Showing posts with label Song Premiere. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Song Premiere. Show all posts

Jun 8, 2017

Exclusive Song Premiere: Nathan Bell "The Long Way Down"

We've got a new song to debut today, and it's a good one.  Veteran songwriter Nathan Bell brings us his new tune "The Long Way Down" from his forthcoming LOVE>FEAR album. It's a simple and spare production with hard hitting lyrics and a memorable melody. "The Long Way Down" tells the story of a working class man's fall from grace and his fears of loneliness and destitution. It's a powerful and timely song. RIYL: Springsteen, Prine, Guthrie, Tom Russell, Dylan, Earle

More about Nathan Bell below the song player.

Here's the album details:

ALBUM: LOVE>FEAR (48 hours in traitorland)
RELEASE: June 30 via Stone Barn Records
PRE-ORDER: www.nathanbellmusic.com/store


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Nathan Bell. Photo by Guy Johnson.

“One of those increasingly rare finds: an unpretentious, unified set of literate and witty songs, impeccably performed." - Rolling Stone 

"Nathan Bell may be the Woody Guthrie we need in the age of globalization." - The Bitter Southerner 

Bell has created a song cycle that is both moving and timely." - Paste

“A gifted and thought-provoking songwriter." - No Depression

"His mellow, world-weary folk music chronicles the endless grind of all shades of the working person in America, from mine workers to middle managers." - PopMatters

“A crisp, literary quality, a tough blue-collar sensibility and a terse, muscular musicality." - Nashville Scene

"With his crisp, handcrafted playing and intimate, incisive lyrics, Bell documents an America teetering on the edge."  - Acoustic Guitar Magazine


Nathan Bell - LOVE > FEAR (48 Hours in Traitorland)

Nathan Bell is a songwriter’s songwriter—at 57, the troubadour’s weary voice bleeds experience. He made his bones sharing bills with legends like Townes Van Zandt, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal and Norman Blake. The son of a poet and professor, the Iowa-born/Chattanooga-based Bell has a keen eye for detail and an unapologetic penchant for the political, populist humanism of his literary heroes John Steinbeck, Jack London and Studs Terkel. So it’s no surprise that the 2016 presidential race—culminating the election of Donald J. Trump—was a powerful catalyst for Bell’s affecting new album Love>Fear (48 Hours in Traitorland). 

Right before we did the deed and elected an oligarch, PT Barnum-style scam artist, I started thinking it was time to collect some of thepolitical songs I’d written over the years, and combine them with some of the new ones I’d been working on," Bell says. "I’ve always been resistant to slogans and catchphrases, so Traitorland is more an album of pointed stories about people affected by the callousness of thewealthy and the power brokers. Nowadays, they’re so disconnected from the working class—they’re even more cruel than Carnegie was. Paul Ryan—I don’t know how he sleeps at night. I don’t know how a man like Steve Bannon is allowed to spend a day near whoever’s in power. My family’s half Jewish, and I look at Bannon and think, ‘Great, we’re either gonna have to run or fight again.’ So the album comes from that.”

Bell is no Johnny-come-lately at speaking truth to power. Back in the ’70s, his first gig as a teenager was a rally against the Vietnam War. “I’ve been doing this—and, trust me, it’s not the most profitable way to navigate the music industry—for a longlong time,” Bell says. “I’d take more credit for it, morally, except I don’t think I could’ve done it any other way. I never set out to be a songwriter—I wanted to be a journalist, I wanted to be Steinbeck or Hemingway. But I can’t write prose the way I can write songs. Now, Hemingway—as famous, wealthy and full of shit as he sometimes was—when he saw there was something to say about the Spanish Civil War, he said it. And he didn’t do it by getting on a soapbox and writing some heavy-handed political poem—he did it by telling stories about people.”

Turns out Bell and his literary heroes are pretty damn simpatico. On Love>Fear, his characters are portrayed with such painstaking detail and emotional depth, you wouldn’t flinch if they walked straight out of your stereo speakers, sat down on the couch and asked you for a cup of coffee. There’s a tattooed failure with nowhere to turn. A broken widower in the midst of a crisis of faith. A first-time mobile-home owner staring down a foreclosure. A beautiful woman struggling to be appreciated for her talent, intelligence and hard work. An obese veterinarian in love with a skinny, secretly transgender patent-attorney rodeo clown. The impoverished sick committing armed robbery to pay for healthcare. An active-duty soldier turned conscientious objector who opts for the stockade over the battlefield. A middled-aged man caught in the for-profit prison system, his best years slipping through his fingers. These songs are stories about real Americans—there is no black & white, no oversimplification, no us-vs.-them Left/Right posturing, just beautiful, inclusive, somehow vibrant shades of grey.

“There are people all around us who believe differently than we do,” Bell says. “Good people. And in the basics of their daily life, the political sign in their yard is no reflection on who they are to their neighbors. Over the last few years, we’ve forgotten this, and a certain level of humanity has disappeared. To me, the whole point of liberal politics is, we let people in even if they’ve made a mistake. I was out walking my dogs a few weeks ago, and I ran into one of my neighbors down the street, and she says, ‘Hey, I voted for Trump, and I'm scared shitless. Did you vote for Trump?’ Now that's a golden opportunity. I said, ‘No, I didn't vote for him. He scares the hell out of me, and he's got a Nazi working with him.’ So we stood there and talked for awhile, and I find out she's a fiscal conservative, she's a little bit socially conservative, but like a lot of people in the South, she's got six gay cousins she likes just fine. So we had a conversation, which is what we're supposed to do. Let the other side be exclusive, keep people out, and pretend everyone should be divided up into groups; at the end of the day, no matter how hard we fight, even if it means physical dissent, when the war is over, people are still people. It's how you avoid theHutus and the Tutsis warring back and forth, chopping each other up with machetes. If someone comes to you and says, 'Look, I shouldn't have voted for assholes the last 12 years. How do we put our country back together and make sure everybody's protected?' then you've got to accept that. It's hard, but you've gotta look some assholes in the eye and accept that maybe they've changed. I can't forgive a fucking Nazi, I think—until I meet some guy who was a skinhead for 25 years, and spends the rest of his life working in the AIDS ward trying to atone for it. There's always some reason for you to doubt your certainty.” 

Love > Fear captures the stark, unadorned directness of Bell’s solo acoustic performances. Many of the tracks were recorded live-in-thestudio in front of a small audience. There’s no doubling and almost no overdubs—just a man with a harp around his neck and a guitar in his weathered hands, singing and playing his heart out. At times, the sound is earthy and optimistic, a silver glimmer breaking through theclouds above an Appalachian peak; other times, it’s sparse, haunting and distant, a warning flare erupting across the dusk. But no matter the track, it’s unvarnished and immediate, the songs given room to shine in all their expertly constructed glory, shot through with the grace & grit of the finest American prose.
 
“I felt like this record was my chance to use what I’ve been doing for a long time, what I feel most comfortable doing, and that’s telling stories,” Bell says, “giving people a chance to use their knowledge of others to feel hopeful. Sure, there’s some sad shit on there, but ultimately it’s a hopeful record. My big goal in life is to make it so much better to love people that, after a while, hating people seems like a lot of work. You only need one commandment, right? If you love everybody, then all the other commandments are unnecessary. I'm not a religious man at all. As a matter of fact, I'm completely anti-religion. But if I could give everybody just one commandment, it would be, love each other."

Mar 3, 2017

Exclusive Song Premiere and Interview with Austin Lucas




FTM Exclusive

Coming to a living room near you: Austin Lucas puts intimate twist on crowd-funding forthcoming album

By Kevin Broughton

It had been about eight months since we last spoke.

“Hey, Austin! How you doing? How’s Sally?”

A reasonable question, as ubiquitous as she was on his website, his publicity photos, his tour. She curled up in his guitar case on stage, periodically getting up and moving closer to him as he sang.

“Sally died, man.”

Ugh. For a guy who’s been so up-front about his struggles with depression and anxiety, it could’ve been a crippling blow to Austin Lucas. But it hasn’t been. Such loss – on the heels of a messy label breakup that delayed the premiere of a wonderful record by a couple of years – forced him to confront his sadness and pain, and he’s emerged both hopeful and innovative.

Lacking the financial punch a guy of his stature would have from a major indie label, Lucas has come up with a twist on crowd-funding: He’ll use a “House by House” tour to finance the production of his next record, Immortal Americans, with all kinds of goodies and contribution levels available. You want value? How about $25 for an in-person house show and two records? Please visit his site here, now.  

And because he’s a fan of our site, Lucas has given us an exclusive premiere stream of the demo of “Between the Leaves.” It’s a very Austin Lucas song.


So, Austin Lucas, you had a pretty good record last year. We ranked it highly in our critics’ poll. Want to catch people up on what’s happened in your life since the release of Between the Moon and the Midwest and the tour you went on to support it?

Well, as a lot of people know I guess, Sally passed away. She was my dog who toured with me and was onstage with me when I played, so that was a big life event. I also fell in love with an amazing woman, which is wonderful, but she’s also had her share of health problems. But I can’t say that I’m sad; it’s been tough, but it’s also been one of the most rewarding periods of my life.

I’ve been able to use songwriting to describe a lot of things that were happening in my life, and have come out, luckily, feeling pretty good about myself. A lot of people know I’ve had my own share of problems, and as time has gone on, I’ve gradually become a healthier person, both physically and mentally.

Tell me what led to the idea of crowd-funding your next record with an interactive component. Seems like the listener – when geographically close enough – gets tangible value under your scenario.

I was driving a lot and having a lot of conversations with my tour manager in Europe. It was a pretty crazy tour last winter; Sally died while I was on that tour. I don’t want to get too deeply into it, but it was a very dark period in my life. Thinking about making my next record, I knew I needed to raise the funds for a real publicist and real marketing. I wanted to birth something, and give this one something my previous albums never had.

I asked myself what was it that I really enjoyed doing, and could I offer some of that to other people. And the answer is, I could come into their lives directly – I’ve always loved doing these house concerts – and give them something tangible when they go home.

It’s obvious that intimacy with your audience is something you really dig.

Yeah. [House shows have] been sort of a stop-gap to make a little extra money between gigs on tours in the past, but I love being in a room full of people who actually give a damn about me.  At club shows I do get to interact some with my audience; but with house shows there’s a limited amount of tickets and the opportunity to actually look every person in the eye. And engage with them, shake their hands and thank them for caring.

Good dog. Rest in peace.



Sort of a voluntary captive audience.

Yeah, exactly. It won’t be folks who paid a cover and walked in because they wanted to have a drink.  I suppose it’s easy for some folks to take for granted that their music is important to people and that people care. It’s never been that way with me; it’s always blown my mind that people like my music.

It’s impossible to respond to every single person who does a post about me or sends me an email, but I spend a good portion of every day trying to respond to as many as I can. Making real connections in these intimate settings with people who care is rocket fuel for a guy like me.
 
It looks like you’re going to start in Memphis March 10 then head generally toward Austin in time for SXSW. How many of these house gigs are solidly locked in? Put another way, will the venue of your March 31 in Seattle show – for example – be decided between now and then, depending on interest level from that city?

No, these venues are all pretty much locked in. If you look at that calendar – I think there are about 50 dates on there – maybe five of them are even remotely flimsy. I’ve been working on this tour since December.

And the way it’ll work is, when people donate to my crowd-funding campaign, they’ll get an e-ticket or tickets, depending on the level of the contribution. We’ll send out the address for the show via email – the only way to get the address is to buy a ticket. There will still be a limited number of tickets for certain shows available from my website. But there are a lot of perks that come with contributing. For instance if you buy a ticket, you get a recording of the show you go to, plus you get a copy of my new album once it’s finished. So, pay $25, see a show and get two records, basically.  

How will your next album, Immortal Americans be different from Moon/Midwest? And if you’re about to say this one will be “more personal,” the last one seemed pretty introspective in its own right.

All records are introspective, man. I’m the kind of songwriter who writes about human emotions, and the ones I understand best are the ones that come from inside me. I think this will be more profound than the last one, and the focus will mostly be on my guitar and my voice. Also, I’m not in production yet, so the record I’m thinking of may not end up being the record I make.

Do you have a tentative production schedule?

Right now, the plan is to be in the studio sometime in mid-May.

How many songs do you have written right now?

Man…that depends on what you consider to be “a song.” [Laughs]

Well, I’d consider “Between the Leaves” to be a song.

Yeah, that’s close to a completely finished song. Completely finished? Right now maybe 12. Best guess, when I go into the studio in May I’ll have around 15.

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Okay, Farce the Music peeps, it’s time to step up. We do two things here, and we do them well: bust on disgraceful, no-talent hacks; and promote deserving artists trying their best to bring integrity to country music. It’s an uphill fight for guys like Austin Lucas. Let’s give him a boost. Here again is the link to his funding page. And if you’re in one of these 50 or so cities, get a ticket. I can tell you that seeing him in an intimate setting will have a profound effect on you. Thanks.  



Dec 13, 2016

Song Premiere: Caroline Reese - Airshow

Today we've got a song premiere from Pennsylvania songstress Caroline Reese. Caroline grew up outside Reading, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia where the rust belt meets Amish country. Her mom ran a horse farm and her dad sold antiques, both facts which certainly inform the old-soul tendencies in her songs. She and her band, the Drifting Fifth, deal with vulnerability and trying to move on in life and love on the new album.

She and the Drifting Fifth have toured nationally and opened for Grammy nominees and winners including Chris Stapleton and Brandi Carlile. Reese has also opened up for americana stalwarts John Hiatt, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Corb Lund, and the Secret Sisters.

We're premiering "Airshow" from Reese's forthcoming album Tenderfoot, out January 6th. It's a bouncing, twangy pop-rock tune with the longings and explorations of adolescence pumping through its veins.


Reese says of the song: "The lyrics in 'Airshow' were inspired by a World War II re-enactment in my hometown every year and a Rainer Maria Rilke quote that I heard the songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard say to the audience - 'Our fears are like dragons guarding our most precious treasures.'

The narrator is probably in her late teens, and the story is about being that age in a county fair or carnival setting and looking for trouble. The music, like the narrator's night, has highs and lows. But I wanted the end of the song to feel like taking off in a rocket ship underneath that final line, 'Fears are dragons, fears are M-16's.'


Enjoy!



Sep 28, 2016

Song Premiere: The Dexateens - "Alabama Redneck"

We've got a cool song premiere today from The Dexateens, who are happily back in action these days. I think you'll see (hear) that the song is highly appropriate for a FTM premiere.  The Dexateens are a highly recommended band for fans of Lucero, Arliss Nancy, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, and Two Cow Garage. 
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Back in 2011, the group was poised for a breakthrough when singer/guitarist Elliott McPherson decided he was through with touring and the group disbanded. In the off years, bassist Matt Patton went on to become a full-time member of Drive-By Truckers, and guitarist Lee Bains left the band to launch a promising solo career on Sub Pop Records.

A major casualty of The Dexateens’ breakup was their classic lineup's unreleased Southern-garage swan song, Teenage Hallelujah, which—for the last five years—has been sitting completely finished collecting dust in storage. Until now. The recently reunited Dexateens—with the exception of Bains, whose spot has been filled by Taylor Hollingsworth (Dead Fingers, Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band)—are playing shows once again, and have also been working on a new record with Mark Nevers of Lambchop. But in honor of the brilliance that was, Teenage Hallelujah is finally being released Oct. 7 on Cornelius Chapel Records.

New single "Alabama Redneck" is a scathing garage-country critique of modern pop country music as told through frontman Elliott McPherson's acerbic wit and southern drawl.



 Social Media: Facebook - www.facebook.com/dexateens
Website - www.dexateens.org
Twitter - @dexateens
Preorder: Ituneshttp://itunes.apple.com/album/id1141188799?ls=1&app=itunes

Jun 15, 2016

Song Premiere: The Way Down Wanderers - Changing

Photo Credit: Andre Velez

We're premiering a new song today, "Changing," from The Way Down Wanderers. It's from their forthcoming self-titled album, due July 15th. 

The album was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Texas, produced by The Avett Brothers' Mike Marsh, engineered by Grammy Award winning Jerry Ordonez and mixed by multiple-Grammy winner Neil Cappellino, and also includes appearances by Michael Duchette (accordion on "Silver Days") and Old Crow Medicine Show's Critter Fuqua.

You can read more about them below the player.






The Way Down Wanderers Elicit Memories of Old-Time Troubadours

Band's self-titled album weaves tales of love, loss and hope amongst rollicking arrangements
 
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- May 3, 2016 -- In the few short years since banding together in 2013, The Way Down Wanderers have combined to create something special. The band's infectious lyrics and soulful voices reach far beyond their years, creating commanding tones and insistent harmonies, next on display on their new full-length, self-titled album on July 15, 2016.
 
Recorded at Sonic Ranch in Texas, produced by The Avett Brothers' Mike Marsh, engineered by Grammy Award winning Jerry Ordonez and mixed by multiple-Grammy winner Neil Cappellino, the album also features appearances by Michael Duchette (accordion on "Silver Days") and Old Crow Medicine Show's Critter Fuqua. The collection contains 12 vibrant songs ranging from ballads with a surprise twist -"The Way I Love You"- to driving bluegrass reels -"Dead Birds"- and folk rock stories of the road -"Blacktop Highway." The band quickly hits its stride in the rollicking blend of fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and drum, creating folky-bluegrass blends reminiscent of Nickel Creek or Old Crow Medicine Show.
 
Natives of Peoria, Illinois, Austin Thompson and Collin Krause, affectionately dubbed "baby Dylan" and "baby Neil Young," respectively by their producer, met up first, and the rest of the band - John Williams on bass and vocals, John Merikoski on drums and percussion, Travis Kowalsky on banjo - would follow. They've gathered a large and dedicated fan base, selling more than 15,000 copies of their first two EPs, with more than 200,000 live streams.
 
There's a wisdom in the songs that extends beyond the writers' youth, that fans and critics alike are noticing - the band is already a finalist in the International Song Writing Competition, 2015, for "Dead Birds" - they expertly craft tales of the joys and sorrows of love, the losses and hopes of life, and the anxious uncertainty of anticipation. It's the closeness to their fans that is a large part of what keeps them writing and making music.
 
"Somebody on the road will tell us that a song or some lyrics got them through a life situation, or helped them in some way," Merikoski said. What's really exciting and gratifying, Williams points out, is that at "lots of our shows the crowd is singing back to us.  The first time I heard it I was overwhelmed; they know our songs."
 
The Way Down Wanderers take their connection to fans a step further with roadside shows they affectionately call restSTOMPS. Traveling in an RV, they are able to stop along tour routes and play acoustic sets. They announce the mile marker, exit number and meeting time on social media and their fans are usually there waiting when the RV pulls in.
 
"For our first rest stop show, a bunch of supporters showed up; they brought their kids and danced in the parking lot; one guy even brought us produce," Thompson said.
 
The band will tour extensively to support the new album - with restSTOMPs along the way.

May 26, 2016

Song Premiere: Tommy Womack - When Country Singers Were Ugly



Namaste cover photo by Anthony Scarlati




 Here's a brand new song from Nashville singer-songwriter Tommy Womack that fits pretty well into what we do around here. "When Country Singers Were Ugly" appears on Womack's forthcoming album Namaste, due June 24th. Tommy is formerly of the band Government Cheese, and, per Conqueroo, wrote what many consider to be the best "under the radar” music autobiography, Cheese Chronicles. You can read more about Tommy in the bio/article below, and listen to the song right here.



Photo by Gregg Roth

SURVIVING TWO NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES
INFORMS REAL-LIFE MOMENTS
TOMMY WOMACK CAPTURES ON NAMASTE, RELEASING JUNE 24

Beloved singer-songwriter invokes God, Beatles and other icons
as he examines approaching “the back nine”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It’s true, every picture does tell a story. But the photo gracing the cover of Tommy Womack’s new album, Namaste, releasing June 24, 2016, silently hints at a lifetime of stories. Stories Womack is glad he’s still here to tell. 

The black-and-white image, by Anthony Scarlati, depicts Womack in profile, head bowed toward pressed-together palms. He is, unquestionably, giving thanks. Thanks to those who showed up to support him that particular night, a fundraiser to help him through recovery from a devastating 2015 car accident. Thanks to whatever powers kept him alive long enough to get clean in 2012 after years of addiction. And thanks for life itself — which he no longer takes for granted, not even for a minute. 

But there’s something else the photo conveys, too, in the suggestion of a smile and the crinkled crows’ feet almost hidden behind the frames of his glasses. As only the best singer-songwriters can, Womack has always managed to navigate us through his world with a deft balance of humor and pathos, snarky cynicism and occasionally, sweet, unabashed optimism. Like John Prine and Womack’s pal Todd Snider, he’s the rare artist who can regale us with songs such as Namaste’s “Comb-over Blues,” “Hot Flash Woman” and “When Country Singers Were Ugly” (not to mention such semi-classics as “Play That Cheap Trick, Cheap Trick Play” and the existential rant “Alpha Male & the Canine Mystery Blood”), then hit us with the anvil of “I Almost Died,” a harrowing recounting of the time in 2007 when he woke up in an ambulance after his meth- and coke-stressed heart apparently stopped.

Womack had just released his fourth solo album, There, I Said It!, which was supposed to be his music-career swan song after years of frustration, but instead elevated his profile higher. Two weeks after his collapse, he recalls, “I was on the cover of the Nashville Scene and I was the toast of the town. And nobody knew.”

It would take another five years before he felt ready to tackle his addictions, through rehab, AA and the higher power he addresses via a “fuzzy Buddhist Methodist” belief system formed from the vestiges of his preacher’s-kid upbringing in Kentucky. 

In fact, death and religion would seem to be two of Namaste’s recurring themes — except that Womack, who’s fascinated by the topic of Jesus the historical figure, not the biblical one, doesn’t exactly embrace the Christian notion of worship. In “God Part III,” he sings, “He’s Jesus with a J now, Lord, Christ The King/A best selling author with advice on everything. He never wrote a word, never started no religion/Maybe never dreamed he’d ever be in this position. My Daddy was a preacher and so am I/I believe in God but now and then I wonder why/I choose to picture Jesus in the clouds up above/I believe in Beatles. I believe in love.”

Oh yeah, Womack makes more worshipful references to the members of that band and other musical touchstones than he does traditional saviors — whether in that song’s outright declaration (and its title, which harks back to the original John Lennon tune and infamous lyric, and U2’s one-upped take), or in slyer twists of lyrical phrase such as “Plasticine porters with looking glass bolo ties” (from the Beat-poetry-styled “Nashville,” his love-hate letter to Music City). In “Darling Let Your Free Bird Fly,” he name-checks assorted icons, including Sting, Geraldo and Chevy Chase, who “were all considered cool at one time.” 

Womack himself has always been considered cool, from his days in Bowling Green, Ky.’s next-generation punk-rock band Government Cheese to the Bis-Quits, his first Nashville outing with musical brother and Daddy co-founder Will Kimbrough, who plays guitar on Namaste. Womack built further cool cred with his book, The Cheese Chronicles: The True Story of a Rock ’n’ Roll Band You’ve Never Heard Of.

Along the way, he honed his folky twang and Replacements-influenced rock edge into a sound that’s all Americana, filling seven solo albums and writing songs recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Jason Ringenberg and others, including sometime co-writer Snider. He’s also earned two “Best Song” awards in the Nashville Scene critics’ poll, and entertained the community with his Clash cover band, Tommy Gun, and an occasional event he and co-conspirator Bill Lloyd called the Alphabetical Kinks.

If the tables were ever turned and Ray Davies did a Womack tribute, he’d likely get a particular kick out of ”End of the Line.” Co-written with Rich McCully — and technically, by album producer Brad Jones, who didn’t want a credit — Womack says, “That song is about pursuit of your dream, and I’ve been pursuing mine for 31 years. It’s been like Ahab chasin’ the whale ever since — and knowing that the end of the line is comin’; I’m on the back nine, as a golfer would say.”

Yes, he looks at life differently now that he knows how quickly it could end. And that it’s going to someday, even if he manages to continue avoiding a hastened demise. That’s why the album’s benediction, “It’s a Beautiful Morning,” co-written with John Hadley, sounds so much sweeter. In it, he sings, “I once had the devil hold on to me so/I asked him to free me. He wouldn’t let go/But miracles happen, is all I can say/It’s a beautiful morning. It’s a beautiful day.” 

“It’s a song of gratitude,” Womack explains. “God likes prayers that are basically like a thank-you note, being grateful for what you’ve got. A lot of prayers I’ve offered in my years were more like obscene phone calls or ransom notes.”

As Allmusic.com’s Mark Deming once noted, “Womack writes rock ’n’ roll songs about everyday stuff — falling in love, trying to stay in love, life’s ups and downs of all shapes and sizes — with good humor, a strong dose of common sense, and the smarts to understand when this stuff is funny and when it isn't.”

That’s why his friends turned out that night at Music City Roots in Franklin, Tenn. That’s why his head is bowed in a prayerful pose of thanks. And that’s why he titled the album — completed in six days, coincidentally — with that spiritual Sanskrit greeting. 

As he sings in the closing tune, “I don’t know what’s coming this afternoon/If I think about it, it’ll get here too soon/Why worry what’s coming, it’ll come any way/It’s a beautiful morning. It’s a beautiful day.”

Jan 13, 2016

Exclusive Hellbound Glory/Excavators Song Premiere "Going Poaching" + Some Memes


Here's a new Excavators (ft. members of Hellbound Glory) song Leroy sent me to post on the site.
He also requested I post a Blake/Miranda meme with it. Not sure what he was getting at, but I'm not gonna argue, so here's the new single entitled "Going Poaching" along with a few Blake/Miranda memes (one borrowed from a Ric Flair Facebook page), so hopefully I covered the angle he was aiming for.

By the way, Hellbound Glory has a newish EP/Single
out called The Black Mass, along with The Excavators first album. 
Both are excellent!





Update: Here's one Leroy sent in.


Aug 21, 2014

Song Premiere: Sara Rachele "Strong As My Hands (Delilah)"

FTM doesn't usually post this sort of thing (and we get quite a few requests), but I really like this tune and the sounds of the record it's on. Sara Rachele (pronounced Ra-kelly) is a singer-songwriter in the vein of Lydia Loveless, Lucinda Williams, and Neko Case. There's also an atmospheric, indie quality to her approach a la Mazzy Star. You can read some quotes and her bio below and check out the premiere of her song "Strong As My Hands (Delilah)" right here. It's also available to download for free! I think you'll dig it.

Sara's forthcoming album, Diamond Street, is out September 2




“A must-have album that follows no road map but Rachele’s heart and soul.” - No Depression

"'Bristling with an incisive edge floating aside picturesque melodies courtesy of a voice that has just enough twang to rope you in for an extended visit." - Glide Magazine

“From the moment I heard Sara Rachele’s voice and words I knew I was in the presence of truth. She is a fearless artist with a desire to lyrically explore the nuances of her experiences in, around and against life.” – Melissa Ferrick

"When sound hits tape you get something back that you know is true and honest, listening to Diamond Street there is an undeniable realness and truth in these songs" – Art Decade


SARA RACHELE / DIAMOND STREET
Release Date: Sept. 2, 2014
Label: Angrygal Records

Recorded in her hometown of Atlanta, the NYC-based Sara Rachele's debut, Diamond Street, rides out slow and dark as a jet-black 1960s Chrysler New Yorker. The live-to-tape LP—produced by Kristofer Sampson (B-52s, Balkans, Coathangers)—was recorded in just two days, and captures the East Village nightlife of a young songwriter in a timeless, vibrant rock ’n’ roll statement. Diamond Street's sparkling lo-fi charms span the decades, Rachele channeling everything from classic Fleetwood Mac and Petty's Heartbreakers to Lucinda Williams and David Lynch muse Julee Cruise.

On recording with producer Sampson (who plays in New West Records band Ponderosa), Rachele says, "Kris really challenged me on this album. Even though we were working quickly, he had patience with the songs, and   he took the sound to a new place for me without it seeming disingenuous."

The daughter of a baby-boomer painter and Italian/Slovak immigrant, Rachele (pronounced ra-kelly) grew up a studio rat and folk child. Working for free cleaning out the cupboards at famed Atlanta acoustic hotspot Eddie’s Attic, she met countless musicians and writers and fell into bands as a side-player before she even knew how to write a song. While still a teenager, she became backing vocalist and keyboard player for The Love Willows, who promptly signed to Decca/Universal, writing and recording with producer Mike Daly (Whiskeytown, Lana Del Ray, Grace Potter).

Eventually, though, Rachele decided to leave behind The Love Willows' bubblegum pop sound, moved to Boston and enrolled for a time at Berklee College of Music, before dropping out to live in her newly adopted home of New York City. Inspired by its long history of seedy bohemian songwriters and poets, and by the energy of the city itself, Rachele filled up journals with her ramblings and penned ballad after ballad as she roamed the coffeehouses & nightclubs of the East Village, trading innocence for experience. Word spread quickly about her passionate delivery, her honest, unadorned lyrics and her uniquely Southern sound. Along with sidekick and fellow Atlanta expat Charlotte Kemp Muhl (with Sean Lennon, half of Ghost of the Saber Tooth Tiger), Rachele found a home—musical and otherwise—in New York.

"For such a big city, New York can be a pretty small town," Rachele says. "I saw an ex across Houston Street once—he was playing a show I think, everyone always is, you lose track. But I remember running across four lanes of traffic—just seeing him, turning, and running through the East Village. No one ever leaves you in New York. You still have to learn how to know them. It's the continuousness of it all—nothing every really ends. And the cabbies just know to get out of the way… 'cause at any moment some heartbroken woman might run out into the street."

While in New York, she befriended veteran music photographer Perry Julien, who was intrigued by Rachele and shot portraits of her at The Chelsea Hotel, that sacred place of rock lore. Her session with Julien was one of the haunt’s final photo shoots before it closed its doors to guests. Rachele's images from The Chelsea Hotel—once home to Dylan Thomas, Bob Dylan, Patti Smith & The Sex Pistols—have been featured in SXSE photomag, Creative Loafing, and art galleries up and down the East Coast. She and Julien’s collaborations were also published in Julien’s book Secrets (2013), and forthcoming Chelsea Hotel photo book Guests. Rachele is a photographer herself, her work having appeared in Pitchfork, Brooklyn Vegan, Creative Loafing and Stereogum.

In addition to producer Sampson, Rachele's new debut Diamond Street features the musical contributions of budding folk hound J. Thomas Hall (New West imprint Normaltown Records) as well as a cast of Atlanta-based heavy hitters including Lightnin’ Ray Jackson (Washed Out, Gringo Star), Spencer Pope (Ocha La Rocha), Spencer Garn (Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics) and Snowden's Chandler Rentz. Diamond Street represents the gorgeous clash of Rachele's folk-centric upbringing and her beat rock & roll adventures in New York City. With five years of stories under her belt, she has created a moody musical pulp, resounding with smoky memories of ambling city nights.

"I think the strangeness of my work is what makes people get it," Rachele says. "We all have these stories, but where I grew up, we were always throwing furniture around the house, emotionally. Like a lot of people, I got intensified in New York, so I just started writing—to keep sane."

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