From genre stretching to jangle, by way of Portsmouth, AUK’s Books Editor Tim Martin shared his pick of the Americana crop for 2024.
I read back over my 2023 review of the year to remind myself what I may have predicted for this year. Luckily, nothing that I can’t stand by at the end of 2024.
First prediction was that Matt Owens & The Delusional Vanity Project’s ‘Way Out West’ would be a fab album. Peter Churchill gave it 8 out of 10, and highlighted ‘Glasgow City Lights’ and the duet with Hannah White ‘5 Years Into Marriage’ as the standouts after the lead single ‘One for th
e Grapes.’ With two festivals under his belt, including the wonderful Bath Songwriters day in March as well as a co-write with Elles Bailey, Owens has made more effort than many to get “our” sort of music on the map in 2024. An intriguing post on Social Media recently suggested that he is working with Alex from Our Man In The Field on something. Two of my favourite songwriters on one record, roll on 2025…
Having started the year with a couple of slightly downbeat articles about the business of music, it was interesting to talk to the manager of Bristol Institution The Fleece about how hard it has been to attract good Americana acts to the area. And there have been some notable tours that have not come within easy reach of Bristol. I ended up in Portsmouth to see The Delines and Our Man In The Field. I love both of them, so I made the trip. But it was an exception as I’m really not up for getting home at stupid o’clock anymore. Tours also seem to be getting shorter. As we said in January the future of live music is in our hands and one of the most important things we can do is buy tickets early so that promoters and artists have the faith in the audience to book more shows. The quick sell out of the Felice Brothers at Strange Brew here recently saw a matinee show added, as it was a Saturday. The demand is there on that occasion, but the vicious circle of lack of confidence on all sides still needs to be broken.
It’s been a year of stretching the Americana definition. Ghostwriter’s ‘Tremulant’ which strongly featured AUK favourite Michael Weston-King was one of the most fascinating releases. The excellent Brown Horse and Frontier Ruckus both produced albums that added unexpected instruments into familiar settings.
I rediscovered the Paisley Underground this year, through Steve Wynn’s book ‘I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True’ and album, ‘Make It Right’ as well as seeing him promote both at Bristol’s new Americana venue of choice The Hen & Chicken. That led me via a post from our own Paul Kerr to the excellent expanded edition of Dream Syndicate’s ‘The Days Of Wine And Roses.’ That along with reissues from Rain Parade meant I have been in full jangle mode for the last few months. Guy Lincoln’s entry from 2021 in our Essentials series : The top 10 ‘Paisley Underground’ albums looks set to guide me towards some new choices in the near future.
And that’s a reminder that AUK is a great resource for finding new music and ways to part yourself from a bit more cash. Search for an artist you want to investigate and one of our learned team will probably have written about them.
What about 2025? A quarter of the way through the century. The Delines new single ‘Left Hook Like Frazier’ is well up to expectations, and their album ‘Mr. Luck And Ms. Doom’ is already hotly anticipated (At least by me) and on pre order. They teased another new song, ‘Maureen’s Gone Missing’ on the last tour and will doubtless feature it when they play in April. At least they are coming to Bristol, not an ideal venue, but they are here. With support from Peter Bruntnell, it will be a great night. If you’re reading Peter, can I put in a request for ‘By the Time My Head Gets To Phoenix’?
It’s a privilege to write for Americana UK. This is a particularly friendly corner of the music world to occupy, with artists and their support teams who appreciate the work we do and appreciate the music and its community as much as we do. In the end we are just fans who get to share our love for it, what else could you ask for?
Did I mention The Delines have a new album due out? They also have a properly great Christmas song, and as my AUK highlight of the year was interviewing and meeting Willy Vlautin lets give it a spin…
In case you’re wondering why I asked…
Still my favourite Dream Syndicate song, even after 40 years…
