Category: Tracks

El Coyote describe themselves as an “alt-country-folk, Nashville influenced Canadiana band sound” who’ve been individually playing for years but have come together for their self-titled debut record, of which they’re sharing the ace track ‘Tip Jar’ with us here at AUK this morning. They told us: “The opening bars of dobro and hi-hat set the mood for the song, which soon settles into a driving groove joined by upright bass and acoustic guitar, reminiscent of 1970s JJ Cale. Moore’s lilting vibrato sings a commiseration with anyone who tires of the daily grind and feels stuck in a holding pattern, joined in an uplifting chorus with Tompkins and Desveaux.” Oh and half their site is in French which we always like. Bien joué El Coyote!

https://soundcloud.com/user-959496940/06-tip-jar

Legendary US songwriter Steve Forbert will release his brand new album ‘The Magic Tree’ on October 26th, and will play a special show at Nell’s Jazz and Blues in London this Sunday (October 21st). ‘The Magic Tree’ is a concept album based on the Enid Blyton books of almost the same name. Actually it’s not, but there’s an idea for someone. The record is built on previously recorded acoustic demos, augmented with new backing tracks, and will be released alongside a memoir chronicling Steve’s career spanning over 40 years and 18 studio albums, making him, to all intents and purposes, a true folk legend.

British singer-songwriter Roo Panes has just released the single version of ‘Ophelia’ from his latest album ‘Quiet Man’ which was released  June 18th via CRC Records, disappointingly not a concept album about Iain Duncan Smith but instead sounding like Jeff Buckley on an MDMA comedown.  Roo’s third album which we described as “uniformly beautiful and moving”, his music has been streamed over 180 million times on Spotify – pity those who have never had a track played once.

Not, we admit straight off a new song, but it’s Paul Simon’s birthday tomorrow.  He’ll be 77.  Paul Simon has played his farewell concerts this year, but he’s still got music in him, as the recent release of the album ‘In the blue light‘ proves.  This one’s from a little while back, a monster cut from the ‘One Trick Pony‘ soundtrack.  And yes ! This is, unusually for Tracks, a video, but hey – it is Paul Simon.

Illinois folk trio The Deep Hollow are releasing their latest LP ‘Weary Traveler’ next month and they’ve shared the track ‘Real Life’ from it this morning,  a dark and brooding folk tune led by acoustic guitars and intricately-layered vocal harmonies.  The band’s Micah Walk told AUK: “This song is simply about unabashedly living life knowing who you are and pursuing what you know you are meant to do.  I’m a big fan of Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and Shovels & Rope. I think all of those artists influenced this song in some way, especially in terms of harmonies and production style.  I know our producer was trying to channel some Rolling Stones, too, which I didn’t mind at all! Personal life experience definitely inspired this song, though, as well. It isn’t always literal for me, but in this case, it is.”

‘Laws Of Motion’ is the new album from six-time BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards winner Karine Polwart’s latest project to ally music & storytelling with socio-politics. It’s the follow-up to her SAY nominated ‘Wind Resistance’ project, which alongside the much-praised album, also included a self-produced multi-award winning theatre production and a Faber & Faber published script, later selected by the Guardian as a 2017 Book Of The Year. Subject matter as disparate as Trump, WW2 & holocaust survivors are drawn together by the laws of the album’s title alongside the experiences of migrants and allegorical folk & children’s stories. Speaking about the broad focus of the album. Polwart says; “I didn’t set out to write songs on a unified theme – they’ve just landed that way. Perhaps that’s no surprise, given the times we’re in.”

Kurt Vile has just dropped a new track online, ‘One Trick Ponies’ which is taken from his new album ‘Bottle It In’ due out October 12th on Matador. It’s a tipsily swaying, big-hearted country-rock song with an uplifting and soulful chorus which sees Kurt harmonising with Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa and audio/visual artist Farmer Dave Scher. Kurt Vile will be playing a UK and European headline tour with The Violators in November, his first in nearly two years, including two consecutive nights at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 6th and 7th.

Keb’ Mo’ and Rosanne Cash, both musicians known for their activism and philanthropic work, have teamed up to release, ‘Put A Woman In Charge’: an upbeat anthem with a timely message about female empowerment and embracing women in leadership roles. Keb’ Mo’ says that the track “is about trying something else.  There have been a lot of great achievements made by men or by the masculine, but maybe, just maybe, we’ve gotten too comfortable with the imbalance of men in power and have fallen short by not listening and embracing what women have to offer when they lead. I think the song should be heard and conversations need to be had. It’s about empowering each and every one of us to contribute, and to be brave to step forward and speak up.” Although don’t let that woman have the initials TM preferably. Or MT for that matter.

Larkin Poe have a new album coming out at the start of November: entitled ‘Venom & Faith’ it cements the pair’s move into a harder, rockier sound full of glam stomp and buckets of attitude.  They haven’t abandoned their roots background entirely though.’Sometimes‘  is a case in point.  It’s a song they got from the repertoire of Bessie Jones – as the duo say of the song:  “We first heard ”Sometimes” being sung by blues legend [Jones]. Her 1960 recording of the song is powerful, raw, and – except for a few sparse hand claps – completely a cappella. We were transfixed and had to create a Larkin Poe rendition. We wove some new lyrics into the fabric of the song and we even wrote out parts for a horn section in the bridge! Bessie Jones was a Georgia girl too, so we find it especially cool to sing this song in her honor.” Larkin Poe will be undertaking a European tour at the end of November.  Eight dates.  The first is at Islington Assembly Hall on November 21st – that’s actually the only UK date.  Yeah, that’s a sad smiley face moment.