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JO HENLEY - IN THE STUDIO
Boston based alt-country rockers Jo Henley recently completed the latest "4 On The Floor" sessions at Alternate Root TV Studios in Norwood, MA and these cats have never sounde...
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STEVEN SMITH BAND - IN THE STUDIO
Our friend Steve Smith is a singer/songwriter from upstate New York. We recorded this at his home studio in Chestertown, NY with the Steven Smith Band. Steve is a solid songwr...
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"4 ON THE FLOOR" - SHANNON McNALLY AND HOT SAUCE
Shannon McNally and her band Hot Sauce stopped by the Alternate Root TV studio in Norwood, MA to perform a set from the recently released album "Small Town Talk" A Tribute to ...
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AMY McCARLEY and KENNY VAUGHAN - IN THE ALTERNATE ...
Amy McCarley is probably one of the better up and coming Americana/ Roots singer songwriters you've yet to hear. The Alabama native caught the ear of guitar ace Kenny Vaughan ...
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UNCLE LUCIUS - IN THE ALTERNATE ROOT TV STUDIO
Austin based Indie Roots rockers Uncle Lucius, stopped in to the Performing Artist Co-Op in East Nashville to record a set for Alternate Root TV. Uncle Lucius is another outst...
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VIDEO OF THE WEEK - THE CHAPIN SISTERS - "CRYIN' IN THE RAIN"
Phil and Don meet Abigail and Lily. The Chapin Sisters are keepers on A Date With The Everly Brothers. The sisters have similar roles to the brothers with their harmonies. Studio technology and an amazing ability to complement voices has the Sisters slightly ahead on the version of the classics. The Chapin Sisters version of “Dream” is worthy of soundtrack space in the next David Lynch film. The track is slowed down, the voices part reverie, part fantasy. “When Will I Be Loved” demands an answer. On A Date With The Everly Brothers, The Chapin S...
TOP 20 TULSA, OKLAHOMA BANDS RIGHT NOW
There is a power in a local music scene when it not only provides spaces to play, but supports its a...
TAB BENOIT - 2013 AWARD FOR CONTEMPORARY BLUES MALE ARTIST FROM BLUES FOUNDATION
Louisiana bluesman and conservation advocate Tab Benoit has won the Blues Foundation’s 2013 Blue Mus...
GEDEON LUKE - OLD SOUL, CHILD OF THE STREET
Growing up on the battle torn streets of the Memphis underbelly can dampen the spirit of of even the ...
THE ALTERNATE ROOT LIST OF OMISSIONS - 20 ARTISTS THAT WE FORGOT TO LIST!
We have been having a lot of fun compiling these lists we've been publishing the last few weeks. The...
THE TOP 20 BANDS IN BOSTON RIGHT NOW
The events of Monday April 15th at the Boston Marathon left the Country in shock and Boston with a b...
ALTERNATE ROOT TV
ALTERNATE ROOT TV'S - "4 ON THE FLOOR" WITH SHANNON McNALLY AND HOT SAUCE
Shannon McNally and her band Hot Sauce stopped by the Alternate Root TV studio in Norwood, MA to perform a set from the recently released album "Small Town Talk" A Tribute to the Music of Bobby Charles. Charles was one of the most prolific purveyors of the New Orleans sound from the 1950's through the last decade and the album, produced by Dr. John and Shannon McNally, is a bri...
"4 ON THE FLOOR" - FEATURING BEX MARSHALL
"4 On the Floor"
is a new, short form program from Alternate Root TV that highlights a four song performance by one of our studio guests. Rather than putting one video up at a time from a featured artist we've decided to put the four songs together. It will at times be accompanied by interview or dialogue with the artist about their music or other topics of interest.
Our first
"4 ...
GARRETT LEBEAU - "BLACK AND WHITE"
Ever been to an outside concert, one of those all day affairs that run from noon until way in the wee hours? Right now, it is the afternoon and you are lying on a blanket, sitting with friends as warm temps and gently flowing music waft through the air. Your one thought, on repeat, it that this is perfect. That feeling lives in the Garrett Lebeau album, Rise to the Grind .
The inn...
NEW AND NOTEWORTHY
SHOVELS AND ROPE - O BE JOYFUL
The power of intention is the third member of Shovels and Rope. They focus on the fact that, first and foremost, Shovels and Rope is a rock and roll band. The result is a filter that keeps out anything that does not support the vision. One listen to O’ Be Joyful and you can tell that anything that does not jump on board with Shovels and Rope is in serious danger of getting left b...
STEVE MARTIN AND EDIE BRICKELL - LOVE HAS COME FOR YOU
In “When You Get to Asheville” Steve Martin and Edie Brickell showcase the foundation for their collaboration. Steve Martin’s banjo is a persistent presence throughout the track as Edie Brickell’s voice flows like warmed honey over the song. The match is a good one; the duet of voice and banjo on Love Has Come for You allows for new ways to hear how tradition is evolving.
The make...
JC BROOKS AND THE UPTOWN SOUND - HOWL
JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound showed their Soul, and presented it in all its best beats and poses on their debut Want More . The band was Soul music as defined by a rock’n’roll band. The blend of Rock and Soul stuck to the template formed in the early 1960’s, guitar, bass, keys and drums backing a front person with style and a show. For JCBUS, that frontman was Jayson Brooks. Th...
SHOOTER JENNINGS - THE OTHER LIFE
Shooter Jennings used his previous album output as influence on The Other Life . He dips his music stick into all forms of sound, presenting tunes with oven-warmed psychedelia and ridden-hard roots with the keen ear of a musical protege and the eye of an outlaw country player.
The Other Life was recorded with Shooter’s Brooklyn-based band, The Triple Crown. With the same instrument...
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET - FROM BAMAKO TO CARENCO
For 37 years, Beausoleil have been the world’s most renowned ambassadors of Cajun music. In 2013, Beausoleil avec (with) Michael Doucet have released From Bamako to Carenco , the group’s first studio album in four years, and release number twenty-five for their 37-year career. From their beginnings in Lafayette, Louisiana, Michael Doucet has fronted Beausoleil, guiding the sound ...
THE BLACK LILLIES - RUNAWAY FREEWAY BLUES
The Black Lillies do what a band should do. They take the instruments that are comfortable, songs they have written, insert lead vocals and harmony at will, plug in and play. They let the sound find the song, the tune takes its own path once the basics are in place. That is the way bands maintain credibility. The focus is on the song and how best to follow it.
The instrumentatio...
UNDER THE RADAR
GRANT LANGSTON - WORKING UNTIL I DIE
Grant Langston has made a hard choice for Working Until I Die . Known for equal amounts of hard work and hard drinking, Grant Langston has chosen a hard production courtesy of Paul Q. Kolderie (The Pixies, Dinosaur, Jr, Radiohead, Hole). The mix of rock on steroids production and classic country songs on the jukebox may not seem like a good fit. Sometimes it is really hard to ima...
ESQUELA - ARE WE ROLLING?
Esquela recorded "Are We Rolling" live over the course of three days in a Tijuana brothel, once occupied by Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac, along with Eric 'Roscoe' Ambel, a Tascam 8 track recorder, the Bovina Rock Primer, 11 bottles of tequila and an ounce of pure Columbian "mother of pearl" shale. Well, actually none of that is even remotely true, (except for the Eric 'Roscoe...
THE COMMUNAL WELL - UNDER A WESTERN SKY
If you were to list the most important historical events that changed the course of popular music in America those events would include the mass migration of jazz musicians to Paris, France in the post war era of the late 40's and early 50's and the similar migration of blues musicians to England in the late 50's and early 60's. Both, incidentally, occurred because those two un...
SMOKE FAIRIES - BLOOD SPEAKS
Smoke Fairies, by reputation and probably by name, give the impression that freak folk is coming to town. Yes, that is the foundation that supports the music. For their second album release, Blood Speaks , Smoke Fairies change several pieces of the basic structure. The slightest eyebrow raise, or butterfly flutter, can change the world. Smoke Fairies have not changed the way they...
ASHLEIGH FLYNN - A MILLION STARS
Ashleigh Flynn spins her stories in Portland, Oregon. Ashleigh takes history and sticks it in a song. On A Million Stars, her fourth release on her own imprint, Home Perm Records, Ashleigh introduces us to heroines and lawless ladies (sometimes the roles are interchangeable within the body of the characters). Her stage sets are America, though Ashleigh does take a little closer...
CASH BOX KINGS - BLACK TOPPIN'
The Cash Box Kings get very specific in the music that they bring to the world. The band is dedicated to carrying on the spirit of the 1940’s and 50’s post-war Chicago Blues as well as honoring its point of origins, Delta Blues circa 1920’s and 30’s. Luckily, the Cash Box Kings are not content to just offer museum quality replications. The band provides a freshness to their mus...
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
TOKYO ROSENTHAL - FINDING INSPIRATION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Tokyo Rosenthal dropped us a line to talk about our 50 Songs on the American Condition list. We asked Tokyo how his topical songs find their inspiration…
Bob Dylan once said about the Beatles, "You guys have nothing to say", egging them on to write more meaningful tunes and touch on social commentary as Dylan is famed for. I subscribe to Dylan...
HENRY WAGONS - EXPECTING COMPANY?
Henry Wagons’ voice leaves the same impression on his debut solo outing, Expecting Company?, as the power of his pipes did on capturing and demanding attention on his critically acclaimed U.S. debut of his band Wagons ( Rumble, Shake & Tumble ). Henry recorded most of Expecting Company? in his home studio, self-producing and playing the instruments for the majority of the songs.
H...
MIKE EDWARDS - SPIRITUAL WARDROBE
Mike Edwards of Spiritual Wardrobe, like all musicians, had two ideas in his mind for the business of music. One idea was the way he intuitively felt about his art and the way it could be transferre into a business model. The other option was the way the industry dictated. Mike took some time to tell his story.....Spoiler Alert! there is a happy ending.
From Mike Edwards - Spiri...
SETH WALKER - INTERVIEW OF THE WEEK
The music of Nashville-based singer/songwriter Seth Walker, 39, is an engaging hybrid of Americana, blues, and jazz. But his signature style did not come easily. Walker endured a lengthy journey through several genres before he figured out which worked best for his pleasantly-raspy voice and laid-back guitar playing.
On his newest release, the self-produced Time Can Change , Walke...
MARK ROBINSON'S GROOVE
“Quit Your Job - Play Guitar” was a good opening salvo in the career of Mark Robinson. The album received high praise from what is ordinarily a stodgy, jaded blues press and it had some airplay around the country as well. What “Quit Your Job - Play Guitar” did, more importantly, was build anticipation for a follow up. That wait is over with the release of “Have Axe - Will Groov...
THE WILD RUMPUS - ALLAN SIZEMORE GETS A LIVE SOUND IN STUDIO
Finding any time to speak with The Wild Rumpus is difficult. The band is out just about every week making their way through the mountains of West Virginia for a show. Weather helped us out and we were lucky enough to catch The Wild Rumpus guitarist/banjoist/producer, Allan Sizemore, at home. He was cooking a beef stew to offset the winter storm that was hitting the mountains. W...
MAKING THE LIST
THE TOP 20 BANDS IN BOSTON RIGHT NOW
The events on Monday April 15th at the Boston Marathon left the Country in shock and Boston with a bit of a bloody nose. Cities around the US were rallying around Boston and watched as the police, FBI, EMT and firefighters and citizens all responded with heroic grace and then tuned in as the perpetrators of the terrorist acts that upended the city were hunted down and captured....
20 BANDS PUSHING THE ENVELOPE
Not so long ago, the Roots and Americana field was an open playing ground. It was a place where artists could take chances with their music and develop sounds that were outside the borders that corralled music into certain shapes and forms. Like any genre or style, once a bar is set, up and coming artists can choose to follow or lead into the future. Innovators like Buddy Mille...
THE TOP 35 MOST IMPORTANT AMERICANA ROOTS ALBUMS OF THE LAST 25 YEARS
We consider these to be the most important roots music recordings of the last 25 years. They are not the "best" albums or biggest selling albums. Some won prestigious awards and many did not. In fact many may have flown under the radar of even the most astute roots music fans.
Roots music has been around since Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie in many of the forms you see and hear...
THE ALTERNATE ROOT TOP 40 ROOTS ROCK ALBUMS 1980-89 (3)
The decade of the 1980's can be looked at musically in a number of ways. On the surface it's easy to dismiss the decade as one of the worst in terms of popular music. What wasn't being dominated by the horror of Journey, REO Speedwagon, Survivor, Toto and Styx was being dominated by Duran Duran, Kenny Loggins, Culture Club and Michael Jackson. The rockers had their own min...
THE ALTERNATE ROOT TOP 30 ROOTS SOUL ARTISTS - RIGHT NOW!
Soul music took its first steps in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame sees Soul as "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky , secular testifying.”
Originally relegated to the Black Music charts, Soul music was picked up by a generation of Britis...
THE TOP 30 FEMALE VOCALISTS - RIGHT NOW!
From a list that seemed endless came the tough task of narrowing it down to our Top 30. There is the obvious choices, the new and rising stars, the unexpected and the "who?" You'll have choices that we missed, as always. Ther will be some you've never heard of that you may be inclined to check out on your own and discover something new and exciting. At any rate, here's The Alte...
FROM THE VAULTS
STEVE FORBERT - ALIVE ON ARRIVAL/JACKRABBIT SLIM 35th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
Maybe he wasn’t the only one, but Steve Forbert was probably the only one that fit so well into a club called Country Bluegrass Blues and Other Music for Uplifting Gormandizers, shortened to CBGB-OMFUG, to go down in the history books as CBGB’s. While the venerated Lower East Side venue was giving birth to punk and new wave with The Ramones, Patti Smith Group, Blondie, Televisi...
YARN SERVES LEFTOVERS VOLUME TWO
We’re very lucky. Blake Christiana is a prolific man. Leftovers Volume Two takes care of the album doldrums experienced between releases by offering Yarn music ‘left off’ earlier releases. On the heels of the success of their last album release, Almost Home , Yarn present Leftovers V2 as the second in a series of releases that focuses on tracks that did not make the final selection...
REVISITING THE MASTERPIECE OF MEMPHIS
Memphis has a long standing place in the history of American popular music dating back to the turn of the century. The center point, Beale Street, was ground zero for African American commerce and culture and served as the northern gateway to the cultural riches of the Mississippi Delta. “A meeting place for urban and rural styles,” emphasized folklorist George McDaniel, “Beale...
GARLAND JEFFREYS - THE KING OF IN BETWEEN
Garland Jeffreys has played us a song by song soundtrack to the past forty years in his recordings. It is words meeting music inside a sonic snapshot of contemporary life, as seen from the eyes of New York City native son. Growing up in the Sheepshead Bay area, named for the body of water that separates the mainland of Brooklyn from Coney Island, Garland Jeffreys ha...
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - NEBRASKA
Bruce Springsteen has always created music steeped in the Roots of his influences, transferring jukebox, chicken shack and protest march songs into arena rock and roll. In his early years, with albums backed by the E Street Band, Bruce amped up the Jersey shore mix of Rock ‘n Soul and took it to the world….very successfully. Springsteen and the E Street Band have become synonym...
GREAT BIG SEA - XX
In band years, 20 is a lifetime. Great Big Sea have been singing, playing and charting music in their Canadian homeland for two decades. GBS member Alan Doyle has written tracks with his buddy Russell Crowe, with whom Alan appeared in Robin Hood, playing the role of Merry Man Allan A’Dayle. The key, as Alan Doyle sees it, is intention; “the way to be in a band for a lifetime is...
NICE TWEETS
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Just listening to Todd Snider's East Nashville Skyline. We've come along way from discount booze and the Radio... http://t.co/gWm9icCcZU
Thursday, 23 May 2013 16:36
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Bruce Springsteen in 1984 took a huge risk in his career. He unplugged and recorded into a four track cassette... http://t.co/hDQePfLrP3
Thursday, 23 May 2013 13:51
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Girls Guns and GloryWe love "Dirty Water". For only $1 you can help "Dirty Water" love back. Support the victims... http://t.co/j8RpAlypR3
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 19:24
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In the Alternate Root TV Studio today...the one and only Luke Winslow-King. There's a good reason that NPR, The... http://t.co/NT8zcT8bG1
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 12:30
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ALTERNATE ROOT TV - IN THE STUDIO
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ERIC BRACE AND PETER COOPER IN THE ALTERNATE ROOT ...
As we eagerly await the arrival of the new Eric Brace and Peter Cooper album " The Comeback Album " (although for us, they've never left) we decided as a right of Spring we'd pull...
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LITTLEWOLF - IN THE STUDIO
Rising from the fertile music ground of Lubbock, Texas, blues rockers Littlewolf perform their track 20 Lies Ago from the Alternate Root TV studio in Boston. Kristi Clanton, a...
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CORB LUND - IN THE ALTERNATE ROOT TV STUDIO
Canadian singer/songwriter Corb Lund performs songs from his latest release "Cabin Fever" at The Family Wash in East Nashville. Lund is an extraordinary songwriter with a powe...
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OVER THE RHINE - IN THE ALTERNATE ROOT TV STUDIO
We're not quite sure (neither were Karin or Linford when they performed it) if it's actually going to be called Sacred Ground but here's an unreleased, unrecorded song by the ...
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