy of a demo recording. These ten songs are “working” recordings and much like Griffin’s debut, Living With Ghosts, they’re full of echo, blemishes and ambient noises. If you’re expecting the exquisite polish and production of recent Griffin albums, you may be slightly taken aback, but just know these recordings are a rare glimpse behind the curtain at an artist of consequential importance creating. Creating her art, warts and all. It is indeed a special recording. (edited from Americana Highways review)
The Slocan Ramblers
Up the Hill and Through the Fog (Slomusic)
There are few things in the world of music that grabs your attention quite like a smartly crafted, completely reimagined cover of a song you’ve heard hundreds of times before. And while the Canadian Bluegrass/Roots trio The Slocan Ramblers are great at writing their own material, their take on Tom Petty’s “A Mind With a Heart of It’s Own,” off of their latest LP is simply inspired. The record was written during the pandemic, a time fraught with panic and uncertainty across the globe, but also one that saw members of the band losing family members and friends. It’s surprising then just how joyful this record sounds. On Up the Hill and Through the Fog, the band’s most consistently solid record yet, the Toronto three-piece offer a dozen tracks brimming with optimism that serve as a musical balm for the past two years. (edited from Glide Magazine review)
Also new this week…
Calder Allen – The Game (self-released) +
American Aquarium – Chicamacomico (Losing Side Records)
Michaela Anne – Oh To Be That Free (Yep Roc Records) +
Florence Dore – Highways & Rocketships (Propeller Sound Recordings)
Dwayne Haggins – Call Me Boston (Verdict Music)
Rod Picott – Paper Hearts And Broken Arrows (self-released) +
Unspoken Tradition – Imaginary Lines (Mountain Home Music Co.)
The Volebeats – Lonesome Galaxy (Mad Bunny Records)
Coming out in the next few weeks… Joan Shelley, Peter Rowan, Hank Williams, Jr., Kathy Kallick and Friends, Gregory Dwane, The Local Honeys, Stacy Antonel, Amanda Shires, Arlo McKinley, Hackensaw Boys, Andrew Weiss and Friends, Phil Cook, John Moreland, Nick Nace, The Sadies, Michelle Rivers, Jonah Tolchin, Cahalan Morrison, Kelsey Waldon and more …
