Category: Artists We Like

New Music Friday (June 13, 2019)

The Who – Ball and Chain

Press for the new record is starting to leak out. Due in November. Pete is still in top form and Roger is along for the ride.

The Dead Amigos – Hold Out

Lots of Garage Blues swagger from this band of Aussies. A gut punch of Blues, Rock, and Soul.

The Cold Stares – Any Way The Wind Blows

These Indiana Rockers play a Garage brand of high energy Rock and Roll.

Grace Potter – Back To Me

Grace is back. After a few years off to start a family, Grace Potter has reinvented herself a bit if this first single is any indication.

The Weeks – Believe Whatever

Their 2017 release, Easy, was one of the best of the year, and their latest, Two Moons, is looking like a top contender in 2019.


Mercury Rev – Louisiana Man (feat. Erika Wennerstorm)

This one sounds like it is from one of the sessions from their Bobbie Gentry covers record, The Delta Sweete Revisited, from earlier in the year.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (September 6, 2019)

Black Star Riders – Another State of Grace

With a more than solid follow up to 2017’s album Heavy Fire, this band born from the ashes of Thin Lizzy continues to place themselves on the mount Rushmore of bands that are saving Rock and Roll. The song “Don’t Let Me Down” is a distant cousin to Lizzy’s “Dancing In The Moonlight and is worth the price of admission alone.” The title track is Thin Lizzy meets Dropkick Murphy’s.

Crystal Gayle – You Don’t Know Me

Her first new record in 16 years, Crystal Gayle goes back to her country roots covering classic country tunes the likes of “Walking After Midnight,” “Crying Time,” and “Hello Walls.” “Put it Off Tomorrow” with Tanya Tucker and Peggy Sue Wright lending their voices is a highlite. Extra credit is given for not including her mega-hit “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” on this set.

Iggy Pop – Free

These days it seems that Iggy Pop is trying to channel his inner David Bowie, and truth be told, this is a bit of a miss-step for the godfather of Punk. This record is an odd patchwork of free-form jazz, poetry, ambient sounds, and beat poet musings and it does not quite hit the mark. It seems he has lost his lust for life a bit. But, If you are an Iggy fan you have another era in his storied career to savor.

The Highwomen – The Highwomen

A somewhat hipper spin on the Highwaymen since Brandi Carlile Maren Morris, Amanda Shires, and Natalie Hemby are all pretty much in the prime of their careers, unlike their semi-namesakes that were already on the other side of the hill. Here, the songwriting is crisp, the chemistry is electric, and even though this record was put together pretty quickly there is no sense that this is a one and done project.

Paul Cauthen – Room 41

His 2016 album My Gospel was a terrific record, and this one is even better. Written mostly in room 41 in artist haven that is The Belmont hotel in Dallas, Cauthen’s voice has been said to sound like all four of the Highwaymen combined.

Best Albums of 2019: The Limboos – Baia

The Limboos – Baia (Rating 5 out of 5)

limboos

The Limboos are pretty much the very definition of a genre defying band. A bit soul, retro in all the coolest of ways fusing together Soul, Rumba, Jazz, Blues, Funk, and a bunch of others we are probably skipping. On songs like “Till The End Of Town” you would bet your last dollar this was a Stax single from the 60’s.

When the sax kicks in on “Where Did She Go,” the first single from the album, there is a sense that you should be in some sort of Jetsons hipster go-go bar. The vocals are front and center and the production value is first rate with no single instrument overpowering another. And yes, they have a female drummer, as if they needed anything else to add to their coolness.

“Big Shot” the second single to be released as well as the opening track, sticks the groove and never let’s up. Swinging organ, silky sax, hip vocals all are the order of the day. This one is a timeless classic

limboos

Operating out of Madrid, most of the media about the band is in Spanish, which is somewhat perplexing since all of the songs are in English. There is not a bad tune to be had on this record. It is a great party record with ebbs and flows that make it a textured masterpiece.