It’s been a while since I’ve had an album make me smile, then completely gut me, then make me smile again. Bravo, Tillers. The Tillers may owe their style to traditional Appalachian music, but unlike most of the folkies I’ve…
Company Calls is on to something big. As you can see from the lack of a bass guitar, Sleater-Kinney is clearly one of their influences. And it’s easy to find both Bikini Kill and Le Tigre-era Kathleen Hannah in there…
It took me a long time to jump on the I Can Lick Any SOB bandwagon. I though the few songs of theirs I’d heard a little crude (although “Westboro Baptist Church” holds a special place in my heart) and…
In case you haven’t been paying attention, Alive Naturalsound is a really cool record label. If you’re into fuzzy guitars and ’70s rock, they’ve got your number. Today’s entry, Hollis Brown, hails from a place that is close to my…
Usually when I talk about music, I talk about honesty and soul-baring and blah blah blah. I don’t know if Heather Luttrell is as much of a whiskey-slinging femme fatale as she portrays herself to be in her music. But…
Betse Ellis is a bad-ass motherfucker. You probably wouldn’t have guess she played fiddle from my telling you that. But you’re going to have to listen to believe it. She plays fiddle like a fury and her backing band is…
I took a trip overseas a few weeks ago. I often get CDs from various PR companies, so I figured there’d be no better time to go through my stack than being stuck on a transatlantic flight. I know I…
There’s something to be said for simplicity. After all, folk music is for folk to play — not just backwoods ramblers who have nothing better to do than learn how to fingerpick (I’m looking at you, bluegrass.) The 9 songs…