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A beautifully directed, artistic video complements this excellent new song from Sam Lee. His vocal range and characterful voice are real features of ‘Lay This Body Down’, which is taken from his third album, ‘Old Wow’, released at the end of January. Produced by Bernard Butler (Suede), these songs sound deep and lush. They often … Continue reading “Video: Sam Lee “Lay This Body Down””
It has to be admitted, Dear Reader, that this writer isn’t a great fan of the folkier end of the ouvre. However, this writer isn’t an idiot (generally speaking) and can tell a bloody great record when they hear one. Which is what we have on our hands here, with Sam Lee’s ‘Old Wow’. This … Continue reading “Sam Lee “Old Wow” (Cooking Vinyl, 2020)”
Produced by Bernard Butler and with a guest vocal from Elizabeth Fraser (no, really!), this is the spellbinding new single from folkmeister Sam Lee, out now, and taken from his forthcoming album ‘Old Wow‘, out on January 20th with a tour to follow (see dates below the video).
It seems that everything Sam Lee attempts turns out to be just a little bit magical, and both his reinvention of Folk Song and his rededication to the craft of capturing songs from their Traditional singers has worked to prove the truth of that statement. There are only a few musicians in any generation that … Continue reading “Sam Lee Announces new album and new tour – All is new”
Kathleen Grace went into creating the album ‘Tie Me To You’ with the same feeling that has inspired so many before her: heartbreak. Her devastation was so deep that Grace was barely sleeping and drowning herself in music, when she enlisted the legendary keyboardist Larry Goldings to help her create a new kind of record … Continue reading “Kathleen Grace with Larry Goldings “Tie Me To You” (Monsoon Records, 2020)”
Last year was a busy one for Eileen Rose. As well as writing two novels she recorded two albums; well, one double one really. Recording at the famous Muscle Shoals Sounds studio in Alabama spurred Rose on to not only put out an album of new songs (the ‘Eileen Rose’ part), but to add a … Continue reading “Eileen Rose “Muscle Shoals” (Holy Wreckords, 2020)”
On the face of it, you might not think Jack Kerouac has much relevance to fans of Americana. Kerouac was part of the Beat generation, a Jazz fan who was often dismissive of “Hillbilly music”; but Kerouac was a great influencer of the Hippy movement, a man whose philosophy on life had a profound effect … Continue reading “Book Review: Simon Warner & Jim Sampas “Kerouac on Record: A Literary Soundtrack” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019)”
Remember when Mary Travers told Peter and Paul, “To hell with this, I’m through with this crap. Jerry gave me a call and I’m going to go sing with the Grateful Dead“? Bonny Light Horseman surely do, and they brought that alternate reality to fruition in The Lexington for their first ever headlining gig in … Continue reading “Bonny Light Horseman + Sam Airey, The Lexington, London, 1st February 2020”
I have a few somewhat niche musical interests: the first – unsurprisingly – is that of the Americana and country genres; the second – also unsurprisingly, since it was the era I grew up in – is alternative music of the 90s; the third – actually surprisingly – is that of Canadian artists. I’m not … Continue reading “AmericanA to Z – Kathleen Edwards”
Dawn Landes is an artist that for some years now has seemed set for a breakthrough. That it hasn’t really happened for her is one of life’s mysteries. With a catalogue of fine albums to her name and a great live reputation, she has built up an enthusiastic fan base, just not in the numbers … Continue reading “Dawn Landes + Jonah Tolchin, Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds, 8th December 2019”