VIDEO: Freddy Jones Band — “Those Diamonds”
If you’re ready for a break from the typical sad bastard song club fare, the Freddy Jones Band has a nice spring song for you. If “Those Diamonds” made you dance in your seat a little bit and you live…
Eric Peter Schwartz AND Campfest!
You may remember Eric Peter Schwartz as the guy with the delightful love song centered around Dungeons & Dragons. I was expecting more of the same on Schwartz’s latest release, Casual Ghosts. While Schwartz offers humble, humorous ditties like “Hot…
Krom — Mama Blue
Metal Postcard Records brings us another bizarrely tasty treat from the rock’n’roll underbelly of Southeast Asia. Krom’s trance-like blues brings us the seedy underbelly of a developing city (or is that my orientalist imagination?) Either way, the song is well…
Speaker of the Dead — The Ballad of the Undercrust
God damn it. I’m in love with Gregory McKillop. But I already told you that. Speaker of the Dead was Greg’s punk rock brass band. Don’t worry, it works. The backing band gives a sense of monumental urgency to the…
Joseph Michael Wharton — Los Matando Abrazo
So I know I’m only halfway through the Spanish lessons on Duolingo, but shouldn’t the title be Los Matandos Abrazos? Anyway, Google translate tells me it means “the killing embraces.” Speculations on Spanish syntax aside, Joseph Michael Wharton’s music is…
Pearls Mahone — Echoes From the Prairie
You know what the world needs? More rockabilly. Pearls Mahone delivers with a voice that they just don’t make anymore. With a velvety Patsy Cline-like purr and a sense of reckless fun, Mahone’s an unholy alliance of demure 50s pin-up…
Caleb Sweazy — Lucky or Strong
Caleb Sweazy brings old-world charm to his Americana. His old-time crooner’s voice blends seamlessly with his twang-inflected ballads. “Soldier’s Heart,” a tale of love from WWI, is an instant winner — though considering how easily the song could be about…
Tough Old Bird — Barn Sessions
I couldn’t resist being drawn to the romance of Tough Old Bird’s new album. Recorded in a barn in Hume, NY (which is probably not named after the great Enlightenment philosopher, but I’m going to pretend it is because upstate…