New Music Friday (July 26, 2019)

Crowded Table – The Highwomen

The second release in short order in advance of their September release.

Lodi – Janiva Magness and Sam Outlaw

Outstanding version of the CCR Classic.

Dirty Finger – Texas Hippie Coalition

With this ode to flipping the bird the mighty THC have become our new guilty pleasure band.

Summertime Vibes – Lewis Brice

It’s never too late in the summer to listen to your new summer jam.

Stay High – Brittany Howard

The Alabama Shakes leader goes solo.

Real Long Time – White Reaper

This one is getting a lot of air time at Rock Is The New Roll HQ.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (July 26, 2019)

A really good week for new releases despite the fact that Sugar Ray has a new record out.

Violent Femmes – Hotel Last Resort

Always consistent, on their tenth studio album not much has changed. Their Folk-Punk sound is still a bit angst ridden with Gordon Gango’s voice as strong as ever. There is no “Blister In The Sun” here, but on the strength of songs like “Not Ok” and “This Free Ride” that are so good no one will really notice. Long time fans need not worry. The Femmes are still a cult band in the best sense of the word.

Chris Gantry – Nashlantis

During the salad days of the 60’s and 70’s Outlaw Country scene Chris Gantry was the pesky younger brother to the big guys Kris, Johnny, Willie, Waylon and the rest of the better known names. A highly respected tune smith, Gantry most famously penned “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife” made famous by Glen Campbell. With this serving of fine song-craft and storytelling as a more than solid follow up to 2017’s Psych-Folk mini- masterpiece At the House of Cash, the 76 year old may just be the last outlaw standing after all is said and done.

Mikey Erg – Waxbuilt Castles

Mikey Erg self describes his latest solo release as his version of McCartney’s first record, homemade, loose, and not overthought.

Delbert McClinton – Tall, Dark, And Handsome

Delbert pretty much paints from the entire Blues palette on this one. From Jump Blues to Dirty Blues, Country Blues, and Delta Blues with a little bit of Smokey Jazz mixed in, this one has a little bit of everything. Tall Dark and Handsome Doesn’t break any new ground but should serve to remind us that much like John Hiatt, Delbert McClinton is a National treasure.

Lasers Lasers Birmingham – Warning

The clear winner for funkiest band name of the week Lasers Lasers Birmingham is the Country project for LA based singer songwriter Alex Owen. With music that can be described as modern day songwriting with Classic Country sensibilities. Much like Orville Peck this album is a bit genre defying and opens up the landscape of Country Music to a new audience.

Best Albums of 2019: Shana Cleveland – Night of the Worm Moon

Known mostly for her work with the Surf-Noir Band La Luz, Shana Cleveland doesn’t stray too far from the vintage guitar, psychedelic haze ambience on Night of the Worm Moon, her second proper full length record as a solo artist.

The cool, laconic, mostly psychedelic under current that wafts through the entire proceedings like an early era Leonard Cohen poetry reading will instantly take you back to a time when television came in both colors. Black, and white.

“The Fireball” is a shoegaze-y mellow-tron of a tune and “Solar Creep” is a night time chill-out experience. Don’t expect the jams to be kicked out anywhere on this record, just a fine, understated, spectral beauty of a listening journey.

Song of the Day: The Rubinoos – Phaedra

At one point, back in the day, The Rubinoos following in the tradition of The Raspberries, Big Star, and other popsters of the period were set to take over the world. And then it didn’t happen. A favorite band their cover version of “I Think Were Alone Now” is pure pop pleasure. This one is from a record set to be released later in the year.