americana
SEE: Laura Veirs – ‘Turquoise Walls’: the late-night blue (-green)s rendered Americana heartbreak
PORTLAND songstress Laura Veirs, who has been delighting our ears for a full 21 years now with her beautifully judged and melodious Americana, is readying herself for the release of her eleventh studio set for Bella Union, My Echo, which is due in the shops on October 23rd. Having shared a video for “Burn Too …
TRACK: Bill Callahan – ‘Ry Cooder’: a track for a legend, the penultimate ‘gold’
WE REALLY are that far down the line toward the end of the summer. Bill Callahan has released a track for Monday for nine consecutive weeks now ahead of Gold Record on September 4th, and we really are that close to autumn. His penultimate single drop comes in the shape of “Ry Cooder”: a meandering …
TRACK: Bill Callahan – ‘Cowboy’: whisky, water and whistlin’ our tired bones home
IT’S KINDA hard to believe that Bill has led us through the summer like an Americana pied piper, Monday by Monday, sprinkling the grey start of the week with a new tune for what … it’s been eight weeks now. Yep, we’re only three weeks away from Gold Record. Time grindeth relentlessly on. Today he’s …
TRACK: Tanya Donnelly and the Parkington Sisters – ‘You Will Be Loved Again’: album release listening parties on Friday
TANYA DONELLY, who’s forged a career of alt.pop brilliance through Throwing Muses, Belly and just as Tanya herself, is set to release a seductive LP of close-harmony bluegrass covers with the Parkington Sisters tomorrow, August 14th called simply Tanya Donnelly and the Parkington Sisters. Listen below to the gorgeous harmonising, the simple, heart-stealing beauty of …
SEE: Emma Swift – ‘You’re A Big Girl Now’: a Dylan tune comes of age in Emma’s hands
MY, BUT she knows how to get inside a song and bring out the emotional depth, the resonance, the beauty, does singer-songwriter Emma Swift. Coming out of Nashville, Tennessee, Emma is poised to release what is only her second LP, following her self-titled debut for Laughing Outlaw back some six years now. And this time …
SEE: Mountain Goats – ‘As Many Candles As Possible’: monochrome prophecies from their second of the year
PRODIGIOUS and fiercely loved East Coaster indie-folk outfit The Mountain Goats have announced their second album of 2020, Getting Into Knives, an album which they describe as “ … perfect … for the millions of us who have spent many idle hours contemplating whether we ought to be honest with ourselves and just get massively …
TRACK: Bill Callahan makes it seven over ‘Breakfast’
DRAG CITY aren’t too far off the mark when they say that “over the past month, we suddenly love Monday … the best part of waking up is a new Bill Callahan song. He’s given us “Breakfast” today, a song with the ghost of Bill Fay’s “I Hear You Calling” preserved in amber somewhere down in its …
TRACK: Bill Callahan – ‘Let’s Move to the Country’: Bill out-smogs himself
BESIDES being a songwriter we should grasp close to our chests, we’ve seen time and time again this summer that Bill Callahan has an incredible capacity to surprise. First he goes and pulls a whole new LP out of the hat, Gold Record, laid down quickly and announced unexpectedly. Then – ka-bam! – he starts …
ALBUM REVIEW: Ian Skelly – ‘Drifter’s Skyline’: Coral man takes a country-psych sabbatical
THEY came rushing off the Wirral back in 2002 – was it really that long ago now? – with the woozy and seductive psych shanties of “Dreaming Of You” and “Spanish Main”, brimming with swagger and confidence like a young Stone Roses. They knew they were good. Since then The Coral, its side projects and …
TRACK: Whitney take on The Roches’ ‘Hammond Song’; full covers set next month
CHICAGO’S Whitney, who set all kindsa ears on fire with that fragile, world-weary crossover slice of Americana “No Woman” back in 2016, have released a video for their cover of The Roches’ “Hammond Song” ahead of a ten-song covers set, out via Secretly Canadian on August 14th. Following their acclaimed 2019 album Forever Turned Around, …