Sound Cloud Sunday – July 7, 2019
Sound Cloud Sunday July 7, 2019
Summertime and the living is easy. Welcome to another edition of Sound Cloud Sunday where we waste no time unearthing another treasure trove of independent music from around the globe. The sounds are fresh and yet reminiscent of our Laurel Canyon vibe that echoes and continues to influence what’s left of rock n roll, blues, Americana, country and pop music.
Grady Spencer And The Work – Abilene
Hometown: Fort Worth, TX
Album: From their album “Celebrate” self-released June 7
Review Snippet: Grady Spencer and the Work meld together the grit of the old-time blues with the blood-red soil of classic country to forge a well-worn hammer of modern music. Their high energy shows keep people thirsty, rowdy, and always ready for more. The Work, from time to time, can be found riding around in what has been deemed “Jean-Claude Van Dam”, an iconic and stately Econovan, to criss and cross all over the Southern United States. Their shows have been described as “unmissable” by more than one late night drinker…and they always know everything about everything.
Website: https://www.gradyspencer.com/
Hackensaw Boys – Let’s Take Us A Night Ride
Hometown: Shenandoah Valley, VA
Album: From the EP “Fireproof House of
Sunshine” released June 21 on Free
Dirt.
Review Snippet: With feet firmly planted in the old-time song tradition, hands soiled by the dirt of rock n’ roll and eyes fixed steadily on the future of real country music, the Hackensaw Boys are among the most exciting groups charting new territory in today’s diverse Americana music scene.
Website: http://hackensawboys.com/
Freedom Fry – Rio Grande
Hometown: Los Angeles
Album: From their self released album “Classic”
out June 1.
Review Snippet: The duo, now three years married, have been creating indie pop-folk tracks together under the moniker Freedom Fry since they first met in 2011. Nearly five years after those early days spent bonding while recording in Driscoll’s cramped New York studio apartment, the band has transformed this love into a full-fledged career. Their upbeat melodies, danceable rhythms, and reassuring lyrics have earned them licensed spots on TV shows including Judd Apatow’s ‘Love’, and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, as well as landed them in high profile ads from brands such as Madewell and Lanvin.
Website: https://www.freedomfrymusic.com/
Griffin House – Rising Star
Hometown: Springfield, OH
Album: From the album “Rising Star” out
June 28 on Evening Records.
Review Snippet: lo-fi cosmic country/western break-up album about heart break, technology, ancient Egypt and new beginnings. “Obsolete” wears its traditional American music influences on it’s sleeve with nods to Buck Owens, The Grateful Dead, Neil Young and many others…
Website: https://griffinhousemusic.com
Ellen Jewell – Crawl
Hometown: Boise, ID
Album: From the album “Gypsy” out August
16 on Signature Sounds.
Review Snippet:
Next Time in LA: August 8 at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica.
Website: http://www.eilenjewell.com/
Earl’s of Tuesday – South Carolina Rain
Hometown: California
Album: From their self-released album “Backroads” out
on June 15.
Review Snippet:
Website: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/earlsoftuesday2
The Small Glories – Oh My Love
Hometown: Winnipeg
Album: From their album “Assiniboine and
the Red” out June 28 on Red House Records.
Review Snippet: With a stage banter striking a unique balance between slapstick and sermon, these veteran singer-songwriters have a way of making time disappear, rooms shrink, and audiences feel as they are right there on the stage with the band — writing the songs, living the songs, performing the songs. It’s not uncommon for listeners to find themselves laughing, dancing, crying, or caught up in a good ol’ fashioned sing-along. “We’re folk singers, we try to write stuff that people can relate to,” says the multi-instrumentalist Edwards, whose looming stage presence and penetrating eyes find him the yin to Luft’s petite, snort-laughing yang. The material of a Small Glories concert is welcoming in terms of subject, folk-pop melody and instrumentation — songs of love, loss, and environment, delivered with soaring, interwoven vocals on various combinations of stomping clawhammer banjo, guitar and harmonica. However, a Small Glories performance is really about what happens in-between the songs. “The feedback we get from a lot of audiences is that it’s not just about the music for them,” Luft says. “It’s the whole package.”
Website: https://thesmallglories.com/
Leif Vollebeck – Hot Tears
Hometown: Montreal,
Album: His new album “New Ways” will be
out November 1 on Secret City Records.
Review Snippet:
Next Time In LA: September 11 in the Morrocan Lounge.
Website: https://www.leifvollebekk.com/
The Hollering Pines – Out Of Dodge
Hometown: Salt Lake City, UT
Album: From the self-released album “Moments
In Between” (out June 7)
Review
Snippet: Moments
In Between, the third release by The Hollering Pines, conjures a new sonic
weather for the Salt Lake Americana band. With its layered atmospheres,
uncommon rhythmic textures, and carefully crafted songs, Moments In Between
expands upon the band’s previous work, drawing a line from the windswept
soundscapes of
Daniel Lanois to the openhearted, sometimes melancholy,
melodicism of Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen.
Website: http://www.theholleringpines.com/
John Vincent III – City Rain
Hometown: Maybe LA?
Album: From his second album “Songs From
The Valley” released June 16
Review Snippet:
Website: https://www.johnvincentiii.com/
Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis – Heartache to Houston
Hometown: Austin, TX
Album: Their fourth collaboration “A
Beautiful Lie” was released June 21 on Motel Time Records.
Review Snippet: He Thankfully, there are friskier tunes to offset the lost/fading love slower tracks. The story song of an offer that led to criminal charges in “Can’t Tell Nobody Nothin’” provides some comic relief. Robison takes the lead on “Astrodome,” a poignant tale of an elderly person reflecting while sitting in the titular venue, wondering what had happened with their life as he sings, “And how I just woke up here/ and the world had just moved along.”
The easygoing camaraderie is not just with the lead singers but extends to their band as well. It makes this music glow with low-key warmth. Nothing is overthought or embellished with excessive production and the headlining couple likewise stays on low-boil throughout. That works to the album’s advantage, proving once again that less is often more, especially in Americana.
Website: https://www.kellywillis.com/
Ghost Hounds – Til Its Gone
Hometown: Pittsburgh via Brooklyn
Album: Single released June 28 on Maple
House Records/ CEN
Review Snippet: Texas based Guitarist/Producer/Songwriter David Grissom along with songwriter Kevin Bowe (Buddy Guy, Jonny Lang, Kenny Wayne Shepherd) team up with Thomas Tull on the Ghost Hounds songwriting and studio production to help get the project into high gear. Grissom brings a wealth of Texas music to the studio gathered from his years of performing with Joe Ely, Storyville and The Dixie Chicks. Legendary engineer/producer Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Kiss) adds his magic touch to the recordings. Special guest Reese Wynans (Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble & The Joe Bonamassa Band) joins the band adding piano and Hammond B3 to the mix along with drummer Kenny Aronoff whose signature drum sounds highlight the performances.
Website: https://ghosthounds.com/
Planes on Paper – Hermit Song
Hometown: Yakima, WA
Album: From the album “Edge Markings”
released June 1 on Rainwater Records.
Review Snippet:
This is not a folk album for the gee-golly gee-whiz crowd. This is not a hipster-PBR-flannel shirt kind of folk music just because it’s trendy. This is deep and transcendent folk music for people who really want to reflect on our political, cultural, and historical moment.” – Greg Jones, editor, Ear To The Ground
Website: https://www.planesonpaper.com/
Landon Austin – I’m So Tired (featuring Blakely Raine)
Hometown: Dallas
Album: From the EP “Friends and Covers”
self-released June 28.
Review Snippet: Landon Austin’s Youtube channel allows his fans as well as new viewers to not only see how talented he is musically, but his vlogs provide a very special personal insight into his life and who he is, creating a relationship between him and those who follow his career. He regularly tweets and replies to his loyal twitter following of 35,795 fans providing this open connection that anyone can be part of. Fans don’t feel distant but rather that they are part of his journey.
Nate Currin – Ramblin Man
Hometown: Gainesville, Georgia
Album: From the album “Ashes And Earth”
released April on Archaic Cannon Records.
Review Snippet: Currin’s vocals are soulful with a mixture of sorrow and anger permeating the tracks
Website: https://www.natecurrin.com/
David Baines – I Lived A Life (featuring Dion Light)
Hometown: Southhampton, UK
Album: From the self-released album “Carelessly
Unarmed” out on June 1.
Review Snippet: David Baines is a singer-songwriter from Southampton, UK. David not only takes inspiration from country and folk pioneers such as ‘Bob Dylan’, ‘Johnny Cash’ and ‘Woody Guthrie’, but also incorporates elements of modern bluegrass and Americana. His warm tone, soulful voice, and atmospheric melodies have often been likened to groups such as ‘Mandolin Orange’, ‘Elephant Revival’ and ‘Mumford and Sons’. David lived a nomadic youth, frequently travelling and experiencing new places, cultures and people. Much of these experiences and encounters were the creative foundation and inspiration to his debut album ‘Carelessly Unnamed’.
Website: https://www.davidbainesmusic.com/
