Smith/McKay All Day — On the Smile Side (Independent Release) Jimmy Smith (vocals, bass & drums) made his bones co-fronting The Gourds, a whimsical Austin-based Americana act. Logging hundreds of shows and hundreds of thousands of miles, The Gourds built an absolutely rabid underground following across the US and Europe. Their work earned the band a […]
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Old Pup — Incognito Lounge (Hear Here Records) Old Pup hails and blazes the trails of Psych Folk straight from the bleeding beating heart of America via Milwaukee. Drawing on influence from great American poets like Jim Harrison and Denis Johnson, Incognito Lounge gets the nails dirty quickly, pulling up healthy and strong musical roots with […]
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Andy Zipf — How to Make a Paper Airplane I think one of the lost arts in much of the current music landscape is subtlety. Thankfully, Andy Zipf, a songwriter based out of Jacksonville was thoughtful enough to secure the help of the best sublists around when taking on the album How to Make a Paper […]
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Sue Foley — Pinky’s Blues (Stony Plain Records) If you’re into the blues and Central Texas BBQ like me, Sue Foley’s latest offering Pinky’s Blues is a hot set of Texas ribs comin’ right out of the burner and on to your plate smokin’, ready to devour. Produced by Mike Flanigan smack dab in the […]
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Joshua Ray Walker — See You Next Time (State Fair Records) Joshua Ray Walker is no wannabe country. A working musician since the age of 13, Walker first began honing his lyrical talents after the death of his beloved grandfather. He’s been hitting the touring circuit hard for years and slowly honing his craft, surrounding himself […]
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Dori Freeman — Ten Thousand RosesCalabro Music Media (CMM) I remember first hearing Dori Freeman’s true and haunting chant through the headphones while pushing a broom as a custodian in a Baptist church on the outskirts of Nashville. That voice at that time was the only friend I had and it’s been bouncing around in […]
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Nobody’s Girl — self-titled (Lucky Hound Music) Is it possible to wear down a digital sound file? That’s what I’m about to do with Nobody’s Girl. I envision Fleetwood Mac’s soaring Wiccan harmonies colliding mid-air with Mary Chapin Carpenter’s 4th-gear driving American heart. The result is a cascading firework of sounds rendering my speakers blown, […]
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H.R. Gertner – A Chemical Trick of the Brain RattleTrap Records H.R. Gertner’s deep, rich, smokey baritone sets the hook firmly with a quarter cup of Leonard Cohen, a teaspoon of Colter Wall, and a healthy dash of Jonathan Richman. We’re off to a great start. A Chemical Trick of the Brain slows things down considerably […]
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Leslie Beia — Wallflower2021 If Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patsy Cline’s voices got together and had a baby, and that baby grew up singing harmonies, it would sound like Leslie Beia. Damn, this record is growing on me. To be perfectly honest, at first, I thought I needed a little more grit but upon the second […]
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Nineteen Hand Horse – Revel For a Friday Night or Saturday Night out with the gang, this ain’t a bad record at all. Nineteen Hand Horse, to me, are the perfect band to go see when you’re in the mood to just watch the show from your table sipping some decent wine, but open to […]
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