Category: Billy Strings

Five Cool Ones – Five New Records Released This Week (September 27, 2024)

With just a few blockbusters set for release later in the year, there are still a few diamonds to be mined this week.

Dutch masters DeWolff are back with their ‘70s style organ-drenched rock with “In Love.”

The semi-stripped-down reincarnation of Dawes is prepping for an album later in the year.

And, The Darkness, one of the best new bands to come out in the last 10 years, is out with another Queen-inspired operatic wonder.

But fear not, there’s more. Here are five more pieces of dust in the wind to savor this week.

Nick Lowe – Indoor Safari

Nick Lowe along with his cronies in Los Straitjackets with Indoor Safari have crafted what is sure to be one of the cooler albums of the year. Starting with the opener “Went To A Party” the Tiki-surf noir is dialed up to 11. “Crying Inside” comes across like a long-lost Roy Orbison tune, and “Lay Ot On Me” is classic vintage Nick Lowe.

Never straying far from his sweet spot, this one sounds classically vintage and contemporary at the same time.

Sam Millar – Virtual Summer

A bit late for the peak-summer beach vibing, Virtual Summer is hands down the best summer anthem meets power ballad record of the year.

Millar himself has said that releasing these gems now will give the listener something to hold on to when winter sets in allowing them to create their own virtual summer.

Bon Jovi-adjacent highlights abound including the 80’s stolen jam “Chardonnay” and the Duran Duran vibing “Deja Vue.”

This one stands on its own merit as the best back-to-the-future record of the year.

Billy Strings – Highway Prayers

Billy Strings is quickly morphing himself into the best live performer, in any genre, on the planet. Somehow finding the time to release a proper long-player right in the middle of his hectic tour schedule.

On this one, Strings has somehow managed to channel the Americana magic of Stapelton and Sturgill while maintaining his unflinching bluegrass ethos.

A bit on the longer side, this one weighs in at about one hour and 15 minutes, the 20 original songs represented here are a great way to experience the pure musicianship of one of the best virtuosos to come around in the last several decades.

JD McPherson – Night Owls

JD McPherson is front and center with his Duane Eddy stylings on his first proper non holiday album since 2017’s Undivided Heart and Soul.

With one foot in the Rockabilly ethos and the other in vintage ‘60s surf guitar McPherson has created a deliciously eclectic wonderment of a record.

The title track carries a Cars Mantra, and the instrumental “The Phantom Lover Of New Rochelle” is an aggressive surf guitar throwback.

This one is a brilliant return for a sorely missed artist.

Pale Waves – Smitten

Buoyant exuberance, anthemic propulsion, and layered production are the touchstones of this excellent record from the Manchester-based band Pale Waves.

Led by the effervescent Heather Baron-Gracie, the band sashays their way through a solid set of arena-ready misses that bring to the minds ear The Corrs by way of Stevie Nicks.

The closer “Slow” is a slow-burn stunner from a band that seems to be reaching the peak of their powers.

Five Cool Ones: Five Artists We Have Our Ears On in 2020

Billy Strings

Starting with Alison Krause and playing it forward on to Molly Tuttle and Amanda Shires, Bluegrass artists have been looked upon with somewhat of a skeptical ear. Much like bagpipes, a little banjo can go a long way. And then there’s Billy Strings. With a moniker like that this dude had better deliver the goods, and based on his latest record released in 2019, Home, he delivers the goods and then some. Showing he is no one-trick banjo-picking pony, the mix of Bluegrass, Country, and Cow-Punk is easily accessible to all ears that love good music.

Odd Morris

There is not a lot to go on here after all this band has only released two songs so far, “Lilac Leaves” and “What Might Be,” but so far, really good. A really absorbing band to watch, their cracking live shows have already caught lightning in a bottle across their home town of Dublin, Ireland. Very much of the Irish Post-Punk tradition there is the unavoidable essence of U2 prevailing here for sure, but these guys look to be about to blaze their own Rock and Roll trail.

Anna St. Louis

Having already been around a bit, her 2016 record First Songs is set for a vinyl reissue in early 2020, Anna St. Louis seems on the verge of bringing her 70’s Laurel Canyon vibe to the unwashed masses. Firmly based in Folk and Country Music with songs that have a certain haunting quality about them, look for her to be popping up on the soundtracks of binge-worthy television shows in the very near future.

Arnetta Johnson

We already have our ears poised to be including her debut album If You hear a Trumpet, It’s Me on our list of best instrumental records of the year for 2020 and it hasn’t even been released yet. Talent exudes from every pore of this 25-year-old trumpeter. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, she has already released to the world three highly provocative singles in “Meet Me There,” “Who Are You,” and “I’m Just Sayin.”

The Glorious Sons

Any band that releases a song called “The Ongoing Speculation into the Death of Rock and Roll” simply is required to be on any self-respecting list of artists to watch in 2020. They have opened for The Rolling Stones, middled for the Struts, and very much deserve to be the more deserving Greta Van Fleet of 2020.