Sound Cloud Sunday, April 7, 2019

Yes, more amazing music from the indie side of the world here on Laurel Canyon Radio. Click below to listen to this week’s show.

Sound Cloud Sunday April 6, 2019

Head For The Hills – Can’t Stay This Way Long

Hometown:      Fort Collins, CO

Album:  From the EP “Say Your Mind” self-released on March 18.   

Review Snippet: “The material reflects both the turbulent social rhythms of our current era and more timeless moments of joy, growth, and change—think #MeToo, the current body politic, and inequality, but also relationships, fatherhood and growing up.

Website:   http://www.headforthehillsmusic.com/

Daniel Norgren – Rolling Rolling Rolling

Hometown:      Boras, Sweden

Album:  From the album “Wooh Dang” out April 9 on Super Puma Records.     

Review Snippet:  Daniel Norgren and his band are welcoming on Wooh Dang with a careful touch of ambiance and mystery in the playing, and that’s the beauty you’ll find buried deep inside these songs.

Website:   https://danielnorgren.bandcamp.com/

Edward David Anderson – Bad Tattoos

Hometown:      Bloomington, IL

Album:  His album “Chasing Butterflies” was released last October on Black Dirt Records. 

Review Snippet: Musically, the album has a deep southern soul feel, perhaps in part for being recorded with Jimmy Nutt in the Muscle Shoals region. Grooves are deep, guitar breaks are extended (but not exaggerated), and emotion is palatable.

Chasing Butterflies is a stunning collection of modern Americana. Poetic and fresh with a deceptively laconic quality making it all the more momentous. I don’t use the word often: brilliant.

Website: https://www.edwarddavidanderson.com/

Emily And Jake – Last Bus To Portland

Hometown:      Portland, ME 

Album:  From their debut album “St. Augustine” released on April 3 on Dapper Productions.    

Review Snippet: Maybe I’m just a hopeless romantic but I find myself rooting for them. The melody and the lyrics drag you in like a good movie: you find yourself caring about these characters, which in less than 3 and a half minutes is quite an achievement. Maybe it’s because it’s such a credible story: Boy meets girl, they fall for each other but has fate dealt the cruel blow of this only being for one night? Even after that, do they both feel the same?

Emily and Jake take turns to tell different parts of the story and their voices complement each other perfectly. There’s something almost metaphorical in the way that both voices seem to dance around each other before coming together into a perfectly pitched harmony – just like the characters in the song. Also mimicking the characters, there are times when the voices separate again and you find yourself waiting for them to reunite.

Website: https://www.emilyandjakemusic.com/

Jim Robertson – Forgiveness And Gratitude

Hometown:  

Album:  “The album One Mile Down was released on VVM in January.    

Review Snippet:  .

Website:   

Hawthorn – Honey & Fire

Hometown:  Boston, MA      

Album:  Their debut album “Maggie Willow” was self-released on March 8

Review Snippet: “[Maggie Willow] is a hushed and often mysterious reflection on the self and how it relates to the world, submerged under layers of idyllic nature imagery and crafty guitar-picking.” — KAT MURAVIYOVA

Website:   https://themusicofhawthorn.bandcamp.com/

Trailer Hippies – Sugarcane Wine

Hometown:      Chattanooga, TN 

Album:  From the debut album “Trailer Hippies For Life” self-released on April 1. 

Review Snippet:

Website:   https://trailerhippies.com/

Mary Bragg – A Little Less

Hometown:      Nashville, TN 

Album:  From the album “Violets And Camouflage” released March 1 on Tone Tree.  

Review Snippet: Acclaimed Nashville singer-songwriter, Mary Bragg is incontestable and over the naysayers. Her fourth studio album, Violets As Camouflage, released from Tone Tree Music, is as candid as it is brazen. Bragg revels in her emotional intensity as Violets As Camouflage auspiciously finds empowerment within vulnerability.

Website:   http://marybragg.com/

Kieran Kane & Rayna Gellart – Ain’t Got Jesus

Hometown:      Elkhart, IN

Album:  From their second album “When The Sun Goes Down”  released March 20 on Dead Reckoning. 

Review Snippet:   The album is lean, and upon re-listening, this or that song may occur as truncated. That said, each piece offers lyrical, instrumental, and vocal nuances that the casual listener may miss. A close listen affirms what most fans already know, that Kane and Gellert, individually and as a duo, practice an understated and unpretentious virtuosity,” he added

Website:   https://www.kanegellert.com/

Tylor And The Train Robbers – Still Getting High

Hometown:      Boise, ID 

Album:  From their debut album “Best of The Worst Kind” out April 26 (self-released). 

Review Snippet:  Hailing from Idaho, this four-piece purvey some exquisite Country music on their second album, Best Of The Worst Kind. Frontman and songwriter, Tylor Ketchum pens most of the 12 easy-rolling songs about his take on life. He sings with his Tom Petty delivery and a tight band lights up behind him.

Website:  https://www.tylorandthetrainrobbers.com/

Shana Cleveland – Face of The Sun

Hometown:      Los Angeles

Album:  “Night of The Worm Moon” was released April 5 on Hardly Art Records. 

Review Snippet: Worm Moon is a sleepy cocktail of songs that kicks in at that place between wakefulness and sleep where the subconscious takes over and shuffles everything haphazardly around. Taking a break from her brilliant surf-rock group, La Luz, and going off the beaten path from her other project, The Sandcastles—Cleveland has released a slow rolling, hypnotic, acoustic beauty of a record. Night Of The Worm Moon silently explodes and blossoms out like a magical cosmic flower, arriving just in time for the Spring Equinox.

Website: http://www.shanacleveland.com/

Tyler Ramsey – Your Whole Life

Hometown:      Asheville, NC

Album:  From the album “For The Morning” released April 5 on Fantasy. 

Review Snippet:  He h It can seem contradictory at times — a song like “A Dream of Home” is both earnest and upbeat, while “Breaking a Heart” recalls Neil Young sounding resilient and yet resigned. Indeed, Ramsey has that ability to entice his listeners into sharing his solitude, and once lured inside those intimate environs, they’re engaged, ensconced and content to deliberate on any tender perspective.as made old style traditional country music sound up-to-date and mod

Website: https://www.tylerramsey.com/

Flatland Cavalry – Living By Moonlight

Hometown:      Lubbock, TX 

Album:  From the self-released album “ Homeland Insecurity” released in January. 

Review Snippet:   Flatland Cavalry carries a more country rock sound compared to the straight-laced honky tonkers, yet the strong presence of fiddle keeps the music firmly grounded in its Texas roots, as does the songwriting that adheres to the elevated standards insisted upon by fans and peers.

Website:   https://www.flatlandcavalry.com/

Molly Tuttle – Make My Mind Up

Hometown:      Nashville via California

Album:  From her second album “When You’re Ready” out April 5 on Compass Records. 

Review Snippet: Without embellishment or hyperbole, California native Molly Tuttle can be presented with almost universal consensus throughout the music community as one of the greatest living instrumentalists of our time, and in any genre or discipline you’re inclined to discuss. Her skills are beyond simple mastery of a given technique or style. In the implementation of her signature, customized clawhammer approach to guitar playing or her flatpicking method, Molly Tuttle has attracted fans, students, and disciples well beyond her native discipline of bluegrass to be considered a marvel the world over. And it’s not just the astuteness she exhibits with the instrument, it’s the effortlessness of the delivery that is both awe-inducing and inspiring. Watching the guitar playing of Molly Tuttle isn’t just enjoyable, it makes you want to be a better person, and more importantly, compels you to undertake that task.

It’s for this reason that Molly Tuttle became the first ever woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitarist of the Year in 2017—an honor she then retained in 2018. She also won the 2018 Instrumentalist of the Year from the Americana Music Association, and all before she had released an official debut album. But perhaps most astounding when basking in the talent that is Molly Tuttle is her gifts are not just confined to the fretboard. Despite her studious application of guitar skills, she manages compelling prowess as a singer and songwriter as well. Molly Tuttle’s talents spill out into all of the necessary attributes a world-class artist needs to excel, including intangibles such as disposition, appeal, infectiousness, and the commanding power with music that wells from all great performers.

It’s fortunate that Molly Tuttle is a multi-tool performer, because however spellbinding it is to witness her fingers be spirited across wood and wire, we live in the age of the song, not the guitar. The days of guitar gods are gone with the muscle cars of the 70’s. It’s not that listeners still don’t appreciate the skill of lead players and improvised solos, but with so many musical prodigies instructed from impressionable ages these days, it’s not as unusual to see a super skilled musician as it once was. However, you can still distinguish yourself from the swell of professional music hopefuls and find your way into a listener’s heart with the right melody and story.

It’s with this understanding and a reasonable desire to expand her musical dimensions beyond bluegrass that Molly Tuttle recorded her debut record When You’re Ready for Compass Records. Venturing beyond the more bluegrass approach of her 2017 EP Rise, Molly explores accessible compositions that could be labeled acoustic folk rock, or even folk pop just as much as traditional string music. Certainly the sound still expands out from Molly Tuttle’s acoustic flat top, but the appeal and acceptance it searches for yearns for a wider audience.

Next Time In LA:  Hotel Café May 22

Website:  https://www.mollytuttlemusic.com/

Steve Poltz – Ballin On A Wednesday

Hometown:      Halifax, Canada

Album:  From the album “Shine On” released March 1 on Red House Records. 

Review Snippet: Former San Diego-based humorous folk singer Steve Poltz has been a huge hit at the annual Folk Alliance Gatherings, SXSW and countless festivals as he can put smiles on folks faces like few others. A friend once said, “How can someone be that happy?” in describing Poltz. The wave of popularity kept growing to the point that it seemed inevitable Poltz would move to the music mecca of Nashville. Friends had been urging him to do that for years. Finally it happened. He and his girlfriend moved to Music City where Poltz already had many  contacts, and a fervent desire to work with multi-instrumentalist and producer Will Kimbrough, thus giving us Poltz’s Red House Records debut with SHINE ON.

Website: https://poltz.com/

Danny Schmidt – Newport ’65

Hometown:      Austin, TX 

Album:  From the album “Standard Deviation”  released March 8 on Live Once Records. 

Review Snippet: Schmidt’s influences come from Appalachian folk music and he cites strong writers like Dylan, Leonard Cohen and John Prine as his main influences. That’s not to say that he is in any way a copyist as he has his own gentle style and songs like Blue Hole in Time have their own template and it’s Danny’s voice and urgent delivery that give this album a unique feel that’s a rare thing today.

Perhaps the standout track here is Newport ’65 that seems to be an oblique tribute to Bob Dylan and his world shaking performance at that famous US folk festival back in 1965 when Bob went electric and there’s talk here of “shepherds and sheep” that might be a reference to those attending that historic festival.

Website:  http://www.dannyschmidt.com/