the UK home for americana music
Upstate New York is where the beautifully tuneful The Sea The Sea keep their stash of exquisite harmonies, one of which we have managed to prise from their hoard to share with you today. ‘Parachute‘ is the first single from the upcoming eponymous album which will emerge with blinking eyes into the world on August 7th (although, with the current situation it may be pushed back a little). Continue reading “The Sea The Sea “Parachute” – Listen”
Many years ago in the life of this website, the year after it started in fact, one of the first albums we ever got sent was called ‘The King Will Build a Disco‘ by The Broken Family Band, and I was immediately taken with them. They were just so damn clever, and funny, and warm, and inviting. Their music style was described as all kinds of things – indie-rock apparently being their preferred choice although it did have very alt-country leanings at times. I’ve stuck through frontman Steven Adams’ career ever since, its most recent iteration being in the form of “and the French Drops” but if you put a gun to my head and asked me for my favourite song by this beautiful little band I’d go back to 2004 for this track from their relatively understated EP ‘Jesus Songs’. The Broken Family Band has been deceased for over a decade now, but this will always have a place on my very long list of desert island discs.
The last time we heard from Nicholas Mudd it was on last year’s ‘Sailing Song‘. There’s another form of transport this time – a traditional country steam powered Iron Horse, pulling the ‘Heartache Express‘ and heading straight for Mr Mudd. It’s unstoppable and laden down with ‘words I don’t want to hear‘. Continue reading “Nicholas Mudd “Heartache Express” – Listen”
She started a joke… in 2015 Shab Ferdowsi thought it’d be funny to knock some songs together so that she could busk in Ireland. Galway didn’t turn out to be the financial promised land, but things went well enough to go as far as pulling a band together when she returned to LA. Continue reading “Blushh “What Am I Doing With My Life” – Listen”
On ‘Ladder to the Sun‘ Zaac Pick addresses the drifting away of friendships as people grow up and find that those guys that used to be such fun are actually not as interesting as was once the case. Development. Growth. That kind of thing. It’s also thinking about the negativity that those words can be linked to. Continue reading “Zaac Pick “Ladder to the Sun” – Listen”
‘Remember‘ is as soothing a balm of a song as you’re likely to hear in many days, and comes from the half-Swedish half-Greek singer Plasi. It’s taken from his new EP ‘Where I Belong‘ which will be released on the 29th of this month. Continue reading “Plasi “Remember” – Listen”
‘Anywhere Else‘ has Siv Jakobsen analysing her anxieties – not the little ones that can nag every few minutes or so through a day but the really big ones that can be overwhelming enough to restrict a life. Like having to walk everywhere even though you can drive because “I’m scared of dying, scared of breaking, scared of killing someone else along my way.” Continue reading “Siv Jakobsen “Anywhere Else” – Listen”
Chris Comper looks every inch the mountain man, making his stage moniker of Prinz Grizzley quite appropriate. True, in his case the mountains are those majestic Austrian peaks, but even so there’s no doubting his Americana heart. Continue reading “Prinz Grizzley “Drifting” – Listen”
Ferris & Sylvester won the ‘Emerging Artist Award’ at the Americana Music Association UK’s Awards this year which should have set them up for a busy 12 months of touring, and then – well, we all know what happened next. The duo haven’t been wasting their time in lockdown – there’s been a flurry or song writing including today’s new song. Continue reading “Ferris & Sylvester “Everyone Is Home” – Listen”
The Delevantes have been around for over three decades now, the band consisting of brothers Bob and Mike Delevante from Nashville, Tennesse. Way back in the late-nineties when my americana genes were still not quite fully developed I discovered their debut album ‘Long About That Time’ in the Virgin megastore in Liverpool which is now empty and just contains the ghosts of hip staff raising their eyebrows when you turned up to the counter with something like this. It was released on Rounder and got some airplay on CMT – I just fell in love with the record, with its harmonies and jangling guitars. They were a thing too – here’s some archive footage of them playing with Steve Earle at the Mean Fiddler in 97 (no sound sorry, but Steve looks happy enough). The good news is they’re now back after a decade long hiatus, although it may be some time before they reach our shores again.