americana
Live Review: Justin Townes Earle – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds. 03.02.2015
Sobriety clearly agrees with Mr Townes Earle as he takes a full house on a relaxed tour through his career highlights with some unexpected detours along the way. The highly intelligent Townes Earle has been refreshingly open about his struggles with serious substance abuse, and in the past it has led to gigs resembling a …
Album review: Justin Townes Earle – Absent Fathers
‘Wish I could say I know you/’cause lord, I Wanna Understand/Need you to now there’s nothing I want more in this world as a man.’ If you kick off you latest album with those words, and then call it Absent Fathers, then you are pretty clearly laying out your agenda. Justin Townes Earle is the …
News: The Handsome Family – UK & Ireland Tour 2015
What a year this has been for Rennie and Brett Sparks. Before Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson starred in one of the most exciting and talked-about TV series of recent memory (all-time ? of course not, that’s still Buffy), The Handsome Family were strong, personal favourites for plenty of people; but now they’re household names. …
Premiere: Fighting Caravans release video for “Bootmakers to the King”
We’ve been able to keep a close eye on Leeds quintet, The Fighting Caravans. Preferring to stay out of the live setting while they hone both their sounds and their songwriting, their growing number of fans have fed off scraps, the odd gig here and there, Middlesbrough and Sheffield seemingly the furthest they’ve been so …
Boss Caine – The Rhythm and the Rhyme (Part 3 of Backseat Mafia On Tour: York)
Years ago when Gomez first emerged there would always be at least a strain of suspicion running through reviews. For the generous, the fact that this group of adolescents wrote about life experiences they couldn’t have had, in places they might only have seen as wide-eyed tourists, channeled through one particular singer who sounded like …
Album Review: Smoke Fairies – Ghosts
There’s something otherworldly about Smoke Fairies. Their name, taken from the Summer mist that collects in the hedgerows of the lanes in the duo’s, school friends Katherine Blamire and Jessica Davies, home county of Sussex. But it’s their ghostly goth-folk, coupled with a healthy dose of Americana, and looked over by the shadow of 4AD …
Live: The Handsome Family – Greystones, Sheffield 21.05.2013
It is difficult to describe a Handsome Family gig because is it so much more than the sum of its parts. It’s not just the marvellous music, or the magnificent lyrics. It’s not just the humour or the bonhomie tinged with darkness, nor is it the fact that your are watching a couple, Rennie and …
Live Review: Canyon Family, The Payroll Union & Mudcats Blues Trio: Americana at The Harley, Sheffield 11.05.2013
Highlighting a night of Americana, this gig brought together three bands that ring true to that expression. We were able to experience everything covering country, folk, alternative and blues. This is one of the best overall gig nights I’ve been to as it was well thought out and actually had a structure in its choice …
Interview: The Handsome Family
14 May, people, 14 May. You don’t have long to wait to get your ears around the new album from Albuquerque, New Mexico’s The Handsome Family. But in the meantime, you can console yourselves with these words direct from the Family themselves, Rennie and Brett Sparks. If you care to whet your appetites some more, …
Meet: The Payroll Union Interview
I think it was when I first heard Nic Jones’ Penguin Eggs album that I realised how good Folk music could be. Before that point I’d always imagined it being a desolate wasteland of Morris Dancers, knitted jumpers, roll-ups and unkempt facial hair. As someone who spent his formative years trying to look like I …