Category: new releases

Creed Fisher announces new album Whiskey and the Dog

Creed Fisher’s Whisky and the Dog is due out October 22, 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

With over 22 million combined streams on Spotify and over 17 million views on YouTube with past releases, “Life of A Workin’ Man,” “The Way That I Am,” and “This Place Called USA,” Texas born and bred southern rock artist Creed Fisher is gearing up for the release of a new album, Whiskey and the Dog, on October 22, 2021. (Creed Fisher, 2021)

Released through Dirt Rock Empire and distributed by CMDSHFT, the 14-track album reflects Fisher’s hardships, outlaw living, and blue-collar lifestyle and represents a community of hard-working men and women. Produced by Bart Rose, Josh Rodgers, and Fisher, Whiskey and the Dog is now available for pre-save on all streaming services here.

With eleven songs written entirely by himself and three others co-written with Mark Jones, Whiskey and The Dog is different than anything Fisher has done to date and stays true to who he is. Unapologetic, patriotic, and passionate, the album remains true to Creed Fisher’s unwavering form, speaking to and for his fans. His songwriting harkens back to the roots of genuine outlaw country music, taking listeners back to a place and time when the fine art of storytelling flowed effortlessly.

Fisher’s second single off the album, “High on the Bottle,” is out now along with the official music video. The single is available on all streaming services here. With the strum of a guitar and his unfiltered, seasoned vocals, the track gives fans a listen into the album’s southern rock, honky-tonk country tone.

“High on the Bottle” is personal to Fisher as it stands as a real-life example of his past self-choosing between his music dream and the woman he loved. Fisher explains, “It’s a tough one to understand if you haven’t lived it. There’s a personal side that isn’t so glamorous in this business that other musicians can agree to. It’s the rigors of being on the road. Always having to be here and there makes for the biggest challenge, often times-let downs. Overall, music is what I love and what I will continue to do as I watch those white lines on the highways continue to zip right past the window as life passes us all.”

Currently, Creed Fisher is on tour with his most recent album release, How Country Music Sounded Before It All Went to Shit, Vol. 1, and is experiencing success at Texas radio. With his last three albums debuting in the Top 5 on iTunes, Fisher hopes his new album Whiskey and the Dog will continue to help him defy the odds.

Like a steely-eyed gunslinger from a Sergio Leone western, he is a man of few words and lets his music tell his story. Fisher has never been one to sell his soul to trends. Keeping it real means writing songs that real people can relate to; the good, bad, and even the ugly. His previous singles, “Rock & Roll Man,” “Be the Hope,” “I’m Growing Older, But I’m Not Growing Up,” and “A Few Good Ol’ Cowboys” all hit Top 10, Top 25, or Top 30 on the Texas Charts. He was also named the BigStar97 Outlaw Country artist of the Year in 2018. Fisher has upped the ante, joining forces with renegade record label Dirt Rock Empire for the release. 

Whiskey and the Dog Track List:
1. “High on The Bottle” (Creed Fisher)
2. “This Town” (Creed Fisher)
3. “Girls with Big Titties” (Creed Fisher)
4. “Whiskey and The Dog” (Creed Fisher and Mark Jones)
5. “Hundred Dollars Short” (Creed Fisher)
6. “Gray Skys” (Creed Fisher and Mark Jones)
7. “Don’t California My Texas” (Creed Fisher and Mark Jones)
8. “The Good Ol’ U.S. of A.” (Creed Fisher)
9. “Down To The Riverbank” (Creed Fisher)
10 “Find My Way Back Home” (Creed Fisher)
11.“Honkey Tonk Drankin’” (Creed Fisher)
12.“I’m Crazy And You’re Gone” (Creed Fisher)
13. “Jesus, Haggard & Jones” (Creed Fisher and Mark Jones)
14. “Hankles” (Creed Fisher)

2021-10-22T11:09:00

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Nobuhiko Obayashi’s Labyrinth of Cinema opens October 20

The final film by maverick filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi is a love letter to the power of cinema and will be playing on the big screen as it was intended. Photo: Crescendo House, used with permission.

Born in Hiroshima in 1938, Nobuhiko Obayashi was a director, screenwriter and editor of films and television advertisements. He began his filmmaking career as a pioneer of Japanese experimental films before transitioning to directing more mainstream media, and his resulting filmography as a director spanned almost 60 years. He was notable for his distinct surreal filmmaking style, as well as the anti-war themes commonly embedded in his films. He died on 10 April 2020 at the age of 82 from lung cancer in Tokyo. The final film by Nobuhiko Obayashi finds the late director returning to the subject of Japan’s history of warfare following the completion of his “War Trilogy” which ended with Hanagatami. Labyrinth of Cinema will be released in New York at The Metrograph on October 20 and in Los Angeles at The Lumiere Cinema on October 29 (co-presented by Acropolis Cinema), with more regional dates to follow including Phoenix, Santa Ana, Tulsa, Seattle, New Orleans, Portland, Dallas, Vancouver (Canada), and more. (Crescendo House, 2021)

Labyrinth of Cinema – On the last night of its existence, a small movie theater in Onomichi—the seaside town of Obayashi’s youth where he shot nearly a dozen films—screens an all-night marathon of Japanese war films. When lightning strikes the theater, three young men are transported into the world onscreen where they experience the violent battles of several wars leading up to the bombing of Hiroshima. A breathless cinematic journey through Japan’s past, Labyrinth of Cinema finds Obayashi using every trick in his book to create an awe-inspiring, visually resplendent anti-war epic that urges us to consider cinema as a means to change history. The culmination of an exceptional 60-year career worth celebrating.

Director: Nobuhiko Obayashi (House)
Cast: Takuro Atsuki, Takahito Hosoyamada, Yoshihiko Hosoda, Rei Yoshida, Riko Narumi, Hirona Yamazaki, Takako Tokiwa
Feature, 2019, 179 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles

Crescendo House is a new boutique distribution company that aims to reinvigorate the American film landscape with a new model for distribution. Our goal is to expand the mainstream visibility of international or otherwise underrepresented films to provide viewers with an array of choices that more accurately reflects the diverse world we inhabit.

Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Los Angeles psychedelic doom act Old Blood announces fall tour

Old Blood announces first leg of ‘Acid Doom Over America’ tour. Photo: Metal Assault Records

This fall, Old Blood will pour Acid Doom over America. The psychedelic doom troupe have announced the first leg of their highly anticipated tour: “Acid Doom Over America” presented by Metal Assault Records. With dates across the West Coast and Pacific Northwest, Old Blood will kick things off on October 22 in Palmdale CA at Transplants Brewing and conclude part on November 5 in Oceanside CA at Pourhouse. (Old Blood, 2021)

Even before their self-titled debut album hit the internet, Old Blood was recognized as being “different” among the growing waves of doom / stoner rock bands. Old Blood showed a push into unique territory within the genre with the addition of crystal clear vocals, keyboards, an emphasis on heady grooves and an extensive live stage show beyond the wall of amplifiers. Elements of early ‘70s rock and psychedelia woven into the down-tempo, swing-beat fabric of fuzz laden desert rock come together in what the band refers to as “Acid Doom.”

While out on part 1 of the Acid Doom Over America Tour, Old Blood will share the stage with three labelmates: Through The Oculus and Solar Haze in Palmdale, and Sea Sleeper in Portland. The three other shows in the Pacific Northwest will also feature spectacular blackened doom act Ghorot from Boise, Idaho. This will be the first Old Blood tour since the 2020 release of their sophomore LP, Acid Doom. Hailed as one of the top albums of 2020 by High Times, Doomed & Stoned and the like; Old Blood will finally get to perform their popular new album, plus selections from their 2016 self-titled debut and more. Acid Doom is out now on Metal Assault Records. Pick up your copy through Old Blood’s bandcamp page. 

Here is what Old Blood has to say about the upcoming tour: “There is Blood on the Horizon. For too long the World has waited to experience Old Blood and now is your chance to finally experience real Acid Doom from the pioneers of the genre themselves. We can’t wait to bring the full show onto the road and into your town!”

For the well-acquainted and the uninitiated alike, the band’s live show is a special treat, and once you witness the band live, your life shall never be the same again.

Old Blood is:
C. Gunner – guitar
Octopus – Bass
Lynx – Vocals
Diesel – Drums
Stone – keyboards

“There are nine tracks on this record that provide mysterious, unrelenting, genre-defying heavy music. Part doom metal, part acid rock, part occult-obsessed psychedelic – this is music that is sensual, ritualistic, cathartic and thundering, heavy as any heavy metal band out there. With anthropomorphic, think Jefferson Airplane covering Black Sabbath while high on DMT.” – High Times (December 2020, Page 35, Top Albums Of The Year article)

Acid Doom Over America – Part I: Fall 2021
10.22 Palmdale CA @ Transplants Brewing
10.23 Santa Cruz CA @ Blue Lagoon
10.24 Eugene OR @ Old Nicks Pub
10.25 Portland OR @ Twilight
10.26 Olympia WA @ Cryptatropa
10.27 Seattle WA @ Substation
10.28 Boise ID @ The Olympic
10.29 Salt Lake City UT @ Aces High Saloon
11.2 Albuquerque NM @ Launchpad
11.4 Phoenix AZ @ Yucca Tap Room
11.5 Oceanside CA @ Pourhouse

Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Nathan Evans Fox announces new album Wasted Love

Nathan Evans Fox’s new album Wasted Love will be out October 8, 2021. Photo: google

An accomplished songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Nathan Evans Fox began playing violin at age four and has since picked up the guitar, piano, and a bit of other instruments. Growing up on family land in Glen Alpine, NC, he was surrounded by hymn books, country, bluegrass, folk, and family. Originally trained as a hospital chaplain, Fox is no stranger to grief. His music makes something out of what remains, both wrestling with country’s messy legacy and embracing its effective power to ignite a rush of joy, nostalgia, or solidarity. His songs are full of the people, things, and moments he loves, from the old Mercedes Benz down the street and slow dancing in dive bars to memories of his grandmother and his enduring love of good trucks. Listeners can feel the humidity of a hot summer night, the low-key longing for home coming through the twang of the slide guitar and the understated gang vocals. Nathan Evans Fox debuts cosmopolitan country sound with his new album Wasted Love, due out Friday October 8, 2021. (Nathan Evans Fox, 2021)

“You start with your accent, you start with your twang, but your accent is also the place where you start to appreciate the rest of the world,” says Western North Carolina-raised songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nathan Evans Fox. “Country music is my accent but it’s also the way that I communicate my love for the world.” On October 8, Fox is releasing his fourth full-length album, Wasted Love, a collection of tunes that decidedly marks his shift from writing folk songs to his own, “chaotic hillbilly” brand of country music—or in Fox’s words, “from plunk to spunk.” Nimbly shifting affective gears from simmering anger and contemplative reflection to wry wit and unexpected sass, Fox’s songs are simultaneously playful and insightful. Fox’s lyrics evoke the post-storm sizzle of an Appalachian landscape and the Biblical imagery that saturated his childhood. Much of his music is a kind of reckoning with his cultural and religious inheritance: “Don’t know where I’m going / just know where I’m from,” Fox sings in “Carolina Boy,” which was recently released via Mother Church Pew as the first single from Wasted Love. “This song spells out the complicated relationship I have to my hometown,” he says about the lusciously recorded, vice and hardship-filled “Carolina Boy.” “No matter how much I love the hills of North Carolina, leaving my hometown meant making better decisions instead of falling into well-worn pitfalls.” Fans can hear “Carolina Boy” now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Wasted Love ahead of its October release right here.

Below the surface, a thread winds throughout Wasted Love, capturing the specific ways love gets spent without expectation of return—as an unconditional overflow, as uncounted minutes with the one you love, or, watching his mother care for his grandmother near the end of her life, as “the generosity of caretaking love and the ways it refuses to keep score.” Just a few months after moving to Nashville, Fox was grieving the loss of his grandmother when he and his wife’s home got hit by a tornado, and shortly after he had to cancel shows and collaborations as the pandemic spread. Writing the album amid all this loss and uncertainty, he wanted to write songs that would provide respite. In this sense, Fox’s music is all about work: blue-collar work, care work, reflective work. “We need music to do work for us that we’re too tired to do ourselves. Our feelings are spent and our ability to do work is exhausted and we just need somebody to put some good feeling back in our body.”

Wasted Love Track list:
1. One Of These Days
2. Mercedes Benz
3. Lordhamercy
4. Carolina Boy
5. Good Trucks
6. When They Take The House
7. These Four Walls
8. Damn Hard
9. Some Things Are Coming Back Again
10. What’s Intended
11. Put Money Down
12. Wasted Love

Catch Nathan Evans Fox On Tour:
October 8 – Nashville, TN – The 5 Spot
October 23 – Ingram, TX – Fritzers Saloon
October 24 – Dripping Springs, TX – Dreamland
October 29 – Harlingen, TX – Melodia Cafe

2021-10-08T15:10:00

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New movie release: Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman

Photo: Dark Star Pictures/Voltage Pictures, used with permission.

Companion piece and ‘Monster’ prequel, Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman focuses on serial killer Aileen Wuornos. It is directed by Daniel Farrands and stars Peyton List in the title role, Lydia Hearst, Nick Vallelonga, Swen Temmel, Meadow Williams, and Andrew Biernat. Based on Aileen Wuornos’ early life in 1976, the film follows America’s most notorious female serial killer in Florida when she marries an older wealthy Yacht Club president only to inflict mayhem within her new family and Florida’s high society. (Dark Star Pictures, 2021)

Aileen Wournos: American Boogeywoman will have its US Video on Demand release on October 8 and will also be released on DVD on October 15, 2021. Video on Demand platforms include iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox/Microsoft, Comcast/Xfinity, Spectrum, Cox, Verizon Fios, Dish Network, Direct TV and through local cable providers.

Dark Star Pictures is a new-age North American distribution company, focused on bringing unique and targeted content to audiences across the country. We are committed to releasing auteur-driven, original cinema in the theatrical, digital and home video space. Our goal is to create original marketing campaigns directly catered to audiences who will embrace our brand of thought-provoking cinema. Recent releases include Tribeca Midnight Selection Honeydew, Sundance favorite Koko-di Koko-Da, Cannes Official Selection Enfant Terrible and the newly announced SXSW psychological drama Freeland. 

New clip from Aileen Wuornos: American Boogeywoman

World premiere of Our American Family documentary

The documentary Our American Family will premiere at the Woodstock Film Festival 2021. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Our American Family is a radically honest, unfiltered portrait of a close-knit Philadelphia family fighting its greatest nemesis: generational addiction. Beginning with a pivotal, “nothing to lose” moment, then captured over the course of the following year, five family members tired of life plagued by addiction on center stage, each struggle to transcend their crippling histories: a mother who learned from childhood to enable her own mother’s addiction, a daughter who doesn’t know who she is without a substance, a son who learned everything about “Heroin 101” from his sister, a younger son who feels alone but acts content to ease the family’s burden, and a stepfather who wonders if addiction is really a disease or simply a by-product of laziness. What will it take to shift this entrenched, wrenching pattern in their lives? How will they each free themselves from their interlocking fates? Will they be able to make significant changes to help their next generation? The members of Our American Family invite us into their lives to find hope and to explore what is possible. No experts. No drug use. No melodrama. (Our American Family, 2021)

WORLD PREMIERE–Feature Length Documentary (USA)
RT 87 mins
Directed and produced by Hallee Adelman and Sean King O’Grady

Tickets are available for the Woodstock Film Festival 2021 Screenings
World Premiere: Saturday October 2 at 3:45p.m.
Bearsville Theater
291 Tinker St
Woodstock, NY 12498

Sunday October 3 at 2p.m.
Orpheum Theatre Saugerties
156 Main St
Saugerties, NY 12477

Courtesy photo, used with permission

Solo artist Zych to release debut album via Metal Assault Records

Zych’s will release debut album Dante’s Inferno Part I via Metal Assault Records on October 22, 2021. Photo: google

Multi-instrumentalist and composer Justin Zych, better known as Zych, has joined the Metal Assault Records roster as the label’s first ever solo artist signing. He has toured internationally and worked with bands such as Zephaniah (Indiana), Viking (Los Angeles), Munroe’s Thunder (US / UK), Them (NY / Germany) and many more. (Justin Zych, 2021)

Dante’s Inferno Part I, slated for release October 22 on Metal Assault Records, will initiate a series of solo albums dedicated to the poetry of Dante Alighieri by Zych. Unlike other albums based on Dante’s Inferno, this album goes in-depth into each canto. The album is nearly 70 minutes long with eight intense songs (No fillers). This progressive metal heavyweight of an album evaporates the boundaries between all genres. Every track takes on its own direction with an all-star musical cast of internationally well-known musicians. Each song is also accompanied by outstanding artwork from a well-established visual artist. This is THE heavy metal soundscape to lend your ear to as you read the first eight cantos of The Inferno.

Metal Assault Records will release Dante’s Inferno Part I on October 22, 2021 on deluxe digipack CD and digital platforms. The album’s cover is a scan of a canvas piece created by Tricia Cavender. Pre-orders for the digital album, deluxe digipack CD (with a full 16-page booklet included), and special merch bundles featuring the “Canto VII” t-shirt design, 12” x 12” giclee prints of the album cover art, stickers, and guitar picks, are available now via the Zych Bandcamp page.

The album’s lead single and opening track, “Canto I – Overture” premiered on August 6 along with a stunning music video in all its 4K glory.

Dante’s Inferno Part I track listing:
1. Canto I – Overture (8:56)
2. Canto II – Gates Of Sorrow (5:23)
3. Canto III – All Hope Abandon (8:27)
4. Canto IV – Limbo (10:04)
5. Canto V – Lust (6:37)
6. Canto VI – The Gluttonous (8:24)
7. Canto VII – The Avaricious & The Wrathful (9:08)
8. Canto VIII – Into the Depths of Hell (11:21)
Total Runtime: 1:08:20

Full list of participating musicians:
Justin Zych (Zephaniah, Viking) – Guitars, Synths, Bass, Vocals
Albert Rybka (Acracy, Kategory V) – Vocals
Ronny Munroe (Ex-Metal Church, Between Worlds) – Vocals
Ty Christian (Lords of The Trident) – Vocals
Troy Norr (THEM, Coldsteel) – Vocals
Patick Parris (Project Roenwolfe) – Vocals
Zebah Latifi (Zephaniah) – Vocals
Angel Cotte (Demolition Hammer, THEM) – Drums
Ed Stephens (Ringworm, Vindicator) – Bass
Ian Bender (Zephaniah) – Bass
Paul Kendall (Valhalla) – Piano, synth, guest soloist
Shaun Cothron (Zephaniah) – Guest Soloist
Brian Koenig (Lords of the Trident) – Guest soloist
Kyle Smith (Death On Fire) – Percussion
Kenny Woods – All Saxophones
Paul Rowan – All trumpets
David Cooke – All trombones
Ilona Orban – All violins
Derek Reeves – All violas
Bennett Spickelmier – All Cellos

Zych (Justin Zych) is a musician specializing in guitar, bass, and piano. He earned his bachelor’s degree in music performance from IPFW and currently teaches music online. He is an experienced international touring musician and guitar technician, who has worked with world renowned bands such as Zephaniah (IN), Viking (CA), THEM (NY/GER), Munroe’s Thunder (USA/UK) and many others.

As a composer, Zych has created several compositions for musical groups, commercials, and scores for online videos. His technical prowess and heartfelt melodies define his style and inspire young and old musicians. He has played guitar for over 20 years and continues to excel at his craft by introducing new techniques and musical concepts to his playing.

Zych has created over four hundred arrangements/transcriptions for clients over the last three years and continues to on a regular basis. Some are as simple and short as a thirty second piano piece and some are as complex and intense as a ten minute orchestral piece. His compositions reflect a mixture of romantic period composition mixed with the complex structures of 20th century composition and jazz. Add a heavy metal element to that and you get a new, diverse and extremely full sound.

Justin Zych. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
2021-10-22T13:03:00

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Brandy Zdan announces sonically and soulfully inspiring new album Falcon

Brandy Zdan’s new album Falcon will be released October 29. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Brandy Zdan is a Canadian musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer based in Nashville, TN. After spending several years in Texas-supergroup, The Trishas, Zdan released her self-titled debut album in 2015. In 2018, Zdan’s second album, Secretear, was released on Tallest Man Records. Around that time, Rolling Stone dubbed Zdan “a guitar hero of the highest order,” only further cementing a truth which tour mates like Buddy Guy, Will Hoge, and Aaron Lee Tasjan knew all along. Her third album, the entirely self-produced and engineered Falcon, will be released on October 29, 2021. (Brandy Zdan, 2021)

For anyone who has ever said something along the lines of “You can’t do everything”—they have obviously never met Brandy Zdan. Amongst the most tumultuous season of her life to date, Canadian-turned-Nashvillian Zdan set out to make her new album Falcon on her own—writing, playing, producing, and engineering it by herself—leaving not the slightest clue that most of the recording was done in her laundry room during her baby’s nap times. The deeply personal recording process mirrors Falcon’s deeply personal songwriting. “Falcon is my story of the last two years. A story of miscarriage, loss, grief, pregnancy, motherhood, trauma, isolation, depression, hope, and love,” says Zdan. “I wanted to express all of those tangled feelings, and I hope that it encourages other women to express their grief and loneliness in whatever ways they choose.” But it is not the hardship that Falcon blossomed from that sticks with you after listening to the album, rather the unique liberation of disclosure it provides. “Everyone talks about being vulnerable, but there’s something different about this. This is the type of shit women aren’t supposed to be vocal about,” says Zdan. “It’s a stigma that needs to end, and now that I’ve broken that barrier in my own life I want to help others experience what a freeing place it can be.” Falcon is the hyper-personal and the universal wrapped into one record, and Zdan’s songwriting prowess—the razor-sharp detailing of the detangling of her life—is what makes these songs a salve for anyone else experiencing loss, or grief, or heartache.

Recently Zdan shared a music video for “Protector,” the first single from Falcon. Leaning into a J.J. Cale-esque, vintage drum machine feel, “Protector” starts off on a jovial foot with Zdan singing the first line: “I wanna get drunk, smoke a thousand cigarettes, chew a pack of Nicorette, and play dumb.” Before the end of the feel-good groove, however, the metaphor opens itself up, revealing an inner battle between Zdan and her tendency to guard her heart from the worst of it all. “This is my plead to call off the protector side of myself so I could really get down to it and deal with some grief and pain,” says Zdan. Like a lot of the songs from Falcon, “Protector” is a masterclass in how to share a bad feeling with a good song, greasy guitar solo and all. Fans can watch the “Protector” music video at this link and pre-order or pre-save Falcon ahead of its October 29 release right here.

After flirting with the idea of calling this new album life/death/life, a reference to the cyclical nature of her experiences, Zdan instead took note of the symbolism surrounding her. While grappling with her miscarriage, she experienced a vision of a spirit floating up to the sky on a falcon’s wing. Shortly afterward, she started to see a falcon fly throughout her neighborhood. Then, the week before her daughter was born, that falcon returned to perch on her property. The bird felt like an obvious icon for what her album stood for; strength despite size, gentle tenacity, and an ability to soar through the roughest weather. Listening to Falcon, those themes of perseverance and understated courage not only come through but are so effective that it feels like being in the room next to Zdan while she plays the album, recognizing those very traits within oneself and becoming part of a community that refuses to stay silent. “This album is a victory to overcoming almost every obstacle that can be thrown at a woman, mother, and musician,” she says, “and coming out on the other side intact and better for it.”

Falcon Track list:
Dying Inside
The Worst Thing
Falcon’s Wing
I Am Wild
Protector
Everyone Wants
Canceleer
Can You Be Alone
Mama

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Asleep at the Wheel to release new studio album ‘Half A Hundred Years’

Half A Hundred Years is the new studio release from Asleep at the Wheel. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Founded in 1970, Asleep at the Wheel has been part of the American roots music landscape for more than fifty years. Although the band got its start on a farm in Paw Paw, West Virginia, Asleep at the Wheel became a cornerstone of the Austin, Texas, scene upon its arrival in 1973. Inspired by Western swing and honky-tonk country, the band has accrued ten Grammy Awards. In the fall, a career retrospective recorded with the current lineup and a few special guests will carry the band back onto the road, where they have remained a staple for five decades. (Asleep at the Wheel, 2021)

With a sneaky half-time groove and a slinky fiddle and guitar trade-off, America’s favorite Western Swing masters Asleep At The Wheel—and their special guest, the beloved Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Lyle Lovett—ease right into their new single, “There You Go Again.” Written just before the recording sessions for The Wheel’s new album Half A Hundred Years, “There You Go Again” is a feel-good, light-hearted jab at pretentiousness and all the silly ways it shows up in the writers’ lives, brought together with flourishes of fiddle and steel before crescendoing into a full-on New Orleans second line, walking back out the door as quickly as it came in. “I suppose it’s a song about pretentious people!” says The Wheel’s fearless ringleader Ray Benson of their new song. “My pal Lyle Lovett, one of the most unpretentious people I know, joined in and made it a very special track.” Fans can listen to “There You Go Again feat. Lyle Lovett” right now at this link and pre-order or pre-save Half A Hundred Years ahead of its October 1 release right here.

On October 15, Asleep At The Wheel will take the stage at Austin, Texas’ brand new Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park for a special guest-laden concert covering the band’s fruitful 50-year-long career. Asleep at the Wheel alumni returning for the event are singer Chris O’Connell, steel guitarist Cindy Cashdollar, bassist Tony Garnier, multi-instrumentalist Danny Levin, pianists Floyd Domino and John Michael Whitby, fiddler Jason Roberts, and drummer David Sanger. Additionally, The Wheel is expecting a special guest or two who are not to be missed. Check out a preview of the concert at Austin 360 and purchase tickets for the October 15 show here.

Half A Hundred Years is a nineteen-track celebration of Asleep At The Wheel’s half-century-long career, filled out by several world-class friends of the band; a guest-list testament to Asleep at the Wheel’s reputation as a cornerstone of American music for the last 50 years. Greats like Willie Nelson, George Strait, Emmylou Harris, Lee Ann Womack, and Lovett appear throughout Half A Hundred Years on a host of classic and destined-to-be-classic Western Swing and Country tunes. Additionally, three original members of Asleep at the Wheel—Chris O’Connell, Leroy Preston, and Lucky Oceans—returned after forty years to lend their voices and musicianship to several tracks on Half A Hundred Years. Ahead of the album release, CMT shared The Wheel’s take on the Bob Wills classic, “Take Me Back To Tulsa,” which features two more Texas icons, George Strait and Willie Nelson, and Rolling Stone premiered the album’s title track, saying, “Elevated by buoyant horns and singer Ray Benson’s drawling baritone, [“Half A Hundred Years”] is the ultimate road song.”

Half A Hundred Years Track list:
Half A Hundred Years
It’s The Same Old South feat. Chris O’Connell
I Do What I Must feat. Leroy Preston
There You Go Again feat. Lyle Lovett
My Little Baby feat. Chris O’Connell
Paycheck To Paycheck feat. Leroy Preston
Word To The Wise feat. Bill Kirchen
That’s How I Remember It feat. Chris O’Connell
The Photo feat. Leroy Preston
I Love You Most Of All (When You’re Not Here) feat. Lucky Oceans
The Wheel Boogie
Take Me Back To Tulsa feat. George Strait and Willie Nelson
The Letter That Johnny Walker Read feat. Lee Ann Womack
Bump Bounce Boogie Feat. Chris O’Connell, Elizabeth McQueen, & Katie Shore
Miles And Miles Of Texas
Get Your Kicks On Route 66 Feat. Leroy Preston, Johnny Nicholas, & Ray Benson
Marie Feat. Willie Nelson
Spanish Two Step Feat. Johnny Gimble And Jesse Ashlock
The Road Will Hold Me Tonight Feat. Emmylou Harris And Willie Nelson

Early James releases new music

Early James releases Dan Auerbach-produced 7-inch featuring ‘Tumbleweed’ and ‘Mama Can Be My Valentine.’ Photo: google

Early James, an Alabama native, released his debut album, Singing For My Supper, via Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records on March 13, 2020. The album spans hard-charging blues, wistful folk, and ages-old pop crooning, anchored by the singer’s voice that alternates from gravel-gruff shout to a honey-smooth whisper. James’ inspirations run from Fiona Apple and Tom Waits to the Southern gothic poets, as heard in the album’s darker themes and in the wry humor with which he writes about them. He recently released the Dan Auerbach-produced 7-inch featuring “Tumbleweed” and “Mama Can Be My Valentine.” (Early James, 2021)

“Don’t got no tattoos cause Grandma knew it’d keep you out of heaven,” sings the prolific, eclectic, and flat-out entertaining singer and songwriter Early James in the opening line of his newly released tune, “Tumbleweed.” Further cementing the Americana blend of styles and sounds he has becoming known for, “Tumbleweed” finds James delivering quick, gravelly verses over a jovial fingerstyle guitar part, exploring an idea he describes as “patting yourself on the back while getting pickpocketed.” Finding a song under a previously unturned stone or in the quickness of a passing thought is, his unique vocal delivery notwithstanding, James’s calling card, and “Tumbleweed” is very much on brand.

“‘Tumbleweed’ is about how you’re always kind of in this limbo of thinking you’re smarter than your older self while falling for someone’s new bullshit at the same time,” says James in his profoundly straightforward way. “Tumbleweed” and its b-side, “Mama Can Be My Valentine” are holdover tunes from James’s 2020 debut, Singing For My Supper, produced by Dan Auerbach and released via his Easy Eye Sound label. After a full year of touring was canceled, the tracks were shelved, but are now available digitally at this link and in 7-inch vinyl format through independent record stores, the Easy Eye Sound online store, and at all Early James tour stops. A complete tour schedule is available online.

“Mama Can Be My Valentine,” which fills up side two of this new release on Easy Eye Sound, leans a hair more Bakersfield country, grooving and swirling forward as James lists off his ideal “type” of a yet-unattainable lover. The refrain— “Until then, Mama can be my valentine”—came about out of hilarious necessity. “I didn’t have any songs about Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day so I killed two birds with one stone,” James recalls. Overall, the one-two punch of “Tumbleweed” and “Mama Can Be My Valentine” are a natural extension of the songs from Singing For My Supper, both different examples of just how well James can weave together a story and deliver it with his commanding, earnest voice. “Some people are good singers,” says The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who decided he needed to produce the singer’s debut album at his Easy Eye Sound studio after watching just two seconds of a video of him performing. “And some people are better than good singers, they just have this great form of expression.” That expression which James possesses is on full display with his new 7-inch release and will officially be getting the live treatment on a healthy run of tour dates with The Lone Bellow this fall.

Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Catch Early James On Tour:
October 10 – Wildwood Revival – Arnoldsville, GA
October 14 – Proud Larry’s – Oxford, MS #
October 16 – Standard Deluxe Fall Boogie – Waverly, AL
November 4 – Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN *
November 5 – Majestic Theatre – Madison, WI *
November 6 – Shank Hall – Milwaukee, WI *
November 7 – Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL *
November 8 – The Ark – Ann Arbor, MI *
November 10 – Taft Theatre – Cincinnati, OH *
November 11 – Asbury Hall Babeville – Buffalo, NY *
November 12 – Center for the Arts of Homer – Homer, NY *
November 13 – Gateway City Arts – Holyoke, MA *
November 14 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA *
November 16 – Webster Hall – New York, NY *
November 17 – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA *
November 18 – Troy Savings Bank Music Hall – Troy, NY *
November 19 – Vogel Theatre – Red Bank, NJ *
November 20 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC *
November 21 – Haw River Ballroom – Saxapahaw, NC *

* – with The Lone Bellow
# – with Seratones