Category Archives: News Round Up

Listen Up! Sturgill Simpson, “Sugar Daddy,” from HBO’s Vinyl

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Sturgill Simpson - 'Turtles All the Way Down'

Listen to a psychedelic fuzzed out new song by Sturgill Simpson, “Sugar Daddy,” from HBO’s Vinyl. No twang to be found here.

This is sure to divide critics and fans alike that have come to connect Simpson with an outlaw country aesthetic. But there’s a bunch of garage rock fans that will dig it. Jack White, are you listening? One things for sure, Simpson continues to follow his own path.

“Sugar Daddy” will appear as a main theme to the show and on the first volume of songs on the soundtrack. The song will not be on his major label debut, expected sometime this year.

Listen Up! Brad Armstrong – ‘Cherokee Nose Job’

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Brad Armstrong

Brad Armstrong is an auteur of atmosphere. On his newest release the guitarist, keyboardist and vocalist of the post-Southern rock band the Dexateens is working in the darker areas of the human psyche and the relationships and culture it forges to cast those shadows.

On ‘Cherokee Nose Job’ A strummed acoustic guitar gives no tell of the grizzly scene being set.

“Drew my best hunting blade, through my long, lost lovers face, and I sent her in the street to make amends.”

Slide dobro and electric guitar snakes around, refrains then bursts into a rushing torrent of feedback, bloodlust and righteous indignation.

Armstrong says of the song:

“CNJ is one of the more violent and harsh songs I’ve written. The plains Indians had a thing where if a woman were found to be cheating on her husband, they would slit her face open, up her lips and through her nose, so the rest of the tribe could see what part of her got her in trouble. The husband would do it. Stephen King had a riff about it in his novella Rage, which has stuck with me since I read it, at about age 14 or so. I just got to thinking about this Jim Jones kind of dude, like in Dogs of God by Pinckney Benedict, making his crazy family up in the mountains, and how he would probably do something like that. I had originally started doing a whole record about this crazy dude, but scrapped it. There are three tunes that survived from this project: CNJ, Deep Water, sung by Maria Taylor, and Shrines. I decided not to run them together in the sequence or anything, but those three go together.”

‘Cherokee Nose Job’ is from Brad Armstrong latest release “Empire.” Two songs from the album have been placed on the Audience Network’s show “Kingdom” as well as ABC’s hit show “Nashville”.

Pick it up here.

https://soundcloud.com/cornelius-chapel-records/07-cherokee-nose-job?in=cornelius-chapel-records/sets/brad-armstrong-empire

Lumineers Announce New LP ‘Cleopatra,’ Hear New Song ‘Ophelia’

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Lumineers

Colorado pop-folk band the Lumineers were celebrated and derided for the 2012 earworm “Ho Hey” that taught a whole generation to stomps and clap in unison. To their credit instead of rushing out ‘The Lumineers II” to capitalize on the success of their Grammy-nominated 2013 self-titled album the band took time making their sophomore follow up ‘Cleopatra.’ (out April 8th)

“‘Ophelia’ is a vague reference to people falling in love with fame,” songwriter, lead vocalist, guitarist Wesley Schultz told EW. “That spotlight can seem like an endless buffet, but in reality, you’re just shiny, bright and new to people for a quick moment — and then you have the rest of your life to live.”

“Ophelia,” the new cut from ‘Cleopatra.’ First thought is it takes big balls to give your song the same title as one of the most famous songs by The Band, but hey (Ho!), shoot for the stars. The song has a slightly edgier tone than their earlier work though the signature foot stomps and belts of “Oh” are still evident.

Take a listen:

The Lumineers debuted in 2012 with their eponymous album. In 2013, they were nominated for two Grammy Awards, Best New Artist and Best Americana Album. The album reached Number Two on the Billboard 200 while the hit “Ho Hey” stayed in the Top 10 on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks.

Head to thelumineers.com to check out newly posted tour dates.

Cleopatra track list

1. “Sleep On The Floor”
2. “Ophelia”
3. “Cleopatra”
4. “Gun Song”
5. “Angela”
6. “In The Light”
7. “Gale Song”
8. “Long Way From Home”
9. “Sick In The Head”
10. “My Eyes”
11. “Patience”

Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine’s “In Spite of Ourselves”

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Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover John Prine's "In Spite of Ourselves"

The ‘The Muppets’ show too a wonderful rootsy turn the other night when Miss Piggy and Kermit Cover “In Spite of Ourselves” by John Prine. The song is the title cut from Prine’s 13th studio album released in 1999, and is a standout duet with Iris DeMent.

Kermet and his diva are having fun with the song, and to keep it clean for the kiddies some of the lyrics were changed.

Kermit swaps “She gets it on like the Easter Bunny” with “She makes a face when my jokes are funny” and Piggy combines the 4th and 5th verse and sings “He can’t dance but he still gets funky” instead of “He’s got more balls than a big brass monkey.”

In spite of all the cleaning up the song is still fun. And there’s a whole new generation introduced to Prine’s music. There’s nothing dirty about that.

Check out the Muppets and Prine and DeMent’s versions below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5axlwCBXC8

Watch Out! Aubrie Sellers Performs ‘Light of Day’ on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

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Aubrie Sellers Performs 'Light of Day' on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Aubrie Sellers makes her television debut in fine fashion. She and her band look like old pros at the Late Night game with a rendition of her album debut’s title song ‘Light of Day’ . The performance gathers like thunderheads in the distance. As Sellers honey-twang warns about caution the music ebbs and builds a feeling of foreboding, then the band breaks hell and, just at the edge, careens back in the groove.

See this fantastic performance below.

“Light Of Day” is available digitally and on vinyl today. Het it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5-mMs2TyTA

Watch Out! Dawn Landes and Piers Faccini – “Book Of Dreams” [VIDEO]

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Dawn Landes And Piers Faccini

A sun-stippled leafy local contrasted against an urban backdrop is the setting for American Dawn Landes and the British Piers Faccini’s “Book Of Dreams” video. The song is torn from the Nick Drake handbook of forlorn beauty, with their guitars and voices swaying and dipping together in this recounting of passing years and shedding personas.

The two songwriters met in 2013 when they recorded a Lead Belly song for Faccini’s cover project, ‘Songs I Love.’ Later that year, Piers invited Dawn to France to perform in a 12th Century Romanesque Chapel in the remote Cevennes region of the south of France near Piers’ home and studio. Inspired by their first experience of performing together, they met up a few months later to write and record the intimate suite of songs that would become the EP, Desert Songs.

“Book Of Dreams” can be found on their new EP. From the presser covering that recording: “The bare autumnal skies and rugged mountainous landscapes provided the perfect backdrop for their collaboration. In between sessions, they walked the footpaths in the hills around the studio, swapping tales of the mystics and seekers that inspired the stories and lyrics in ‘Desert Songs.’ Where Dawn would quote the Desert Fathers or Thomas Merton, Piers would would cite Sufi poets Rumi and Hafez or the poems of St John of the Cross. Dawn and Piers wove the arrangements together using the rich collection of instruments in Piers’s studio, a Malian Kora, a 1930’s National resonator guitar, West African percussion and an Indian dulcimer and tampura. Back in her Brooklyn studio a month later, Dawn recorded drum parts with Ray Rizzo. ‘Desert Songs’ was then mixed in NYC by Pat Dillet.”

About the video’s location Landes says “Piers and I were playing a gig together in London and discovered this bandstand nearby. Turns out it’s built on the rubble of an old rookery called Friar’s Mount. That seemed to fit the themes of our EP Desert Songs, inspired by mystics and seekers.

Dawn Landes is from the Louisville, Kentucky area but has called Brooklyn, New York home for years. As a solo artist she has released five full-length albums and two EPs. She has toured throughout the US, Europe and around the world, and shared the stage with Ray Lamontagne, Feist, Andrew Bird, Suzanne Vega and others.

Faccini has collaborated over the years with many musicians and singers including Rokia Traore, Busi Mhlongo, Ben Harper, Ballake Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Camille, Francesca Beard, Ibrahim Maalouf and others. Piers Faccini’s most recent album Songs of Time Lost was in NPR’s top 10 world music albums of the year as well as in Songlines UK’s 10 best albums of 2014.

‘Desert Songs’ is out now in digital only format on Six Degrees Records.

Hayes Carll To Release New Album “Lovers and Leavers” on April 8

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Hayes Carll To Release New Album “Lovers and Leavers”

Hayes Carll fans have been waiting 5 long years for a new album. Well, the wait is over!

Over four albums Carll has carried in a Tecas songwriting tradition of heart-on-sleeve and sung with a wry smile also reflected in the works of Guy Clark , Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett and Kelly Willis. His newest release ‘Lovers and Leavers,’ (April 8th through Thirty Tigers) was recorded late last year in Los Angeles with producer Joe Henry, appears to have a darker edge.

From the press release “I’m a singer-songwriter, [and] I think Lovers and Leavers comes closer to reflecting that than any other record I’ve made.”

“I didn’t have one song that I knew would be a sing along or would make people dance,” Carll reflects. “I felt vulnerable in a way that I hadn’t in a long time. But I got what I wanted — a record with space, nuance, and room to breathe. It felt right for my art. It felt right for my life.

“Lovers and Leavers isn’t funny or raucous,” he continues. “There are very few hoots and almost no hollers. But it’s joyous, and it makes me smile. No, it’s not my Blood on the Tracks, nor is it any kind of opus. It’s my fifth record — a reflection of a specific time and place. It is quiet, like I wanted it to be.”

Hear the song, “The Love That We Need” below. The song is co-written by Carll, Jack Ingram, and Allison Moorer.

Hayes Carll’s song “Chances Are” is nominated for the “Best Country Song” Grammy. The song is an outstanding cut from Lee Ann Womack’s latest ‘The Way I’m Livin’.

Lovers and Leavers track list:

“Drive”
“Sake of the Song”
“Good While It Lasted”
“You Leave Alone”
“My Friends”
“The Love That We Need”
“Love Don’t Let Me Down”
“The Magic Kid”
“Love Is So Easy”
“Jealous”

Watch Out! Nikki Lane’s New Song ‘Highway Queen’

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Nikki Lane - Highway Queen

When not being the boss woman for her Nashville vintage boutique High Class Hillbilly Nikki Lane occasionally plays some pretty great music.

Proof – here’s a recent live performance from a particular Santa Ana, CA show showcasing ‘Highway Queen,’ a little blackthorn serenade that is the title cut from Ms. Badassary’s upcoming album (release TBD) It comes complete with some pretty sweet harmony backup.

MERCY!

Legendary Roots Music Documentary ‘Heartworn Highways’ 40th Anniversary Box Set To Be Released

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Heartworn Highways 40th Anniversary Box Set

As posted on Pitchgork.com the classic and celebrated roots music documentary Heartworn Highways is getting the Record Store Day (April 16th) deluxe treatment. The 1976 documentary by James Szalapski chronicles the rise of late 70’s roots and country music.

Filming for the doc takes place in in Texas and Tennessee in the last weeks of 1975 and the first weeks of 1976. It features intimate and ofter astounding performances by Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowel, Steve Earle, Guy Clark, Steve Young, David Allan Coe, Larry Jon Wilson, and others.

Over the years, the film and soundtrack have been lauded by fans and musicians and has achieved cult status.

On Record Store Day (April 16), Light in the Attic will release a limited (1,000 copies!) 40th anniversary 1,000 copies set featuring the film, its soundtrack, and more seen below.

    – Limited to 1,000 copies worldwide
    – Proudly Made in the USA, Hand crafted custom wood box by Boles Studio, Bronx, NY
    – LP-sized 80 page book with exhaustive 20,000 word essay by Sam Sweet interviewing artists, documentary creators and crew, including ephemera and over 100 unseen photos taken during the making of the film
    – Cast of Characters by legendary Austin illustrator Kerry Awn (Armadillo World Headquarters, The Ritz)
    – Reproduction of original film poster (24”x36”)
    – DVD of original 1976 film with restored image and sound. This is the first time the film has been restored to its correct speed in a DVD format.
    – DVD includes 45 minutes of bonus features, including performances by Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and others.
    – Region Free DVD
    – Double LP of soundtrack on “whiskey” colored wax housed in a Stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket
    – Download card for full soundtrack

Record Store Day was founded in founded in 2007 as a way to help struggling independent music retailers. The annual event has done much to fuel the current vinyl boom by offering unique and limited run editions like this one.

Find trailers for the film and the box set below.

Wanted! – Notable Americana and Roots Music Releases for 2016

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Ghosts of Highway 20 - Lucinda Williams

2015 was another bumper crop year for Americana and roots music, and 2016 show vast signs that the great music will continue to come. As our Cream of the Crop favorites from 2015 makes plain we might be experiencing a new golden age of roots music as a growing influence on our contemporary culture and as a sustainable , and viable, business for young and old artists alike.

That last part is crucial as it provides seed corn for the future of this music we truly love.

The list below is a collection of 2016 notable Americana / roots releases. Some anticipated releases from artists like Sturgill Simpson, Elizabeth Cook, Robbie Fulks, Lydia Loveless, Al Scorch and Brandy Clark have no release dates yet, but when I’m aware of them and others I will be updating the list through the year and will send word through my twitter account

If you know of a release not listed leave it in the comments and I might add it.

Look for new things coming in the 2016 at Twang Nation. With your help it’s going to be a great year folks.

January 11th
Keegan McInroe – “Uncouth Pilgrims”

January 15th
Dylan LeBlanc – ‘Cautionary Tale’
Randy Rogers Band – “Nothing Shines Like Neon”
Hank Williams Jr. – “It’s About Time”
Dawn Landes And Piers Faccini – ‘Desert Songs’

January 22nd
The Cactus Blossoms – ‘You’re Dreaming’
Simon Linsteadt – Self-Titled
Aoife O’Donovan – “In the Magic Hour”

January 24th
Michael Chapman – ‘Fish”

January 26th
Brad Armstrong – “Empire”

January 29th
Buddy Miller and Friends – ‘Cayamo Sessions at Sea’
Sierra Hull – ‘Weighted Mind’
Aubrie Sellers – ‘City Blues’
Miranda Lee Richards – “First Light of Winter”

February 5th
Lucinda Williams – “The Ghosts of Highway 20”
Dori Freeman – ‘Dori Freeman’
Luther Dickinson – ‘Blues & Ballads (A Folksinger’s Songbook: Volumes I & II)’
The Infamous Stringdusters – ‘Ladies & Gentleman’
Freakwater – ‘Scheherazade’
The O’s – ‘Honeycomb’

February 12th
Vince Gill – “Down to My Last Bad Habit”
Wynonna Judd – “Wynonna & the Big Noise”
Lorrie Morgan – ‘Letting Go … Slow’
Joey + Rory – “Hymns That Are Important To Us”
Malcolm Holcombe – ‘Another Black Hole’
Wheeler Walker Jr. ‘Redneck Shit’
Alex Dezen – ‘Alex Dezen’
Matt Patershuk – ‘I Was So Fond of You”
Applewood Road (Emily Barker, Amber Rebirth and Amy Speace) – ‘Applewood Road’

February 19th
Lake Street Dive – ‘Side Pony’
Austin Lucas – ‘Between The Moon and the Midwest”
Mike June – ‘Poor Man’s Bible’

February 26th
Shooter Jennings – ‘Countach (For Giorgio)’
Waco Brothers – ‘Going Down in History’
Kathryn Legendre – ‘Don’t Give A Damn’
Michael Daves – ‘Orchids and Violence’
Jane Kramer – ‘Carnival of Hopes’
Paul Burch – ‘Meredian Rising’
Bonnie Raitt – ‎’Dig In Deep’‬
Caleb Caudle – ‘Carolina Ghost”
Jen Lane – ‘This Life of Mine’
Ashley Monroe – ‘Live At Third Man Records”

March 4th
Loretta Lynne – ‘Full Circle’
Chris King – ‘Animal’
Anielle Reid – ‘Love Song’
Dead Tongues – ‘Montana’

March 11th
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real – ‘Something Real’
Waylon Jennings – ‘Return of the Outlaw: The Abbott, Texas, Broadcast 1973’

March 18th
Various – Dave Cobb’s ‘Southern Family
Grant Lee Phillips – ‘The Narrows’
Sean Watkins – “What To Fear”
The Roosevelts – ”The Greatest Thing You’ll Ever Learn’

March 25th
Parker Millsap – ‘The Very Last Day’
Margo Price – ‘Midwest Farmer’s Daughter’

April 1st
Elephant Revival – ‘Petals’
Robbie Fulks – ‘Upland Stories’
Teddy Thompson and Kelly Jones – ‘Little Windows’
Left Arm Tan – ‘Lorene’

April 8th
Hayes Carll – “Lovers and Leavers”
Tim McNary – ‘Above the Trees’ EP

April 15th
Hackensaw Boys – “Charismo”
Pauline Andres – “The Heart Breaks”
The Lowest Pair – ‘Fern Girl and Ice Man’ / ‘Uncertain As It Is Uneven’

April 19th
Crow Moses – “Nightshades”

April 22nd
Nate Leavitt – “Someone Send a Signal”
Derek Hoke – ‘Southern Moon’

April 29th
Larry Hooper – ‘No Turning Back’

May 3rd
Robert Ellis – ‘Robert Ellis’
Jeremy Nail – ‘My Mountain’

May 6th
Mary Chapin Carpenter – ‘The Things That We Are Made Of”
Jimbo Mathus – ‘Band of Storms’ EP
Vaudeville Etiquette – ‘Aura Vista Motel’

May 20th
Crystal Yates – ‘The Other Side’

May 27th
The Lowest Pair – ‘Fern Girl and Ice Man’ and ‘Uncertain As It Is Uneven’
Bonnie Bishop – ‘Ain’t Who I Was’

June 17
Sarah Jarosz – ‘Undercurrent’
Kris Kristofferson – ‘Cedar Creek Sessions’

June 24
The Felice Brothers – “Life in the Dark,”

July 1
Sara Watkins – ‘Young In All The Wrong Ways’

July 4
James Scott Bullard – “Box of Letters”

July 8
Mark Chesnutt – ‘Tradition Lives On’
Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley – ‘The Country Blues’

July 15
The Earls Of Leicester – ‘Rattle & Roar,’

July 22
High Bar Gang – ‘Someday the Heart Will Trouble the Mind’

August 5
Chelle Rose – ‘Blue Ridge Blood’
Summer Dean – ‘Unladylike’

August 12
Kelsey Waldon – ‘I’ve Got a Way on’
Boo Ray – ‘Sea of Lights’

August 19
Lydia Loveless – ‘Real’
John Paul White – ‘Belah’

August 26
The Devil Makes Three – ‘Redemption & Ruin”
Dietrich Strause – “How Cruel That Hunger Binds”
Waiting for Henry – ‘Town Called Patience’

September 9
Blue Highway – ‘Original Traditional’

September 16
Amanda Shires – “My Piece Of Land”
Jesse Dayton – ‘The Revealer’
The Buffalo Ruckus – ‘Peace & Cornbread’

September 30
Drive-By Truckers – ‘American Band’
Jim Lauderdale – ‘This Changes Everything’

October 7
Shovels and Rope – ‘Little Seeds’
Hiss Golden Messenger – ‘Heart Like a Levee’
The Dexateens – ‘Teenage Hallelujah’

October 28
Aaron Lee Tasjan – “Silver Tears”
Various Artists – ‘Highway Prayer – Tribute to Adam Carroll”
Jasmine Rodgers – ‘Blood Red Sun’

November 4
Kent Eugene Goolsby – ‘Temper Of The Times’

November 18
Miranda Lambert – “The Weight of These Wings”