Category: Music News

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band releases all-star cast cover of Bob Dylan classic song

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gathers all-star cast for a timely cover of Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin. Photo: google

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band gathers an all-star cast for a timely cover of Bob Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’. In the fifty-seven years since Bob Dylan released his career-altering folksong, the times he sang of did seem to change. But now, in another period of national unrest, a President refusing to concede defeat or peacefully transfer power, and a renewed fire for justice in the long-fought battle for civil rights, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s new version of Dylan’s classic sounds more poignant and insistent than ever before. On Friday, JamBase shared NGDB’s star-studded version of Dylan’s classic and is available for “name your price” purchase on the band’s Bandcamp page with all proceeds going to Feeding America. On February 8, the song will become available on digital service providers with those proceeds also going towards Feeding America’s cause. (IVPR, 2021)

Amidst the compounding, pleading verses of Scottish ballad by way of Greenwich Village, the Dirt Band’s distinguished musical guests—Jason Isbell, Rosanne Cash, The War And Treaty, and Steve Earle, all of whom are no strangers to writing and singing their beliefs on record, each step to the microphone to contribute a verse with Isbell also adding slide guitar—carry the same tone and energy in their voices as the song’s writer did almost six decades ago; an unfortunate but earnest reaction to the all too evident parallels between now and then. “It moved me deeply then and that hasn’t changed,” NGDB founding member and lead singer Jeff Hanna notes. “The lyrics are as relevant today as they were when Dylan wrote it. Maybe even more so.”

Produced by Ray Kennedy, “The Time’s They Are A-Changin’” was collectively recorded up and down the east coast. John Leventhal recorded his wife, Rosanne Cash’s vocals in their New York City home studio and Steve Earle contributed his verse via the world-famous Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village. In Nashville, NGDB and guests joined Kennedy in his Room & Board Studio. Rounding out the already outstanding cast of characters on this track are all the current members of NGDB—Jeff Hanna (lead vocals and acoustic guitar), Jimmie Fadden (drums), Bob Carpenter (accordion), Jim Photoglo (electric bass), Jaime Hanna (electric guitar), and Ross Holmes (fiddle and mandolin)—as well as Fred Eltringham (Sheryl Crow, The Wallflowers) on additional drums and Nashville songwriting legend—and Jeff Hanna’s better half—Matraca Berg on harmonica and harmony vocals. “We’ve got great admiration for all of these folks, not only as artists, but more importantly, as people,” says Hanna.

“I’ve been a fan of Bob Dylan’s since I was a teenager, living in California. I was fortunate enough to see him sing The Times They Are A-Changin’ in concert the year the song was released: 1964.” – Jeff Hanna.

New music release: Bullseye by The Shootouts

The Shootout’s sophomore album Bullseye will be released on April 30. Photo: google

The Shootouts are known for their energetic blend of honky-tonk, Americana, and traditional country. After releasing their acclaimed 2019 debut Quick Draw, the band charted Top 50 on Americana radio and in 2020, were nominated for an Ameripolitan Music Award for “Best Honky-Tonk Group.” They have shared the stage with luminaries Marty Stuart, Jim Lauderdale, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Radney Foster, Sheryl Crow, and many more. Produced by Grammy-nominee and BR549 founder Chuck Mead, their new album Bullseye ranges from catchy pedal steel-filled numbers (“Everything I Know”) to two-step worthy tunes (“Here Come The Blues”) to never recorded fan live favorites (“Rattlesnake Whiskey” and “Saturday Night Town”). (IVPR, 2021)

On Friday April 30, The Shootouts will release their sophomore album Bullseye via Soundly Music, but Wide Open Country just premiered a video for the album’s first track, “Rattlesnake Whiskey,” a live staple and fan favorite from the band’s catalog that is finally being immortalized on record. Fans can watch the video for “Rattlesnake Whiskey” at this link, pre-order or pre-save Bullseye here, and get a glimpse of the album’s eleven other songs via The Shootouts’ album preview video.

Equal parts vintage Nashville, Texas swing, and Bakersfield bravado, the new album draws heavily from the music on which the band’s members were brought up, packaging all of country music’s classic subgenres in their modern, signature sound. Produced by former BR459 lead singer Chuck Mead, Bullseye has The Shootouts mining their roots and expanding the territory they explored with their debut album, Quick Draw. The songs invoke a wide array of country music’s most important contributors, lassoing the band’s classic influences and bringing them straight into the present. The Shootouts’ mission with Bullseye was simply to create an album that puts a smile on listeners’ faces—music that helps them escape from the difficult times they have recently faced.

“For everyone’s sake, this needed to be a fun record. We’re living through a time where people are suddenly out of work, have lost loved ones, and have been experiencing unimaginable stress on a daily basis. Even if it’s just for 30 minutes, we want them to take a break, crank it up, and enjoy themselves.” – Ryan Humbert, The Shootouts’ lead vocalist, guitarist

Bullseye Track Listing:
1. I Don’t Think About You Anymore
2. Rattlesnake Whiskey
3. Another Mother
4. Hurt Heartbroke
5. Bullseye
6. Here Come The Blues
7. Everything I Know
8. Waiting on You
9. Missing The Mark
10. I Still Care
11. Forgot to Forget
12. Saturday Night Town

Upcoming new album: The Fray by John Smith

John Smith’s The Fray will be out Friday, March 26, 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

British folksinger John Smith was born in Essex and raised on the Devon seaside. Known for his intimate songwriting, his honey-on-gravel voice, and pioneering guitar playing, he has spent the last fifteen years touring internationally and has amassed over 40 million streams on Spotify. As a session musician, he has played guitar with artists as diverse as Joan Baez, David Gray, Joe Henry, Lianne La Havas, and Tom Jones. (IVPR, 2021)

The first song released from his new album is “Eye to Eye.” It embodies a thread of hopefulness in a blanket of bad news; a thread that runs throughout his new full-length album, The Fray. Out March 26, The Fray finds Smith writing his sixth album, grounded from his usually busy touring schedule, and reeling from a cascade of even worse news in his personal life; wading through it all with a defiant positivity. Last month, Fretboard Journal premiered “Eye to Eye,” describing it as, “A gorgeous new album…beautiful, introspective and loaded with great guitar tones.” A pulsing plea for understanding which was co-written with Americana mainstay Sarah Siskind and features Grammy-nominated multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sarah Jarosz, “Eye to Eye” is a shining example of Smith’s ability to deliver a tough conversation wrapped in uplifting verse and melody. Fans can listen to “Eye to Eye” right now at this link and pre-order or pre-save The Fray ahead of its March 26.

Throughout The Fray, Smith touches on not just his own emotional turmoil experienced over the past year, but also his observance of the pain of those around him. But it is Smith’s stubborn optimism that shines through and differentiates his experiences and songs from his influences and contemporaries. His traits of holding onto hope, forgiving transgressions, and reckoning with his place in a world which does not always reciprocate are not only necessary for Smith to deal, but they are also contagious to anyone who finds themselves in similar situations, adrift in the wind. For those who echo that sentiment, from experience, Smith shares his message on The Fray; “If we don’t hold on, we’re lost.”

“It’s been a hell of a year, but I feel I’ve created my most honest work as a result—and as a necessity. A lot of these songs are about accepting that life is hard, but just holding on and trying to enjoy it anyway.”- John Smith

The Fray Track listing:
1. Friends
2. Hold On
3. Sanctuary
4. Deserving
5. The Best Of Me (feat. Bill Frisell)
6. Star-Crossed Lovers (feat Lisa Hannigan)
7. To The Shore
8. Eye To Eye (feat Sarah Jarosz)
9. Just As You Are
10. The Fray (feat. The Milk Carton Kids)
11. She’s Doing Fine
12. One Day At A Time

New music release: Nowhere Sounds Lovely by Cristina Vane

Nowhere Sounds Lovely by Cristina Vane will be out April 2. Photo: amazon

The origins of American music are prevalent with sounds and styles from all reaches of the globe, but over the last century or so, the roles have somewhat reversed themselves with blues, jazz, and mountain music being re-dispersed and re-interpreted by musicians worldwide. Cristina Vane, born in Italy to a Sicilian-American father and a Guatemalan mother, grew up between England, France, and Italy, and was fluent in four languages by the time she moved to her fathers’ native United States to attend university at 18 years old. Unlike most of her contemporaries in the music industry, Vane has a taste for pre-war American blues from the likes of Skip James, Robert Johnson, and Blind Willie Johnson. Add a splash of slow western waltzes and haunting Appalachian melodies for good measure and she has tapped in to the very well from which rock and roll sprung. (IVPR, 2021)

Vane’s debut full-length album, Nowhere Sounds Lovely, explores the depths of her new home’s musical history from her unique perspective without ever sounding like a re-hashing of old tricks. Out April 2, Nowhere Sounds Lovely flows naturally from the album-opening slow-burn blues of “Dreamboy” to the clawhammer banjo driven lament of “Will I Ever Be Satisfied.” Last week, American Songwriter premiered “Badlands,” the album’s closing track–a haunting and visceral nod to the Dakota’s rocky, windy plains–noting, “Like a young Bonnie Raitt, Vane sings from both her voice and her supple, bluesy guitar playing almost simultaneously–her sound as earthen as the South Dakota landscape…” Preview available here.

Vane’s perspective on American music is a decidedly unique one, but absolutely an authentic one; pieced together through sights, sounds, and experiences just like the pioneers of the music she so dearly loves. If Nowhere Sounds Lovely is any indication, Vane’s ability to carry the torch of her forebearers is strong and she is just getting started.

Nowhere Sounds Lovely track list:
Dreamboy
Dreaming Of Utah
The Driving Song
Heaven Bound Station
Prayer For The Blind
Satisfied Soul
Travelin Blues
What Remains
Will I Ever Be Satisfied
Wishing Bone Blues
Blueberry Hill
Badlands

New album release: There Used To Be Horses Here by Amy Speace

Amy Speaces’ new deeply personal album with The Orphan Brigade will be out April 30 but the first single is out this week. Photo: google

Looking back on a twelve-month span between her son’s first birthday and the loss of her father, award-winning singer and songwriter Amy Speace created eleven new songs directly from her depth of personal experiences, childhood memories, coming of age in New York City, and losing a parent while learning to become one, to create her new full-length album, There Used to Be Horses Here, which will be out Friday, April 30th on Proper Records/Wind Bone Records. While many of the subjects on the album are heavy, There Used to Be Horses Here is not a sad record. Instead, it is a direct reflection of a year in Speace’s life, propelled by a playwright’s eye for detail, a performer’s gift of vocal delivery, a poet’s talent for concise writing, and the extraordinary musicianship of collaborators, The Orphan Brigade. The result is a sum much greater than its parts; a calling card for fans and critics alike to ask themselves whether Speace still fits only into the folksinger box she has long been placed in, or perhaps, with this new album, she deserves to be seen in a new light.  (IVPR, 2021)

This week, Rolling Stone premiered a music video for the album’s first single and title track, “There Used to Be Horses Here,” calling it “melancholy but gorgeous,” and noting that the video’s vivid imagery of a picturesque farm and its beautiful occupants serve “as a metaphor for all that we lose to both progress and the passing of time.” Speace laments, “During the last week of my father’s life, I drove [the road on the way to her parent’s house, past a farm she had grown to love] and the farm had been sold, gutted for condos, and the horses were gone. I wrote this song very quickly after he died, the loss of both the horses, my childhood, my parents’ house, and most acutely, my father all tied to the images in this song.” SiriusXM’s The Village also debuted the single with an exclusive interview, available here. Fans can hear “There Used to Be Horses Here” and pre-order or pre-save the album.

There Used to Be Horses Here Track listing:
Down the Trail
There Used to Be Horses Here
Hallelujah Train
Father’s Day
Grief is a Lonely Land
One Year
Give Me Love
River Rise
Shotgun Hearts
Mother is a Country
Don’t Let Us Get Sick

New album release: Fall Like Rain by Justin Moses

Releasing via Mountain Fever Records, Justin Moses’ Fall Like Rain will be out Friday January 22, 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

In the world of bluegrass music, Bluegrass Music Association Award-winner Justin Moses has risen to his now prestigious status as one of the finest multi-instrumentalists in acoustic music. On January 22, Moses’s pickin’ prowess and songwriting skills will be on full display with his release of Fall Like Rain, a new self-produced full-length album on Mountain Fever Records. Featuring Moses on vocals and a slew of stringed instruments—from flat-top six-string and Weissenborn guitar to mandolin and banjo—Fall Like Rain not only sheds light on his many talents, but on the skill and perseverance it takes to piece them all together to create the final product. Fans can pre-order a signed copy of the album and pre-save or pre-order the album digitally. (IVPR, 2021) 

Moses began his musical journey at the age of six after becoming interested in the mandolin. He first started to improve his skills playing in his family’s band as a child and since then, he has toured with bands such as Blue Moon Rising, The Dan Tyminski Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Blue Highway, and The Gibson Brothers. In his two-year stint with Tyminski, he realized an early dream of playing the Grand Ole Opry for the first time and recorded the 2009 IBMA Album of the Year and Grammy-nominated album, Wheels. In 2018 and 2020, Moses was the recipient of the IBMA’s Resophonic Guitar Player of the Year award.

Moses has performed on prominent national shows such as The Late Show, Conan, The Today Show, and Grand Ole Opry LIVE. He performed alongside Hall of Famer Ricky Skaggs on the CMA Awards in 2018 and appeared with an all-star cast of artists on the PBS special Country Music: Live at the Ryman in conjunction with Ken Burns’ Country Music documentary in 2019. That same year, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored Justin by featuring him as a part of the American Currents exhibit.

Fall Like Rain Track listing: 

  1. Fall Like Rain (4:24)
  2. Taxland (3:28)
  3. Between The Lightning and The Thunder (feat. Dan Tyminski) (3:17)
  4. Walking To Lebanon (3:50)
  5. Wise & Born (2:49)
  6. My Baby’s Gone (feat. Del McCoury) (3:13)
  7. Looking For A Place (feat. Shawn Lane) (3:19)
  8. Watershed (3:00)
  9. U.F.O. (3:09)
  10. Locust Hill (2:44)

County Line Community Band’s upcoming concert

The County Line Community Band will perform a free concert on Saturday, November 21, 2020. Photo: County Line Community Band, used with permission.

The County Line Community Band will perform a free “Thanksgiving Concert” this Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 3p.m.  This concert celebrates the many gift we have had during this difficult year and selections will include “Amazing Grace,” “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” and a special tribute to veterans.  It will take place at the St Hedgwig City Park, 1346 FM 1518 St Hedwig, TX  78152 and will abide by strict “social distancing” rules.  The concert will be broadcast on short wave FM radio so attendees can listen to the music in their car while watching the band perform from the safety of their car.  Shakers Smoke Shack BBQ truck will be onsite for any attendees wishing to purchase food.  This concert is free and open to the public. (County Line Community Band, 2020)

The County Line Community Band is a versatile musical organization that uses the modern concert band repertoire and set up to entertain San Antonio and the surrounding communities.  This versatility allows the band to perform a variety of music in different genres.

Briscoe’s Sips and Sounds of the West series

Sips and Sounds of the West of the Briscoe this Friday October 16. Photo: Briscoe Western Art Museum, used with permission.

The Briscoe Western Art Museum is offering guests the opportunity to kick back and kick up their heels on the banks of the River Walk with its new Sips and Sounds of the West series. Debuting Friday, October 16 in the museum’s McNutt Sculpture Garden, Sips and Sounds of the West features live music, drinks and food under the stars and the watchful eyes of the fantastic bronze sculptures that call the garden home. (Briscoe Western Art Museum, 2020)

The first of the planned quarterly music series features Clint Tomerlin, a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, aspiring author/poet and occasionally funny man who has performed with and opened for artists including Wade Bowen, Bruce Robison and Drew Kennedy. Tomerlin’s music will fill the air as everyone enjoys a socially distanced evening featuring a cash bar with specialty cocktails and tasty treats from food truck Mi Taquito Arandas Jalisco. Doors open at 6:30p.m. with music, drinks and food until 8:30p.m.

Sips and Sounds of the West will take place in the museum’s McNutt Sculpture Garden, a lush public outdoor space featuring a beautiful courtyard surrounded by bronze sculptures that depict iconic figures of the American West. The sculpture garden offers respite during any River Walk visit, with tables, chairs and benches to rest and enjoy the view. With the lights of downtown in the background, the garden becomes magical at night, making it the perfect spot for a date night or a night out with friends.

Advanced tickets for Sips and Sounds of the West are $12 per person and include three drink tickets, as well as an admission ticket to come back and enjoy the rest of the Briscoe during regular museum hours. The event is free for museum members. Space is limited on a first-come, first-served basis to guarantee a safe, socially distanced event and members must RSVP to attend. To safely ensure proper social distances are maintained, groups are asked purchase tickets in one transaction. A minimum of two tickets must be purchased to ensure guests are seated appropriately. Groups of three to five will be seated at a larger round table. Groups of two will be seated at intimate cocktail tables. Tickets will be available at the door but will be $20 per person.

Culinaria hosts Hospitality Tour Music Festival

William Clark Green will headline the Hospitality Tour Music Festival which will benefit the Culinaria Hospitality Fund. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

On Saturday September 12, Culinaria will host an outdoor music festival at the Historic Freiheit Country Store to benefit the Culinaria Hospitality Fund in support of the New Braunfels community. The Culinaria Hospitality Fund provides aid to restaurateurs and furloughed workers. (Culinaria, 2020)

William Clark Green and Statesboro Revue, known for music that redefines rock and roll, headlines the Festival with a performance at 7p.m. Tony Taylor with his country, folk and Americana tunes, opens the day of music with Blue Water Highway, known for Americana roots-rock, at 11a.m., followed by a rock performance at 3p.m. with Austin Gilliam and Mario Flores, Latin Jazz.  Tickets are $10 for the 11a.m. and 3p.m. performances and $25 for the finale.  A small number of VIP tables are available for the entire day, $300 for a party of four, and $450 for a group of six. Tickets are available online.

Freiheit Country Store is in New Braunfels at 2157 FM 1101. The venue is limiting access to less than half of its capacity and social distancing is required as well as masks when inside or purchasing beverages outside. Between each show, staff will disinfect and sanitize the venue for the next audience.

Cash donations to the Culinaria Hospitality Fund are welcome and can be made through PayPal, Venmo, or by check payable to Culinaria, 999 East Basse Road, Suite 180-448, San Antonio, TX 78209.  Donations are tax-exempt through Culinaria. 

Culinaria is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to promoting San Antonio as a premier wine and food destination while fostering community growth and enrichment. Culinaria is a registered 501 c (3) tax-exempt organization. A volunteer board of directors who represent the community and guide the organization in its mission to champion the wine and food industries governs Culinaria.

Willie Nelson’s iconic 4th of July Picnic to air as concert film

willienelsonjuly4.jpg
Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic will air as epic hybrid concert film. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

This year, Luck Productions is bringing Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July Picnic to the people: part Picnics past, part what is to come and all in the spirit of the Picnic’s storied history. On Saturday July 4 starting at 3:30pm Central, fans will be able to enjoy interviews with characters from the Picnic’s past and see new, live performances from their favorite Luck Family artists. (Luck Productions, 2020)

Luck Productions was set to host the 47th annual event, welcoming the Picnic back to its hill country home, and while friends and family will not be crowding into Willie’s Luck, TX, ranch this summer, the man himself will be performing alongside his band from his nearby recording facility, Pedernales Studios. In addition to Willie, performers will include the likes of Sheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley, Margo Price, Steve Earle and Kurt Vile. Tickets for digital admission are $35 ahead of the event and $45 day-of-show are available online.

This July 4th, the Picnic will kick off with a Prime Cuts episode with Chef Scott Roberts of Salt Lick BBQ and special guest Ray Benson, followed by live-streamed performances from Luck’s Saloon and Chapel stages before leading into a 90-minute concert film segment. The film will feature remote performances from Picnic artists, an all-star house band curated by The Texas Gentlemen’s Beau Bedford, featuring Charlie Sexton, John Michael Schoepf, and Josh Blue, and interviews and Picnic memories stitched in throughout. Additionally, SiriusXM’s Willie’s Roadhouse will broadcast the 90 minute stream to subscribers.

Tickets to the event grant access to highly curated food and beverage delivery packages from Assembly Kitchen, Austin Food and Wine Alliance grant recipients, and Sourced Craft Cocktails. One dollar from each ticket sold will support The Luck Reunion Fund, managed by the Austin Community Foundation, directly benefiting five designated organizations. Budweiser, Michelob Ultra, and Karbach Love Street will also be matching donations. Beneficiaries for this event include All Together ATX, Six Square, Health Alliance for Austin Musicians, SIMS Foundation, and Central Texas Foodbank.

Performances will include Willie Nelson & Family , Asleep At The Wheel, Charley Crockett, Devon Gilfillian, John Doe, Johnny Bush, Kinky Friedman, Kurt Vile, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Lyle Lovett, Margo Price, Matthew Houck (Phosphorescent), The McCrary Sisters, Particle Kid, Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Robert Earl Keen, Shakey Graves, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, The Peterson Brothers, Vincent Neil Emerson and Ziggy Marley.

“Our goal with the 2020 Picnic is to bring it back to what it was—in the only way we can during these times. We were set to host this year’s event at Luck, to welcome the Picnic back to its hill country home. The Picnic is really one of a kind, it has always been scrappy. Cars on fire. Mass arrests. You name it…it happened at the Picnic.” – Ellee Fletcher Durniak, co-founder of Luck Productions