Another reminder about this one everyone! At AUK we are firm believers in supporting new talent, especially in the current difficult environment. We are therefore putting our money where our mouth is by introducing ‘The Twang Factor’, a showcase for new, unknown and emerging artists. Each week we will feature a different new artist and publish a clip of them performing, along with some information about them. This is your chance to perform to a large, and hopefully appreciative audience. So what are you waiting for? Continue reading “Introducing ‘The Twang Factor’ – AUK’s showcase for new artists”
Welcome to our weekly feature in which AUK writers in turn make their selections for the ‘top 10 americana albums ever’. When all have contributed we will then draw up a shortlist and ask them to vote to decide the overall AUK writers top 10. This week Netherlands based writer Ljubinko Zivkovic takes up the baton and guides us down the back straight with a scintillating run of albums, a number of which are definite podium contenders when this particular race is finally run. 
When we think of legendary Texas band, The Flatlanders, we tend to regard them as the band that launched the careers of Texas music icons Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The third member of the band, Butch Hancock sometimes gets overlooked by comparison. Given that Hancock wrote four of the songs on the Flatlanders fabled ‘One More Road’ album, whereas Gilmore wrote three and a further co-write and Ely wrote none, it’s fair to say that Hancock’s part in that celebrated band has sometimes been understated. After the initial demise of The Flatlanders, Hancock continued to write songs throughout the 1970s which were used by both Jerry Jeff Walker and Joe Ely. In fact, Hancock contributed eleven songs to Ely’s first three albums. Nevertheless, it was Hancock’s own debut LP ‘West Texas Waltzes & Dust-Blown Tractor Tunes’ that singled him out as a truly original and innovative artist. 
With his 2018 debut album ‘Dying Star’, Ruston Kelly announced himself as a serious talent. AUK’s Jim Finnie described that release as “A really solid debut album by an artist destined for greater things”. The record was largely built around Kelly’s own personal struggles with drug addiction, alcoholism, and his mental health. His new album ‘Shape & Destroy’ can be viewed as much as a companion piece, as it is follow-up. The themes are similar but where ‘Dying Star’ documented Kelly’s problems, on ‘Shape & Destroy’ he navigates his way through them. It is a journey which has been transformative, although Kelly acknowledges that, although he is now on the right path, there have been some trips along the way and that he has not yet completed the journey. 
When Patterson Hood of The Drive-By Truckers describes you as “long one of my favourite songwriters, one of the absolute best of our generation” people are going to sit up and take notice and so it is that this album has already attracted a great deal of interest, even prior to its release. Hood produced the album and the Truckers provide the backing to Joseph’s songs further adding to the anticipation. So, who is Jerry Joseph, and does the album live up to expectations? 
The concerns raised for the future of small venues has, for music lovers, been one of the most depressing aspects of the whole Covid-19 situation. Now one small venue in Manchester is fighting back and has been running a series of physically distanced, outdoor gigs in their beer garden. The Rose and Monkey Hotel is located in Manchester’s cultural Northern Quarter and I went along to talk with owner Chris Slater and Jezebel Music Presents promoter Mike Nuttall. 
