Featured Blog Posts – October 2011 Archive (35)

Patrick Sweany first gained prominence in the late 1990s as…

www.kimberleyshonkytonk.com 

Here we have traditional country at its best. No messing, Texas gal, Kimberly Murray is the business. I already felt this way on hearing her superb debut record Once Upon A Honky Tonk, and this reiterates my initial thoughts. As her work moves up a level or two. Her involvement in country music is no surprise since her mom…

When this date was originally booked Rod Picott was scheduled to be accompanied by Amanda Shires but she broke a finger and although she is now playing again (fiddle, ukelele) she wasn’t able to accompany him on this six week long tour of Holland, Italy and the UK. This was the penultimate show and wholly acoustic in that it was just Picott, his guitar and his smoky vocals – no microphones, no amplification – just stripped down to the barest of essentials.  It made for an…

www.ravenrecords.com.au 

T more fine records from Bobby Bare make up this tip-top compilation as two of his mid-1970s RCA albums (1975, 1977 respectively) are squeezed onto one cd, plus, Raven, generously make space for ‘Daddy What If’(w/ Bobby Bare Jr) and raucous Louisiana potion ‘Marie Lavaux’ from his famed Lullabys, Legends and Lies (1973) album. Awash in…

www.billbourne.com

Alberta's Bill Bourne has a career stretching back over thirty years, but music has really been his entire life. His parents played with a dance band so he's known the lure of the stage since he was very small. His heart may be in the blues but it appears that Bill Bourne has played in a wide range of styles and with an equally wide…

www.tommysands.com 

When it comes to wonderful men to come out of Northern Ireland humanitarian, peace activist, social commentator and singer-songwriter Tommy Sands is among the greatest, ever.

Sands’ songs are of the kind that bring a warmth to the soul. Like whisky and an old log fire on a cold winter’s evening. Plus there is a gritty passion strong enough to…

Artist: Rebecca Pronsky

Title: Viewfinder

Label: Nine Mile Records

Home: www.rebeccapronsky.com

Rebecca says "Looking forward to our UK return this January. Rich and I will be hitting lots of cities and…

www.jtandtheclouds.com

 JT is Chicago's  Jeremy Lindsay; he has a band (JT and The Clouds) that has a steadily growing profile. JT Nero appears to be a reduced version of The Clouds. JT himself also plays frequently with Po'Girl. This album appears to be JT's songs performed by the man himself, some Clouds, three-quarters of Po'Girl and Michelle…

www.jeremysteding.com

Jeremy Steding barely looks old enought to be out of school but this Florida native relocated to Austin some years ago and this is his third album already. Blessed with a voice that is frequently down in the baritone range, he sounds an awful lot older than his pictures suggest; his style is all his own but is…

www.sunshinedelay.com

Back with their second album just seven years since their debut (swanning around the world on the proceeds, I expect), Edinburgh's Sunshine Delay sound just as fine as they did first time round. Playing country rock with a fair emphasis on the rock element, this is guitar-driven music with some urgency to it. The…

 Singer-songwriter Pieta Brown has despite showing great promise still to capitalise her talent. But, I feel this is about to change for Brown daughter of singer-songwriter fellow Red House act, folk blues act Greg Brown. The time is ripe for her roving vocal style and ability to bear her soul and ride the fabulous rhythms (the boys listed below play some of…

www.carrierodriguez.com 

That'll be country music that they still love, there isn't actually any flag-waving patriotism going on here, much to my relief. Carrie Rodriguez should need no introduction but Ben Kyle is the front man for Minnesota alt-country band Romantica. This recording of eight duets in classic country style was released a while ago in the States, but has…

www.eversorecords.com

www.shelbylynne.com

When it comes to great voices you can note Shelby Lynne as being on my shortlist. Her vocals are some of the purest and most incisive around. Though I feel she doesn’t always make the records she should I always look with great interest at anything she records. Revelation Road is…

www.newwestrecords.com

Another wall-wall rock solid album from the uncompromising, John Hiatt —a man gives his all every time and like the current saying goes from him you get what it says on the tin! Yes, sir. Mr Hiatt is a straight shooter all right and he is a man who rarely if ever, fails to live up to one’s expectations. True, his style can become a little…

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www.paulliddell.com

 Not sure which of Flyinshoes' categories this fits into: not Americana or country or blues, that's for sure. Could be pop, I guess, at times, but what the heck - this is inventive, impassioned and very individual music of high quality. Paul Liddell is based in the north-east of England and frequently plays with the support of his…

www.fwrecords.co.uk

Recorded live at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1995 Rick Danko in the company of friends, Blondie Chaplin (Beach Boys) and singer-songwriter Ed Kaercher Danko lets rip on this 19-track venture. Even if his vocals are a little battle torn they are still more to my taste than Chaplin’s high pitched vocals as he performs ‘No…

www.fwrecords.co.uk

With Live at Uncle Willy’s Kingston, NY 25 March, 1989 we have the first of three, yes three, live records from the late, Rick Danko. As many of you already know a member of The Band and before that with Ronnie Hawkins’ (joining in 1960) band, The Hawks and was in 1966 part of Bob Dylan’s infamous ‘Judas’ tour. More on that debate some other…