This new Pines album is maybe a little bit trippier than the previous ones but certainly in the same general spirit. I like all the records, Dark So Gold probably the best. The opening track slays me; I like these guys best when they get in that gritty, dark Felice Brothers-ish groove:
Oh hey, I probably missed an earlier mention of Brandi Carlile, but she's just swell: Each song on her last album (The Firewatcher's Daughter) was recorded, like this video, in one live take. Loud mastering, though!
I probably wouldn't call Josh Ritter "Americana" overall since he goes with really different styles from album to album. But his most recent one is pretty roots-ified:
After he discovered this guy's homemade line dancing instructional video using "Getting Ready to Get Down," Ritter made it the official video for the song, ha:
Oddly, many of my favorite actors have tried their hand at music-Jeff Bridges, Kevin Costner, John Corbett, Billy Bob Thornton- and they all seem to do the kind of music I love. Latest case in point is Kiefer Sutherland . . .
Found a couple of 50¢ Yawpers CDs at my local CD emporium, if anyone wants one, let me know. Allmusic sez: If Bruce Springsteen could make bitterness and a loss of hope anthemic, he'd be writing songs like Nate Cook, the leader of Colorado trio the Yawpers. On the Yawpers' first full-length album, 2015's American Man,Cook's songs are Americana in the truest sense of the word, full of rugged individualists and widescreen backdrops, but there's a lot of cynicism and defeat in his perspective on American life, and even when his characters confidently declare they want to get away, the weariness audible in the edges of Cook's performances suggests they have a small chance of ever crossing the border into anything better. But Cookspins his tales with passion, force, and unpretentious smarts, and the band explodes like a string of firecrackers, with Cook and Jesse Parmet wailing hard on acoustic guitars that have been cranked up loud enough to send their sound into neighboring states, and drummer Noah Shomberg beating out the rhythms with a lean but unrelenting ferocity. The Yawpers have taken the elements that built rock & roll in the first place, primal blues and country, and reassembled them while hot-wiring them with a few lightning bolts' worth of electricity, and the results sound by turns epic and feral, while Cook's vocals fuse a true believer's hope with a realist's knowledge that his questions don't have simple answers. The Yawpers are one of the few bands that can sound unpretentiously intelligent while playing music that's this raucous and elemental at the same time. If the Yawpers are trying to make sense of the soul of America in the 21st century, their mind/body balance makes for some powerfully satisfying music, andAmerican Man is an impressive debut from a band that appears to have some very serious potential.
Saw a fantastic group, Humming House, in concert last weekend. Their original stuff is generally Americana and they also do some great covers. I knew very little about them upon getting to the show where they blew my expectations out of the water. Check out their Youtube channel here and this amazing cover of Billie Jean.
Crazy but I saw that video about a year or so ago and it blew me away as well. I don't recall what led me there to begin with but I had forgotten all about it. Great arrangement!!
