Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for February 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.
Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams
Live at Levon’s! (Royal Potato Family Music)
Levon Helm’s studio in Woodstock, New York is the perfect venue for the married duo of veteran multi-instrumentalist Larry Campbell (Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, and about a hundred others) and Teresa Williams to record a live album. After all, Campbell led the house band there for over a decade, fronting Helm’s infamous Midnight Ramble shows before he passed in 2012. There’s a vibe to the location that can be felt as the twosome, along with a three-piece backing band, roll through a dozen tracks in front of an appreciative audience culled from September 2019. Campbell is in especially fine form as he alternates between fiddle, pedal steel and lead guitar. Cover tunes include “Big River,” John Sebastians’ “Darling Be Home Soon,” Loretta Lynn’s weepy broken marriage ballad “Success” and Louis Prima’s frisky “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”. This is a jubilant show, captured in stunning clarity and perfectly mixed by drummer Justin Guip. It’ll make your life at least a little better … and isn’t that what a great live album should do? (edited from American Songwriter review)
Mark Erelli
Lay Your Darkness Down (Soundly Music)
Boston-based singer/songwriter Mark Erelli was playing a show a couple of years ago when he looked down at his guitar and realized he was having trouble seeing the frets and his fingers working through the chords. A doctor’s visit led to the diagnosis of a degenerative eye disease that will likely lead to blindness. That in mind, many of the themes weaved throughout his latest LP, Lay Your Darkness Down, take on new meaning. Even some of the songs written before the diagnosis coincidentally could be seen as alluding to his likely fate. Songs like the title track, “Up Against The Night,” “Sense Of Wonder” and “Break In The Clouds,” could be about facing his inevitable loss or a generalized sense of appreciating what you have and had, which is part of the charm of Erelli’s lyrics: they are descriptive enough to be relatable and vague enough to be about a slew of different things to different people. With allusions to light, darkness and shadows throughout, You can’t help but find clues (even if they’re unintentional) to Erelli’s fading sight throughout Lay Your Darkness Down. But even given that heavy topic, themes of forging ahead and love ultimately play a larger role throughout the record. (edited from Glide Magazine review)
Also new this week…
The Burnt Pines – Don’t Look Now (Adraela Records)
Helene Cronin – Landmarks (independent)
Jarrod Dickenson – Big Talk (Hooked Records) +
Mile Twelve – Close Enough To Hear (independent)
Tim Stafford & Thomm Jutz – Lost Voices (Mountain Fever Records)
Brit Taylor – Kentucky Blue (Cut A Shine Records) +
Sunny War – Anarchist Gospel (New West Records) +
Afton Wolfe – Twenty-Three ( Grandiflora Records)
Coming out soon… Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Matt Hillyer, Grant Peeples, Doug Paisley, Michael Cleveland, The Milk Carton Kids, The Shootouts, Darling West, Slaid Cleaves, Iris Dement, Karen Jonas, Rose’s Pawn Shop, Eric Bibb, Adam Klein, Dom Flemons, The Panhandlers, Darling West, Mighty Poplar, Lauren Morrow, Nickel Creek, Willie Nelson, Taj Mahal and more!
