BREAKING THRU
|
The Makers Out (from the album Bloodlines/Hope available from The Makers Out/Trip the Fan Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The revolving soundscape around “Holy Water” gives the feeling that the melodies are opening up like a flower greeting dawn. The tune begins the song cycle for The Makers Out, and their recent release, Bloodlines/Hope. The sound of the track sets the standard for Bloodlines/Hope. Meandering moods captured in the music when a Jazzy melody floats across “Emerald Fireflies” and the light/dark of the rhythms that move from ambient to hammering for “Golden Driller”. The Makers Out is a musical project rising up from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Supported by Tulsa’s A-list musical session players, group leader Scott Bell feels Bloodlines/Hope ‘is about ancestral reverence and integration, land honoring, flower culture, indigenous European and American music, landscapes, death, rebirth, and shocking colorful textures of sound and light. This project is about ceremony and opening portals to other dimensions of the self’. The reverence can be heard throughout the musical fabric of the album when The Makers Out discuss “Psychic Geography” and “Religion”, ride a wave of jangle to shout “Hallelujah” over a Rock’n’Roll beat, and exit the album carrying “Five Hundred Pounds of Memory” on a dream soundscape. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to The Makers Out on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on The Makers Out website
Jubal Lee Young (from the album Wild Birds Warble available as a self-release) (by Danny McCloskey)
Introducing the collection of tunes for his latest release, Wild Birds Warble, Jubal Lee Young begins the song cycle with “The White Trash Song”. Part spoken-word poetry hanging on a runaway-train rhythms, Jubal Lee Young speaks and shouts the story, setting the standard for Wild Birds Warble. Bringing a darkness to David Olney’s “Deeper Well” and a tired shuffle to “Traveling Man”, the album captures a passion and presence that gives the string band-infected Folk tracks an edge. For his new album, Jubal Lee Young penned only one cut (“Angel with a Broken Heart” for the release, relying on five tracks from his dad, Steve Young, including the Eagle hit “Seven Bridges Road”. He borrows the story of “Carmelita” from Warren Zevon, borrowing again from the David Olney catalog for “If My Eyes Were Blind”, and exits Wild Birds Warble on Mickey Newbury’s Why You Been Gone So Long”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Jubal Lee Young on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Jubal Lee Young website
Katie Mae & The Lubrication (from the album The Sighs & Strengths available on No Tilt Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Southwest desert psychedelia soundtracks The Sighs & Strengths. The album is the latest release from Phoenix, Arizona’s Katie Mae & The Lubrication. A drifting desert wind wraps around “Far as I Can Tell” while determined acoustic chords begin the marching beat for “Toby’s Ride”. The tale in “Quittin’ Time” is a rambling stream of consciousness where Katie Mae juggles options while The Lubrication support “Dandelion” with a hefty backbeat, spin a reel for “To Live and Die (In Phoenix)”, and hear the confessional poor decisions in “Hard Enough” with honky tonk Rock’n’Roll Country. Bordering the album tracks, Katie Mae & The Lubrication open on thick notes and a dark rumble of a rhythm with “Hot Stakes”, exiting The Sighs & Strengths counting “9 Hopes” on a dreamy melody. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Katie Mae & The Lubrication on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Katie Mae & The Lubrication website
Moonsville Collective (from the album A Hundred Highways on Rock Ridge Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)
With their fourth album to date, the far-reaching A Hundred Highways, Moonsville Collective again make it clear that even with their devotion to true Bluegrass precepts, they still possess a tremendous potential for attracting a mainstream mandate regardless of their reverence for traditional Roots. In fact, it’s little wonder. After all, they provide all the essential elements needed when it comes to attracting contemporary credence. They include a series of stirring arrangements, tight-knit harmonies, and songs that are all at once emotive, evocative and expressive.
That said, one of the major secrets of their success has to do with the fact that along with their devotion to form, they don’t negate a true appreciation for melody and invention. There are several obvious examples —the upbeat album opener “Ain’t Got a Home”, the somewhat silly and celebratory “I Like Drinking Beer”, the spare and solitary “Done Wrong”, and the melancholy melody that wafts through “Don’t Worry”. It’s further proved by an ongoing variation in tone and treatment. For example, a singular take on Leadbelly’s “Relax Your Mind” offers an added impact on their repertoire, just as the rousing instrumental “Mission Control” and the classical conceits of “Long Gone” manage to further affirm the band’s diversity as far as direction.
Mostly though, Moonsville Collective trade on an easy accessibility, as borne by songs such as “You Go Your Way” and “Helen Highway” in particular. Indeed, A Hundred Highways affirms the fact this is one bluegrass band that’s easily established its own way forward.
(by Lee Zimmerman)
Listen to Moonsville Collective on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Moonsville Collective website
Stoll Vaughan (from the album Dream in Color on Commonwealth Artists) (by Lee Zimmerman)
Stoll Vaughan makes an emphatic impression with his descriptively titled new album, Dream in Color, resulting in a sound that’s somewhat sad and sublime, and yet tender and touching nevertheless. The closest sound comparisons suggest Eric Andersen’s Blue River, Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks or any number of albums by Townes Van Zant, Leonard Cohen, or James McMurtry, at least in terms of its series of melancholy melodies. Nevertheless, each is so immensely affecting, they stand out on their own. When Vaughan laments ‘just another day slipping away’ (“Just Another Day”), considers the futility of fighting things that are predetermined (“Fate”) or describes the pain of lost love (“Thick of It”), the candid confessions leave little doubt as to his willingness to effectively express his emotions and allow his listeners to engage with them as well.
While that may seem like a somewhat sobering proposition, the songs are so beautifully rendered it’s hard not to be drawn in by the music’s compelling caress. That’s hardly a surprise considering Vaughan’s previous pursuits — including tours with Marty Stuart, John Mellencamp, and John Fogerty, success at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival songwriting competition and song placements in film and television — have made for an impressive imprint on his resume. It’s reflected in the caliber of the new album’s contributors — among them, Duane Betts, who’s featured on “Fate”; Dane Clark of John Mellencamp’s band on drums; Sheryl Crow and Allman Betts keyboardist John Ginty; Grace Potter’s Mike Grosser on bass; and Duane Betts and Allman Betts Band alumni Johnny Stachela on slide.
In fact, there’s not one track here that doesn’t rank as a singular standout. “Farmer’s Almanac” takes a plucky sort of rhythm in its expression of rural realities. (“Ya gotta get right with your Jesus before he slips out the back.”) “Dreams In Color” is sweetly surreal, while the assertive “Brother James” is carried along on a steady stride. A Dylan-esque “Killing Floor” (think “Highway 61” revisited) takes its cue from the blues.
Articulate and arresting, beautiful and beguiling, these songs are unfailingly alluring from beginning to end. In a sense, they sound like standards, as if they’ve forever circulated in the ether and are only now being brought to light. An exceptional album, it provides proof positive that Stoll Vaughan is an artist whose time has clearly come. (by Lee Zimmerman)
Listen to Stoll Vaughan on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Stoll Vaughan website
The revolving soundscape around “Holy Water” gives the feeling that the melodies are opening up like a flower greeting dawn. The tune begins the song cycle for The Makers Out, and their recent release, Bloodlines/Hope. The sound of the track sets the standard for Bloodlines/Hope. Meandering moods captured in the music when a Jazzy melody floats across “Emerald Fireflies” and the light/dark of the rhythms that move from ambient to hammering for “Golden Driller”. The Makers Out is a musical project rising up from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Supported by Tulsa’s A-list musical session players, group leader Scott Bell feels Bloodlines/Hope ‘is about ancestral reverence and integration, land honoring, flower culture, indigenous European and American music, landscapes, death, rebirth, and shocking colorful textures of sound and light. This project is about ceremony and opening portals to other dimensions of the self’. The reverence can be heard throughout the musical fabric of the album when The Makers Out discuss “Psychic Geography” and “Religion”, ride a wave of jangle to shout “Hallelujah” over a Rock’n’Roll beat, and exit the album carrying “Five Hundred Pounds of Memory” on a dream soundscape. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to The Makers Out on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on The Makers Out website
Jubal Lee Young (from the album Wild Birds Warble available as a self-release) (by Danny McCloskey)
Introducing the collection of tunes for his latest release, Wild Birds Warble, Jubal Lee Young begins the song cycle with “The White Trash Song”. Part spoken-word poetry hanging on a runaway-train rhythms, Jubal Lee Young speaks and shouts the story, setting the standard for Wild Birds Warble. Bringing a darkness to David Olney’s “Deeper Well” and a tired shuffle to “Traveling Man”, the album captures a passion and presence that gives the string band-infected Folk tracks an edge. For his new album, Jubal Lee Young penned only one cut (“Angel with a Broken Heart” for the release, relying on five tracks from his dad, Steve Young, including the Eagle hit “Seven Bridges Road”. He borrows the story of “Carmelita” from Warren Zevon, borrowing again from the David Olney catalog for “If My Eyes Were Blind”, and exits Wild Birds Warble on Mickey Newbury’s Why You Been Gone So Long”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Jubal Lee Young on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Jubal Lee Young website
Katie Mae & The Lubrication (from the album The Sighs & Strengths available on No Tilt Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Southwest desert psychedelia soundtracks The Sighs & Strengths. The album is the latest release from Phoenix, Arizona’s Katie Mae & The Lubrication. A drifting desert wind wraps around “Far as I Can Tell” while determined acoustic chords begin the marching beat for “Toby’s Ride”. The tale in “Quittin’ Time” is a rambling stream of consciousness where Katie Mae juggles options while The Lubrication support “Dandelion” with a hefty backbeat, spin a reel for “To Live and Die (In Phoenix)”, and hear the confessional poor decisions in “Hard Enough” with honky tonk Rock’n’Roll Country. Bordering the album tracks, Katie Mae & The Lubrication open on thick notes and a dark rumble of a rhythm with “Hot Stakes”, exiting The Sighs & Strengths counting “9 Hopes” on a dreamy melody. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen to Katie Mae & The Lubrication on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Katie Mae & The Lubrication website
Moonsville Collective (from the album A Hundred Highways on Rock Ridge Records) (by Lee Zimmerman)
With their fourth album to date, the far-reaching A Hundred Highways, Moonsville Collective again make it clear that even with their devotion to true Bluegrass precepts, they still possess a tremendous potential for attracting a mainstream mandate regardless of their reverence for traditional Roots. In fact, it’s little wonder. After all, they provide all the essential elements needed when it comes to attracting contemporary credence. They include a series of stirring arrangements, tight-knit harmonies, and songs that are all at once emotive, evocative and expressive.
That said, one of the major secrets of their success has to do with the fact that along with their devotion to form, they don’t negate a true appreciation for melody and invention. There are several obvious examples —the upbeat album opener “Ain’t Got a Home”, the somewhat silly and celebratory “I Like Drinking Beer”, the spare and solitary “Done Wrong”, and the melancholy melody that wafts through “Don’t Worry”. It’s further proved by an ongoing variation in tone and treatment. For example, a singular take on Leadbelly’s “Relax Your Mind” offers an added impact on their repertoire, just as the rousing instrumental “Mission Control” and the classical conceits of “Long Gone” manage to further affirm the band’s diversity as far as direction.
Mostly though, Moonsville Collective trade on an easy accessibility, as borne by songs such as “You Go Your Way” and “Helen Highway” in particular. Indeed, A Hundred Highways affirms the fact this is one bluegrass band that’s easily established its own way forward.
(by Lee Zimmerman)
Listen to Moonsville Collective on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on the Moonsville Collective website
Stoll Vaughan (from the album Dream in Color on Commonwealth Artists) (by Lee Zimmerman)
Stoll Vaughan makes an emphatic impression with his descriptively titled new album, Dream in Color, resulting in a sound that’s somewhat sad and sublime, and yet tender and touching nevertheless. The closest sound comparisons suggest Eric Andersen’s Blue River, Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks or any number of albums by Townes Van Zant, Leonard Cohen, or James McMurtry, at least in terms of its series of melancholy melodies. Nevertheless, each is so immensely affecting, they stand out on their own. When Vaughan laments ‘just another day slipping away’ (“Just Another Day”), considers the futility of fighting things that are predetermined (“Fate”) or describes the pain of lost love (“Thick of It”), the candid confessions leave little doubt as to his willingness to effectively express his emotions and allow his listeners to engage with them as well.
While that may seem like a somewhat sobering proposition, the songs are so beautifully rendered it’s hard not to be drawn in by the music’s compelling caress. That’s hardly a surprise considering Vaughan’s previous pursuits — including tours with Marty Stuart, John Mellencamp, and John Fogerty, success at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival songwriting competition and song placements in film and television — have made for an impressive imprint on his resume. It’s reflected in the caliber of the new album’s contributors — among them, Duane Betts, who’s featured on “Fate”; Dane Clark of John Mellencamp’s band on drums; Sheryl Crow and Allman Betts keyboardist John Ginty; Grace Potter’s Mike Grosser on bass; and Duane Betts and Allman Betts Band alumni Johnny Stachela on slide.
In fact, there’s not one track here that doesn’t rank as a singular standout. “Farmer’s Almanac” takes a plucky sort of rhythm in its expression of rural realities. (“Ya gotta get right with your Jesus before he slips out the back.”) “Dreams In Color” is sweetly surreal, while the assertive “Brother James” is carried along on a steady stride. A Dylan-esque “Killing Floor” (think “Highway 61” revisited) takes its cue from the blues.
Articulate and arresting, beautiful and beguiling, these songs are unfailingly alluring from beginning to end. In a sense, they sound like standards, as if they’ve forever circulated in the ether and are only now being brought to light. An exceptional album, it provides proof positive that Stoll Vaughan is an artist whose time has clearly come. (by Lee Zimmerman)
Listen to Stoll Vaughan on Spotify
Find more information and purchase options on Stoll Vaughan website