Americana Music Releases for Nov. 10th

Posted on November 10, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 10th, 2023. 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.

Vincent Neil Emerson
The Golden Crystal Kingdom  (La Honda Records)

On his latest release, produced by Shooter Jennings, Emerson has never sounded better. The artist takes you through a whirlwind of lonesome man ballads brimming with imaginative storytelling while crafting twangy arrangements bursting with personality. The Golden Crystal Kingdom is an appropriate name for an album with lyrics longing for some sense of paradise. Throughout the album, Emerson pens heartfelt novels that focus more on the aftermath of love rather than the rush of emotions felt while deep in it. He brings storytelling to a whole new level, allowing the minimal arrangements to soundtrack his poetic tales. Vincent Neil Emerson has a sound that emulates the Outlaw era and his lyrics paint such vivid pictures it is almost like you’re standing right next to the main character, taking in all the sights and sounds of one of the best country albums to be released this year.  (edited from Glide Magazine review)

 

Chris Stapleton
Higher (Mercury Nashville Records)

With his fifth studio LP, Higher, Chris Stapleton, assisted by co-producers Dave Cobb and Morgane Stapleton, forges another set of meticulously crafted, adeptly instrumented, and accessible songs. While the Kentucky-born artist continues to mine and rebrand various templates, his voice is undeniably and invariably country, whether he’s invoking Saturday night or Sunday morning. Stapleton is at once adventurous and a proponent of the tried and true balancing a fertile confluence of country, blues, and soul. With Higher, he navigates an array of intriguing sonics. As with previous outings, though, it’s his voice — equal parts straight bourbon, aloe balm, Marlboro smoke, and Tupelo honey — that stands out and carries the day. You might call it irresistible, signature, even as it conjures the ghosts of country music’s great progenitors.  (edited from No Depression review)

Also new this week…

Jimmy Buffett – Equal Strain On All Parts  (Sun Records)
Daniel Donato – Reflector  (Retrace Music)
Jon Dee Graham – Only Dead For A Little While  (Strolling Bones Records) +
Kristen Grainger & True North – Fear of Falling Stars  (independent)  +
Terry Klein – Leave The Light On  (independent)   +
Kerri Powers – Love Is Why  (Wildflower Children)
The Resonant Rogues – The Resonant Rogues  (independent)
Todd Snider – Crank It, We’re Doomed  (Aimless Records)
Afton Wolfe – The Harvest  (Grandiflora Records)

 

Coming out soon… Amos Lee, The Wilder Blue, John Craigie, Sarah Jarosz, Willi Carlisle, John Leventhal and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Nov. 3rd

Posted on November 3, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for November 3rd, 2023. 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.

 

Suzy Bogguss
Prayin’ for Sunshine (Loyal Duchess Records)

On her previous two albums, Bogguss wrapped her warm, crystalline, and sometimes hard-edged vocals around familiar American folk and pop songs and the songs of Merle Haggard. On her new album she wrote and produced the entire album, co-writing songs with her husband and co-producer Doug Crider, Matraca Berg, Gretchen Peters, Pat Bergeson, and Bill Lloyd. Prayin’ for Sunshine moves from supplication to celebration, reveling in the joys of friends, family, community, her fans, and storytelling. Prayin’ for Sunshine showcases Bogguss’ lyrical and musical ingenuity, her nod-and-a-wink humor, and her deep love for her community of friends and fans. And the album reminds us again just how radiant and transportive Bogguss’ vocals are.   (edited from No Depression review)

Jaime Wyatt
Feel Good  (New West Records)

“I’m still learning how to experience joy, how to be free, how to be comfortable in my own skin,” says Wyatt. “A lot of us grow up feeling like we have to hide who we are just to be accepted, but that comes from a place of fear and judgment. I wrote these songs as a way of letting go of all that, as permission to feel good.” Feel Good, Wyatt’s new album, is more than just a permission slip, though: it’s an invitation. Recorded with Black Pumas’ Adrian Quesada, the record is built on tight, intoxicating grooves that belie the songs’ substantial emotional stakes. Taken as a whole, the collection stands as a radical act of creative liberation from an artist already known for pushing limits, a genre-defying work of healing and self-love that tips its cap to everything from Al Green and Otis Redding to Waylon Jennings and Bobbie Gentry in its relentless pursuit of peace and pleasure.  (from press release)

Also new this week…

Al Backstrom – Wild Colonial Boy  (Wild Colonial Boy Records)
Colin Cutler – Tarwater (self-released)
Elliot BROOD – Town  (self-released)
Ben Gage – Two Singing Songs  (self-released)
Heather Anne Lomax & Michael Doman – The Doman Tracks  (Blackbird Record Label)
Jeffrey Martin – Thank God We Left The Garden (Fluff and Gravy Records)  +
Bonnie Montgomery – River  (Gar Hole Records)
Our Man in the Field – Gold on the Horizon   (In the Field Recordings)
Sylvia Tyson – At The End Of The Day  (Stony Plain Music) +

 

Coming out soon… Jon Dee Graham, Chris Stapleton, Vincent Neil Emerson, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, The Wilder Blue, Terry Klein, The Resonant Rogues, John Craigie, John Leventhal, Sarah Jarosz and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Oct. 27th

Posted on October 27, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for October 27th, 2023. 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.

Jesse Colter
Edge of Forever  (Appalachia Record Co.)

Jessi Colter has always stood on the edge. She and her late husband Waylon Jennings, along with Willie Nelson and Tompall Glaser, carried country music in new directions in 1976 with the album Wanted! The Outlaws, the first country album to hit platinum status. Colter brought her own outlaw stylings to her haunting chart hit “I’m Not Lisa” in 1975. In 2017, she returned to her Pentecostal roots with her edgy and ethereal versions of The Psalms, produced by Lenny Kaye. On Edge of Forever, produced by Margo Price and mixed by Colter’s son, Shooter Jennings, Colter blurs the edges, delivering soaring gospel-inflected songs, tender ballads, and raucous honky-tonkers.  (edited from No Depression review)

The Third Mind
The Third Mind 2   (Yep Roc Records)

The 2020 appearance of the ad hoc group the Third Mind seemed like a synergistic one-off. Guitarist Dave Alvin gathered musically compatible friends and put them in the studio, running tapes as they jammed, reportedly unrehearsed, on some ’60s psychedelic blues/rock/jazz/folk semi-classics. The same lineup—Alvin, guitarist David Immergluck, drummer Michael Jerome, Victor Krummenacher on bass and keyboards, and singer/acoustic guitarist Jesse Sykes — reunite, now with the experience of the previous release. The results are just as potent and arguably even better. The six tunes traverse a diverse musical palette. From Fred Neil’s “A Little Bit of Rain,” to the Electric Flag’s “Groovin’ Is Easy” and Phil Spector’s unusual childlike “Sally Go Round the Roses,” Alvin and company cast a collective spell over songs rearranged to feature their improvised instrumental prowess. (edited from American Songwriter review)

 

Also new this week…

Black Pumas – Chronicles Of A Diamond  (ATO Records)
Robert Finley – Black Bayou  (Easy Eye Sound)  +
Flatland Cavalry – Wandering Star  (Interscope Records)
Dylan Gossett – No Better Time  (independent)
Anton O’Donnell – Tomber Sur PRW  (Need To Know Music)
Old Californio – Metaterranea  (independent)
Leon Rosselson – Chronicling the Times  (Free Dirt Records)
Nora Jane Struthers – Back to Cast Iron  (Blue Pig Music)
Willy Tea Taylor & The Fellership – The Great Western Hangover  (independent)  +
Tejon Street Corner Thieves – Juxtaposition  (Liars Club Records)
Various Artists – A Tribute To The Judds  (Broken Bow Records)
Skarlett Woods – Letters To The West  (independent)

 

Coming out soon… Jaime Wyatt, Chris Stapleton, Sylvia Tyson, Jon Dee Graham, Vincent Neil Emerson, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, Ben Gage, Jeffrey Martin, Terry Klein, The Resonant Rogues and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Oct. 20th

Posted on October 19, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for October 20th, 2023. 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.

 

Eli Paperboy Reed
Hits And Misses: The Singles  (Yep Roc Records)

To use the cliché, the 40-year-old Massachusetts-reared artist born Eli Husock walks it like he talks it. Early on he moved to the Mississippi Delta and then Chicago to soak up the sounds of blues, R&B, and gospel from some of the masters. Now, he possesses a thorough command of those vintage styles himself. With eight standout albums behind him, this one is a collection mostly of tracks that appeared on 45s sold on European tours and spans more than a decade. The 11-song set nevertheless holds together as a powerful testament to Reed’s interpretive skills and his songwriting prowess (three of the numbers are originals). Reed gives an inspired revamp to Steely Dan’s “Do It Again,” adding horns and a swinging, hipsterish sensibility while also covering songs from Motorhead, Merle Haggard, Latimore and more. As with the “Paperboy” nickname, the title Hits and Misses: The Singles can belie its contents. Commercial considerations aside, nothing here is off the mark, and in fact everything hits like a hammer.  (edited from Rock & Blues Muse review)

 

Chris Shiflett
Lost at Sea   (Blue Élan Records)

It makes sense that Chris Shiflett’s newest solo album, Lost at Sea, is a little here, there, and everywhere. Shiflett’s own musical resume is an expansive exploration of geography and genre. From his present role as the full-time guitarist for Foo Fighters to flirting with a number of side projects — superficial and serious — playing everything from death metal to outlaw country. Suffice it to say, Shiflett’s vast experience and musical expertise allow him to feel at home in most settings, and Lost at Sea might even be a titular nod to an inability to pinpoint a proper “home” for this set of songs, that swing through honky-tonks, raise fists in arenas, and sit alone at the bar. Every glass in the house will be raised when Shiflett plays the classic country of “Where’d Everybody Go?” Drinkers and thinkers will also fall in love with Shiflett’s protagonist on “Carrie Midnight Texas Queen” with its modern Nashville flavors. Then there’s the sobering reality described on “Parties,” a straightforward rock number that closes the album by pointing out the anger underneath the surface of us all these days.  (edited from No Depression review)

 

 

Also new this week…

Barbaro – About The Winter  (StorySound Records)
Jon Byrd – All Your Mistakes  (Longleaf Pine Records)  +
The Fugitives – No Help Coming  (Fallen Tree Records)
Alice Gerrard – Sun to Sun  (Sleepy Cat Records) +
Harvest Thieves – As The Sparks Fly Upward  (independent)
Gracie Lane – Doing My Time  (independent)
Dylan LeBlanc – Coyote (ATO Records)  +
Ajay Mathur – Blow My Cover  (Yakketeeyak Music)
Israel Nash – Ozarken  (Soundly Sounds)
Karyn Oliver – Cherchez La Femme  (Buxom County Records)
Carla Olson – Have Harmony, Will Travel 3  (Have Harmony Will Travel Records)
Pert Near Sandstone – Waiting Days  (independent) +
Sado-Domestics – Beach Day In Black And White  (independent)  +
Jonah Tolchin – Dockside  (Clover Music Group)  +
Robert Rex Waller Jr. – See The Big Man Cry  (BFD Records)  +

 

Coming out soon… Jessi Colter, Dylan Gossett, Robert Finley, Jaime Wyatt, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, Ben Gage, Jeffrey Martin, Terry Klein, The Resonant Rogues and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

 

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Americana Music Releases for Oct. 13th

Posted on October 12, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for October 13th, 2023. 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.

 

Kelly Hunt
Ozark Symphony  (Compass Records)

Once in a while, a musical project comes along that truly captures the spirit of America. It invokes the raw beauty of its landscapes and the tales of those who’ve walked it. Ozark Symphony does exactly this. The album, seasoned with tales from the prairie to the deep South, offers listeners a passport to explore the heart of Americana music. The album is not just a collection of songs but a collaboration of pure musical genius. Teaming up with renowned producer Dirk Powell, the result is nothing short of a masterpiece. Powell, a maestro in a medley of music genres from Celtic to Cajun, has previously worked with icons like Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, and Jack White. With this album, he taps into a rich community of global musicians, ensuring every note echoes with authenticity. Featuring special guests Mike McGoldrick, Natalie Haas, Dirk Powell, and Kai Welch, promises a musical journey that transcends time. It’s more than just an album. It’s the soul of America, sung by a voice that understands its deepest intricacies.  (edited from Grateful Web review)

 

Also new this week…

The Bones of J.R. Jones – Slow Lightning  (Tone Tree Music)
Izzy Ded – What Hurts Most  (Death and Texas Records)
Kathy Kallick Band – The Lonesome Chronicles  (Live Oak Records) +
Mamma Coal – Dance Hall Crush  (self-release)
Lonesome Ace Stringband – Try To Make It Fly  (self-release)
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus – Big Red Gibson  (Berkalin Records)
Carrie Newcomer – A Great Wild Mercy  (Available Light Records)
The Carolyn Sills Combo – On The Draw  (Moon Lasso Music) +
Tom Sykes – A Long Hard Road  (MoMojo Records)

 

Coming out soon… Robert Rex Waller Jr., Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Mick Flannery, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, Ben Gage, Jeffrey Martin, Terry Klein, The Resonant Rogues and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Oct. 6th

Posted on October 6, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for October 6th, 2023. 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.

 

Ray Bonneville
On The Blind Side  (self-released)

On his 10th album Bonneville delivers nine originals with a voice that moves from soothing to troubling…depending on the direction of the song. He co-produced the record with Texas singer-songwriter Will Sexton, who also plays on the album. While remaining accessible to the listener, this new group of songs represents a more introspective phase for Ray. With insights gained from isolation, Ray has emerged from the pandemic ready to share more of his life story, to draw from it creatively, to allow it to take him to new places and take his audience along with him. “Bonneville strips his bluesy Americana down to its essentials and steeps it in a humid, Southern vibe, creating a compelling poetry of hard living and deep feeling.” – Elmore Magazine

 

John R. Miller
Heat Comes Down  (Rounder Records)

Some songwriters write short stories. Some write anthems. Some write life itself. “My friend had a Twin / I had some old no-name Strat,” John R. Miller sings on the gentle, finger-picked “Basements” on his new album, Heat Comes Down. “Our drummer’s dad was cool / he let us come over and practice.” In four verses he charts the universal, personal journey of countless people who picked up a guitar and took off after a dream, only to land in middle age with an instrument they can play the hell out of, decades’ worth of songs, and nothing left to say. It’s just one cut on a record that reveals its facets with time. Miller, a West Virginia-raised songwriter with Billy Joe Shaver’s lack of airs and Brent Cobb’s casual amble, has given us a collection of approachable, true Americana songs with Heat Comes Down. (edited from No Depression review)

Also new this week…

Victoria Bailey – A Cowgirl Rides On  (Rock Ridge Music) +
Lisa Brokop – Who’s Gonna Fill Their Heels? (Audium Music)
Billy Don Burns – I’ve Seen A Lot Of Highway  (Black Country Rock)  +
Tré Burt – Traffic Fiction  (Oh Boy Records)
Jason Hawk Harris – Thin Places  (Bloodshot Records)
Ida Mae – Thunder Above You  (Vow Road Records)
Charlie Mars – Times Have Changed  (Foxgate Records)  +
Mike and the Moonpies – Live from the Devil’s Backbone  (Prairie Rose Records)  +
Joni Mitchell – Archives, Volume 3: The Asylum Years (1972-1975)  (Elektra Catalog Group)
The Steel Woods – On Your Time  (Woods Music)  +

 

Coming out soon… The Carolyn Sills Combo, Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Kelly Hunt, Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Mick Flannery, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North, Amos Lee, Jeffrey Martin, The Resonant Rogues and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Sept. 29th

Posted on September 28, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 29th, 2023. 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.

 

Lindsay Lou
Queen of Time  (Kill Rock Stars Nashville)

“I saw a literal manifestation of the sacred feminine, and had this profound sense that I was meant to embody it,” recalls celebrated singer-songwriter Lindsay Lou after journeying through a hallucinogenic ritual that would inform the way she processed waves of grief in the sea of change ahead of her. The loss of her grandmother, the end of her marriage, and the overwhelming turmoil of the last few years found the Nashville-based artist on a spiritual journey of self-knowledge and healing with this gift from the mystic swirl. Featuring a gamut of guests including Billy Strings and Jerry Douglas, Queen of Time celebrates love and loss, but above all, the art of living as an unattainably—a vibrant, powerful woman who can share herself with the world, and yet define a mighty sense of inner self as well.

 

Jeff Plankenhorn
Alone At Sea  (Blue Corn Music)

After two decades in Austin, multi-instrumentalist Jeff Plankenhorn moved with his wife to Canada’s picturesque Vancouver Island during the pandemic. Years of touring with Joe Ely, Ruthie Foster, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and others, as well as playing his own music regularly in Austin’s clubs, gave way to livestreams plus an increased focus on writing and recording. Now he’s back on the road to support his fourth solo album, which builds on the rootsy foundation that has long been his bread-and-butter.  Plankenhorn can crank out upbeat blues-groovers such as “Juggling Sand” and (fittingly) “Do a Little Dancing” in his sleep, even as he digs deeper and darker on the acoustic opener “Bird Out on 9th.” The real revelations here, though, are the title track and “Bluer Skies,” which chime and ring with richly melodic guitars as they draw upon Plankenhorn’s natural charm as a singer. The latter song was written with Michael O’Connor, one of several writing partners on these tunes; others include Michael Fracasso, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, and the album’s producer, Colin Linden.   (edited from No Depression review)

 

Owen Temple
Rings on a Tree  (El Paisano Records)

Kerrville-born Owen Temple has been a mostly under-the-radar journeyman on the Texas songwriter scene for more than a decade now, debuting with his Lloyd Maines-produced General Store way back in 1997. But Stories They Tell, his seventh album, is the one that should finally earn Temple a seat at the table next to the best Texas/Americana troubadours of his generation. He’s always had a great voice for the medium, but it’s never sounded better than it does here: as rich, warm and comforting as Don Williams and as dry, worn and wizened as Townes Van Zandt. The production, by Gabriel Rhodes, is equally earthy and inviting, leaving plenty of room for every instrument and note to breathe. But best of all are the songs. Every one of them is a keeper. (edited From Lone Star Music Magazine review)

 

Also new this week…

Sandra Bouza – A Sound in the Dark  (self-released)
Ross Cooper – Lightning Heart  (self-released)  +
Charley Crockett – Live From The Ryman  (Son of Davy Records)   +
Jerry Joseph – Baby, You’re the Man Who Would Be King  (Cosmo Sex School Records)  +
The Howdies – Howdies All Around  (Normaltown Records)
Meredith Lane – Greyhound  (self-released)
No-No Boy – Empire Electric  (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)
Natalie Price – Natalie Price  (self-released)
Jason Ricci & The Bad Kind – Behind The Veil  (Gulf Coast Records)
Martin Simpson And Thomm Jutz – Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs Of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry (Topic Records)
Wreckless Strangers – Orange Sky Dream  EP (self-released)

 

Coming out soon… Ray Bonneville, The Steel Woods, Ida Mae, John R. Miller, Billy Don Burns, Kathy Kallick Band, Kelly Hunt, Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Mick Flannery, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Music Releases for Sept. 22nd

Posted on September 22, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 22nd, 2023. 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.

 

Brent Cobb
Southern Star  (Ol’ Buddy Records)

Brent Cobb’s new album Southern Star is about absolutely nothing at all, and about everything all at once. It is both a simple work that doesn’t say much, and perhaps the most prophetic and deeply philosophical album that will be released all year. It’s message is both seriously profound, and yet so understated that you might miss it if you’re not paying attention. Brent Cobb has already been a major part of instilling the independent country music insurgency with a healthy shot of smooth, funky, and soulful attitude delivered with a Southern drawl. It’s a version of country that includes a lot of organ, and rounds the edges off of everything until it goes down easy like a good sipping whiskey or the whipped butter on a biscuit. Brent Cobb is perfectly content being semi-famous, picking up opportunities when they present themselves like opening for big names such as Luke Combs and Chris Stapleton, and not allowing the important things in life to pass him by. What’s really great about Southern Star is it’s an extension of Brent Cobb’s own laid back personality, and a perfect album to decompress to.  (edited from Saving Country Music review)

 

Buddy & Julie Miller
In The Throes  (New West Records)

After forty years of marriage, Buddy and Julie Miller have learned to welcome a song however it arrives, questioning only where the song is taking them rather than where it originated. There’s no process, no assembly-line procedure, just an openness to those bursts of inspiration and those hours of refinement, which means their fourth album together, In the Throes, sounds lively and diverse, eccentric and slightly askew: a deeply soulful collision of mournful gospel, dusty country, cosmic blues, lusty rockabilly, ecstatic r&b, and anything else that crosses their minds.

 

Various Artists
More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music Of Nanci Griffith   (Rounder Records)

This is an all-star tribute to the legacy of the GRAMMY award-winning singer, guitarist, and songwriter. Featured artists include Brandy Clark, Shawn Colvin, Iris Dement, Steve Earle, Mary Gauthier, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Lyle Lovett and Kathy Mattea, Ida Mae, John Prine and Kelsey Waldon, Todd Snider, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, Aaron Lee Tasjan, and The War And Treaty covering some of Griffith’s most notable releases.

 

Also new this week…

Charles Wesley Godwin – Family Ties  (Big Loud Records)  +
Adam Hood – Adam Hood’s Different Groove  (Southern Songs)  +
Lydia Lovelace – Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way Again  (self-release)
Keegan McInroe – Agnes (self-released)
Shannon McNally – Live at Dee’s  (self-released)
Jenny Owen Youngs – Avalanche  (Yep Roc Records)

 

Coming out soon… Charley Crockett, Owen Temple, Jeff Plankenhorn, Ray Bonneville, Mick Flannery, The Steel Woods, Ida Mae, John R. Miller, Billy Don Burns, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Chris Stapleton, Kerri Powers, Kristen Grainger & True North and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

Posted in Americana CD releases, Americana Music Assoc. Conference, Bluegrass, Country music new releases, New music releases, Roots Music | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Americana Music Releases for Sept. 15th

Posted on September 14, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 15th, 2023. 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.

 

Margo Cilker
Valley Of Heart’s Delight (Fluff & Gravy Records)

Cilker’s 2021 debut Pohorylle was one of those records that never dredged up a torrential hype storm but became a treasured favorite for many. Produced by Sub Pop alum Sera Cahoone, Pohorylle presented Cilker as a chronicler of the world’s less explored corners, with a knack for smart, funny wordplay and a musical style that blurred the lines between country and folk-rock. Valley Of Heart’s Delight runs it back with subtly spectacular results. Cahoone is once again on board as drummer and producer, as are Cilker’s bandmates, mostly from Portland. As if mirroring the mix of thoughtful precision and cheeky playfulness Cilker brings to her lyrics, the band plays just loose and carefree enough that every meticulously plotted arrangement seems to breathe with spontaneity. But these travelogs just as often blur with the ache that haunts Cilker’s songwriting.  (edited from Stereogum review)

 

Willie Nelson
Bluegrass (CBS)

Bluegrass is one of the hottest commodities in country music at the moment. All the more reason for Willie Nelson to jump on the bandwagon and release twelve of his solo written signature songs interpreted in bluegrass style. It’s quite remarkable when you consider that Willie Nelson has released nearly 100 original albums of one sort or another, but this is the first time he’s veering into the bluegrass realm. Once again produced by long-time collaborator Buddy Cannon and includes top-shelf bluegrass greats  like Rob Ickes, Dan Tyminski, Aubrey Haynie, Ron Block and more. Constantly on tour yet still finding time to get in the studio and release two albums a year, Willie Nelson isn’t slowing down any time soon. And fans are here for it.  (edited from Saving Country Music review)

 

Viv & Riley
Imaginary People (Free Dirt Records)

A bittersweet nostalgia lies at the heart of Imaginary People, the new album from indie roots duo Viv & Riley. Over ten tracks, the pair applies an indie folk sheen to pop gems, a reworking of an ancient ballad, and even an original fiddle tune, deftly weaving together the old and new. In contrast to the sunny, lush production, the lyrics lean melancholic. Both musicians trace their original artistic inspiration to the deep roots music they learned in their youths on opposite sides of the country. The duo’s continuing musical expansion is in part the fruition of their new home of Durham, NC which is known for it’s cross-genre collaboration and creatively articulated roots music. However, the track list is still peppered with pedal steel and the rootsy fiddle and banjo trappings the pair employed to acclaim on their previous two releases. As much as Imaginary People looks back to nostalgic yesteryears, it importantly marks the beginning of a new direction for these songwriting virtuosos.

 

Also new this week…

Briscoe – West of it All  (ATO Records)
Buxton – A Family Light  (Strolling Bones Records)
Cruz Contreras – Cosmico  (Cosmico Records)
Wyatt Edmondson – Made for the Road  (self-released)
Mick Flannery – Goodtime Charlie  (Oh Boy Records)
Jim Lauderdale and The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys – The Long And Lonesome Letting Go  (Sky Crunch Records)
Buffalo Nichols – The Fatalist  (Fat Possum Records)
John Surge and The Haymakers – Almost Time  (Blackbird Record Label)
Dave Sutherland – Dear John  (self-released)

Coming out soon… Brent Cobb, Jenny Owen Youngs, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, Owen Temple, Adam Hood, Jeff Plankenhorn, Ray Bonneville, Mick Flannery, Buddy & Julie Miller, The Steel Woods, Ida Mae, John R. Miller, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Eli Paperboy Reed, Jessi Colter, Jonah Tolchin, Chris Stapleton and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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

Americana Music Releases for Sept. 8th

Posted on September 7, 2023 by

Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for September 8th, 2023. 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.

 

Tyler Childers
Rustin’ In The Rain (Hickman Holler Records/RCA Records)

Rustin’ In The Rain was recorded in the home studio of Tyler’s pedal steel player and guitarist James Barker above his garage. The new album was produced by Tyler and his backing band The Food Stamps. Childers says of the album via press release, “This is a collection of songs I playfully pieced together as if I was pitching a group of songs to Elvis. Some covers, one co-write, and some I even wrote in my best (terrible) Elvis impersonation, as I worked around the farm and kicked around the house. I hope you enjoy listening to this album as much as I enjoyed creating it.” Tyler says that the album is mostly love songs, with the deeper tie-in being the mules that make numerous appearances in the lyrics.  (from Saving Country Music review)

 

Nick Shoulders
All Bad  (Gar Hole Records)

As All Bad unspools, Shoulders’ “conversation” with country music sharpens into focus: Shoulders dares to speak the quiet part aloud, eloquently illustrating how the country music most people think of — Nashville’s primary export — is white supremacist propaganda. Yet the part that people connect with, the storytelling, the sounds of resistance, intergenerational bonds — these are the parts of country music that are actually worth saving. But this is a slow build: Shoulders slowly tweaks our noses by overlaying traditional country sounds with sly parodies. He pokes at revered country songs with titles like “Mama Tired” (about the ills of doom-scrolling) and “Won’t Fence Us In.” But Shoulders never even approaches parody or camp on All Bad: His own reverence for classic country sounds is as deadly earnest as his lyrics. In a year that has seen just about every facet of the “culture war” flame its way across the commercial country music world while industry insiders drop their jaws in dismay, All Bad transforms those questions into conversation. (edited from No Depression review)

 

Steep Canyon Rangers
Morning Shift  (Yep Roc Records)

The North Carolina Bluegrass band leans into their Appalachian musical instincts heavily on this, their 14th studio album. The band worked with producer Darrell Scott on Morning Shift, with everyone moving into the Inn Bat Cave, eating and sleeping together when they weren’t in the studio recording the album. “We’re a product of who the band was in the past as well as who we want to be in the present and future,” says Graham Sharp, the band’s lead vocalist and banjo player. This record also marks the first one with new band member Aaron Burdett on guitar and vocals. “This recording session felt really good, because there was no pressure to be anything but ourselves in that moment. It was important that we came in without any preordained expectations about what kind of record this would be, and Darrell Scott was the perfect producer to provide guidance from an open perspective.” (edited from Americana Highways review)

Also new this week…

Sandy Bailey – Daughter Of Abraham  (Red Parlor Records)
Bill and the Belles – To Willie from Billy  (self-released)
The Blind Boys of Alabama – Echoes Of The South  (Single Lock Records)
Blue Water Highway – Year of the Dragon (self-released)
Goldpine – Two  (self-released)
Logan Ledger – Golden State  (Rounder Records) +
Lillie Mae – Festival Eyes  (s||c records)
maeve & quinn – Another Door  (self-released)
Ashley McBryde –The Devil I Know (Warner Music Nashville)
Joan Osborne – Nobody Owns You  (Womanly Hips Records)
Joyann Parker – Roots (self-released)
Jobi Riccio – Whiplash  (Yep Roc Records) +
Allison Russell – The Returner  (Fantasy Records)
The SteelDrivers – Tougher Than Nails  (Gaither Music Group)
String Cheese Incident – Lend Me A Hand  (SCI Fidelity Records)
Various Artists – A Song for Leon: A Tribute to Leon Russell  (Primary Wave Records)

 

Coming out soon… Margo Cilker, Brent Cobb, Willie Nelson, Briscoe, Jim Lauderdale, Viv & Riley, Jenny Owen Youngs, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, Cruz Contreras, Owen Temple, Adam Hood, Jeff Plankenhorn, John Surge and The Haymakers, Ray Bonneville, Mick Flannery, Buddy & Julie Miller, The Steel Woods, John R. Miller, Tré Burt, Robert Rex Waller Jr., Jessi Colter, Chris Stapleton and more!

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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