We’ve all heard some version of the aphorism, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But there’s a flip side that many have found – if you make your love your life, it can become less appealing over time. Louisiana’s Chad Richard was warned of this at a young […]
Denver-based band The Yawpers is ready to release its fourth full-length album, Human Questions (Bloodshot Records), a more concise record than their last effort, 2017’s concept album Boy In A Well. Before they head out on tour, which includes a record-release party in their home city, I spoke to lead singer and songwriter Nate Cook about […]
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The best songs, like the best songwriters, are portable, adaptable and durable. They’ll take a beating, they’ll change, but they’ll survive. On Taylor Alexander’s first full-length album, Good Old Fashioned Pain, the title song shows that kind of resilience. While the balance of the album was written after Alexander arrived in Nashville, “Pain” survived its […]
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Everyone knows at least one of them – the one who makes it look easy. The athlete who can effortlessly succeed at any sport, the friend who can quickly produce the best meal out of seemingly nothing, the music fan who can quickly and completely dissect any new song or album. We mere, flawed mortals […]
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Molly Tuttle has followed a rather unusual path to find Americana fame. While growing up in California, she abandoned violin lessons early on in favor of learning to play guitar from her father. After attending bluegrass jams, she decided, at the very advanced age of 11, that she wanted to do more singing and began […]
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Few artists have been more sonically economical than Son Volt. In the quarter century (!) since Jay Farrar founded the band, they’ve not recorded many “epics,” at least not when measured with a stopwatch. Rather, their songs are instrumentally rich, full of tempo changes, and lyrically deep, all while simultaneously ambling along and wrapping quickly, […]
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A couple of years back, Steve Earle issued a no-doubt-about-it take-down when talking about most of the male-produced music coming out of the Nashville hit factories, calling it, “hip hop for people who are afraid of black people.” I was reminded of this line while listening to Gary Clark Jr.’s stunning, combative, beautiful new album, […]
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Songwriting, at its best, seems to be a combination of raw talent, experience and the ability to economize language. Bruce Springsteen, after two hyper-verbose introductory albums, was able to hone his wording for his best work, which started with 1975’s Born to Run. Jason Isbell wrote several great songs with the Drive-by Truckers and for […]
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Radio-friendly country music has its preferred themes, as well as those topics which it isn’t so keen on discussing. Drinking (without consequences)? Flawless women in short skirts? Bad boys who don’t know how to love right? Sure. But mental illness? Flawed characters who make everyday life mistakes and have to deal with them? Not so […]
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When I moved to Denver a little over six years ago, I thought, “Hey, what a great market it must be for country and Americana music!” Turns out, not so much. Sure, the big national touring bands stop through here, the venerable (and cavernous) Grizzly Rose nightclub hosts the mid-majors weekly, and Red Rocks is […]
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