Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for February 17th, 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.
Jaimee Harris
Boomerang Town (Folk N Roll Records)
Jaimee Harris’ 2018 debut Red Rescue roared with rock energy, fiercely honest and unnerving with an underlying biting intensity. Follow-up Boomerang Town cuts equally close to the bone, but the Austin-area native finds her power more in the deeply poetic narratives than the backing. Even as the album’s themes tap similar veins for Harris (addiction, loss, and restless want), the songwriter finds a poignant truth in leaning into more character-driven arcs than personal crises, though the songs still burn with the working revelations of heavy introspection. The aching “How Could You Be Gone,” co-written with Harris’ partner, Mary Gauthier, lingers in the loss of longtime mentor Jimmy LaFave. Even at her most gentle, Harris strikes devastatingly. The haunting memory of a young classmate’s death in “Fall (Devin’s Song)” and the swooning hope of “Love Is Gonna Come Again” set the upbeat closing rhythm of “Missing Someone,” letting her vocal range flow after treading in the deep waters. Boomerang Town reaches new heights for Harris. (edited from Austin Chronicle review)
Grant Peeples
A Murder of Songs (Leftneck Music)
It’s always a temptation to stereotype artists. Peeples is an activist, a humorist, a poet, a folksinger, a protest singer, even a touch of performance artist (at some of his homegrown shows he castnets mullet beforehand and cooks them for attendees). He’s all of those. One of his favorite sayings is “make art, people.” So I think the best simple description of Grant Peeples is that he’s an artist. And this album, like most of his art, is meant to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” borrowing a line from Finley Peter Dunne, and that’s what it does. His songs are the antithesis of hooks, ear candy, and popular music in general… but they make you think, whether you agree with him or not. And that’s the purpose of art. (edited from Music Fest News review)
Also new this week…
Cat Clyde – Down Rounder (Second Prize Records)
Alex Mabey – The Waiting Room (independent)
Buddy Mondlock – Filiment (Sparking Gap Records)
Benjamin Dakota Rogers – Paint Horse (Good People Record Co.)
Ron Sexsmith – The Vivian Line (Ronboy Rhymes)
Joe Louis Walker – Weight of the World (Forty Below Records)
Coming out soon… Matt Hillyer, Michael Cleveland, Lance Roark, The Milk Carton Kids, The Shootouts, Slaid Cleaves, Iris Dement, Karen Jonas, Rose’s Pawn Shop, Eric Bibb, Adam Klein, Dom Flemons, The Panhandlers, Darling West, Doug Paisley, Matt Andersen, Mighty Poplar, Lauren Morrow, Nickel Creek, Willie Nelson, Taj Mahal, Marty Stuart, Robert Ellis, Caitlin Canty, The Infamous Stringdusters and more!
