Friday, May 30, 2014

Listen> Brooklyn's harmonica slaying blues trio Daddy Long Legs 'Long John's Jump'

Photo by Anita Posada
DADDY LONG LEGS - Blues Harp, Steel Guitar,Lead Vocals 
MURAT AKTURK- Slide Guitar, Acoustic/Electric Guitars, Backing Vocals 
JOSH STYLES - Tubs, Maracas, Tambourine
Brooklyn's harmonica slaying blues trio Daddy Long Legs second album, Blood From A Stone, coming out on June 10, via Norton Records. The Brooklyn bunch prefer BBQ joints and motorcycle shops for venues, but will be hosting a triple Norton record release soiree on May 31 at Union Pool 



The Black Tambourines, NEW Video and #FREEBEE 'I Wanna Stay Away'

Sam Stacpoole - Vocals, Guitar
Josh Spencer-Fletcher - Guitar, Vocals
Jake Willbourne - Vocals, Bass
Jim Sibley - Drums
From Falmouth, UK surf rockers (or what the call Ocean Rock) The Black Tambourines drop NEW video and song  'I Wanna Stay Away' free download via soundcloud. Put this jimmie jammer on your summer play list.


Free Download


2013's Self Titled LP


They're 2011 EP Chica is still available for free

Listen> The Galileo 7 ~ False Memory Lane


The Galileo 7 is the side project of psychedelic guru Allan Crockford, bassist for the Prisoners, Prime Movers, Solarflares, Graham Day & The Forefathers. with The Galileo 7 he plays six-string. sings lead as well as composing the songs. The new album False Memory Lane released 26th May 2014 via Fools Paradise. When you order the vinyl from their store, you get a 3 track EP to go along with it, two releases for one price is always cool. CD available on Amazon or CDBaby
Tracklist:
1. Don't Follow Me
2. My Cover Is Blown
3. You're Not Dreaming
4. False Memory Lane
5. Nobody Told You
6. Don't Know What I'm Waiting For
7. I'm Still Here
8. Tide's Rising
9. Fools
10. Don't Want To Know
11. Little By Little

"Mere Self Anomaly" Bonus CD EP (included with vinyl edition only):
1. Blank Spot
2. Over And Over
3. Reynard The Fox

Listen to five songs from the album below.


At Couch By Couchwest 2013 Allan performed Anne Hedonia

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Stream Centro-Matic - Take Pride In Your Long Odds


The 11th album from Denton, Texas band Centro-Matic, Take Pride In Your Long Odds, is set for release next week, and the album is a long time coming. Their last release was 2011’s Candidate Waltz, and for this forthcoming full-length the process was a highly collaborative one.
“I had a few characters in this collection of songs that were struggling,” said songwriter Will Johnson. “And I found some connections among them that I liked well enough to build a record around. I felt like there was some shred of positivity living within, or at least waiting somewhere down the line for most of them.”
In pursuit of this positivity, Johnson enlisted the help of his bandmates to get the record put together.
“I kept rummaging through bins of electric and acoustic sprawl, fuzz and feedback during the writing,” he said. “But Mark [Hedman], Matt [Pence], Scott [Danborn], and [Scott] Solter were invaluable in redefining, better communicating, and injecting new life into these songs once we got to the studio. They lifted and shaped the record into something that fits the band ideally at this point in its history. It was another exhilarating recording experience for the five of us, and it again reminded me how much I love recording with our particular team.”

Check out the final product by streaming Take Pride In Your Long Odds in full in the player below. Take Pride In Your Long Odds is set for release on June 3 via Navigational Transmissions/Thirty Tigers.


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Thomas Bryan Eaton - We All Want To Be Love

Thomas Bryan Eaton - Vocals/Guitar/Pedal Steel/Keys/Bass/Drums/Mandolin/etc,


On first listen to Brooklyn's Thomas Bryan Eaton second full-length record We All Want To Be Love, I was struck by the seeming nod to oft overlooked Leon Russells' sound scattered throughout the album, whether purposeful or coincidental I don't know but I like it. From the beautiful ballads 'All I Get' featuring Miss Tess' stunning vocals, and 'We All Want to be Love' to the country flavored boogie rockin' 'I've Been Lovin' You', 'Days Will Come' and 'Dancin' the 8 songs cover a lot of musical ground that will have you listening often.
Thomas can play pretty much anything that makes noise,
"For years, I focused on instrumental abilities. Studying jazz improvisation, learning bluegrass and old-time fiddle tunes, and generally focusing on getting what's inside my head, out of it on various instruments,” says Eaton from his Brooklyn apartment. "Then, one night while playing bumper pool with my friend in college, I heard Dylan's Nashville Skyline for the first time. That marked the emergence of “the song” in my musical landscape."
 His emphasis on classic songwriting and instrumentation coupled with fresh melodies and expansive arrangements sets him apart from many of the other loosely labeled Americana acts of today.

The record was crafted over the last year and a half in between tours, bar gigs and the general madness of New York City. Produced, mixed and mastered by Eaton, recorded at various friends’ studios and his own apartment, We All Want To Be Love features a cast of his closest musical associates including, Jeff Malinowski, Aaron Shafer-Haiss, Miss Tess, John Pahmer, Adam Moss, Todd Livingston, Ryan Cady, Jared Samuel, Ezra Oaklan as well as Thomas on all sorts of noise making.
Catch Thomas playing by his lonesome or with his band Hobson's Choice, a rootsy, country rock 'n' roll band reminiscent of Jerry Jeff Walker, The Rolling Stones, and the best parts of The Grateful Dead. They’re known to get even the normally stoic crowds of NYC on their feet dancing!



Tuesday, May 27, 2014

NEW Album from Blackwater Jukebox


It’s been two years since Blackwater Jukebox’s last release, and they haven’t skipped a beat and I'm delighted. There are many bands that cull influences from the vast world of music and create their own sound, but none that do it with a devilish intensity like they do. Prepare your soul and dance.

Blackwater Jukebox is a voodoo-tinged carnival of LA musicians who have combined their love of roots music with a modern flair and taste for adventure, transforming traditional music into a savage new beast – darker and more danceable.

Armed with an arsenal of banjo, bassoon, bass, bad ass guitar, accordion, and a booming blend of percussion, Blackwater Jukebox has developed a reputation for explosive shows and dance floor annihilations, earning them a devoted following in their hometown of Los Angeles – and beyond.
Geordie: It’s a big band, and part of the concept of the band and the music is that it can easily take on new members for shows. So there’s constantly a revolving lineup, which probably has upwards of 20 people in total. We have a core group of members that is probably composed of seven or eight people. Any band requires a lot of people, as people got into the band it took on a certain identity. It’s beyond any one person’s control; Blackwater Jukebox is greater than any one person individually. 
 Blackwater Jukebox follows in a tradition of The Pogues, Paul Simon, The Talking Heads and Gogol Bordello, tapping the deep root of global music to reach an inexhaustible well of inspiration and achieve psychic tribal connection. Blackwater Jukebox’s mission is to bring people together, fill the infinite space between souls and nourish our hunger for connection through the most powerful form of magic: music.

Front man Geordie McElroy plays banjo, backed by a core lineup of Alex Volz on guitar, Angela Coutrone on percussion, Evan Chudnow on bass, Heather Cano on bassoon and recorder, Jym “The Snake” Fahey on harmonica, Lee Harcourt on percussion, and Scott Keil on percussion with a constantly rotating ensemble of over a dozen creative minds' on this album the line up is:

Heather Cano – bassoon, recorder, slide whistle
Evan Chudnow – bass
Pierluigi Ciaccio – drums
Scott Keil – cowbell, tambourine
Geordie McElroy – banjo, vocals
Frankie J. Reinke – accordion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Jonathan Soucy – electric guitar
Alex Volz – electric guitar, backing vocals

Sadie d’Marquez - vocals
Tommy Santee – vocals

Renee Barbieri – backing vocals
Brian Hobart – backing vocals
Nick Rumanick – backing vocals

______________

______________

The Henry Girls - Louder Than Words


There’s a Vietnamese proverb that says “siblings are as close as hands and feet.” One listen to The Henry Girls and you’re compelled to add “vocal chords” to the phrase. Comprised of sisters Karen, Lorna, and Joleen McLaughlin, The Henry Girls give a master class in harmony, effortlessly and flawlessly weaving together Irish roots and Americana influences into a rich tapestry of song. Actually, this is no cliched “musical tapestry.” This is a warm, wool blanket on a rainy day. This is the tablecloth your great-grandmother made that adorns the coffee table in the summertime. This is The Henry Girls’ latest offering, Louder Than Words.

Thanks to strong family genes (including those of their grandfather, Henry, their collective namesake), Karen, Lorna, and Joleen have been bending ears as The Henry Girls for over a decade across numerous recordings. By 2010, they were nominated for an Irish Film & Television Award for Best Original Score for their contributions to the soundtrack of A Shine of Rainbows. Their previous album, December Moon, garnered rave reviews from press on both sides of the Atlantic. Now they offer their fifth studio album, Louder Than Words.
Veteran producer Calum Malcolm (The Blue Nile, The Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Stéphane Grappelli, Carol Kidd) returns on this album, which was recorded on The Henry Girls’ native soil in Co. Donegal, Ireland, and mixed and mastered in Scotland (their mother’s birthplace). Louder Than Words features a wide assortment of instrumentation and textures, but manages to feel concise and natural. Karen, Lorna, and Joleen make extensive use of their shared understanding and musical abilities, trading instruments and vocal duties back and fourth throughout the album’s ten tracks.

At the center of the album is a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Reasons to Believe.”
Enlisting the help of Liam Bradley’s drums and percussion, Ted Ponsonby’s resonator guitar, and The Inishowen Gospel Choir’s powerful restraint, The Henry Girls submit a beautifully driving rendition of the American-heartland tune. Throughout, Louder Than Words features stories of heartbreak (“James Monroe”), unrequited love (“So Long but Not Goodbye”), and regret and uncertainty (“The Light in the Window,” “Home,” “It’s Not Easy”). The Inishowen Gospel Choir returns twice more throughout the tracklist, all the way into the final, swelling, mercy of “Here Beside Me.” As producer Calum hops on the Hammond, the voices swell together: “You with me, here beside me, is all I really need,” and you get the sense that they could just as easily be talking about family, about their neighbors, their hometown postalworkers, the people who make up a vibrant community. You can almost hear echoes of fellow Irishman Bono saying “these are the hands that built America.” Yes, The Henry Girls are indeed building something with Louder Than Words, and it comes from Irish, Scottish, and American roots. But this is a new world. A world that could only be born out of the shared imagination of three sisters sitting at the kitchen table, finishing each others’ sentences. And you’re there, hanging on every word, every note, just like the hem of your great-grandmother’s tablecloth hanging over the edge of that very table.


Louder Than Words Tracklist: 
1 James Monroe (feat. The Bog Neck Brass Band)
2 The Weather
3 Maybe
4 No Matter What You Say
5 Reason to Believe (feat. Inishowen Gospel Choir)

6 The Light in the Window
7 Home (feat. Fidil & Inishowen Gospel Choir)
8 So Long but Not Goodbye

9 It's Not Easy
10 Here Beside Me (feat. Inishowen Gospel Choir)


Sunday, May 25, 2014

Graveyard Train NEW Album Takes One To Know One


The follow up to one of my favorite 2012 releases, the excellent album ‘Hollow’ the latest release from Graveyard Train  'Takes One To Know One' is if possible darker and spookier, but with a tad more of R&R on the drumbeats, but thier trademark sound of dark country/bluegrass Dobros, Banjos, upright Bass, hammers, chains, foot stompin’ and hauntin harmonies are still there, along with the death, dying and afterlife themed lyrics. The album is full of thick ominous tragically romantic ballads that have a soothing effect like the calm before the storm.





Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Everymen NEW Album Givin' Up On Free Jazz + Tour Dates


The Everymen are back with gusto on their sophomore LP Givin' Up On Free Jazz, capturing the energy and spontaneous combustion of their live shows with eleven rock buster songs.
Since forming in 2009, New Jersey’s The Everymen have quickly built a solid fan base thanks to their tireless average of over 100 shows a year, and a reputation as one of the hardest working and most exciting live bands around.
The follow-up to their first full length release New Jersey Harcore, which was the work of one man flanked by occasional co-conspirators, Free Jazz is the fully formed execution of a band just hitting its stride.
From modern takes on girl group send ups (“Fingers Crossed”) to soaring, Springsteen-esque walls of sound (“A Girl Named Lou Pt. 2”), full throttle odes to eternal love (“Spain”) and hushed, piano bar intimacy (“Izzy”), and four on the floor, windows down stompers (“Another Thing To Lose”) Givin’ Up On Free Jazz is an album as varied as it is focused all while sounding singularly Everymen.

Givin’ Up On Free Jazz was produced by Everymen mastermind Mike V with Tom Unish manning the boards. It was mixed by the legendary John Angello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Kurt Vile) and mastered by Paul Gold (LCD Soundsystem, Animal Collective, Fucked Up).

The Everymen are:
Mike V – vocals and guitar
Catherine Herrick – vocals
Stephen Chopek – drums
Jake Fiedler – drums
Scott Zillitto – sax
Will Hoffman – trumpet
Jamie Zillitto – bass
Geoff Morrissey – lead guitar
Tom Barrett – keys
With a special appearance by A.C. Newman of The New Pornographers





You can purchase CDs or LPs either at your local record store, or at any of the links below.
Direct from the label 
iTunes
Amazon
Tour Dates:
6/4/14 Asbury Park, NJ The Saint
6/5/14 Philadelphia, PA Milkboy
6/6/14 Washington, DC Velvet Lounge
6/7/14 Wilmington, NC Walker World Organic Artist Retreat
6/8/14 Raleigh, NC The Pour House
6/9/14 Charlotte, NC The Roux
6/10/14 Atlanta, GA 529
6/11/14 Jacksonville, FL Burro Bar
6/13/14 Miami, FL Gramp's
6/14/14 Orlando, FL Will's Pub
6/15/14 Pensacola, FL Handlebar
6/16/14 New Orleans, LA Checkpoint Charlie's
6/18/14 Dallas, TX Three Links Deep Ellum
6/19/14 Austin, TX Hotel Vegas
6/20/14 Lubbock, TX Bash Riprock's
6/21/14 Albuquerque, NM Burt's Tiki Lounge
6/22/14 Phoenix, AZ Trunk Space
6/23/14 San Diego, CA Soda Bar
6/25/14 Los Angeles, CA Cafe Nela
6/26/14 Oakland, CA Eli's Mile High Club
6/28/14 Seattle, WA TBD
6/29/14 Spokane, WA Baby Bar
6/30/14 Boise, ID Liquid
7/2/14 Salt Lake City, UT Burt's Tiki Lounge
7/3/14 Denver, CO 3 King's Tavern
7/5/14 Lawrence, KS Replay Lounge
7/6/14 Omaha, NE O'Leaver's
7/7/14 Des Moines, IA Vaudeville Mews
7/8/14 Minneapolis, MN TBD
7/9/14 Chicago, IL The Burlington
7/11/14 Madison, WI The Frequency
7/12 Milwaukee - TBD
7/13 St. Louis - Blank Space
7/14 Florence, AL - 116
7/15 Nashville - TBD
7/17 Louisville - Zanzabar
7/18 Indianapolis - TBD
7/19 Youngstown - The Royal Oak
7/21 Boston - TBD
7/25 New York - Piano's


Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Pork Chop Willie’s Debut Album 'Love is the Devil'

 
Photo Credit: David Sokol
Bill Hammer, Guitar, Vocals;  Melissa Tong, Violin

What do you get when a classically trained violinist is persuaded to play Mississippi Hill Country blues with a NYC blues guitarist? Something truly spectacular! Bill Hammer and Melissa Tong visited the North Mississippi hills and came back with Mississippi mud thick under thier fingernails.....
I'll be hard pressed to find another debut this year that impresses me as much as this album. All the right ingredients presented with great musicianship and passion. The roots, they be strong and entangled with tradition but with a unique freshness.

Pork Chop Willie’s national debut album Love is the Devil ( Release date June 3, 2014) lights a new fire under America’s musical melting pot, bringing fresh heat to the Mississippi hill country blues tradition while blending in elements of Americana, rock, alt-country and even classical music. The 13-song disc serves as a bridge between those genres, the past and the present, and the band’s Magnolia State inspirations and Manhattan home. Led by singer-guitarist Bill Hammer and violinist Melissa Tong, Pork Chop Willie is fueled by grooves, grit, honesty and passion as well as a unique blend of down-home and uptown musicianship. The band can be heard regularly at their Hill Country Music Nights at the Shrine World Music Venue in Harlem, and on the road at Juke Joints from Mississippi to Tennessee to New York.

Led by singer-guitarist Bill Hammer and violinist Melissa Tong, Pork Chop Willie is fueled by grooves, grit, honesty and passion as well as a unique blend of down-home and uptown musicianship. Love is the Devil’s songs “have integrity and tell stories about real people in a direct, unfiltered way that anybody can relate to,” says Hammer, who founded the band in 2007.
“That’s something I don’t hear much in blues anymore, or in music in general.” 
The album’s tunes, most written by Hammer, cover a lot of territory. The rollicking two-step “Lonesome Poor,” which classically trained Tong colors with Louisiana roadhouse fiddle lines, and the hip-shake chant “Ain’t Nobody,” a one-chord wonder sung in the voice of a lonesome ghost, both embrace the longstanding blues ethos of telling sad tales in a joy-inspiring way, thanks to the undeniable power of their hooks and grooves.

Many songs evoke the kudzu-covered hills of North Mississippi, where Hammer’s inspiration dwells. He pays tribute to Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside — the blues wizards of Chulahoma, an unincorporated county just over the Tennessee line — with their “All Night Long” and “Snake Drive,” respectively. Both numbers reflect the region’s strong preservation of its African musical roots in their hypnotic single-chord, call-and-response arrangements, made even more mesmerizing by the turbulent dance of Hammer’s slide guitar in “Snake Drive” and Tong’s graceful, melodic ballet in “All Night Long.”

Hammer and Tong are joined on those tracks by drummer Kinney Kimbrough and bassist Eric Deaton, the anchors of Pork Chop Willie’s Mississippi rhythm section. Another of Junior Kimbrough’s sons, David, contributed guitar in the studio for a graceful rendition of the traditional “Crawdad Song,” with Kinney providing a percolating rhythmic base. David also plays on Hammer’s heart-broken “She’s Gone” and his brooding, swinging “Black Heart.”
“These guys, along with legends like Junior, R.L. and Kenny Brown, are my heroes,” Hammer explains. “They grew up steeped in the music and by playing with me over the years they’ve helped me evolve from imitating what they’re doing to the point where I am creating my own music, albeit with strong ties to the tradition.” 
Love is the Devil is, in part, payback for that musical education. All proceeds from its sale will be used to benefit the musicians and music of the hill country.
For the cuts recorded in Water Valley, Mississippi’s Black Wings Studio by engineer Winn Elroy, who mixed the entire album, the group was also joined by vocalists Monique Townes, Wanda Stokes and Justin Showah. The sessions at New York City’s Dubway Studios included Pork Chop Willie’s regular NYC-based line-up of drummer Robin Gould, bassist Tony Coniff and guitarist Steve Tarshis. Despite its dual cast, the sound of Love is the Devil is consistent — driving, gleeful, mesmerizing and memorable.

For Hammer, Love is the Devil is the culmination of his discovery of that magical sound, which has echoed in various forms across North Mississippi’s hills since Africans first arrived there. He’d already been playing blues with a New York band called the Maxwell Street Roosters, where he’d gotten the nickname “Pork Chop Willie,” when its strains first reached his ears.
“I would go out and hear bands regularly in Manhattan, but only get to stay for four or five songs because of my day job,” Hammer recounts. “One night I went out to hear Jimbo Mathus at the Rodeo Bar. At one point Mathus turned the stage over to his bass player, Eric Deaton, who did three hill country songs. It was life changing. I stayed the whole night and talked Jimbo into giving me a lesson the next day.”
Armed with some licks and a raft of suggestions from Mathus, Hammer began acquiring albums by R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough, Kenny Brown, Jessie Mae Hemphill and other proponents of the NoMiss sound.
“I’m an American male, and we’re taught to hide our emotions,” Hammer relates. “This music was so naked and real that it brought out all of my emotions. I could feel the loneliness and the desire in the songs, and I kept getting drawn back to those hill country rhythms.” 
Thus inspired, Hammer took a blues pilgrimage to Mississippi — which included a stop at the site of
Kimbrough’s burnt down juke joint and a visit with Kenny Brown, R.L. Burnside’s musical compatriot and “adopted grandson,” at Brown’s home in Potts Camp, Mississippi, where Brown and his wife Sara stage the annual Hill Country Picnic music festival. Brown has said, “Pork Chop Willie took to the hill country music like a catfish to the mud.”

Hammer returned to New York intent on putting together a new band that would focus on the hill country sound. He needed a strong musical foil and began to imagine the sound of a fiddle out front in the mix. That’s when he recruited Tong, a freelance violinist and member of New York’s respected Artemis Chamber Ensemble with a long list of classical and pop album credits. She has also toured with violinist/composer Mark O’Connor, accompanying him on piano, and played such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center and Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Tong was initially skeptical of Hammer’s efforts to draft her into a juke joint band.
“So many of the songs had one chord, and I didn’t see how my violin would fit into such a gritty, swampy style, because there was no fiddle on any of the records Bill played me,” Tong recalls. But Hammer booked studio time, and one session of duet recordings clinched the deal. “I was really shocked at how well the guitar and fiddle meshed. I was new to the idea of playing roots music, but I was in! And it’s been amazing. This music puts me in a trance and I tap into another voice that I don’t have playing anything else.” 
Pork Chop Willie has grown through frequent gigs in the New York City area, headlining the Washington Square Festival and playing a variety of well-known clubs including B.B. King’s, Terra Blues and Harlem’s Shrine. The band also appears annually at Clarksdale, Mississippi’s internationally renowned Juke Joint Festival, making stops at the tourist destination Ground Zero and authentic juke joints like Red’s, also in Clarksdale, and Merigold’s Po’ Monkey’s during its visits. In 2009, Pork Chop Willie recorded Hill Country Roll for sale at shows.
Through all of that, Hammer and Tong have developed a chemistry that’s both liquid and incendiary. It’s in full, graceful and raucous display on Love is the Devil entries like “Devil in My Soul” and “Too Many Cuts,” where Tong plays like an old-timey Delta street musician and Hammer balances raw swagger with trim precision. And in “Falling,” where Hammer plays a four-string cigar box guitar, they push the roots music envelope, crafting an elegant, otherworldly soundscape that transcends all limitations of genre.
“Right now too few people play this style of music,” Hammer says of the Mississippi hill country blues that serves as Pork Chop Willie’s true north. “It’s so honest and emotional that we can’t help but speak from our hearts when we’re playing. Even when we’re covering a song by one of the style’s masters, the form is so open that we can make it our own. This music changed my life and put me more in touch with myself. I’d like to expose more people to it.” 

Trackist
1. Too Many Cuts (2:58)
2. Ain't Nobody (gonna save my soul) (4:13)

3. Snake Drive (5:30

4. Lonesome Poor (3:28

5. Rosalie (3:22)
6. Poor Boy (4:04)
7. She Give Me Joy (3:37)
8. Falling (3:37)
9. Crawdad Song (4:15)
10. All Night Long (8:11)
11. She's Gone (2:16)
12. Devil in My Soul (3:50)
13. Black Heart (3:16)

Upcoming Dates
05/22/14  10:00 PM  The Jalopy Theater 315 Columbia St, Brooklyn, NY Following the fabulous Ben Russell who plays at 9:00.
 06/16/14  7:30 PM  CD Release Party! Shrine World Music Venue, 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd, NYC The release date for "Love is the Devil" is June 3. We want to celebrate it's release at the venue where we've been hosting our Hill Country Nights. It's our chance to say thank you to everyone for your support.
06/28/14  7:00 PM NM Hill Country Picnic Waterford, MS (corner of Hwy 7 South and Hwy 310) Tentative. Picnic is June 27 and 28.
06/30/14  10:00 PM Music on the Couch  An interactive internet radio show.  Part of their "Musicians You Should Know" series.
07/10/14  8:00 PM North Mississippi Hill Country Night  Shrine World Music Venue, 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. ( between 133rd and 134th streets)
09/04/14  8:00 PM North Mississippi Hill Country Night  Shrine World Music Venue, 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. ( between 133rd and 134th streets)
11/06/14  8:00 PM North Mississippi Hill Country Night  Shrine World Music Venue, 2271 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. ( between 133rd and 134th streets)

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes US Summer Tour Dates


Beginning with June 21st at Summer Festival, Ann Arbor, a headline show at Vino Fest in Washington DC June 28th, to Rocks Off Boat Cruise on the Hudson River in New York City and a residency at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas!
Dates and ticket info below.
CBBR XOXOXO
US TOUR DATES
 
SAT 6/21/14 Summer Festival Ann Arbor MA BUY TICKETS
SUN 6/22/14 Bottom Lounge Chicago IL BUY TICKETS
WED 6/25/14 The Basement Columbus OH BUY TICKETS
THU 6/26/14 The Club @ Stage AE Pittsburgh PA BUY TICKETS
FRI 6/27/14 The Record Collector Bordentown NJ BUY TICKETS
SAT 6/28/14 Vino Fest Washington DC BUY TICKETS
SUN 6/29/14 Jewel Boat Cruise New York NY BUY TICKETS
THU 7/17/14 Cosmopolitan  Las Vegas NV BUY TICKETS
FRI 7/18/14 Cosmopolitan  Las Vegas NV BUY TICKETS
SAT 7/19/14 Cosmopolitan  Las Vegas NV BUY TICKETS
TUE 7/22/14 The Western  Scottsdale AZ BUY TICKETS
THU 7/24/14 Gas Monkey Bar & Grill Dallas TX BUY TICKETS
FRI 7/25/14 The Belmont Austin TX BUY TICKETS
SAT 7/26/14 Juanita's Café & Bar Little Rock AR BUY TICKETS
THU 7/31/14 House Of Blues New Orleans LA BUY TICKETS
FRI 8/1/14 Strange Brew  Shreveport LA BUY TICKETS
SAT 8/2/14 Live Oaks Monroe LA BUY TICKETS
MON 8/4/14 Duling Hall Jackson MS BUY TICKETS
TUE 8/5/14 The Earl Atlanta GA BUY TICKETS
THU 8/7/14 Bardot Miami FL BUY TICKETS
FRI 8/8/14 Bombshell's Tavern Orlando FL BUY TICKETS
MON 8/11/14 The Southern Café & Music Hall Charlottesville VA BUY TICKETS
WED 8/13/14 The Sinclair Boston MA BUY TICKETS
THU 8/14/14 Underground Arts Philadelphia PA BUY TICKETS
SAT 8/16/14 Horseshoe Tavern Toronto ON BUY TICKETS
SUN 8/17/14 California Brew Haus Rochester NY BUY TICKETS
WED 8/20/14 The Space Hamden CT BUY TICKETS

Sassparilla announce the release of two albums: Pasajero and Hullabaloo

 

Portland, Oregon-based outfit SASSPARILLA has been referred to as indie-roots, punk-Americana, and punk-roots. Though it is the subtleties and folk-pop leanings of their latest, The Darndest Thing, that find this five-piece band slowing things down a bit - and growing up musically.

Comprised of Kevin "Gus" Blackwell (vocals, cigar box guitar, national resonator guitar), the father and son combo of Ross "Dagger" Macdonald (harmonica) and Colin "Sweet Pea" Macdonald (washtub bass), Naima (vocals,accordian, washboard), and Justin Burkhart (drums), Sassparilla offers one of the most entertaining, sweaty live shows in the Pacific Northwest. Complete with dancing, sing-along numbers, and plenty of good times. And now, with The Darndest Thing, they deliver a record that gives fans a new side of the band, centered on the structure of the song and the lyrics more so than the party groove and liveliness of their earlier recordings.

Trading in influences such as Old Crow Medicine Show, The Black Keys, Tom Waits, R.L. Burnside, and The Devil Makes Three for Grant Lee Phillips and Joe Henrywith The Darndest Thing, the band's latest offering is a testament to their diversity and continued growth as a band.

Raucous, melodic Americana outfit Sassparilla, led by songwriter and front man Kevin Blackwell, delivers Pasajero and Hullabaloo release date June 17th (Fluff & Gravy Records), a 19-track, double-disc set of two divergent, but distinctly Sassparilla albums.

The two albums, totaling 19 songs, move in polar directions; Pasajero more akin to the band’s latest two records (2012’s The Darndest Thing and 2013’s Magpie), boasts tight studio production and a melodic focus, while the ten tracks of Hullabaloo capture the live essence and playful nature of the band.

His reasoning for making two different records, yet packaging them together is simple; to provide fans two distinct experiences: A studio record, and a “come as you are” record.
“I’ve always maintained that bands wear two hats, the live show and the recorded product.  With our last two releases, we made studio records.  Songs that could be performed live, but with a different energy or spin on them,” explains Blackwell.  “The recorded product was something I saw as a different entity.  With those albums I wanted a recording folks could listen to over and over again and find things they hadn’t heard the first couple of times.”
Which is what he accomplished with The Darndest Thing and Magpie. Recorded and produced by Eels’ guitarist Chet Lyster, this tradition continues with Pasajero.

With Hullabaloo, the band went in the opposite direction, choosing to leave behind a proper studio for Blackwell’s attic, leaving in the flaws and raw energy of the moment and offering fans the live show “experience” they’ve asked for.  On The Darndest Thing and Magpie, the band left behind the washtub bass fans have come to love at the live shows. On Hullabaloo the band brings it back front and center.  “The washtub provides a unique and fantastic tone that no other instrument can replicate.  It has a voice.  An argument.  A proper upright bass is one of the sexiest instruments there is, the tub bass is sexy too, but it brings handcuffs with it.  I think the washtub is the defining sound on Hullabaloo.”

In addition to the resurrection of the tub bass, on Hullabaloo, “There aren’t multiple takes, there aren’t overdubs,” says Blackwell.  “It’s us with our pants down.  It was recorded mostly in my attic between diaper changes and arguments; a couple borrowed mics, a borrowed compressor, and the simplistic genius of Apple’s Logic.  I named the records separately because they are in fact different entities.  On Pasajero I enlisted the talent of a lot of our friends in addition to Sassparilla to augment the sound or achieve what I was going for.  Hullabaloo is only the five members of Sassparilla.”
“Folks are always saying we should make a ‘live’ record ‘cause they enjoy themselves at our shows.  I’m fairly convinced they wouldn’t feel the same way about a recording of that show.  The live energy can never really be captured on a recording.  Songs are inevitably played a little too fast, the vocals are a little rushed or pitchy ‘cause you are jumping around.  Those things can pass at a show, I’m not so sure on record,” states Blackwell.  “We aren’t that kind of band.  We are kinetic.  We aren’t staring at a spot on the back wall and focusing on perfection while playing live.  We are attempting to make an organic experience that isn’t necessarily concerned with musical perfection.  However, on record, I am concerned with that.  I want it to be as nearly perfect as our abilities allow.”
The two albums showcase the breadth of the Sassparilla experience: one moment beautiful, the other falling down the stairs.
“The difference with this release from our past albums,” Blackwell says, “is that Pasajero and Hullabaloo contain a bit of everything, whereas some of our other albums only had one of these elements to them.”


Pasajero:
1. Overture
2. Dark Star
3. Cool Thing 
4. What the Devil Don't Know 
5. The One that Got Away
6. Peaches
7. You Get What You Deserve
8. When You're the Devil
9. Radio Child


Recorded and produced in Portland by Chet Lyster at his studio, Blackwell wrote Pasajero with the intent of putting the feel of a pulp novel to music.  Pasajero tells a story.  Though Blackwell says, “I don’t really want to say what the story is about, because I prefer folks to make their own interpretations.  I wrote more metaphorically on this record than I have in the past for that very reason.  I didn’t want to force-feed the plot to people.  I wanted them to make up their own story based on their interpretation of the metaphor.”

Pasajero starts with “Overture,” a saxophone-driven, beat-infused burn with a late-night, blurry-eyed Kerouac sprawl to it.  Proclaiming, “If it doesn’t burn, it was never alive.”  Blackwell’s southern gothic oration and the band’s infectious groove set the stage for the rest of this dark, yet melodic collection.

“Dark Star,” the album’s second cut, tips its hat to early Floyd with swirling slide guitars, minor-key tonality, and the hypnotic sensibility the band has become associated with both live and in the studio.

Cool Thing.mp3 a blues-infused sedative, finds the band using only guitar and light percussion to a Kimbrough-influenced guitar groove.

What The Devil Don’t Know.mp3 and “The One That Got Away” place the listener squarely in Kerouac’s shirt pocket, with hypnotic upright bass, beat lyricism, and producer Chet Lyster’s brilliant use of space and less-is-more production mentality.

“Peaches” is the album’s defining rocker, a Doors-inspired cut drenched in keyboards and swirling heavy grooves, while “When You’re The Devil” follows up on that vibe, and offers up another equally engaging, rocking number.

The album ends with “Radio Child,” a laid-back, acoustic pop-folk number that winds down Pasajero majestically.


Hullabaloo:
1. Through the Fence
2. Early in the Morning
3. Cocaine
4. We Are Bold
5. It Ain't Easy
6. Folks Like Us
7. Wicked Take Care of Their Own
8. Why You Making it Hard
9. The Devil
10. The Hoot Song


Hullabaloo opens with “Through The Fence,” a traditional blues number - just Blackwell and an early model parlour Stella - that tips its hat to greats like Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf.

“Cocaine,” a show favorite, finds Sassparilla as only a live audience can, loose, ragged, amped-up and hooky as ever.

“It Ain’t Easy” and “Why You Making It Hard” are two more numbers that show the band’s ability to play raucous numbers, while still incorporating sharp melodies and hooks, all the while leaning on their punk-roots. Blackwell says, “’It Ain’t Easy’ is gonna upset some folks.  I apologize in advance.  But I want to set the record straight.  This is NOT an anti-God song, far from it.  I am a very reverent and spiritual person.  What it IS, is an imagining of the life of God.  I was raised from a young age being told God sees all.  I took that sentiment literally in this song.  Imagine being forced to watch all of your friends do unmentionable and nasty things all day.  Interspersed with a little bit of good of course.  Sounds like hell.”

The final song of Hullabaloo, “The Hoot Song,” features Blackwell’s two-and-a-half year old twin boys.
“The last track on the album is just me, my guitar and the twins,” says Blackwell.  “By far the most important track on the record to me.  Folks may say gratuitous, but I say…whatever.  How many folks can say they have a song they wrote with their two-and-a-half year old sons?”
Explaining the songwriting process with the twins, Blackwell says he asked them what they wanted the song to be about, and they replied, “Trains!”  And then Blackwell would ask them, “What else?”  From their candid responses Blackwell stitched together the tune.

“The hoot is their calling for each other,” he says.  “Whenever they are looking for each other, they hoot.  When they are happy, they hoot.  When they wake up, they hoot.  It’s become a panacea for me as well.  I find whenever I’m stressed, tired, angry…a good hoot gets me back in line. Kids, so much more wise than we are.”

While they may be two completely different records, they compliment each other implicitly, showcasing a band that knows how to use both the studio and the moment to deliver a distinctly original Americana/roots experience.

Tour Dates:
4/25/14 - Oregon Garden BrewFest - Silverton, OR

4/26/14 - Music on the Mounds - Littlerock, WA

5/02/14 - Calapooia Brewing - Albany, OR

5/17/14 - Bombs Away- Corvallis, OR

5/23/14 - Rhythm & Rye - Olympia, WA

5/24/14 - FolkLife - Seattle, WA

6/06/14 - Skyway Bar & Grill - Zig Zag, OR

6/13/14 - The Big O Saloon - Astoria, OR

6/14/14 - The Belfry - Sisters, OR

6/20/14 - DOUG FIR LOUNGE (CD RELEASE SHOW) - Portland, OR

6/21/14 - San Dune Pub - Manzanita, CA

6/27/14 - Sam Bond's Garage - Eugene, OR

6/28/14 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA

9/12/14 - Sam Bond's Garage - Eugene, OR

9/13/14 - Music on the Mounds - Little Rock, WA

12/31/14 - Edgefield - Troutdale, OR

Philadelphia-based power trio The Revere - Behold, The Sea Itself!

Cover artwork by Hunter Heckrot

Philadelphia-based power trio The Revere  latest music endeavor, Behold, The Sea Itself!  Behold, The Sea Itself! was recorded at Forge Recording Studios in Oreland, PA, and was mixed by Ron DiSilvestro.  It is the first release from the band that was solely produced by them.
Says guitarist/vocalist Sean Kelly, “This album is by far the most refined and the most organic version of The Revere. We have been excited about this album since we began writing the first track almost three years ago. We can't wait to share it with everyone!” 
Rounding out the trio are Kelly’s brother Pat (drums) and Michael Pearson (bass); all three studied at Temple University in Philadelphia.

The album presents the final part of the story that began with The Great City, a concept album about loyalty, love, finding one’s self, and coming of age. The travelers in the tale face the perils of the sea as they draw closer to their final destination.  Between The Great City and Behold, the band released a four-song EP (originally only available on Amazon) called Ashia which visited the backstory of an important character introduced in The Great City.  Ashia tells story of the character Lesedi, his revenge against his wife's killers, and the emptiness he finds in spite of it all.  It is this emptiness that is the impetus for the sweeping saga embraced in The Great City and Behold, The Sea Itself!.

The CD edition of Behold, The Sea Itself! includes a bonus disc incorporating The Great City and Ashia, marking the first time the releases will be available in a physical format from Big Cartel | Amazon | iTunes



Monday, May 19, 2014

Listen: Palmyra Delran & Bubble Gun's "Run Now Baby" And "Yeah Yeah Yeah"


Palmyra Delran and Kim Shattuck are both pioneers in the female punk rock movement, and today we're excited to premiere both sides of Delran's latest single, "Run Now Baby," featuring Shattuck of the Muffs and Pixies fame on backing vocals on the A-side and dueting on the B-side. Recorded with her "west coast band" Bubble Gun (featuring members of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), "Run Now Baby" illustrates Delran's ability to write straightforward janglin' rock. Its virtual flipside, "Yeah Yeah Yeah," is a Joe Meek nugget originally performed by Glenda Collins & Riot Squad in the early '60s.

"Writing 'Run Now Baby' was a wild experience," former Friggs frontwoman Delran admits, "since it was written through cyberspace. I had never met the members of the band or the studio owner! My friend John Carlucci wrote me on Facebook and asked if I was into having a west coast band learn my material and tour — I said yes and that was that. Once I got to LA and we had our first practice with the super group (Bubble Gun), I realized how lucky I was to be able to have a great, ready-made band for the west coast. I got in touch with my pal Kim Shattuck and invited her to the studio to sing some back-up vocals on the song. We had such a blast that we decided to do a duet of “Yeah Yeah Yeah.”"
 "Run Now Baby"/"Yeah Yeah Yeah" will be available digitally on May 20 and can be downloaded on Palmyra's official website.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Hanneke Cassel: Dot the Dragon's Eyes


Raised on the Oregon Coast, Hanneke Cassel (“hahn-uh-kah castle”) began playing violin at eight years-old, but a local fiddle competition inspired her to take up traditional fiddling. A few years later, at fourteen years old, she entered a Scottish fiddle contest, winning the national title. Years later, after numerous trips to Scotland, and studies with the great fiddlers Alasdair Fraser and Buddy MacMaster, she moved to Boston and enrolled at the Berklee College of Music. Coming to Berklee in the early days of their groundbreaking strings program, Hanneke has since been at the forefront of a national fiddling revival, helping define the instrument for a new generation.

Tracklist: 
1. Dot the Dragon's Eyes

2. Katrina McCoy's jig / Sierra Fiddle Circle's
3. The Captain
4. Natasha McCoy's Reel / Lianne MacLean's Revenge
5. Jig for Christina

6. Eliana Grace / Dancing with Bryce
7. The Marathon (For Boston)
8. Lissa and Corey / The Sunrise
9. The Important Thing Is / TIDGA
10. Religulous / Patience
11. Dianne's Waltz
12. The Lime Hill Strathspey / Banks of Spey /Lexy McAskill

As a fiddler, Hanneke’s sound is a blend of Scottish and Cape Breton traditions, as well as some early roots in Texas fiddling. But she also draws heavily on experiences working with street kids in Kenya (many of the songs were commissions for them), her 10+ trips to China (she lived and taught in Shanghai for a while), and her friends and relationships built around the scene in Boston.

On Dot the Dragon’s Eyes, Hanneke is joined by madcap cellist Rushad Eggleston (Sean Watkins, Crooked Still) fiddler/violist Jeremy Kittel (Abigail Washburn, Laura Veirs), cellist (and husband!) Mike Block (Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Bobby McFerrin), and renowned New England guitarist Keith Murphy. The album also features vocals from Aoife O’Donovan, whose contribution to “Religulous,” lends a very effective, yet subtle, vocal texture. Hanneke doesn’t shy away from bringing hard subjects into her music as well: “The Marathon (For Boston),” is an energetic strathspey written on the night of the 2013 bombing. It conveys what Cassel refers to as “the shock and nervous restlessness” of that night. Many of the tunes on the album were written by Hanneke for the weddings of friends and family members. “I feel like the danceability of a tune is helpful to making it feel traditional,” she says. “I think most of my tunes have that.”

Hanneke Cassel dips into the deep well of inspiration that the fiddle has provided in her life. There’s a joyousness to the music here, bolstered by the accompaniment of a new generation of great roots musicians, but there’s also a lift in Hanneke’s bow, a sparkle in her eye, that speaks to how much this instrument has inspired her.



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