Martin Johnson

Interview: Thea Gilmore on how a few beats helped release the real Thea Gilmore

October 10, 2023 Martin Johnson 8

Afterlight represented the start of a regeneration. Thea Gilmore is 20 albums and 25 years into her career which on the face of it is not the most obvious point to release her eponymous album, particularly […]

Interview: Charley Crockett on playing to the ghosts of The Ryman

October 3, 2023 Martin Johnson 0

The debt owed to James “Slim” Hand and the juke joints and honky tonks of Texas. He may have been playing music since he was seventeen years old, but it has taken until he is nearly […]

For the Sake of the Song: Grateful Dead “Ripple”

October 2, 2023 Martin Johnson 0

It is sometimes wrongly assumed that the Grateful Dead’s studio records were mere templates for the live versions of the songs, and while this is certainly true for certain songs, this doesn’t mean they couldn’t capture […]

The Steel Woods “On Your Time”

September 27, 2023 Martin Johnson 0

Jason Cope has gone and Wes Bayliss has created a musical monument. The lines between southern rock and country have been blurred since the Allmans’ ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and Hank William Jr.’s ‘Hank William Jr. & […]

Interview: Cruz Contreras on cosmic country and Idaho

September 26, 2023 Martin Johnson 0

Mixing lo-fi with classic sounds and a Steinway piano to create a unique sound. After 25 years playing music, latterly with his band the Black Lillies, Cruz Contreras has finally got around to releasing his first […]