Clinton Gregory’s New Disc is Grade A Bluegrass
For those of us that miss when country music actually sounded country, we can find favor with fiddle player Clinton Gregory and his new album Roots of my Raising. This twelve-song effort is sturdy, sterling and celebratory. Read more…
Lady Antebellum’s Golden is Horribly Disappointing
Golden, the third full-length from Nashville’s Lady Antebellum and the second outing since sweeping the 2011 Grammys is a sedate and safe affair that does little to challenge, less to alienate and even more to keep the band at the top of the country charts. Read more…
New York City’s Jeanne Marie Boes Dazzles
We always love having new music submissions sent to us and this week was no exception. Jeanne Marie Boes is a New York City singer-songwriter with a piano-based blues-soul sound that is equal parts brawny, bold and bristly. Her new single “The One” has a grit and grace that seems to point towards something truly special. Though she’s young and still relatively unknown, with songs this good, it does not seem like she’ll be mired in anonymity for too much longer.
Jackson Delaney Scorches on New LP
One of the best country discs to come across the RMP review desk this year is the self-titled six-track LP from Nashville’s Jackson Delaney. A committed member of the Outlaw Country movement, Delaney has a big-hearted baritone that should find favor with any fan of Josh Turner or Chris Young. Whether it’s the haunting hypnotism of “Long Black Cadillac” or the polished and radio-ready gloss of “Ugly, Lucky and Me,” the LP opens with a veritable bang. The LP’s first half concludes with the firecracker “Shotgun Wedding,” a rising and ringing humdinger with zest, zing and an indelible chorus as strong as any currently circling terrestrial radio.
On the second half of Jackson Delaney, the grizzled troubadour soars on the patriotic “Freedom (Never Goes Out Of Style),” a tried-and-true yarn that should certainly do well on larger stages. Never one to surrender to a ballad, Delaney boasts his rough-and-tumble side on the playful and jaunty “You Make Me Wanna.” The LP closes with “The Good Drugs,” another radio-ready juggernaut that hits at the heart of what makes Delaney so rewarding.
From front to back there are few if any flaws. Moreover, Delaney has an innate talent that seems almost certain to find him headlining stadiums in the not so distant future. Being that four of the six songs on Jackson Delaney were written by Eddie Montgomery and/or Troy Gentry is proof positive that Delaney is on the precipice of something truly extraordinary. Put this in stone: He’ll be sharing stages with chart-toppers in the not-so-distant future. One listen to this LP proves exactly that.
Getting to Know: The Forgotten Kingdom & Director Andrew Mudge
Easily the best film I saw at this year’s Florida Film Festival was Andrew Mudge’s debut feature The Forgotten Kingdom, a breathtakingly gorgeous yarn about a Johannesburg hoodlum who goes to his ancestral home in Lesotho to bury his father. Mudge recently spent a few minutes shedding light on the film, the process and what he’s working on next. Head to the jump for the interview. Read more…
The End of America Invokes Neil Young on New Effort
Those of us who have enough time on our hands to read 600-page musician biographies may or may not have stumbled across an absorbing if not exhaustive biography of Neil Young entitled Shakey that was released in 2003. Whether or not, The End of America named both a song and their new album after one of Canada’s favorite sons remains to be seen, but Young is at the forefront of what these Brooklyn folkies do. A concise and crisp follow up to 2010’s Steep Bay, Shakey is a fine record from a band very few are paying attention to. Read more…
Notes on the Current Cinema: April Edition
Anyone that knows me knows I much prefer indie, DIY filmmaking than the big mainstream releases, but a film is a film is a film and every now and then you might find something that makes a dent. That being written, I spent a day at the movies taking in four of the latest films at mainstream theaters. My ten cents is after the jump. Read more…
Nine Days Hits the Road, Readies New Material
Nine Days are back at it. The band that brought the early 2000s hit “Absolutely (Story of a Girl),” are hard at work on album number eight (their first in six years). The band is set to head to Nashville this summer with a scheduled fall release. Frontman John Hampson has noted that the sound will be in a roots-pop/Americana vein, a sound the band wore well on its pre-major label releases, most notably This Music.
To sample the new material the band will be “touring” on select weekends in March and April. Dates are in the jump. Read more…
Matt Nathanson Debuts New Single
For the last week I have not stopped listening to Matt Nathanson’s new single “Mission Bells.” Matt has been one of my favorites since I heard Still Waiting for Spring in college. Beneath These Fireworks is probably one of my most favorite albums of the new millennium and Some Mad Hope is somewhere in the top 100. While his last album Modern Love was a significant drop from his previous work, I still consider him to be a must-listen.
“Mission Bells” is a lot of what makes Nathanson so compelling: strong, clean vocals; simple, yet provoking lyrics; and sleek production. Though the song has a bit of a machinated vibe at times and stills seems tethered to Modern Love in some respects, the hook itself is uncanny.
I’ve never been one to shy away from a good radio hit and “Mission Bells” is no exception. Here’s hoping he comes back to Orlando.
Getting to Know: The Strange Familiar
Just a couple weeks ago I waxed rhapsodic about Ohio’s The Strange Familiar. To many the name is probably new, so I figured what better than letting the band introduce themselves. Frontwoman Kira Layden recently took a few minutes to answer some questions about the band. Head to the jump to read up. Read more…
