Sound Cloud September 1, 2019

Sound Cloud Sunday September 1, 2019

    We rip another page off the calendar as we head into the winter of our discontent.  The world gets shittier by the day and the hopes that we get a new president by 2021 (which still seems like a shit-ton of time off) ebbs and flows.  Yet, the music continues, here at Laurel Canyon Radio.  We’ve whipped up a new batch of tunes from the unsigned, indie and should-be-signed world and threw them into a delicious boulebaisse.  Enjoy…click on the show below.  

 

Ernie Hendrickson – Due It For Love

 

Hometown:   Chicago

Album:  From the album “Roll On” out September 24 on Lohi Records.

 

Review Snippet:  As Ernie–who realized a life milestone in 2016 when he and his wife celebrated the birth of their first daughter (they have another daughter on the way, due in late April 2019)–says about Roll On, it is the result of his ongoing fascination with and immersion in great American songwriting. There have always been elements of the Jerry Garcia-Robert Hunter collaborations in his writing, as well as nods to heartland rockers like Tom Petty and John Mellencamp, but Ernie adds another name to that list, that of Nashville songwriter and storyteller Todd Snider, whose irrepressible forays into American manners and mores he says influenced his work on the new album.

 

 

Website:  https://erniehendrickson.com/

 

 

 

Dan Whitaker & The Shinebenders – Trucks Passing Trucks

 

Hometown:     Chicago

Album:  From the self-released 4th album “Far Far Away” out on August 26.

 

Review Snippet: Dan Whitaker and The Shinebenders have been doing honky tonk their way since 2004. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dan Whitaker writes from the heart, something he’s been doing for over thirty years. His songs are peopled with the characters you find in honky tonks: the heroes, the sinners, the heartworn, and the lost in love.

 

 

Website:  https://danwhitaker.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Joan Shelley – The Fading   

 

Hometown:   Louisville, KY

Album:  From the album “Like The River Loves The See” out  August 30 on No Quarter

 

Review Snippet:  Her disposition aligns more closely with that of, say, Roger Miller, Dolly Parton, or her fellow Kentuckian Tom T. Hall, who once explained—simply, succinctly, in a song—“I Witness Life.”

Next Time in LA:  October 3 at the Morrocan Lounge

 

Website:  http://www.joanshelley.net/

 

 

 

Michael Logen – Ocean Floor

 

Hometown:  Nashville

Album:  .  From the album “Things I Failed To Mention” released in 2007

 

Review Snippet:

 

Website:  https://michaellogen.com/

 

 

 

Rachel Harrington – I Meant To Go Memphis

 

Hometown:   Central Oregon

Album:  “Hush The Wild Horses” is self-released without a release date yet.

 

Review Snippet: he fingerpicking of I Meant To Go To Memphis reviews her travels and travails with addiction. The Barn is about her mother’s high school boyfriend who died while serving his country. Drop Zone’s rockabilly-driven lyrics are taken from Army training cadences. Mekong Delta is about the suicide death of her uncle after serving in Vietnam. Save Yourself walks a mile in the shoes of Rachel’s homeless brother.

Website: https://www.rachelharrington.net/

 

 

 

Tylor & The Train Robbers – Still Getting High

 

Hometown:  Boise, Idaho

Album:   “Best of the Worst Kind” was self-released in April.

 

Review Snippet:  For the most part, however, things move along at a mid to uptempo pace, the songs built around a memorable hooks-laden melody live, descending chords and a catchy chorus, Ketchum’s laid back delivery and voice at times reminiscent of Steve Earle or Mike Cooley from Drive By Truckers. ‘Still Getting High’, the melody of which in part calls early Guy Clark to mind, takes a swipe at organised religion, suggesting we’d all get along better without it “and see all there is to see before we judge” and how “this black and white world could use a little color”, and the train-time rhythm ‘Fumbling For Rhymes’ turns its eye on making music for a living, and wishing it paid better.

Website:  https://www.tylorandthetrainrobbers.com/

 

 

Flying Buffaloes – Take You Home

 

Hometown:  East Nashville, TN

Album:  From the album “Loaded And Rolling” released in August (self-released).

 

Review Snippet: A deeply personal album, Loaded & Rollin’ features the first songs co-written by the band. It explores, in addition to the isolation and depression associated with immigration, the ups-and-downs of love, relationships, and the essence of what it means to be a working Nashville band. Recorded at Battle Tapes Studio in East Nashville by engineer/mixer/producer Jeremy Ferguson (Steelism/Andrew Combs), Loaded & Rollin’ harkens back to classic rock and outlaw country albums of the 1970s. The production captures the band’s raw energy in-studio and aims to give the listener a taste of Flying Buffaloes’ captivating live performance. Catch their live show on the road in 2019.

 

 

Website:  https://www.flyingbuffaloes.com/

 

 

 

Sunny War – With The Sun

 

Hometown:   Los Angeles

Album:  “With The Sun” was released in 2018 on Henhouse Records.

 

Review Snippet:   Released on the heels of her critically acclaimed 2018 album, With the Sun, Sunny War’s new album finds her a little bit older, a little bit more mature, but looking back on the rocky roads of her past with a surprising amount of nostalgia. Shell of a Girl, coming August 23, 2019 on Hen House Studios with vinyl released by Org Music, was written in a burst of creativity in Los Angeles, and marks a new transition period, with Sunny moving from the Venice Beach boardwalk, where she first made her name, to the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Holed up in a studio apartment in an old halfway house that’s rumored to be haunted, Sunny muses “I think I’ve heard ghosts, but I’ve always heard ghosts everywhere.” These ghosts are reflected in the songs on the new album, either through the ghosts of friends who’ve passed away, from overdose or accident, or in the ghosts of who she used to be. “I feel like I’ve tricked myself into trying to be a part of the system that I swore I’d never participate in,” she says. “Now I’m worried about moving from a studio to a one-bedroom. It bums me out when the thing I’m happy about is paying the light bill. I’m never happy about something that’s real anymore.”

 

 

Website:  http://www.sunnywar.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Nicholas Edward Williams – Happy Life

 

Hometown:    Live Oak, FL

Album:  From his June 2019 release “As I Go Rambling Around”  on EarthTone Records.

 

Review Snippet:   With a fresh thirst for learning fingerpicking techniques, Williams dove in depth to school himself in the history of American music, from Appalachian folk, country blues, Piedmont Blues, and deep rooted Mississippi Delta blues from the likes of Doc Watson, Mississippi John Hurt and Elizabeth Cotten. His affinity for songwriting also grew and matured from an unfeigned love for storytellers like John Prine, Paul Simon and Jim Croce.

 

Website:  http://nicholasedwardwilliams.com/

 

 

Curse of Lono – Welcome Home

 

Hometown:    London

Album:  Getting a re-release this album came out in 2018 on Submarine Cat Records

 

Review Snippet:   That same gritty realism that’s a major aspect of Curse of Lono‘s sound still permeates the new album. I’d Start A War For You has a deep rumble with an irascible edge and a soft vocal chorus like a hushed siren. A combination of 70’s rock and low desert that can be bewildering and enthralling at the same time; and the bittersweet Blackout Fever relishes a similar combination. The title track, As I Fell, somehow combines that big, cinematic sound with something light and intangible that, in time, bears fruit as rich brass sings softly in the background.

 

Website:  https://curseoflonoband.com/

 

 

Madison Cunningham L.A. (Looking Around)

 

Hometown:    Orange County, California

Album:  From the album “Who Are You Now” released in July on Verve/Forecast.

 

Review Snippet:    A musician has “transcended” their age. Perhaps there is truth to this line of thinking – as a writer, I think about what John Keats achieved with his brief 25 years on Earth, and I am loath to look at what little I’ve achieved with only a few years more to my name. But in truth, sometimes there are talents who are both young and great, and no reconciliation between age and skill is required. Such is the case with Madison Cunningham, a 22-year-old songwriter from Orange County, California, who with her debut album Who Are You Now sounds both very much of her time, and like she’s been writing songs for the past 70 years.

I first encountered Cunningham’s music when I saw her open for Punch Brothers last year. Standing alone on stage, wearing a stylish striped suit, Cunningham filled the echoey space of Austin’s Bass Concert Hall with nimble guitar playing and insightful reflections on modern life. Her voice brings Feist to mind. Although she’s comfortably in the singer-songwriter milieu, she knows how to impress with the guitar, alternating between groovy riffs and quick fingerpicking. With a short set and no accompaniment, Cunningham showed fine musical skill and foreshadowed what has now become Who Are You Now, an album which finds Cunningham collaborating with several players to bolster her obvious chops as a solo performer.

 

 

Website:  http://www.madisoncunningham.com/

 

 

Trae Sheehan – Arizona Girl

 

Hometown:    West Virginia

Album:  Self-released debut came out August 9 entitled “Arizona”.

 

Review Snippet:     Combine Jackson Browne’s voice with John Denver’s guitar playing and Eagles songwriting  and that’s it.” He says of his own sound, “At least that’s the objective”.

 

Website:  https://www.traesheehan.com/

 

 

The Ghost of Paul Revere – As We Know

 

Hometown:    Portland, Maine

Album:  From the EP Field Notes Part 2 self-released on August 2.

 

Review Snippet:

 

Next Time in LA:  November 7 at the Echo.

 

Website:  https://www.ghostofpaulrevere.com/

 

 

Amy LaVere – You’re Not In Memphis

 

Hometown:    Memphis

Album:  From the album “Painting Blue”  out August 16 on Nine Mile Records.

 

Review Snippet:    Painting Blue, produced by her husband Will Sexton, captures perfectly the moment that Amy is in. Will Sexton’s masterful production and Amy’s soft, clarinet-like vocal pour over you, pushing and pulling, stirring and calming.  As we’ve come to expect, this record is honest, revealing and sounds uniquely like no one else.

 

Website: https://amylavere.com/

 

 

 

 

Joel Ansett – Sugar Coat

 

Hometown:    Spokane, WA

Album:  From the album “A Place I Knew Before”  self-released on August 22.

 

Review Snippet:   Spokane, Washington’s Joel Ansett, who has been writing songs since he was a child, recently releaseed a new album, The Nature of Us. The 12 tracks on the album range from very familiar and Jason Mraz-like to more gently, stripped, folky/emotional numbers.

 

Website:  http://joelansett.com/

 

 

The Morning Yells – Oh My My

 

Hometown:    Los Angeles

Album:  The album “On The Lash” was released in May on Golden Boy Records.

 

Review Snippet:   The Morning Yells is a new Los Angeles-based band consisting of siblings Phil & Laura Stancil (guitar, vocals / bass, vocals), Trevor Smith (guitar, vocals), Jacob Boll (Keyboards, Guitar), and Curran McDowell (Drums, Percussion). Blending Heartland Rock, Americana, Power Pop, and Psychedelia with ease, the group has a knack for writing songs that are familiar and new at once. Their 2017 debut EP, Proper Wilted, received praise for its harmonies, song craft, and nods to classic folk. ­Comparisons to Big Star, The War on Drugs, Tom Petty, and Fleetwood Mac are common mentions at their live show.

 

Website:  https://www.themorningyells.com

 

 Luke Gard – Twenty-Five

Hometown:    Florida

Album:  The album “Old Waves” was self-released in August.

 

Review Snippet:

 

Website:  https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/LukeGard