Buddy and Julie Miller Announce Summer Release For New Album ‘Breakdown on 20th Ave. South’

Buddy and Julie Miller - ‘Breakdown on 20th Ave. South’

It’s said that good things come to those that wait. For patient fans of one of Americana music’s most influential artist-songwriter couples (married since 1981) that wait for something good is almost over.

The long-anticipated follow up to 2009’s Americana Music Association Album of the Year ‘Written in Chalk’ is entitled ‘Breakdown on 20th Ave. South,’ and it will be available June 21st on New West records.

New West has whetted our appetite by releasing 2 cuts from the album. “Spittin’ on Fire” and “War Child,” both tracks reflect the lo-fi aesthetics the couple has established throughout their careers. Echos of the folk and Southern Rock reared in the Mississippi Delta and the Appalachian Mountains is apparent throughout the songs.

The album’s title comes from the couple’s much-delayed home studio in Nashville. The delays stemmed from Julie’s ongoing health issues as well as demand on Buddy as a go-to sideman, producer and co-host of the Buddy & Jim Radio Show on SiriusXM with his friend Jim Lauderdale.

Once the new record was underway, Julie penned some 50-plus new songs for the pair to choose from. Recorded in the couple’s bedroom make-do studio located upstairs from Buddy’s home studio, the results are raw, immediate and honest. Buddy and Julie are scheduled to make a rare live appearance to celebrate the album’s release Nashville’s City Winery on June 26th. The performance will be recorded for later broadcast on the Buddy & Jim Radio Show.

“Breakdown on 20th Ave. South” will be available June 21st via digital retailers, on CD and vinyl, with a special “Root Beer Swirl” colored vinyl available only at independent retailers. The album is now available for pre-order.

Breakdown on 20th Ave. South track listing:

“Breakdown on 20th Ave. South
“Feast of the Dead”
“Everything Is Your Fault”
“Unused Heart”
“I’m Gonna Make You Love Me”
“Till the Stardust Comes Apart”
“Underneath the Sky”
“Spittin’ on Fire”
“Secret”
“War Child”
“Thoughts at 2am”
“Storm of Kisses”
In This Article: Buddy Miller

Preorder ‘Breakdown on 20th Ave. South.’

Watch Out! Strand of Oaks featuring Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires – “Ruby”

Strand of Oaks was joined by members of My Morning Jacket guitarist Carl Broemel, drummer Patrick Hallahan, bassist Tom Blankenship, and keyboardist Bo Koster, as well as Jason Isbell and Amanda Shire performed a pastorally soulful rendition of ‘Ruby’ on “Colbert” last night.

“Ruby” is a track on the upcoming Strand Of Oaks album ‘Eraserland,’ out March 22 on Dead Oceans.

Pre-order ‘Eraserland’ here.

Watch their rendition of “Ruby” below:

Watch Out! The Blood Moon Howlers – “Drunk N’ Cold” [VIDEO PREMIERE]

The Blood Moon Howlers - Drunk N' Cold

If you like your music greasy then, folks, do we have a treat for you!

L.A.’s The Blood Moon Howlers’ newest single “Drunk N’ Cold,” slithers to life with grinding electric guitar and smokey saxophone (how many roots music dare to feature saxophone?!) Guitarist/vocalist Matt Wayne then growls, with harmony provided by bassist JuJu, this ode to swamp water and booze-drenched love would slot perfectly as a track from a particularly menacing David Lynch scene.

Of the song the band says “It’s the first song we wrote for the LP and it really set the whole writing process for the LP into motion. This is a song written about stories Matt has of hangin’ out with his friends partying outside in the cold when they were younger and there was no other place to go. Although people have interpreted it other ways which is fun to hear.”

“Drunk N’ Cold” is from the upcoming full-length album, “Mad Man’s Ruse, out April 6th.

Official Site: thebloodmoonhowlers.com/

Watch Out! – Todd Snider “Talking Reality Television Blues” [VIDEO]

Todd Snider channels his inner Christopher Allen Bouchillon with his “Talking Reality Television Blues,” The clever animated video below gives us a history lesson in 20th-century media and its effects on culture.

“Talking Reality Television Blues” is on the upcoming “Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3,” and will be released March 15.

Pre-order here.

Track Listing:
1. Working on a Song
2. Talking Reality Television Blues
3. Like a Force of Nature
4. Just Like Overnight
5. The Blues on Banjo
6. Framed
7. The Ghost of Johnny Cash
8. [Dedication]
9. Cowboy Jack Clement’s Waltz
10. [Explanation]
11. Watering Flowers in the Rain
12. A Timeless Response to Current Events

Watch Out! Hayes Carll – Times Like These

Hayes Carll - Times Like These

It seems these days people are going out of their way to find reasons to divide themselves. Like somehow looking for the common humanity in your neighbor that binds us together is out of style, and choosing identity can only happen in opposition against…well, anything! is the new rule.

Chips on the shoulder are all the rage (oftentimes with actual rage.)

Hayes Carll has the tonic for what ails our wounded soul! His new album ‘What It Is’ is pure Carll – that is heart, wit, a wry smile and brimming with hospitality.

The video starts with Carll laying on a longneck littered dance floor as he’s helped to his feet by a random two-stepper. As an excellent study on contrast Carll wonders the bar singing about division and strife as the camera cuts to joyful couples dancing to the fiddle-fueled boogie blissfully oblivious to the message.

Carll is both onstage and in the crowd trading lyrical duties with various bar patrons as they embody the simple beauty of a Saturday night distraction away from work, bills, life.

In this Age of Outrage, we need a reminder that things, and people, are generally good as long as we take the time away from our grievance fetish to celebrate that fact. ‘Times Like These’ brings perspective and brings us together.

And reminds us to dance.

Buy ‘What It Is’ here.

Let’s all sing along…

In times like these everyone could use a hand
Instead, we stand around losing ground
Fighting for the promised land
It’s so hard to tell if this is heaven or hell
And I could never measure by degrees
But it’s sure gettin’ warm ’round here in times like these
In times like these do I really need a billionaire
Just takin’ all my time tryin’ to tell me I was treated unfair?
Well then I got to pay, it’s the home of the brave
Gets divided into them and the weak
Oh I find I’m a-losing my mind in times like these

Yeah they come and they go
They’re in and then out
Every day I’m getting better at losing something I haven’t got
I just wanna do my labor, love my girl, and help my neighbor
While I keep a little hope for my dreams
But it’s sure getting hard, brother, in times like these

In times like these I wish someone was on my side
Instead of bringing it together we’re just widening the great divide
I hope and I pray at the end of the day
I can somehow get my troubles to ease
But I gotta say, it’s not looking good, not in times like these

Yeah they come and they go
They’re cold then they’re hot
I just try to keep the world from turning me to something I’m not
I’m gonna try to run until the whole thing’s done
And I just hope I don’t end up on my knees
But it’s sure getting hard to stand up in times like these

I just wanna do my labor, love my girl, and help my neighbor
While I’m keeping all my joie de vivre
But it’s sure getting hard, brother, in times like these
I could use just a little bit of help in times like these

Hear Gillian Welch & David Rawlings Perform “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”

 Gillian Welch & David  Rawlings -  “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings wrote “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” for the recent six-part Coen brothers anthology, The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs. If you watched the show you know the original song was sung by Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs alongside Willie Watson as “The Kid.” Today, Welch and Rawlings share a new version that they will perform at the 91st Academy Awards on 2/24.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings recently garnered a nomination for “Best Original Song” at the 2019 Academy Awards, for “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings.” their version of the song on Acony Records, which they sing in their own lonesome and timeless
style, invoking both the absurd fatalism of the show and their own penchant for a good yodel.

Welch and Rawlings said about their nomination: “We are eternally grateful to Ethan and Joel Coen for giving us the opportunity to write a cowboy duet between the living and the dead, and to Willie Watson and Tim Blake Nelson for bringing it to life.”

The pair confirmed they will perform the song on The Grand Ole Opry on February 16th as well as at the 91st Academy Awards on Sunday, February 24, 2019.

Welch revealed the story behind the song and working with the Coen Brothers in a recent Rolling Stone interview:

“They [The Coen Brothers] gave David and I the script, and they gave us the script of maybe two other of the shorts in the collection so we could gauge the darkness [laughs]… And then there was just a really basic conversation [with Joel Coen]. He was like, “Look, there’s the singing cowboy — he’s been around for a while. Now here comes the new guy. He’s cuter, he’s faster and he sings better. He’s just better. It’s the new model. He’s coming for him.”… Joel just said, “Here’s the specifics of it. They have to be able to sing it together. They have to be able to sing it once Tim has been shot and is dead and is floating up to heaven.”

Gillian also spoke to Variety about her and Rawlings’ process writing the song:
“It was a pretty straightforward thing: ‘Well, we need a song for when two singing cowboys gun it out, and then they have to do a duet with one of ‘em dead. You think you can do that?’ ‘Yeah, I think we can do that’”… “The more peculiar restraints you put upon a song, the more fun it is, so this was kind of a dream assignment,” Welch says. “And they didn’t tell us to do this, but if you’re writing a gunfight song between two singing cowboys, who wouldn’t love the opportunity to put some yodeling in?”

Buy the single “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings” here.

The Felice Brothers Announce New Album ‘Undress.’ Hear the Title Cut

The Felice Brothers  - Undress

Few contemporary bands embody what Greil Marcus coined as “Old. weird America” as well as The Felice Brothers and a new release by this Upstate New York rustic-core collective is always welcome news.

The new album, “Undress,” the follow-up to 2016’s “Life in rhe Dark,” will be released on May 3rd from Yep Roc Records.

Cut live to tape with very little overdubbing, Undress was recorded in the late summer of 2018 in Germantown, New York. Band members Ian Felice, James Felice, Will Lawrence (drums) and Jesske Hume (bass) teamed up with producer Jeremy Backofen to record their most personal and reflective album to date.
 
“Many of the songs on the new album are motivated by a shift from private to public concerns,” says songwriter Ian Felice. “It isn’t hard to find worthwhile things to write about these days, there are a lot of storms blooming on the horizon and a lot of chaos that permeates our lives.  The hard part is finding simple and direct ways to address them.”
 
Since the band’s last 2016 album release the group in a very different place. Between personnel changes, families growing and the political landscape, the result is a tighter, more-paired down release. “Every song is a story,” said James Felice. “On this album everything was a bit more thoughtful, including the arrangements, the sonic quality and the harmonies.”

Listen to title cut “Undress”

Pre-order “Undress” Here
 
Ian and James Felice grew up in the Hudson valley of upstate NY. Self taught musicians, inspired as much by Hart Crane and Whitman as by Guthrie and Chuck Berry, they began in 2006 by playing subway platforms and sidewalks in NYC and have gone on to release nine albums of original songs and to tour extensively throughout the world. Following the release of Life in the Dark, The Felice Brothers served as the backing band for Conor Oberst’s 2017 release Salutations and the subsequent tour. 

The band kicks off a US tour starting on April 27 in Albany. Tickets go on sale on February 12 at www.thefelicebrothers.com.
 
Tour Dates:           
4/27: Albany, NY – TBA                                   
4/28: Syracuse, NY – The Westcott Theater            
4/29: Buffalo, NY – The 9th Ward at Babeville           
4/30: Toronto, ON – Legendary Horseshoe Tavern           
5/2: Chicago, IL – Sleeping Village                       
5/3: Lexington, KY – On The Rail Roots Festival                       
5/4: Columbus, OH – Rumba Cafe                                   
5/6: Pittsburgh, PA – Club Cafe                                   
5/7: Lancaster, PA – Tellus 360                                   
5/9: Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s                       
5/10: Brooklyn, NY – The Bell House                       
5/12: Hopewell, NJ – Hopewell Theater                       
5/15: Portsmouth, NH – 3S Artspace                                   
5/16: Providence, RI – Columbus Theatre                       
5/18: Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair 
5/23: Virginia Beach, VA – Elevation 27 
5/24: Richmond, VA – Richmond Music Hall                               
5/25: Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap – with The Avett Brothers                              
6/6: Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle Tavern                       
6/7: Decatur, GA – Eddie’s Attic                                   
6/8: Nashville, TN – Exit/In
6/9: Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewery
6/10: New Orleans -Gasa Gasa
6/12: Austin, TX – Barracuda
6/14: Santa Fe, NM – Tumbleroot
6/15: Tucson, AZ – 191 Toole
6/16: San Diego, CA – The Casbah
6/17: Los Angeles, CA – Bootleg Theater
6/19: San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
6/21: Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
6/22: Seattle, WA – Tractor Tavern
6/24: Garden City, ID – Visual Arts Collective
6/25: Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
6/27: Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater

John Paul White Readies “The Hurting Kind” For Spring Release; Hear New Single Now

John Paul White Readies "The Hurting Kind"

There are many ways to describe the work of master singer-songwriter John Paul White. If forced to distill to a single word to describe his aesthetic it would be bittersweet.

So, to learn that White’s upcoming third solo release is entitled “The Hurting Kind” made perfect sense. The king of melancholy is back in the saddle.

Then you hear the single ‘The Long Way Home’ (listen below) from the album and, damn if it isn’t jaunty, defiant even. The cover displays White in his usual dark suit casual dapper persona and tassel of hair, his briskly strummed acoustic guitar strides right into a backbeat and, what’s that, pedal steel! But just behind the sonic rhinestones are weary miles of separation from loved ones, and hope and longing intertwin to lead him back to hearth and home. I’ve read that this song brought White’s youngest child to tears. That’s the power and humility of art.

I have no inside knowledge of this, but it’s been a theory of mine that the isolation of the road was once os the main reasons the Civil Wars called it a day at the height of their popularity. We all see the glamour of the working musician with no thought to the grind that it can be,

But this is no woe-is-me lament. This is a song with a higher intention. To celebrate and focus, on the big portrait of the loved ones that make the cookie-cutter hotels and stale-beer bars tolerable.

‘The Hurting Kind’ is out April 12 on Single Lock Records. Pre-order it here.

The Hurting Kind Tracklist:
01. The Good Old Days
02. I Wish I Could Write You a Song
03. Heart Like a Kite
04. Yesterday’s Love
05. The Long Way Home
06. The Hurting Kind
07. This Isn’t Gonna End Well (featuring Lee Ann Womack)
08. You Lost Me
09. James
10. My Dreams Have All Come True

Wanted! – Notable Americana and Roots Music Releases for 2019

2018 is now in the pages of history and as America shifts (lurches?) into an uncertain future. Americana and roots music, unlike many other genres, continues to be true to its legacy and addresses our times with art that refuses to chase the charts and churn out reflexively commercial product and, lucky for us, refuses to treat the audience as mindless consumers.

That’s not to say that Americana and roots music is merely a barometer for political and social conditions and change. No sane person wants their favorite artists to be righteous yet starve. As the music industry continues to reflect changing consumer demands artists are also finding opportunities to reach audiences and generate revenue in movies and video games.

Some albums I’m  personally looking forward to because I’ve heard some cuts, or on my faith in the artist,  are Hayes Carll’s  â€œWhat It Is,” Feb. 15: Dale Watson’s Call Me Lucky and Ryan Bingham – “American Love Song” , all on February 15th,  Mandolin Orange’s “Tides of a Teardrop” on February 1st, and Joshua Ray Walker’s “Wish You Were Here” on January 25th as well as Son Volt’s “Union’ on March 29th.

As more dates come throughout the year I will be updating the list. If you know of an actual release not listed yet please leave it in the comments.

As always I appreciate your visiting the site and hope you join me in another great year for Americana and roots music.

January: Jan. 18th: Danny Burns – “North Country”
Jan. 25th: Lula Wiles – ‘What Will We Do’
Jan. 4th: Balsam Range – “Aeonic”
Jan. 18th: Alice Wallace – “ Into the Blue”
Jan. 18th: Ronnie Milsap – “Ronnie Milsap: The Duets”
Jan. 18th: Greensky Bluegrass – “All for Money”
Jan. 18th: The Steel Woods – “Old News”
Jan. 18th: Whitehorse – “The Northern South Vol. 2”
Feb. 22: Vandoliers – “Forever” 

February:
Feb. 1st: Mandolin Orange – “Tides of a Teardrop”
Feb. 1st: Abigail Lapelle – “Getaway”
Feb. 8th: Gurf Morlix – ‘Impossible Blue’
Feb. 15th: Hayes Carll – “What It Is”
Feb. 15th: Dale Watson – “Call Me Lucky”
Feb. 15th: Ryan Bingham – “American Love Song”
Feb. 15th: Joey McGee – “El Camino Real”
Feb. 15th: Kalyn Fay – “Good Company”
Feb. 22nd: Dearling – “Silver and Gold” (EP)
Feb. 22nd Vandoliers – “Forever”
Feb. 22nd – Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell – ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’ March:
March 1st: Mary Bragg – “Diamonds as Camouflage”
March 1st: The Cactus Blossoms – “Easy Way”
March 1st: Dave Ernst – “Hickory Switch”
March 2nd: The Honey Dewdrops – “Anyone Can See”
March 7th: Townes Van Zandt – “Sky Blue”
March 8th: Patty Griffin – “Patty Griffin” March 8th: Clara Baker – “Things To Burn”
March 22nd: Allison de Groot & Tatiana March 22nd: Orville Peck – “Pony” March 22nd: Luther Dickinson and Sisters of the Strawberry Moon – “Solstice” March 29th: Son Volt – “Union”

April: April 2nd: John Paul White – ‘The Hurting Kind” April 5th: Molly Tuttle – “When You’re Ready.” April 5th: Megg Farrell -“Megg Farrell” April 12th: Shovels & Rope – “By Blood” April 12th: Taylor Alexander – “Good Old Fashioned Pain” April 19th: Daniel Norgren – “Wooh Dang” May:
May 3rd: Pete Seeger – ‘The Smithsonian Folkways Collection’ May 3rd: Caroline Spence – “Mint Condition” May 10th: The Shootouts – “Quick Draw” May 24th: Willard Gayheart – “At Home in the Blue Ridge”

June:
June 14th: Hank Williams – ‘Health & Happiness Show’ June 21st: Buddy and Julie Miller -‘Breakdown on 20th Ave. South’ June 28th: Chuck Mead – “Close To Home” August 16th The Messenger: A Tribute to Ray Wylie Hubbard August 23rd Esther Rose – ‘You Made It This Far’ Erin Enderlin – ‘Chapter Three: Whatever Gets You Through The Night’ Tanya Tucker – ‘While I’m Livin’ ‘ Vince Gill – ‘Okie’ Dalton Domino – ‘Songs From the Exile’ Jason Hawk Harris – Love & the Dark The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys – ‘Toil, Tears & Trouble’ Leslie Stevens – ‘Sinner’ Croy and the Boys – ‘Howdy High-Rise’ Seth James – Midland – ‘Let It Roll’ September 7th The Highwomen – Self-Titled’ Terri Hendrix – ‘Talk To A Human’ Jason Tyler Burton – ‘Kentuckian’ Paul Cauthen – ‘Room 41’ Cut Throat Francis – ‘This Garden’s Never Gonna Grow’ Ana Egge – ‘Is It the Kiss’ NRBQ – ‘Turn On, Tune In’ Amy Speace – ‘Me and the Ghosts of Charlemagne’ These Wild Plains – ‘Thrilled To Be Here’ Trailerpark Idlers – ‘Ghost Town Nights September 13th Jeremy Ivey – ‘The Dream And The Dreamer’ September 27th Hot Club of Cowtown – ‘Wild Kingdom’ October 4th The North Mississippi Allstars – “Up and Rolling” October 13th Cody Jinks – ‘After The Fire’ North Mississippi Allstars – ‘Up and Rolling’ Corb Lund – ‘Cover Your Tracks’ Jonah Tolchin – ‘Fires for the Cold’ Marti Brom – ‘Midnight Bus’ Ted Drozdowski – ‘Learn To Love The Moon’ Jeremy Ivey – ‘The Dream And The Dreamer; Janiva Magness – ‘Change In The Weather: Janiva Magness Sings John Fogerty’ October 18th The Milk Carton Kids – ‘The Only Ones’ Darin Aldridge & Brooke Aldridge – ‘Inner Journey’ Driftwood Soldier – ‘Stay Ahead Of The Wolf’ The Drunken Hearts – ‘Wheels of the City’ Rory Ellis – ‘Inner Outlaw’ EmiSunshine and The Rain – ‘Family Wars’ Jimmy “Duck” Holmes – ‘Cypress Grove’ Jake La Botz – ‘They’re Coming For Me’ New Copasetics – ‘Twang-Ucopia’ David Newbould – ‘Sin & Redemption’ Karen & the Sorrows – ‘Guaranteed Broken Heart’ Zachary Lucky – ‘Midwestern’ October 25th Allison Moorer – ‘Blood’ Neil Young & Crazy Horse – ‘Colorado’ Craig Cummings – ‘Absolute Surprise’ Karen & the Sorrows – ‘Guaranteed Broken Heart’ Van Morrison – ‘Three Chords and the Truth’ Jackson Stokes – ‘Jackson Stokes’ Zack Walther Band – ‘The Westerner’ November 20th Bill Scorzari – ‘Now I’m Free’ January 31st Dustbowl Revival – ‘Is It You, Is It Me?’

Ryan Bingham To Release ‘American Love Song’ in 2019. Hear the Song “Wolves.”

Southwestern spirit chaser Ryan Bingham will release his sixth studio album “American Love Song” on February 15th, 2019.

That will mark a four year stretch between his latest and the criminally overlooked “Fear and Saturday Night.” That’s a long time for fans, like me, to wait. Though there was a pretty sweet live album to hold me over.

Like Bingham’s last three albums “American Love Song” will be released on his own label, Axster Bingham Records. The album is co-produced by Austin music legend Charlie Sexton, fresh off his extraordinary portrayal of Townes Van Zandt in Ethan Hawke’s “Blaze.” The album was recorded at Austin’s Arlyn Studios and Public Hi-fi. Additional recording was done at Matter Music in Los Angeles.

Listen to Bingham play his ode to personal strength “Wolves” live on The Off Camera Show. (That glorious voice!) “Wolves” is available to download now with all pre-orders.

Pre-order “American Love Song” here.

Bingham is currently touring across America on a sold-out solo acoustic tour. He hits the road with a full band in March in Salt Lake City, UT. See full dates below.

Bingham has also announced his own curated music festival “The Western.” The festival looks like a winner right out of the gate featuring the Old 97s, Margo Price, Jamestown Revival, and Colter Wall already booked. The event will feature an exclusive “Campfire Jam,” highlighting an acoustic song-swap with Bingham and Price.

The festival will take place April 12th and 13th, 2019 at the storied outdoor venue Luckenbach, TX. Visit www.thewesternfestival.com for more information.

Ryan Bingham – “American Love Song” Tracklist:

1. Jingle and Go
2. Nothin Holds Me Down
3. Pontiac
4. Lover Girl
5. Beautiful and Kind
6. Situation Station
7. Got Damn Blues
8. Time for My Mind
9. What Would I’ve Become
10. Wolves
11. Blue
12. Hot House
13. Stones
14. America
15. Blues Lady

U.S Tour 2019 (Full Band)
March

19 – Salt Lake City, UT
21 – Phoenix, AZ
23 – San Diego, CA
24 – San Luis Obispo, CA
26 – Santa Cruz, CA
28 – Los Angeles, CA
29 – San Francisco, CA
30 – Petaluma, CA

April

2 – Denver, CO
3 – Lincoln, NE
4 – Springfield, IL
5 – Chicago, IL
6 – Minneapolis, MN
7 – Milwaukee, WI
9 – Kansas City, MO
12 – Luckenbach, TX – THE WESTERN
13 – Luckenbach, TX – THE WESTERN
16 – New Orleans, LA
17 – Atlanta, GA
19 – Philadelphia, PA
20 – Boston, MA
21 – Washington, DC
22 – Asbury Park, N
23 – Brooklyn, NY