Ron Gallo started off dismissing it all (2017’s Heavy Meta), then he began to question it all (2018’s Stardust Birthday Party), now he seems to understand that the more you know the less you understand, and from there it’s about how content you are with such a bombshell. This year’s Peacemeal is Ron Gallo beginning… Continue reading Ron Gallo – Peacemeal
Tag: Tennessee
These Are the Times for Molly Parden
Since moving to Nashville in 2013, Jonesboro, Georgia native Molly Parden has gradually established herself as a rising force with which to be reckoned. As a guitarist, bassist and singer, she’s done time in the backing bands of Austin’s David Ramirez, Southern California’s Sam Outlaw and Atlanta’s Faye Webster, and she’s contributed harmony vocals to… Continue reading These Are the Times for Molly Parden
Lera Lynn Does It Herself for Next LP
Onetime Georgian Lera Lynn has announced an Oct. 23 release date for her latest album, On My Own. As the title not-so-subtly suggests, Ms. Lynn – who’s currently counting down to the birth of her first child – wrote, recorded, performed and produced everything on it, a complete 180 from the Nashvillian’s 2018 duets project,… Continue reading Lera Lynn Does It Herself for Next LP
Larkin Poe Bring New Album, Livestreaming Series
Rescheduled from May 1, roots-rock duo Larkin Poe have now set a Friday, June 12 release date for their new album, Self Made Man, via their own Tricki-Woo Records imprint. Self-produced with engineer Roger Alan Nichols at his Bell Tone Recording studio in Nashville, the album “is, in a lot of ways, the first lyrically… Continue reading Larkin Poe Bring New Album, Livestreaming Series
Charlie Daniels
Chicken in the What? Charlie Daniels, Still Sawin’ on a Fiddle and Playin’ it Hot at 83 Whether they appreciate him for his early career work as a studio musician for Bob Dylan, his defining hit that blares on classic rock airwaves, or his current role as an outspoken patriot, you can just about sell… Continue reading Charlie Daniels
Luther Dickinson Hooks Up with Weird Sisters
The North Mississippi Allstars’ Luther Dickinson flexes his creative muscles as a producer and guitarist while celebrating a broad range of roots music styles on Solstice, featuring a revolving cast of collaborators billed as Sisters of the Strawberry Moon. Guest vocalists on the album, out March 22 via New West Records, come from different genres… Continue reading Luther Dickinson Hooks Up with Weird Sisters
Brent Cobb
Red Clay Georgia Boy: Wherever the Road Takes Him, Brent Cobb’s Heart is in His Home Despite his successes, including two critically-lauded major-label albums and songs recorded by Miranda Lambert and Little Big Town, Brent Cobb gets overlooked in online and barroom discussions about the best musical acts from Georgia. His soulful Southern rock tales… Continue reading Brent Cobb
Carbonas Regroup for Gonerfest
Over a decade removed from the Carbonas’ self-titled Goner Records album, Atlanta’s finest punk rock band reforms for at least one night in Memphis (Saturday, Sept. 29) to close out the 15th edition of Gonerfest. Ever since the split to form G.G. King, Gentleman Jesse, Shocked Minds and other bands, chances to hear “Lost Cause” and “Assvogel” live became… Continue reading Carbonas Regroup for Gonerfest
Lera Lynn to Release Duets Album
Eight duets written and performed with different artists, plus a moving cover of a country classic, make up Americana songwriter Lera Lynn’s new album Plays Well With Others, out June 22. Lynn, an Athens musician turned Nashvillian, cut all nine tracks at John Paul White’s Sun Drop Sound studio in Florence, Alabama. This put her on the home turf… Continue reading Lera Lynn to Release Duets Album
Lillie Mae
Honest and True: Lillie Mae Rische Fends Off Americana Fatigue, and Then Some In some respects, Lillie Mae Rische represents bluegrass tradition. After being raised out of a motorhome as the youngest member of a family band, she kept on playing fiddle as a grown-up. As part of the Third Man roster alongside fellow country… Continue reading Lillie Mae
Bark – Year of the Dog
A revered figure on the Southern music scene since way back in the early 1980s –his former band The Windbreakers still boasts a coterie of diehard devotees – Tim Lee keeps the indie flame alight with his latest project, a stripped-down, remarkably spry collaboration with long-time spouse Susan Bauer Lee. (She also logged time in… Continue reading Bark – Year of the Dog
EmiSunshine – Ragged Dreams
Talented young people have long wowed gospel and country audiences, from teenage Hovie Lister to pre-teen Dolly Parton. Thirteen-year-old EmiSunshine follows that lead, except she seems more interested in the wages of sin and murder ballads than peppy quartet melodies or butterflies. Born Emilie Sunshine Hamilton, the East Tennessee native mimics both Ricky Skaggs’ dedication… Continue reading EmiSunshine – Ragged Dreams
Tim Lee 3
The Ties That Bind: The Tim Lee 3, On the Road and At the Track Tim and Susan Lee, as you probably have heard, are two-thirds of a band called the Tim Lee 3, which formed in the fall of 2006 when Susan woke up woke up one morning and realized Tim had been doing… Continue reading Tim Lee 3
John Paul Keith – The Man That Time Forgot
The Record That Time Forgot would be a more apt title for this, John Paul Keith’s second longplayer on Big Legal Mess, a subsidiary of Fat Possum. I was hipped to this record last May by a tweet from Atlanta ex-pat Kelly Hogan that it was streaming on the Oxford American site, which mentioned a… Continue reading John Paul Keith – The Man That Time Forgot
JEFF the Brotherhood – Hypnotic Nights
Taking the major-label leap after nearly a decade cultivating an underground following can be problematic. We aren’t in the 924 Gilman days where caving into commercialism means utter banishment anymore, of course. But JEFF the Brotherhood’s long been supported by a sector of rock ‘n’ roll that can often be elitist in its resistance to… Continue reading JEFF the Brotherhood – Hypnotic Nights
Jay Reatard
Better Than Something Let’s Talk Music, Not Tragedy “The most shocking thing to me [was] when we went to Memphis for the funeral. It was the first time that I ever saw him still. I remember other people saying the same thing. Jay, who was always the guy who was the most excited – joking,… Continue reading Jay Reatard
Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest
Has it really been eight years since her last album? Listening to The Harrow & the Harvest, Gillian Welch fans may wonder what the hell took so long. Which isn’t to say it’s bad. In fact, it may be her best offering since 2001’s Time (The Revelator). But Welch and her partner David Rawlings have… Continue reading Gillian Welch – The Harrow & the Harvest
Dave Cloud & the Gospel of Power
The Church of Late Nights and Longnecks: Dave Cloud Finds His Salvation “Better a late bloomer than an early wilter,” points out Dave Cloud, when the subject of his atypical musical career arc is brought up. Next month Cloud turns a dirty ol’ 55. While he is still overwhelmingly unknown outside of Nashville, where he’s… Continue reading Dave Cloud & the Gospel of Power
Loretta Lynn
“I’m Not Changing For Nothing” Are You Ready For Loretta Lynn? “Are you ready for me?” Loretta Lynn asks. Then, lickety-split, she supplies the answer along with a teasing laugh. “You’re not ready for me,” she says. The 76-year-old country music icon is calling from Nashville, Tennessee, her home for the past 50 years. But… Continue reading Loretta Lynn
Royal Bangs – Flux Outside
Though perhaps no other moment on the record can equal the frenetic, harried energy of the leadoff track, Flux Outside, the third LP from Knoxville’s Royal Bangs, barrels relentlessly straight through to its finish. “Grass Helmet,” the aforementioned leadoff, peaks the record early with its stuttering percussion, screeching sound effects and emphatic vocals. It’s a… Continue reading Royal Bangs – Flux Outside
The Unsatisfied – Songs the Belt Taught Us
You don’t toil in Chattanooga’s rock underground for more than two decades without learning a thing or two about preaching the rock ‘n’ roll gospel. And on their fourth album, Songs The Belt Taught Us, the Unsatisfied raise some Southern-tinged glam rock hell like never before. Regulars at such Atlanta dives as the Star Bar… Continue reading The Unsatisfied – Songs the Belt Taught Us
Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose
Bands always hate it when reviewers compare them to other bands, but what about when we contrast them with themselves? When played back-to-back alongside their self-titled debut, Screws Get Loose sounds like the work of a damn near completely other band. I’m having a hard time thinking of any other group that has demonstrated such… Continue reading Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose