Dion – Rock Is The New Roll

Five Cool Ones: Five New Records Released This Week (March 8, 2024)

The rock is beginning to roll in fine fashion as the freeze starts to thaw and summer is right around the corner. Rock is the New Roll Favorite Tuk Smith has released a freshly minted video from what his upcoming record that is certain to be a candidate for rock record of the year.

The mighty Gems have released a new video in support of their debut record, Phoenix.

And, The Quill delivers on a soundscape of Black Sabbath – Adjacent riffage.

But, that’s not all. Here are five more ear pleasing morsels to savor this week.

Sawer Brown – Desperado Troubadours

With their first proper record since 2011, Sawyer Brown, under the tutelage of Blake Shelton, is back and better than ever with Desperado Troubadours.

This time around with a bit more swagger and a lot more honky Tonk in their vibe, the band has morphed from an ‘80s love ballad band to a proper outlaw country force of nature in the blink of a decade.

From the opening driving – tune worthy “Under This Ole Hat” the stage is set, this is not your daddy’s Sawyer Brown. “Nashville Cat” is yet another ode to the music city and the closing title track is a perfect night cap to a solid effort from a band that had forgotten we missed.

Norah Jones – Visions

It seems to be ear-boggling that it has been over 20 years since Norah Jones released the stellar Come Away With Me. And now, with her L.P. Visions Jonesbhas somewhat distanced herself from her standard piano-driven love ballads having replaced them with a mix of folk, Americana, pop, and psychedelic soul vignettes.

Written and produced with collaborator Leon Michels, this 12-song cycle seems to be nostalgic while at the same time demonstrating the firm hold that Norah Jones has on her career. “Staring At The Wall” has a Jenny Lewis flair to it, “Queen of the Sea” is vintage Norah and highlights her delicate vocals, and “I Just Wanna Dance” sums up all of her emotions released with this effort quite nicely.

The Northern Belle – Bats In The Attic

The band Northern Belle is part of the growing Nordicana scene. Taking inspiration from letters she found after 60 years in her grandmothers attic, Stine Andreassen, singer and songwriter for the band, crafted the new record around transcontinental missives between her grandmother and grandfather separated during the war.

Their is a distinct cardigans and First Aid influence throughout the record and virtually every song has the misty ebb and flow of the sea with “Japanese” a highlight detailing a particular letter her seafaring grandfather wrote to her grandmother.

Nordic Americana doesn’t get much better than this.

Dion – Girlfriends

Dion is one of the few legacy acts that seems to be enriching instead of diminishing his legacy with each subsequent release. Maintaining the perfect vocal range fitting for a singer in his age bracket, his latest song set pairs him with female singers across multiple genres ranging from Country, Soul, Blues, and beyond.

Susan Tedeschi lends a fret on the opener, “Soul Voice,” Carlene Carter assists on the somber, made-for-these-times “American Hero,” and Joanne Taylor Shaw helps to scorch the earth with the closer “Just Like That.”

There is nothing not to like about this record, and that says a lot coming from an artist who has been applying his trade for this long and is still going this strong.

The Hanging Stars – On A Golden Shore

With a sound that Channels The Birds, Big Star, and The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Hanging Stars just might be your new favorite band.

Their latest single from their fifth album, On A Golden Shore, blends pedal-steel and Lou Reed guitar into a smooth Americana oasis, “Happiness Is A Bird” is Lately Canyon wonderment backed by The Beach Boys, And, the opener, “Let Me Dream Of You” takes the stage like a redux version of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

This one is an infectious joy from stem to stern.

Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (June 5, 2020)

Just when we get ready to turn the corner into summer it seems that things are cooling off a bit on the new release front. Lady Gaga is out with her new one, Chromatica, and Nick Lowe continues to dribble out new songs with a new E.P. that features Los Straightjackets as his back up band, but otherwise, there are not too many entrants that will be making noise at the end of the year when the best-of lists come together.

On the cool side, however, many artists are putting out some really strong singles as they wait until they can tour to put out another actual full-length record.

The best of those this week include Jonathan Wilson’s cover of “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” the great Glam Queen Cherie Currie along with Brie Darling belting out their timely acoustic version of “Get Together” and Rock is the new New Roll favorite Zephaniah Ohara 0n “All American Singer” tells you exactly how he feels.

Here a five really nice records we culled from this week’s crop.

Dion – Blues With Friends

Dion, yes the “Runaround Sue” Dion, when he is not strutting down Broadway as the reigning king of New York, has reinvented himself a bad-ass bluesman. And here, on his latest record, Blues With Friends, the self-proclaimed wanderer jumps deep into the blues pool with a bevy of impressive friends including Joe Bonamassa, ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbens, and Stray Cat Setzer to name only three. Highlights include the slowed-down “Can’t Start Over Again with Jeff Beck, “I Got Nothin” with Van Morrison and “Song For Sam Cooke (Here In America)” that features Paul Simon. Samantha Fish and Bruce Springsteen also join the party that could end up in a late-night jam for best Blues record of the year.

Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Sideways To New Italy

With their 2018 record, Hope Downs, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever honed their three-guitar attack down to diamond-like perfection. And here, with their latest, the Aussie Quintet has only improved with age. The vibe is gloriously cool 80’s Jangle-Pop with a distinct early-era R.E.M. essence wafting in the breeze. Most of the tunes presented here are up-tempo high energy affairs with the notable exception of “Sunglasses at the Wedding,” a breezy ballad that sets a contemplative tone. The closing song, “The Cool Chance” is a Rock is the New Roll favorite.

Brigid Mae Power – Above The Water

Brigid Mae Power delivers a solid set of highly accessible Irish Folk inspired songs to her sophomore record, Head Above The Water. The subtle psychedelic undertones throughout this record help to create a different listening experience song to song. There are several highlights to savor here with “I Had To Keep My Circle Small” a definite stand-out track. This one is for fans of Judee Sill and Joni Mitchell.

Joe Louis Walker – Blues Comin’ On

Another scorching blues record out this week is the Joe Louis Walker release, Blues Comin On. Head-scratchingly ignored as one of the best of the contemporary bluesmen unless you are in the Blues fraternity. Joe Louis Walker broke through in 1986 with his stone-cold classic Cold Is The Night but has never really been able to enter the slipstream of the mainstream always flying directly below Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and even Robert Cray on the Blues radar.

But, here with his latest record, hopefully, things will change. On this one, he delivers an eclectic set of blues and Rock and Roll numbers with a dazzling array of co-conspirators that include Jorma Kaukonen, young guitar-slinger Eric Gales, laid back cool guy Keb’ Mo’, Albert Lee, along with Zevon side-man Waddy Wachtel along with several others. The result here is not as cohesive as the Dion Blues record might be but the sum of the musical parts is a highly rewarding listen its own right.

Sports Team – Deep Down Happy

Any group that takes themselves less than seriously singing songs that celebrate Ashton Kutcher, flip phones, and the joys of British seaside resorts have got to provide a pretty interesting listen. And, these blokes from the U.K. deliver the goods in fine fashion with their debut record, Deep Down Happy.

The influences are clear on this one ranging from “Panic In Detroit” era David Bowie to The Ramones and The Velvet Underground. There is an energy running through every song that will make your ears perk up and pay attention.

What We’re Listening To (May 15, 2020)

Sure we’re a bit gutted here at Rock is the New Roll that there is a bit of a delay on the new Chuck Prophet record, but hey, we will get over it. Here are some of the fine records we are listening to here in The Falcon’s Nest.

Dion – I Got Nothin’

On this true blues song from Dion where he collaborates with Van Morrison and Joe Louis Walker on this classic Blues tune that sounds like it could have come right out of the Allman brothers, actually, the best is yet to come.

The Cult – She Sells Sanctuary

In a somewhat obscure musical moment, a local sports talk show fellow was describing a back in the day bar hopping expedition in College Station when there was a busker in front of a bar of playing random songs. He said his band was playing in town and they were just going to jam in this local Texas A&M bar before the gig playing only cover songs. The dude said his name was Ian Anderson and his famous song was “She Sells Sanctuary.” I immediately tweeted the dude as he was on air and told him I wasn’t aware that Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson ever stood in for Ian Astbury as lead singer for the Cult. He corrected himself, giving me a shout out, and all was well. This, of course, sent me down a Cult rabbit hole.

There are, of course, a zillion versions of “She Sells Sanctuary out there, but this one from the Rock Show House of Strombo is one of our favorites.

Tesla – Signs

Here at Rock is the New Roll we have more than a few Rock and Roll guilty pleasures and Tesla is one of them. And, with the latest live Tesla record recorded at Abbey Road front and center in our skulls, we embarked on a journey to find the original version of the song that was set to vinyl. Here is the 2019 version.

And, here is the version from 1990 live from The Trocadero as it was meant to be heard on the Five Man Acoustical Jam.

Metallica – Blackened 2020

From the And Justice For All Metallica album, here\, the members of Metallica do a Quarantune version of the song updated for 2020.

Brothers Osbourne – All Night/Paul Cauthen – Cocaine Country Dancing

Sure, we accept and can handle the heat we get from Loving the over the top Retro-Sleaze of The Cadillac Three. So, it should come as no surprise that “All Night” from The Brothers Osbourne is right up our street. with lyrics like “I got the good if you got the time/I got the Moon, you got the shine/ I got the back if you got the beat /Got the solid gold 33 on repeat” what is there not to like?

And then, there’s the remix of Paul Cauthen’s “Cocaine Country Dancing” featuring Electrophunk. Don’t tell me most of you have not been there.