Great Lake Swimmers - A Forest Of Arms

While he writes lovely melodies and has a fine voice, Tony Dekker of the Great Lake Swimmers often sounds dour enough that one could imagine he'd like to hide in a cave for a while. And for the group's sixth studio album, 2015's A Forest of Arms, Dekker did just that; his vocals and acoustic guitars were recorded in Ontario's Tyendinaga Caverns and Caves, one of the oldest natural caverns in Canada, while the rest of the instruments were tracked in a variety of studios, performance venues, and resonant rooms in unlikely locales. While it's difficult to say how much impact Tyendinaga made on the final product, it certainly testifies to the group's willingness to experiment. And in a band where mood plays a major role, doing your vocals in a cave probably does make a difference, and the cool but emotionally taut tone of A Forest of Arms' 12 tunes is genuinely powerful, as the wheatfield textures of Dekker's voice blend with the faraway cry of Miranda Mulholland's violin and the well-worn bark of Erik Arnesen's banjo and electric guitar. A Forest of Arms evokes the feeling of a Sunday afternoon in a rural community as the cool, decisive snap of autumn is in the air, at once beautiful and laced with sad inevitability, and though the Great Lake Swimmers don't clear out much new stylistic or thematic ground on this album, it's still a welcome reminder of what they do so well. (And "I Must Have Someone Else's Blues" shows Dekker does have a sense of humor.) From the lonesome drift of the melodies and the brilliantly rendered dynamics of the performances to the uncluttered detail of the production (by engineer Justin Shane Nace in collaboration with the group), this is a splendid mood piece that excels in concept and execution.

JP Harris & The Tough Choices - Home is Where the Hurt is

Jp Harris and the Tough Choices released their follow-up to 2012’s possibly perfect record, I’ll Keep Calling, with Home Is Where the Hurt Is. It is the finest country album I’ve heard this year, hands down -- no bullshit, straight to the throngs of what made us all fall in love with country music in the first place. In a constant internet battle between real country versus pop country/bro country/(insert prefix here), it’s a pleasure to just press play and enjoy yourself. This is the record that can be the soundtrack to your game of dominoes with grandpa, without him preaching to you about how country music died with Ernest Tubb -- it has phenomenal pedal steel guitar work and a super-tight band sans gimmicks. Harris’ well-traveled lyrics, coupled with the tried-and-true spirit of classic country shines brightly from start to finish. The only downside is when the album actually ends.
Harris’ super-tramping in his early teens was just the right schooling required to come off so long-in-the-tooth in his music. It’s not the typical sound you’d expect from him upon first glance. Don’t let beards and tattoos fool you; this record holds a collection of ten of the purest country songs you’ll hear all year. These songs are held tight and true, not worn as a badge of honor, but more of an homage to the greats who’ve come before. Rather than destroy the beauty of classic country music, Jp Harris and the Tough Decisions are trouncing through the darkness, carrying their proverbial torches -- true preservation in the form of art.
Home Is Where the Hurt Is was recorded at Ronnie Milsap’s old studio in Nashville, with a little help from friends. The fantastic Nikki Lane handles some background vocals and Old Crow Medicine Show’s Chance McCoy, adds some guitar work on both lead and rythym, as well as some ideal fiddle fills. Production is handled by guitarist Adam Meisterhans, sound engineer Justin Francis, and Harris himself. The road-weary Tough Decisions round out the musicianship on the record. Most of Harris’ touring band was the actual band recorded for the album. Not a normal Nashville M.O., in a city known for world class session musicians. Perhaps that’s what Ol’ Nashville has been missing in the secret recipe as of late -- their teeth already cut and their sound already worked out. Cow Island Music has a gem in these boys for many years to come. I can’t wait to get my shot to see them live, having just missed them a month back. They’re currently galavanting through Texas and then moving on back east and north. Check Harris’ website for tour dates and, by all means, get yourself a copy of Home Is Where the Hurt Is.

Son Volt - Honky Tonk

Uncle Tupelo pretty much established the subgenre of alt-country in 1990 with the release of No Depression, and the band's two main songwriters and singers, Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy, seemed to fulfill the promise that Gram Parsons, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and the Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds had mapped out over two decades before, a perfect synthesis of rock and country. When Uncle Tupelo split in 1993, Tweedy, always more on the pop side of things, formed Wilco, which enjoyed commercial and critical success, while Farrar, who mapped out the moodier, more hangdog country side of things, formed Son Volt, a band with no aspirations for the charts, indie or otherwise, and while Son Volt's albums have been strong, interesting, and decidedly uncommercial ever since, they all lead, it seems, to this new one, Honky Tonk, which arrives at last squarely in country territory (more specifically, the Bakersfield country of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard), with nary an electric guitar in sight. Full of slow and midtempo waltzes and shuffles, and framed and led by pedal steel guitars and twin fiddles, along with Farrar's weary, never-in-a-big-hurry, laid-back (but somehow mysteriously intense) vocals, Honky Tonk is full of a beautiful, thoughtful, and almost Zen-like approach to life, all set against a classic old-school Bakersfield country backdrop. Songs here like "Hearts and Minds," "Wild Side," "Bakersfield," "Angel of the Blues," and "Shine On" aren't rave-ups, and aren't bitter barroom apologies, but are filled instead with a kind of stubborn hope and joy, made perhaps even more powerful for being from the 21st century while sounding like they came from the century before. The whole album accumulates in a powerful, meditative way, and its themes are less about drinking and trying to forget the past than they are about making peace with the past and trying to remember it and use it as a spark and a springboard to the future. Honky Tonk is country facing forward informed by the past.

Old Crow Medicine - Show Wagon Wheel

It’s funny the way things work out, especially in the weird, cosmic world of all things Bob Dylan, where a chorus the singer tossed off in 1972 goes on to become a country No. 1 for the dude from Hootie and the Blowfish 41 years after the fact.

Armchair pop-music historians among you may remember how His Bobness sued ’90s frat-pop flagship outfit Hootie and the Blowfish (and won!) for pilfering the lyrics to “Idiot Wind” and “Tangled Up in Blue” on the band’s (Hootie and the Blowfish, not the other The Band) 1995 Dylan-homaging mega-hit “Only Wanna Be With You.” Well this year Hootie frontman turned unlikely country sensation Darius Rucker repaid his dept to Dylan in a roundabout way, when his and Lady Antebellum's version of “Wagon Wheel” — a song sketched by Dylan and completed years later by Old Crow Medicine Show’s Ketch Secor — went to No. 1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
“It’s so validating to me to see Bob Dylan be a part of today’s country music scene,” Secor told the Cream on the CMA Awards red carpet Wednesday. The song was up for Song of the Year (with Dylan nominated as co-writer) and Single of the Year, losing both, the latter to Florida Georgia Line’s bro-country crime against the aesthetic properties of sound, “Cruise.”
“Bob Dylan taught us, each and every one of us in this room, how to write songs,” Secor went on to say, “yet he’s not a part of mainstream country music. He really isn’t, but he was this year, and Darius Rucker made that happen.”
Indeed, the back story behind “Wagon Wheel” is pretty damned uncanny. The very year (1995) that Bob Dylan lawyered up on Hootie and the Blowfish, Secor, then only a whippersnapping 17 years old, took Dylan’s unfinished sketch “Rock Me Mamma” — a cast-off cut in 1972 during the Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid soundtrack sessions, kept alive only by bootleggers — and wrote his own verses around the song’s killer chorus to arrive at what would become “Wagon Wheel.”
It would eventually become Old Crow Medicine Show’s signature song, helping the group become, at press time, the newest members of the Grand Ole Opry, which inducted them in September. According to Secor, Rucker cut his version after hearing his kid’s school's faculty band play it at a talent show.
So, does Bob Dylan like “Wagon Wheel”?
Secor says he does, that he communicated his feelings on the song’s success to the singer “in kinda smoke signals.”
“He didn’t mention it,” Secor explains. “But I’m sure he [likes ‘Wagon Wheel’], because, I mean, imagine that your scrap can be a hit; Bob Dylan’s discarded song can come back around again 40 years later and wipe the table clean.
“What kind of song is that? It must be a Dylan song.” 

Nellie McKay - My Weekly Reader

Last time Nellie McKay took a stroll through the past, she doffed her hat at Doris Day, an obvious tribute for a singer as besotted with the stage as Ms. McKay. My Weekly Reader, the album that functions as the sequel to 2010's all-original Home Sweet Mobile Home, is a surprise as it shines a spotlight directly on some of the shadowy corners of the '60s. Despite opening with a cover of the Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon" and a leisurely reading of the Beatles' "If I Fell," McKay doesn't spend much time with the familiar. She gravitates toward folky introspection and songs that allow her to strut, two kinds of vintage styles that suit her well, but My Weekly Reader also shows her fondness for weirdo social satire, a quirk that at first glance seem like an odd fit for the singer. Upon second glance, Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention's "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" and Moby Grape's "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" seem odd: they're stage-bound theatrical productions fueled by cutesy curtseys, an attitude that unravels during the latter as McKay threads in protest lines from 2014, ending with a whispered "I can't breathe." Nevertheless, that ambition is admirable and its very presence is appreciated, particularly compared to the lighter pop tunes of Small Faces' "Itchycoo Park" and Herman's Hermits' "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter," tunes that allow McKay to mince about more than necessary. Where My Weekly Reader shines is on the quieter moments, which range from the loveliness of Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Wooden Ships," the nostalgic gleam of Gerry & the Pacemakers' "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," and the spookiness of Richard & Mimi Fariña's "Bold Marauder." Here, McKay achieves a delicate balance between '60s reverence and a sly modern wink, a blurring of eras that plays to her strengths.

Rickie Lee Jones - The Other Side of Desire

When Uncut last caught up with Rickie Lee Jones in 2012, she cheerfully admitted to suffering from writer’s block. “That’s why I keep recording albums of cover versions!” she breezily announced, seemingly unbothered by not having written any new material since 2003’s The Evening Of My Best Day, and gamely plugging The Devil You Know, her second covers collection of the millennium. Since then, she’s moved to New Orleans and kicking back in the Big Easy has set the creative juices flowing again. She now lives on the street made famous by Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire – an address celebrated in the title of her first LP of new songs in a dozen years.
The scuffed up honesty and humanity of post-Katrina New Orleans (she calls it “a city of people who do not try to escape the gravity”) has also permeated the songs. “Singing is acting,” she told Uncut three years ago. But on the 11 new compositions here there is no sense that she is playing a part; the ‘beret and badass bravado’ have gone and she’s singing from the heart. “New Orleans has washed out any affectation,” she blogged while recording the album. “It’s streaming through my own filters, I am not dressing it ‘in the style of’; there is no pretence here in the Crescent City.”
Working on a limited, crowd-funded budget in what Jones calls “an outrageously optimistic amount of time to create a record” represents another break with the past for an artist who was notorious for taking months in the studio (she spent $250,000 recording 1981’s Pirates, an eye-watering sum at the time, even if not quite in the league of Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk).
Jones has always been something of an auteur, but for the first time in her career, confesses to feeling she was “not in charge” during the recording of The Other Side Of Desire, trusting producers John Porter (Roxy Music) and Daniel Lanois’ longtime amanuensis Mark Howard to mould and shape a compelling set of ripe and mature songs into an arrestingly ambitious musical journey, rich in sonic adventure and detail. The opener “Jimmy Choos” is a classic Jones narrative about an expensively dressed woman sitting on a rooftop and throwing bottles at the cops below. “You don’t have to tell me about giving up… someone loves you tonight,” she sings with palpable warmth and compassion over a simmering rhythm that calls to mind another great revenant New Orleans album, Dylan’s Oh Mercy.
The country two-step shuffle “Valtz De Mon Père” could have fitted on Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball, another Lanois/Howard landmark production. “J’ai Connais Pas”, a Waits-like tale of low-life set in a bar, taps deep into the city’s musical history, sung over a walking Fats Domino piano riff. “Blinded By The Hunt” is a slinky slice of secular Southern gospel, a sister song, perhaps, to Matthew E White’s “Will You Love Me”, and sung in a voice that evokes Brittany Howard. “Infinity” floats on a Blue Nile-style chimerical gauze as Jones describes a metaphysical dream riding “a wave through space”. “I Wasn’t Here” changes the mood again, Wizard Of Oz cuteness filtered via a Cerys Matthews pop-charm as Jones’ multi-tracked little-girl vocals dance seductively over an exquisite string arrangement. “Christmas In New Orleans” is a Southern answer to “Fairytale Of New York”, with which it shares a melody to an extent that might excite the interest of Shane MacGowan’s lawyers. “Feet On The Ground” is an achingly beautiful minor-key meditation on damage and loss, but leavened by a heavenly Philly-soul chorus. The album ends enigmatically but exquisitely with a half-sung, half-spoken poem, “A Spider In The Circus Of The Falling Star”, Jones’ voice eerily multi-tracked over a haunting sousaphone.It’s not only Jones’ most absorbing album since 1997’s beats-drenched Ghostyhead, but a record that crowns her career, not as an end but as a culmination.

The Deslondes - The Deslondes

New Orleans is a great place for roots music, but it has never been a major city for country music; when you have the best blues, R&B, and zydeco in the world in your backyard, forming a country band is a bit like going to a steakhouse and ordering pizza, something that may be tasty but isn't the house specialty. But the debut album from the Deslondes suggests these guys are just smart enough to know their adopted hometown has a powerful musical legacy of its own, and if an alt-country band was going to settle in the Crescent City and soak up what it has to offer, this is just what they could and should sound like. The Deslondes has a loose, easygoing feel that's a distant cousin of the lazy but potent beat of classic New Orleans R&B (and the piano work suggests someone has been listening to some Huey "Piano" Smith), while the production gives the performances a vibe that recalls a Sunday afternoon guitar pull on someone's back porch. The guitar work from Sam Doores and Riley Downing meshes beautifully, with a lonesome purr that's sweet and soulful, and the pedal steel work by John James Tourville roots these songs in a traditional C&W feel without robbing this band of its low-key personality (if a band has ever sounded more heartbroken and hung-over on record than these folks do on "Simple and True," no one has spun it in quite some time). And drummer Cameron Snyder and bassist Dan Cutler are a loosely tight rhythm section who might not sound like Louisiana, but they're clearly nowhere near Nashville. Add in the wobbly but heartfelt vocals and surprisingly strong harmonies and you get an engaging debut from a band that hits a graceful midpoint between The Basement Tapes and the Gourds, not to mention delivering one of 2015's more pleasant surprises.

Brothers Comatose - City Painted Gold

Still hasn't come out, so no review yet. Found here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thebrotherscomatose/the-brothers-comatose-new-album-city-painted-gold

Sam Bush - Late as Usual

Like many of the modern bluegrass masters who came of age in the 1960s and 1970s, Sam Bush is a multi-instrumentalist who excels no matter which style he is playing. These 1984 sessions feature the leader in a variety of contexts. He plays fiddle in a traditional duet of Bill Monroe's "Big Mon" with banjo picker Courtney Johnson, then switches to mandolin and singing lead in "Last Letter Home," backed by guitarist Norman Blake and cellist Nancy Blake with bassist John Cowan's harmony vocal and Dobro player Curtis Burch. Perhaps the most fun track is his interpretation of the unjustly overlooked mandolinist Dave Apollon's "Russian Rag"; Bush overdubs himself on mandolins, mandolas, and bass, accompanied by Mike Marshall's multiple mandolins, mandocellos, and guitar. His mandolin duet of the standard "Broadway" with Jethro Burns (a brilliant instrumentalist best known for his work as a part of the country music comedy duo Homer & Jethro) is a meeting between two masters of the instrument. Bush also includes a few originals, with banjo star Béla Fleck added for his progressive "Crooked Smile."

Fantastic Negrito - Fantastic Negrito

“The Claw.” That’s what Xavier Dphrepaulezz calls his mangled hand, a reminder of his journey to the reborn version of himself he coined, Fantastic Negrito. He’s said that his injury, sustained after a coma-inducing car crash, limited him to three chords, but there’s no disability heard on his latest release, a self titled rebirth of an artist defeated by the industry and creatively reignited by the birth of his son. The Fantastic Negrito EP, a celebration of black roots music, is an extended version of his previous work that includes NPR’s “Tiny Desk” winning performance, that he recently told the Baystatebanner, put his career on steroids.

Anyone who paid any attention to NPR in the last year probably got wind of the Tiny Desk contest. Over 7,000 hopefuls planted themselves behind makeshift desks in obscure locations, performing their hearts out in hopes of standing out and stealing Bob Boilen’s seat for a Tiny Desk session. But it was Fantastic Negrito who won the judges over, howling his brand of blues in an Oakland elevator shaft.
Xavier has so many interesting identifiers; One of 14 children, signing and then losing a contract with Interscope Records that lead to his “creative death”, sustaining life altering injuries in a near fatal car crash, bedding his career, and eventually winning a competitive, career-making music contest. So it would seem reasonable that his latest work be a dissection and reflection of those experiences, but he opted against navel gazing and self-talk, instead he brought the stories of the people around him to life through his sound he calls “realness”.
It’s hard to match the emotive power of the video visual attached to the NPR winner, “Lost in a Crowd”, a soul-pounding anthem for the everyday man whose pain gets lost in the monotony and tasks of life, but the produced version is certainly comparable. While he narrates beautifully, the power of the song is found in the deep dug, wordless hum he breaks up each verse with before the drum beats create a dramatic pause between each word as he sings “Lost in a crowd you feel your thoughts out loud”.
And that hum, reminiscent of Skip James, moves through the first three heavier tracks of the EP like a signature, highlighting the pain and power of his dialogue that reminds us to fight for our happiness. Then, suddenly, the record takes a turn. Changing gears from the moody blues of “Honest Man” and “She Don’t Cry No More” swiftly swerving directly into the Delta blues with the twangy, light hearted “Night Has Turned to Day”. Then, giving the listener emotional whiplash, the EP reverses into a sad soul ballad with “The Time Has Come” until it finally parks the finale with the uber groovy, funk-fueled “A New Beginning”.
The immediacy and disjointed nature of the record seems fitting, in tune with Xavier’s rebellious nature and his disregard for formulaic music after years of diminishing his creativity to fit trend molds. His creative re-awakening feels like a painter’s palette of his favorite influences, highlighting a wide spectrum of sound, even when it seems to make the listener dizzy from transitioning between cigar box guitar get-downs and piano blues.
While Fantastic Negrito is a fun, authentic ride, reminding us of what true resilience sounds like, highlighting the best use of slide guitar and wailing like Jack White on his best day, it still seems better suited for a live offering, as each track could stand alone onstage and feels slightly cramped for an EP.
The same “realness” that got him signed in the ‘90s, and the same raw takedown of gritty blues that won over NPR is heard here. Spotlight generally lends to criticism, especially when competition is involved, but with a sound and narrative as sincere and inspiring as Xavier’s it’s hard not to root for Fantastic Negrito.

The Mike + Ruthy Band - Bright As You Can

If first impressions matter whatsoever, then a case could be made that the the Mike + Ruthy Band may have chosen a most misleading moniker. Without any further hint as to their MO, that simple pairing seems to suggest they’re smack full of homespun sentiments and down-home designs. Mike and Ruthy, the perfect couple, going about their business and simply making music.
To a certain extent, that’s an accurate assessment. Bright As You Can certainly finds ballads and bluegrass a decided part of the mix, be it the shimmering, steel guitar-tempered “Chasin’ Gold” and “Freckled Ocean” or the opening good-time romp of the title track itself. However, this pair are far more diverse than your typical back porch combo, and while a song like “The Ghost of Richard Manuel” may give some sort of indication as to where their sentiments lie, other titles indicate that any kind of quick categorization isn’t necessarily the best option. The sweep and sway of “Word on the Street,” the horn-infused “Rock on Little Jane” and the full-on onslaught of “What Are We Waiting For” dismiss any suggestion that these two are reticent to exert some musical muscle whenever they find it necessary.
Then again, it ought not be too surprising after all. This husband-wife duo come to their craft with some especially impressive credentials. Ruthy Ungar is the offspring of two venerable folk performers, Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy, a birthright that first found her on stage at the age of three. She met her future husband Mike Merenda in the cramped confines of New York City arts underground and after veering off from their initial interest in theater, the formed a band called the Mammals, picking up fans in the persons of Pete Seeger, his grandson Tao and Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter and keeper of his legacy, all the way.
Consequently, with a diverse heritage and an undeniable catalog of marketable material to stand on, Mike & Ruthy have clearly established the fact that for all the ambiguity their handle might bear, they mine a strikingly diverse canon. It’s also quite clear that their reach stretches far beyond any simple, easily defined sentiments. That becomes increasingly evident on first listen to the album’s center piece, the single track that finds the brilliant Bright As You Can reduced to shades of gray. “Legends Only Appear In Black & White” provides a ghostly homage to those that have been here and gone, a song that quotes tradition and offers ominous overtures in the process. It’s a thoughtful number, and one that demonstrates the duo’s insight and intuition are forces to be considered
It’s that ability to go beyond the boundaries that allow the Mike + Ruthy Band to temper their folk finesse and do it so skilfully as well. Bright As You Can could indeed be the very thing that puts them in the vanguard of todays’s vibrant folk revival.

Los Lobos- Gates Of Gold

Los Lobos were already seasoned veterans who had close to a decade of live work under their belts when the 1983 EP ...And a Time to Dance introduced them to an audience outside Los Angeles, and 32 years on, not only are Los Lobos still together, they're playing with the strength, fire, and imagination that have made them one of America's truly great rock & roll bands. Gates of Gold is Los Lobos' 17th studio album, and it arrives as a biography of the group, Los Lobos: Dream in Blue by Chris Morris, has been published, and while some groups might use this as an opportunity to look to the past or sum up their accomplishments, that's not how Los Lobos do business. One one hand, Gates of Gold does offer a healthy sampling of the many things that Los Lobos do well, from the straight-ahead rock of "Too Small Heart" and the raucous blues blast of "Mis-Treater Boogie Blues" to the fiery Latin swagger of "Poquito Para Aqui," the heartfelt folky simplicity of "La Tumba Sera el Final," and the inward-looking experimentalism of "There I Go" (the latter of which could pass for an outtake from Sly & the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On). But on the other hand, even if Los Lobos follow a few recognizable tropes from their songbook, none of these songs or this material sounds rote, and the jazz-flavored space walk through "When We Were Free" confirms this band is a long way from running out of new ideas. The performances are taut and intuitive on Gates of Gold, especially the always outstanding guitar work from David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas (the latter is still a solid blues howler four decades on), and the production revels in new and unexpected sounds, though never simply for the sake of being eccentric. Los Lobos have lasted because they follow their instincts and trust their talents, neither of which seem capable of letting them down; Gates of Gold shows they can contemplate the infinite and chart new paths while still sounding like no one but themselves, and they can do all of this with the force and agility they commanded when half their age. They probably don't have another 32 years of great music left in them, but 21 more may be a safe bet.

Blue Rose Code

...AND LO! THE BIRD IS ON THE WING is the new album from the acclaimed Scottish songwriter, Blue Rose Code (Ross Wilson).

Recorded at Gran's House Studio in the Scottish Borders and written between the Shetland Isles and rural Dorset, '...AND LO! THE BIRD IS ON THE WING' features the finest Scottish Jazz and Folk musicians, Nashville Gospel singers, The McCrary Sisters, British music legend Danny Thompson and Hollywood A-lister, none other than Ewan McGregor.

Of the new record, Wilson says, "It's an album for music fans and musicians. A challenging record, I think, and it's abundantly clear that the process has been undertaken away from the cynicism of any record company.

"I'm passionate about that fusion of folk and jazz and where it intersects with songwriting. Working with these musicians has been a game-changer. I may have cut my throat because there's not really a single on here but, this is the album that I've written and it's just as I wished it to be".

Of the new record, Wilson says, "It's an album for music fans and musicians, a challenging record.

"I'm passionate about that fusion of folk and jazz and where it intersects with songwriting. Working with these musicians has been a game-changer. I may have cut my throat because there's not really a single on here but, this is the album that I've written and it's just as I wished it to be."

In the space of only a short few years and two stellar albums, Blue Rose Code, Edinburgh-born Ross Wilson, has gone from song-writing in the obscurity of an East London flat to being celebrated by the industry and fans alike as a legacy artist whose work stands alone. As BBC Radio 3 broadcaster Mary-Anne Kennedy said recently, “Blue Rose Code is one of those rare artists whose work makes you sit up and listen”.

The Ballads Of Peckham Rye, Blue Rose Code’s second record, was nominated for the prestigious Scottish Album Of The Year Awards in 2014 and featured a roll-call of remarkable talent, including Danny Thompson, Karine Polwart, John Wetton, Aidan O’Rourke and Kathryn Williams.

'GRATEFUL', the first single from the new album was released at the end of 2015 and was playlisted on BBC Radio Scotland for a full five weeks. Truly remarkable for an act without the backing of a label or a heavy management deal.

Further praise has come from the most unexpected of quarters in Hollywood A-lister, Ewan McGregor. Ewan explained, “My uncle Denis Lawson, (star of Local Hero) gave me a copy of The Ballads Of Peckham Rye, it’s beautiful and I can’t stop listening to it.”

Performing live he is stunning, and this reputation led Edith Bowman to personally ask Ross to perform on the launch show of BBC At The Quay with Texas and Stornoway. Edith described Ross’ performance with a nine-piece band, including guest Karine Polwart, as “truly special and beautiful”.

Parkington Sisters

When Ariel, Sarah, Nora, and Rose Parkington of the Parkington Sisters pick up their instruments to strike up a song, the air begins to buzz. The chemistry between the four sisters is so present you feel like you can touch it – and as soon as they strike the first tone, it overwhelms the listener like a tidal wave crashing down.

Hailing from Wellfleet, Massachusetts, the Parkington Sisters cut their teeth on music from the very beginning. Daughters of a prog rock musician and a classically trained guitarist and songwriter, they were raised playing music on picturesque Cape Cod. They rebelled against summer jobs cleaningrental houses and performing in high-brow symphonies and instead became a band performing on the streets of Provincetown, on the tip of the Cape.

 Over the past 4 years they have performed for hundreds of thousands of people, sharing the stage with artists ranging from Mavis Staples and Bruce Springsteen to Dispatch and the Dropkick Murphys, performing in radio studios and stages across the US, Canada and Europe, including New York’s Radio City Music Hall. More recently, the Parkingtons joined the Dropkick Murphy's to perform the national anthem before Game 6 of the World Series at Fenway Park, leading to the first World Series home win for the Red Sox since 1918!

The band has released a special EP, featuring album track "Inside My Head". The new album and EP was produced and engineered by Joel Hamilton (Black Keys, Tom Waits), along with the sisters - and was recorded in haunted churches, basements, hotels and living rooms across New England - as well as at the new 5000 sq foot Studio G in Brooklyn. It combines the influence of growing up on Cape Cod and the sisters’ individual talents – each of the sisters is a songwriter and a multi- instrumentalist. With soaring melodies, tumbling from optimistic heights to eerie lows, vibrant harmonies and intricate arrangements, their songwriting incorporates the eclectic songwriting of Joni Mitchell and Aimee Mann, the energy of June Carter and the hit potential of Mumford and Sons.

Heartless Bastards - Restless Ones

Released in 2015, Restless Ones marks the first time the Heartless Bastards have had the same lineup for two albums in a row since All This Time in 2006, and the bandmembers certainly sound more comfortable and at ease with themselves than they have in a while. Lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist Erika Wennerstrom still sings like a powerhouse as she muses about making sense of life's rare peaks and many valleys, but this time she sounds more in sync with her bandmates -- Mark Nathan on guitar, Jesse Ebaugh on bass, and David Colvin on drums -- and this music has a raw immediacy the Bastards haven't matched since their first two albums. The sharp, jittery slide work on "Wind Up Bird" suggests the damaged blues fury of the Gun Club, "Black Cloud" has the decisive snap of vintage R&B, and "Into the Light" is that rarity, a widescreen power ballad that actually has the heart, soul, and riffs to not sound embarrassing in the 21st century. And while the band sounds tight and on point throughout, Restless Ones captures the interplay of four musicians who simply set up in the studio and let it rip; the guitars growl with conviction, the report of the bass is deep and satisfying, and the drumming is solid while leaving just enough room to color the arrangements. (In fact, the band sounds good enough that producer John Congleton often favors them over Wennerstrom in the mix, one of the album's few sonic flaws.) While the extended, effects-laden closer "Tristessa" suggests psychedelia isn't the Bastards' strong suit, the rest of Restless Ones strikes a graceful balance between the ragged but strikingly honest sound of the Heartless Bastards' early work and the most polished attack of The Mountain and Arrow; these songs capture an outstanding band hitting its stride, and growing more comfortable with the craft of record-making along with singing and playing great, passionate music.

Glen Hansard - Didn't He Ramble

Glen Hansard is an artist who is not afraid to lay bare his soul for his audience to see, but few artists as passionate as Hansard can modulate themselves quite so well; his music is deeply and openly emotional without Hansard sounding as if he's melting into a puddle of melodrama. Hansard's emotional high-wire act is once again the centerpiece of his third full-length solo effort, 2015's Didn't He Ramble, and the album's polished yet rustic modern-folkie sensibility is a splendid backdrop for Hansard's compositions, ten songs that find rays of hope in bad situations while also never missing the bits of rust in his own emotional armor. Didn't He Ramble was cut during sessions in Ireland, England, and the United States, but the set has a warm and unified feel, suggesting the glory days of the '70s singer/songwriter era but with a cleaner and less indulgent sensibility. Hansard's singing is at the top of his game on Didn't He Ramble, unaffected but strong as the soulful edges of his instrument wrap themselves around his songs like a more restrained version of Van Morrison (especially on the gospel-tinged "Her Mercy"). Hansard's accompanists make the most of his lean but evocative melodies, and the string arrangements by Rob Moose and Thomas Bartlett are excellent, adding to the air of mystery in these tunes without giving the performances an unwelcome level of gloss. Didn't He Ramble shows that as a performer and a songwriter, Hansard can create powerful and satisfying work that's up to the standard he set with the Frames, and this is a step up from 2012's impressive but uneven Rhythm and Repose.

Video Premiere: The Mining Co. – ‘Country Heart’

Taken from their upcoming album, The Mining Co. have now shared a new single, ‘Country Heart’.

Filled with sweeping Americana-inspired melodies and the distinctive raw vocals of Michael Gallagher, ‘Country Heart’ is a rich and heartfelt alt-folk anthem.

Vanessa Peters-The Burden of Unshakeable Proof

In the last ten years, Vanessa has played over 1000 shows in 11 countries, receiving accolades from abroad and in her hometown of Dallas, where she was recently nominated as “Best Folk Artist” by The Dallas Observer. She continues to tour the US and in Europe, where she has a strong fan base thanks to the albums she made with her former Italian band, Ice Cream on Mondays, and the hundreds of shows she has played in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Denmark. On March 1, 2016, she will release her latest album, “The Burden of Unshakeable Proof,” and will follow its release with touring in the US and Europe.

After the critical and commercial success of her Kickstarter-financed 2012 album “The Burn The Truth The Lies” and the recent success in Europe of “With The Sentimentals,” recorded in Denmark with the band of the same name, Vanessa Peters will release her latest full-length album, “The Burden of Unshakeable Proof” on March 1, 2016 in the US (European release date TBD).

“The Burden of Unshakeable Proof” is already being called “fully realized, written with elegance and imagination.” Recorded by producer Rip Rowan (Old 97s, Rhett Miller) at their home studio in Dallas, the album was a long-time coming, in part because their studio was built from the ground up over the last two years. Rather than pay for studio time elsewhere, Vanessa waited patiently while the studio took shape and finally came to life last summer. “It was a labor of love in the truest sense,” she says. “Rip was out there everyday, in full-on carpenter and engineer mode. He worked like a dog, but I think there were moments both of us feared it would never end. We were both so ready to get started on recording, but we just had to wait. However,  in some respects it was good that it took so long, because I just kept writing and editing.”
                              
Vanessa and Rip called into their good friends to join them in the studio, and the band  ended up tracking nearly 25 songs. Culling the batch down to 10 songs wasn’t easy; at one point they even considered releasing a double album. But ultimately, Vanessa chose 10 songs that were tied together by a common thread: determination in the face of despair, and the willingness to shed the shackles of the past in order to move forward.  Both “Delicate” and “Mending Fences” deal with feelings of being overwhelmed by the crush of  today’s fast-paced life; “Cage” is the story of modern relationships that play out on the screen for all the world to see, and “Paralysis Bug” is a song that anyone who has ever struggled to get out of bed will understand. But there are moments of hope, too; “Let’s Do This” is a buoyant, energetic pop gem about courage and chutzpah, and “Atmosphere” is a soft, gauzy love song held up in the sky by the underpinnings of a gorgeous, swelling guitar line.

There’s a distinct side A and side B to the album – all the more fitting since this is the first album that Vanessa will release on vinyl. “The Burden of Unshakeable Proof” will be released on March 1, 2016 and on vinyl on Palo Santo Records later this year.
On stage, Vanessa and Rip often play shows as a duo, with Rip playing the drums and keyboard simultaneously and Vanessa taking the lead on acoustic and the very-occasional electric guitar. They are fortunate to be joined from time to time on electric guitar by Grammy-winning guitar player Joe Reyes, excellent Texas singer-songwriter Daniel Markham, the fantastic Daniele Fiaschi from Rome, or uber-talented Dallas guitarist Nick Earl. 2016 will find the band playing a number of shows in the US and in Europe in support of the new album’s release.

Maddie And Tae - Start Here

Maddie & Tae constructed their initial single, "Girl in a Country Song," as a battle cry camouflaged as satire: it took dead aim at the bros, but the duo smiled as they sank in the shiv. Clever as it was, "Girl in a Country Song" ran the risk of pegging Maddie & Tae as a novelty act but their full-length 2015 debut, Start Here, proves the hit was an opening salvo in a long-term mission to take back the contemporary country airwaves from hunks in tight jeans. Start Here is a proudly female album in addition to being a record that fully embraces the joys and occasional sorrows of being young, smart, funny, and ambitious. Given their precocious, pop-friendly attitude and association with Big Machine Records, it's easy to compare Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye to Taylor Swift, but Maddie & Tae emulate neither the skillful adolescent poetry nor the folky fragility of early Swift. They're an unabashed country act, gliding between heartbreak harmonies and punch lines with aplomb, the gilded ease masquerading the careful craft behind these 11 songs, every one of which bears songwriting credits by the duo. Craft is always a key component of the Nashville machine and producer Dann Huff ensures that Start Here follows the contours of commercial country; this isn't outsider music, this is bright, shiny country that cherishes polish as much as twang. The reason Start Here feels fresh lies entirely with Maddie & Tae, how they're tomboys who wish their boyfriend would just "Shut Up and Fish," how they feel as genuine when they're settling into sentiment on "Fly" as they do on "Sierra" when they pray for the downfall of a mean girl. In another's hands, such scheming could seem crass or nasty but placed in the context of Start Here, where it's surrounded by both sweetness and swagger, it simply adds another dimension to an album that embodies all the complex contradictions and unfettered optimism of modern country-pop in 2015.

 

The Brothers Comatose

Expansive, uplifting, and just downright beautiful, City Painted Gold is one of the most anticipated records of the coming year – at least amongst the loyal fans The Brothers Comatose had won while touring across the country in support of their past two releases.  Infused with a sense of relaxed, experienced confidence, The Brothers Comatose offer a southwestern-tinged, rowdy stringband sound that might just make this your new favorite record before you turn it over to side B. Walking lockstep with their undeniable top-flight musicianship is an easy humility. “It’s just one, big, extended Morrison music party,” they say. Brothers Ben and Alex Morrison, guitar and banjo, and lead vocalists, front this rocking string band that has become a West coast headliner and national touring act in a mere handful of years. With bassmaster Gio Benedetti and stellar accompanists Philip Brezina on fiddle and Ryan Avellone on mandolin, their high energy, audience engaging shows have caught fire with fans from San Diego to Seattle to Salt Lake to Silk Hope, NC and beyond.

“It all sort of started before we ever picked up instruments” explains Ben. “Our mom was in a folk quartet that sang beautiful songs in harmony. Alex and I would watch them rehearse for hours when we were kids.” Growing up around band rehearsals and music parties, the Morrison brothers eventually found themselves with instruments in their hands. Ben started playing on his dad’s acoustic guitar and Alex happened upon a banjo that someone had left behind after a household music party.

The brothers learned a mess of classic rock covers, playing casually in their living room and around campfires (and at those famous Morrison music parties) for the next few years. Eventually their genre of choice drifted to broad-stoke Americana and a buddy asked them to come record a few tunes in his garage. Their friend Benedetti had been studying upright bass and they called him up for the session. He couldn’t make it that day but shortly after they all began playing together. They needed a few more good players to round out their sound, and the brothers put up fliers all around San Francisco. A few people answered, including Philip Brezina, at the time pursuing a Master’s degree in violin performance at the Conservatory of Music. “When he showed up, I thought, who the hell is this guy?” says Ben. “He’s kind of a redneck but he’s getting his masters in classical violin. Turned out to work pretty well.” Avellone had shared bills with the Brothers a few times over the years in other bands and was a perfect fit.  Ben called him up, and “next thing you know, he’s our mandolin player.”

Soon enough they put the axe to the grindstone, releasing two critically acclaimed records in Songs From The Stoop (2010) and Respect the Van (2012). Those releases led to extended tours with Devil Makes Three, Yonder Mountain String Band and Lake Street Dive, which in turn led to their own headlining club tours and festival appearances including the likes of High Sierra, Delfest, Outsidelands and Pickathon.

When it came to write their third record, the now-seasoned road warriors returned to their home of fourteen years in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. “We wrote this album living in San Francisco as it was changing from a weird, art friendly mecca to a place that only super rich tech workers could afford,” tells Ben. “Things started changing – venues were closing down, and artist and musician friends moved away. What is San Francisco without its weirdos? That’s what the song City Painted Gold is about and that’s why it’s the name of this record.” Shortly after completing the record, The Brothers Comatose themselves joined the ranks of the displaced.

Eviction brings change, and change inspires creativity. When our heroes got booted from their home city of over a decade, they did not despair – no! They wrote a new and wonderful album. If our heroes maintain their current trajectory we should all be really rather excited about what the future holds.