Breaking Thru
Discovery is the lifeblood of music. In Breaking Thru we give a listen to independent artists that are making music that needs to be heard. Please give a listen, follow, and support DIY performers.
Matt Joe Gow (from the album Between Tonight & Tomorrow available on Matt Joe Gow/Checked Label Services) (by Danny McCloskey)
Melbourne, New Zealand-based songman Matt Joe Gow presents a new release, Between Tonight & Tomorrow, the title track a dreamy meandering dose of isolation-breaking inspiration, backed by metronome worthy guitar strums. A pounded beat and rattling tambourine are a pied piper rhythm that leads into Between Tonight & Tomorrow on opening cut “Shipwreck”. Matt Joe Gow possesses the pen of a Folk singer, his words a faithful companion to help find the lines marking the separations of death and rebirth. The haunting tone of Between Tonight and Tomorrow is a perfect fit for the Folk Rock sensibilities of a Matt Joe Gow tune. The seductive strum of an acoustic guitar bends into a Country-Honk ala The Rolling Stones for “Nyjj” as Joe Gow’s backing band, The Dead Leaves, add heft to “Sweet Collapse”. A Country rattle sways the story of “’Til My Whole Heart Bursts” as encouragement offers “Go Ahead, Celebrate” while Matt Joe Gow predicts weather in “Like the Rains” and follows a harmonica clarion call as he heads south in “We Are Born” and exits Between Tonight & Tomorrow on the slow trudge of “Closing In”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to the Matt Joe Gow on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Matt Joe Gow website
Ernie Vincent (from the album Original Dap King on Cornelius Chapel Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Though a fixture on the New Orleans music scene since the early 1970’s, Ernie Vincent is a virtually unknown player. Born in Thibodeaux, Louisiana in 1945, and backed by his band, The Top Notes, Ernie Vincent has made a career of being a more-than-capable sideman for performers touring through New Orleans such as Ernie K-Doe, Solomon Burke, Rufus Thomas, ZZ Hill, and many other R&B acts. Original Dap King, the recent release from Ernie Vincent, puts the singer/guitarist center stage. Produced by Bronson Tew (album drummer) and Mike Patton (guitar duties), Ernie Vincent enlisted Southern musical shaman Jimbo Mathus to lead a band that included Jimbo’s Squirrel Nut Zipper horn section. Original Dap King follows funky guitar licks and seductive harmonies into opening cut “Body Shop” as Ernie Vincent sings of a “Midnight Rendezvous” while an edgy noir melody wraps a sense of danger around “Black” and a jury of harmonies declares “Guilty”. Visiting “Seven Sisters” on a late-night Blues crawl Original Dap King warns of “Possession” and “Jealousy” while Ernie Vincent offers a solace to the children of a broken marriage in “Mr. Good Daddy”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Ernie Vincent on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Ernie Vincent website
Kendall Lujan (from the EP Kendall Lujan on American Standard Times Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Finding a lover ‘in my head and not in my bed’, Kendall Lujan bares her soul in the pleas of “Another”, one of a handful of cuts she gathers together for her recent self-titled E.P. release. Relocating from Bellingham, Washington to a current homebase of Portland, Oregon, Kendall Lujan opens the E.P. bearing “Forget Me-Knots”. Offering consolation Kendall Lujan spells out “Dot My I’s” on a triphammer beat while she floats through a dreamy melodic cloud singing/speaking a personal overview against the Jazzy musical touches for “Getting Old”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Kendall Lujan on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Kendall Lujan website
Rhythm Krewe (from the album Unfinished Business on RhombusRecords) (by Danny McCloskey)
SoCal’s Rhythm Krewe begin the song cycle on their latest release, Unfinished Business, on the Jump Blues classic “She Moves Me” from Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. The smooth sound of uptown Blues, Swing, and late-night jams soundtrack Unfinished Business. The Rhythm Krewe offer a Chicago shuffle to James Cotton’s “She’s Murder” as the band play a floor-filler with the hot sauce rhumba of “One Hell from Another”, keeping the beat in place in as the Unfinished Business adds some Blues to the rhumba for Professor Longhair’s “Her Mind is Gone”. Piano noodling stretches out to open for “Sweet Surrender” as Rhythm Krewe strut and stride across “Prescription for Disaster”, sink into molasses-slow 12-Bar Blues in “Time of Day” while Unfinished Business exits on the Funky fun of “Monkey Toes”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Rhythm Krewe on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Rhythm Krewe website
Jr Williams (from the album Railroad Town available on Mountain Fever Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The sweet Bluegrass strains of Jr Williams open Railroad Town, his latest release, on the fat-paced promise found in Lester Flatt’s “Gonna Settle Down”. Jr Williams strums rhythms as his voice soars and bends on the tracks of Rail Railroad Town as the music sways under Del McCoury’s “I Feel the Earth Moving In” and the beat follows the bass thump in “Can I Go Home with You”. Jr Williams leads an A-list band of players effortlessly, the playing tight as a loose fitting T-Shirt, wrapping around you without tightening a grip. Railroad Town is alive with the sound of a live band, the rhythm trudging alongside the bad news of “Railroad Town Without a Train” as it high-steps with the harmonies of “Worried Man Blues” while Jr Williams goes back to the past for the tale in “For No Good Reason”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to the Jr Williams on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Jr Williams website
Casey Penn (from the album One Step Away on Mountain Fever Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The voice of Casey Penn is rich. Its heft controlled so it floats like a feather over One Step Away, her recent release. Her vocals are part of a A-list assembly of players, never feeling the need to rise above, Casey Penn uses her instrument to tell a family tale of love and music for “We Got Together Like a Guitar and A Fiddle” as she lets words to challenge and inspire for “How to Bend”. A sad Blues touches the Folk acoustics chill of “One Step Away” while a lonely waltz spins under the duet of “Would These Arms Get in Your Way” and waves of pain push the story in “Oceans”. Casey Penn tells the tale of searching on Bluegrass of “Chasing Rainbows” as she wanders with an uprooted family in “Journey to Providence”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Casey Penn on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Casey Penn website
Melbourne, New Zealand-based songman Matt Joe Gow presents a new release, Between Tonight & Tomorrow, the title track a dreamy meandering dose of isolation-breaking inspiration, backed by metronome worthy guitar strums. A pounded beat and rattling tambourine are a pied piper rhythm that leads into Between Tonight & Tomorrow on opening cut “Shipwreck”. Matt Joe Gow possesses the pen of a Folk singer, his words a faithful companion to help find the lines marking the separations of death and rebirth. The haunting tone of Between Tonight and Tomorrow is a perfect fit for the Folk Rock sensibilities of a Matt Joe Gow tune. The seductive strum of an acoustic guitar bends into a Country-Honk ala The Rolling Stones for “Nyjj” as Joe Gow’s backing band, The Dead Leaves, add heft to “Sweet Collapse”. A Country rattle sways the story of “’Til My Whole Heart Bursts” as encouragement offers “Go Ahead, Celebrate” while Matt Joe Gow predicts weather in “Like the Rains” and follows a harmonica clarion call as he heads south in “We Are Born” and exits Between Tonight & Tomorrow on the slow trudge of “Closing In”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to the Matt Joe Gow on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Matt Joe Gow website
Ernie Vincent (from the album Original Dap King on Cornelius Chapel Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Though a fixture on the New Orleans music scene since the early 1970’s, Ernie Vincent is a virtually unknown player. Born in Thibodeaux, Louisiana in 1945, and backed by his band, The Top Notes, Ernie Vincent has made a career of being a more-than-capable sideman for performers touring through New Orleans such as Ernie K-Doe, Solomon Burke, Rufus Thomas, ZZ Hill, and many other R&B acts. Original Dap King, the recent release from Ernie Vincent, puts the singer/guitarist center stage. Produced by Bronson Tew (album drummer) and Mike Patton (guitar duties), Ernie Vincent enlisted Southern musical shaman Jimbo Mathus to lead a band that included Jimbo’s Squirrel Nut Zipper horn section. Original Dap King follows funky guitar licks and seductive harmonies into opening cut “Body Shop” as Ernie Vincent sings of a “Midnight Rendezvous” while an edgy noir melody wraps a sense of danger around “Black” and a jury of harmonies declares “Guilty”. Visiting “Seven Sisters” on a late-night Blues crawl Original Dap King warns of “Possession” and “Jealousy” while Ernie Vincent offers a solace to the children of a broken marriage in “Mr. Good Daddy”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Ernie Vincent on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Ernie Vincent website
Kendall Lujan (from the EP Kendall Lujan on American Standard Times Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Finding a lover ‘in my head and not in my bed’, Kendall Lujan bares her soul in the pleas of “Another”, one of a handful of cuts she gathers together for her recent self-titled E.P. release. Relocating from Bellingham, Washington to a current homebase of Portland, Oregon, Kendall Lujan opens the E.P. bearing “Forget Me-Knots”. Offering consolation Kendall Lujan spells out “Dot My I’s” on a triphammer beat while she floats through a dreamy melodic cloud singing/speaking a personal overview against the Jazzy musical touches for “Getting Old”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Kendall Lujan on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Kendall Lujan website
Rhythm Krewe (from the album Unfinished Business on RhombusRecords) (by Danny McCloskey)
SoCal’s Rhythm Krewe begin the song cycle on their latest release, Unfinished Business, on the Jump Blues classic “She Moves Me” from Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson. The smooth sound of uptown Blues, Swing, and late-night jams soundtrack Unfinished Business. The Rhythm Krewe offer a Chicago shuffle to James Cotton’s “She’s Murder” as the band play a floor-filler with the hot sauce rhumba of “One Hell from Another”, keeping the beat in place in as the Unfinished Business adds some Blues to the rhumba for Professor Longhair’s “Her Mind is Gone”. Piano noodling stretches out to open for “Sweet Surrender” as Rhythm Krewe strut and stride across “Prescription for Disaster”, sink into molasses-slow 12-Bar Blues in “Time of Day” while Unfinished Business exits on the Funky fun of “Monkey Toes”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Rhythm Krewe on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Rhythm Krewe website
Jr Williams (from the album Railroad Town available on Mountain Fever Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The sweet Bluegrass strains of Jr Williams open Railroad Town, his latest release, on the fat-paced promise found in Lester Flatt’s “Gonna Settle Down”. Jr Williams strums rhythms as his voice soars and bends on the tracks of Rail Railroad Town as the music sways under Del McCoury’s “I Feel the Earth Moving In” and the beat follows the bass thump in “Can I Go Home with You”. Jr Williams leads an A-list band of players effortlessly, the playing tight as a loose fitting T-Shirt, wrapping around you without tightening a grip. Railroad Town is alive with the sound of a live band, the rhythm trudging alongside the bad news of “Railroad Town Without a Train” as it high-steps with the harmonies of “Worried Man Blues” while Jr Williams goes back to the past for the tale in “For No Good Reason”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to the Jr Williams on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Jr Williams website
Casey Penn (from the album One Step Away on Mountain Fever Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The voice of Casey Penn is rich. Its heft controlled so it floats like a feather over One Step Away, her recent release. Her vocals are part of a A-list assembly of players, never feeling the need to rise above, Casey Penn uses her instrument to tell a family tale of love and music for “We Got Together Like a Guitar and A Fiddle” as she lets words to challenge and inspire for “How to Bend”. A sad Blues touches the Folk acoustics chill of “One Step Away” while a lonely waltz spins under the duet of “Would These Arms Get in Your Way” and waves of pain push the story in “Oceans”. Casey Penn tells the tale of searching on Bluegrass of “Chasing Rainbows” as she wanders with an uprooted family in “Journey to Providence”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Casey Penn on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Casey Penn website
