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Premiere: “Red Hot Red” by Shelly Waters
Americana singer/songwriter Shelly Waters is set to release her new, self-titled album on July 28th. Recorded in Nashville with renowned producer and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaler, the 12-song concoction is as flavorful as the jambalaya made in her home state of Louisiana; her sound derives its spice from the holy trinity of blues, country, and rock. “I want my music to represent all of those genres – because that’s what I love best – and I love blending those sounds together,” Waters affirms. “Growing up in South Louisiana I listened to a lot of swamp pop, old R&B, and rock ’n’ roll. Those tones and those iconic voices are what I’m drawn to and that’s what I feel the most comfortable singing. My music is Americana through and through.”
Waters’ new single, “Red Hot Red,” is a 90s-esque country rocker, and brings levity to an otherwise heavy and serious tracklist. “I had written with fellow songwriter Rick Glaze several times before. During one of our sessions in his writing studio in Nashville, he suggested a hook line of “I’ll turn your blue blood red,” she recalls of the song’s origins. “I asked him to tell me more about it. He said he was dating a girl a few years ago in Nashville who was brought up in a privileged and high society… sometimes referred to as a ‘blue blood.’ As things go in romance, Rick proclaimed he was going to turn her blue blood red. I caught right on to the idea and couple hours later, ‘Red Hot Red’ was done,” she continues. “It was one of the most fun writing sessions I’ve ever done. We had a great time with ‘Red Hot Red.’” We’re pretty sure you will too.
Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents “Red Hot Red” by Shelly Waters:
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Album Review: Yonder Mountain String Band – Love. Ain’t Love
Bluegrass is a relative term these days: is it newgrass, folk, hillbilly, or even country music? The answer is yes…and Yonder Mountain String Band attracts fans of all genres with their progressive grassroots sound. Ever since their debut album, Elevation, they have continued to build upon a fan base that is anchored by the jam band crowd. Their forthcoming release, Love. Ain’t Love, their first in two years, offers body-moving tracks for the faithful full of hard-strummed string instrumentals and campfire story sessions.Melodic fiddle flourishes sing to the soul in opening track, “Alison,” as the audience is led through the bending thoughts of a love-struck man with a debilitating crush. “Here I am watching you, I couldn’t change my mind if I wanted to…All I got is time, all I want is you,” sings banjo player Dave Johnston in his bass-tipping baritone voice. “Take a Chance on Me” is a breezy drift through a summer day, as the band’s harmonic vocals spin a tale of chasing love; their short, yet, sharply-executed solos keep the vibe upbeat.
Take a load off and sit for a spell to enjoy the old-school storytelling found in “Last of the Railroad Men,” where mainstream sounds meet familiar twangy lyrics with a Jim Croce folkicana feel (the guy who sang “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” for you young’uns out there). “Up For Brinkley’s” drops a welcome instrumental with some intricate back and forth jamming between the banjo, mandolin, and fiddle. Toe tappers, spinners, and partner dancers alike will find themselves lost in this high energy dance tune.
Love. Ain’t Love is a collection of tracks that expertly blends strongly-themed lyrics with high quality picking that fans have grown accustomed to expect from this iconic outfit. Yonder Mountain continues to impress listeners and show the bluegrass world why they are one of the top acts in the genre today. The band has a few solo shows booked across the country including burning up the festival circuit. Go get your grass on!
Purchase Love. Ain’t Love, set for release on June 23rd via Frog Pad Records: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/love-aint-love/id1226764936
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Album Review: Steve Earle & The Dukes – So You Wannabe An Outlaw
On Steve Earle’s new release, So You Wannabe An Outlaw, the stylized view of being an outlaw is given a much-needed return to reality. In the current country music genre, the term “outlaw” has become vernacular better lending itself to fashion sense over substance. Earle does a fine job on this album bringing the listener a view into the loneliness, self-destructive behavior, and despair that being an outlaw really brings into one’s life.Earle has been through it all over the years: divorces, addiction, running with actual outlaws, jail stints, and more, which makes the album’s messages more like sage advice being handed down from the mountaintop rather than just a collection of songs.
The title track includes a guest appearance from Willie Nelson, which punctuates the message with a definite exclamation point. Midway through the album, the point is driven home with the song, “Fixin’ to Die,” with its down and dirty rock n’ roll riffage and chant of “I’m fixin’ to die and I reckon I’m going to hell.” If that fails to describe the arc of the outlaw, perhaps there is no tangible way to describe it.
Situational reality checks continue as the duet with Miranda Lambert, “This is How It Ends,” chronicles the death of a romance with a surprisingly poppy touch. To bring the message home, Earle returns two tracks later with the classic country-tinged, “You Broke My Heart.”
While Nelson was part of the original “outlaw country” movement, Earle was a member of the rough and tumble songwriter world that included folks like Townes Van Zandt, Blaze Foley, Wrecks Bell, Lucinda Williams and, the subject of the final track, “Goodbye Michelango,” Guy Clark. Saying goodbye to Clark, a mentor, friend and outlaw in his own right, Earle rests his case like a fine southern attorney.
Earle does not shy away from embracing his influences as guests and subjects, creating a beautifully cohesive and timeless body of work. As he sings in that final song: “I’m bound to follow you someday, because you have always lead the way.”
Purchase So You Wannabe An Outlaw, out via Warner Bros Records: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/so-you-wannabe-an-outlaw-deluxe-version/id1229256866
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Video Premiere: “Momma Told Me” by Eagle Rock Gospel Singers
“Things have been pretty tough over the last few years, and this song was written at a time when I was wanting certain things to happen,” says Kim Garcia, co-vocalist for the amazing Eagle Rock Gospel Singers of the band’s new single, “Momma Told Me.” “Wanting too much, I felt unhappy, sad, depressed. Very low. My mother is the wisest, most caring, most beautiful person I could ever know. Even though it’s been several years without her in this world, I still think of her every day,” she continues. “ She was always honest and taught me that my life wasn’t going to be perfect. I’m going to mess up a lot (and I have), but I will always have my faith — even when I’m at my lowest.”
Though it is about life’s trials, in classic ERGS fashion, the song is delivered with righteous, fiery conviction, supported on a firm and foundational undercurrent of hope. The band is gearing up to release a new album, No Glory, on July 14th. Today, they unleash a video for the single, directed by Ben Guzman and filmed in a secret (backyard patio) location in the hills of Echo Park on a hot Saturday afternoon. “We got in trouble with a neighbor for being a little too loud, but all in all, I think it came out pretty great,” Garcia laughs. For the record, so do we.
Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents “Momma Told Me,” the new video from the Eagle Rock Gospel Singers:
[Click HERE to pre-order No Glory.]
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Interview: Pokey LaFarge
Each song can be a revelation; when you’re going through the motions of daily life, and a song just pops in your head, and you don’t always know where it comes from—those are manic revelations,” explains Pokey LaFarge of his creative process. LaFarge released the appropriately-titled Manic Revelations, his latest album, last month via Rounder Records. “When I’m writing and recording, I’m kind of in a state of mania,” he says of his gift and labor of love. “It’s a love and hate relationship, you can’t really turn it off, though sometimes you wish you could—but it’s hard when you’re not reaping the fruits of your labor, when you wish a song would come when you have a feeling you can’t shake and you can’t explain it.”
The St. Louis-based storyteller and purveyor of modern roots music with a vintage flair sings of love and heartache, but also confronts issues snatched from the headlines, and reflects on the current political climate and racial tension present in his midwestern hometown. “Everything you are as a person comes out in your music, everything you’re experiencing consciously and subconsciously, the feelings from those experiences, all the music you listen to, the books you’re reading, it all goes in there,” he says. “Music is the ultimate extension of life, and evolving with your craft is like evolving as a person in life. You reinvent yourself, you experiment, you take risks. Hopefully you enjoy it all. Coming into 2015 and 2016 when I was writing the record heavily, I felt there was some reinvention that needed to happen, in my life and with my music, though they are usually one and the same,” he adds. “It’s a process of tearing yourself down and building yourself back up.”
LaFarge recorded and produced the album in St. Louis with his tight-knit “band of brothers,” The Southside Collective; the group walked to the studio for work everyday, and bonded over chain-smoking, rabble-rousing, and creating art together. “The greatest art is made in the writing and arranging of a record; I brought the songs to the band for the first time in the warehouse where I was rehearsing. It was a memorable and passionate time with the guys; things got heated at times, but it was great making beautiful music together and spending time with your bros,” he says. “You take that into the studio, and you bring that vibe into it. It was definitely a group effort.”
Now, LaFarge will embark on tour to support Manic Revelations, which will bring him and his rowdy crew to dazzle what’s sure to be an eager crowd at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge on Thirsday, June 22nd. “I encourage people to listen with an open mind, to pay attention to in-between the lines of the songs, and what the true message is. If you like a non-definable American roots music experience, come see our show,” he says. “You won’t be disappointed.”
[Click HERE for tickets and show information.]
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Interview: Sarah Siskind
Sarah Siskind is on her way to Nashville from her home in the mountains of North Carolina; the phone reception is iffy through the Smokies, and the line goes silent. “Can you hear me now?” she asks. “Okay, I’ll just keep leaning this way while I talk,” she laughs, and right away, I’m struck—though we are chatting for the first time, it’s as if I’m catching up with a long lost friend. Maybe it’s our shared commonality as native North Carolinians, maybe it’s luck, but I think it’s because that’s just who she is—a warm spirit with a preternatural gift of putting those around her at ease. It’s also a gift that clearly comes across in her music.In April, the prolific songwriter released a six-song EP, Love, as Sarah Siskind & Sunliner, a trio formed with her husband, Travis Book of The Infamous Stringdusters. “I love working with him. He’s really positive and supportive, as well as an awesome musician. We are apart so much because of our schedules, so getting to play music together and travel together is a treat. We get more alone time on the road,” she says with a laugh. “One of the reasons why I formed this group is so we could spend time together playing music. We started playing together in this configuration several years ago; it’s mostly my original songs, and I sing lead. Travis sings harmony and plays bass,” she adds. “We were having so much fun with it, we decided to make an album.”
Raised by parents who were also professional musicians, Siskind fondly recalls a childhood filled with music. “My dad had thousands of vinyl records; we had a whole room dedicated to listening to music, called ‘the music room,’ with a purple naugahyde couch that was just awful in there,” she laughs. “I would lay on it for hours and he’d play me records and talk to me about it all—everything from celtic to old gospel to jazz. Music was my passion from the beginning, and my parents did whatever they needed to do to keep me in it.”
Siskind creates music for her own projects, but also enjoys writing for other artists; while her songs come from a deeply personal place, she is intrigued by how others interpret her work for themselves. “Wynonna recorded one of my songs, ‘Keep Me Alive,’ for her last album, and recently put out a video for it. It’s a song I wrote 13 or 14 years ago and put it out on one of my older records,” she explains. “It was a super personal song, about how music keeps me alive, and how without it I’d be dead. I mean, obviously, if I wasn’t born a musician, I would’ve been born something else, but you know what I mean,” she laughs. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it, but then I heard her version—it blew me away. She sang it as her own, and she’s the same kind of creative creature, and it provided her an anthem, a love song to music. That’s why I wrote it, and I never thought anyone else would sing it. It was perfect, and it made me so happy that she as able to express herself through it.”
On Friday, June 16th, Siskind will perform at the City Winery in Nashville, with her friend and fellow songwriter, Rose Cousins, who is touring in support of her latest release, the critically-acclaimed Natural Conclusion. “It will be a variety, Rose is playing with a band, and I will be doing a little of both—band and solo. We’ll probably sing with each other some at the show too,” Siskind explains. “I’m really excited, I’m such a fan of hers, as a musician and as a person.”
After her time in Nashville, Siskind will head home to Brevard, North Carolina to continue work on several exciting endeavors. “I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, working on all kinds of projects,” she continues. “I’m currently working on and writing for another solo record, and percolating about who I want to work with on that. I’m also writing for other artists’ records, writing for the television show Nashville, and I’ve got some show dates coming in the fall,” she adds. “It’s a nice and busy time.”
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[Click HERE for tickets and show information.]
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Interview: Rose Cousins
“If my guts had a landscape, it would be Prince Edward Island,” Rose Cousins says with a laugh of her seaside Canadian upbringing. “The further I get away from how I grew up, like thinking it wasn’t that interesting, I see how special it was now that I’m older and have been traveling all over,” she continues. “Compared to a lot of things, it’s pretty dreamy. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, but it was absolutely beautiful, and I’m really grateful for it.”
Cousins, who released her critically-acclaimed album, Natural Conclusion, in February, is on tour in support of it. No Conclusion follows We Have Made A Spark, which the singer/songwriter released five years ago. “I worked steadily for two years after my last record came out, and I got kind of burned out, to be honest,” she admits. “I needed to refill my tank, and that’s when I started to focus on writing more. That’s counter-intuitive because I’ve been a performing songwriter for the last decade, and you’d think I’d be wiring all the time. When I’m traveling, it’s hard to write,” she adds. “It takes so much energy to tour and to play, my tank isn’t being filled by that. I took myself off the road and put myself in positions to write.”
The stunning 12-song collection features work written on her own, as well as products of her new endeavors in the collaborative arena. “I’m realizing that most of the stuff I write comes directly from experiences I’ve had in my own like that I’m interpreting or trying to figure out. There’s a lot of my story in there; though it’s important to me, the minute details aren’t always as important for the experience of the listener,” she explains. “It might be a bit of a sad record with some hope in between.”
“It was scary at the beginning, but rewarding,” she says of her co-writing experiences. “It was fun to step out of the normal, just writing by myself, and experience the other energies in the room bought by different people, and walking away with something that wouldn’t have existed if that combination of people hadn’t been in the room at that moment. It’s terrifying though; there were years in the lead-up to wanting to collaborate with other people,” she adds. “It just takes practice.”
Since Cousins has not performed the album in the Music City yet, she considers her upcoming show at The City Winery with Sarah Siskind her “Nashville release show,” presented by WMOT Roots Radio. “I’m excited to make Nashville a regular stop. It was also a perfect collision of timing, because Sarah is about to put out a record, and we were both going to be in Nashville at the time. She’s one of my songwriting heroes, she’s incredible,” Cousins says. “There may be some surprise guests at the show,” she adds with a smile. “You’ll just have to come and find out.”
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram[Click HERE for tickets and show information.]
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Premiere: “Goodbye Brushy Mountain” by Nathan Bell
Never one to shy away from controversial topics, truth-telling troubadour Nathan Bell is back with “Goodbye Brushy Mountain,” a heart-tugging tune from his forthcoming release, the stark and stripped-down LOVE > FEAR (48 Hours in Traitorland)—out June 30th via Stone Barn Records. The album captures the naked immediacy of his live acoustic performances, while boldly confronting the harsh realities of the current political climate.
“Goodbye Brushy Mountain” is about the oldest and now defunct prison in Tennessee, told from the perspective of an inmate who had been incarcerated there for most of his life. “I either saw an interview or dreamed the interview with the guy. Doesn’t matter…fact or fiction, it’s the truth,” says Bell of the story. “This entire song is made possible by my wife, Leslie, who showed me how to frail a banjo,” he says. “Being a less than precise mimic, I created a strange fingerpicking/hammer on technique for my right hand. Once I had the riff, the lyrics came easily. It has the feel of time running out.”
“Once they’ve got you, they’ll never let you go/They get all that state money to store your soul,” he sings in his emotively grizzled voice, as he challenges us to think of the prisoner as a man, who comments on his prison home being dismantled, bar by bar. Bell holds the social justice mirror aloft with both hands and all of his might, and offers us a chance to reflect on current issues and social norms, and calls our attention to matters in desperate need of our focus.
Without further ado, Mother Church Pew proudly presents “Goodbye Brushy Mountain” by Nathan Bell:
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Album Review: Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound
Whether through personal experience or keen observation, Jason Isbell’s meteoric songwriting success is rooted in his ability to create an emotional bond between his lyrics and the listener. On his upcoming release, The Nashville Sound, Isbell proves yet again that his fingers are on the pulse of the issues that matter most–tolerance, inclusion, family, love, and heartbreak.With the monumental success of his 2015 release Something More Than Free, Isbell needed to dig deep both lyrically and musically to rise to compete with the music community’s anticipation for his new works. Topically, Isbell touches on global and personal uncertainty of both now and the future; musically, he returned to the core of his independent country twang by officially including his backing band, The 400 Unit, as the instrumental backbone of the album. Many of the songs are supported by the amazing Amanda Shires both vocally and on fiddle, and often I found those moments were what made the works complete. In recording The Nashville Sound, Isbell built a solid foundation, relying on traditions both in the Nashville musical landscape and within his prior successes. The album was recorded at the legendary RCA Studio A and features the production by Dave Cobb, who also produced Isbell’s Something More Than Free and Southeastern. As a body of work, The Nashville Sound is smoothly recorded yet somehow retains an organic feel that adds an inspired feel to Isbell’s songs.
Whether contemplative or fuming, the album is at its best when Isbell and The 400 Unit has it set at slow burn twang. Album opener “Last of My Kind” spins a tale of nostalgic loneliness set over building acoustic guitar, later met with the addition of dusty drums near the song’s end. “Chaos and Clothes” lets upbeat, almost playful guitar duel with the underlying broken-hearted message, and adds a unique dynamic to the album with Isbell’s double-tracked vocals. “Something to Love” presents a dichotomy of apprehension for the future with a twist of loving optimism. Somehow the addition of Shire’s harmonies reassure, and make us feel that everything will be alright.
The Nashville Sound diverges from its more gentle sounds on “Cumberland Gap” and “Hope the High Road,” bringing back glimpses of Isbell the rocker. The album’s true stylistic divergence shines with “Anxiety,” which has all of the musical makings of an epic banger, complete with tense acoustic and electric guitar-blended solos and aching vocals. It is in this song, while tiptoeing the line between brash rock n’ roll and roots-rock country, that Isbell showcases the diversity of the true sounds of the album namesake, Nashville.
It’s as if Isbell was told what he couldn’t do and then set out to prove that person wrong: “You can’t make country music that sounds like that,” “You shouldn’t make songs about politics,” “You shouldn’t be so blunt with your lyrics–you’re talking about feelings.” With The Nashville Sound, Isbell continues to forge his own path while crafting relevant songs to touch many lives.
Purchase The Nashville Sound, out June 16th via Southeastern Records: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-nashville-sound/id1216344634
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Interview: Kayley Hill
“One distinct memory I have is dancing around the living room to Brooks & Dunn when I was a kid, ‘Boot Scootin’ Boogie’ was my song,” laughs country roots artist Kayley Hill. Raised on a steady diet of The Dixie Chicks and Martina McBride, Hill developed a taste for country music and bluegrass acquired during her upbringing in Bristol, Tennessee. “Don’t get me wrong—I love pop music, all different kinds of music, but the sounds of bluegrass and old school country are what I resonate with,” she explains. After graduation, Hill’s classmates were headed to New York City, but she heard a different call. “I had really delved into songwriting in college, and I knew Nashville was where I needed to be,” she recalls. “It’s been such a ride already.”
“Besides my vocal training, being able to be present when I’m onstage, and being able to relate to people emotionally are by-products of my theater training,” she continues. “Every word had a place and had to be conveyed a certain way in musical theater; being very conscious of the backgrounds and the stories about the characters helps me a lot. I had to take dance classes too, and it helped me kind of ‘get into’ my body, it made me really aware of how my body moves and how I present myself to the audience,” she says. “I’m so thankful for my education, it really prepared me.”
On Thursday, June 15th, Hill will celebrate the release of her debut album, Never Knew Love, with a full band show at Nashville’s City Winery. The album’s eight tracks showcase Hill’s golden vocals—crystal clear and as smooth as warm honey—punctuated by a stellar backup band of countrified and epic proportions.
“On this album, you’ll hear inspiration from Wanda Jackson and a little rockabilly, a little Alison Krauss, some Miranda Lambert—I love her energy and authenticity,” Hill says of her stylistic influences. “Even so, it’s all my own thing, I can’t be anyone but myself. It’s a reflection of my experiences over the last couple of years,” she adds. “There’s a song on the album called ‘Corner of Yawkey’ about where I lived in Boston, by Fenway Park. ‘Goodbye Song’ is about the loss of a friendship, and how sometimes you reach a point in a relationship when it’s unhealthy and you have to cut it off. There are also story songs, like ‘Get Away,’ which isn’t about me at all, it’s very Bonnie and Clyde. It’s my Tom Petty song,” she says with a laugh.
Even a cursory listen to Never Knew Love leaves no doubt that Hill is doing what she was born to do. “Music isn’t something I could ever walk away from, even if I never was successful and no one ever heard my songs. I would still do it,” she says. “There’s nothing I love more than to be onstage and singing for people.”
[Click HERE for tickets and show information.]
Purchase Never Knew Love, set for release on June 15th: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/never-knew-love/id1244886453