Don Merckle (from the album Same Devil New Skin available on Angry Unicorn Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Don Merckle leads a charge with opening cut, “Covered in Dirt”, taking the song from a wriggling bass line coaxed by finger snaps into a tenacious Blues boogie with a distorted guitar growl before adding shout-out horns to make a point. All before the one-minute mark for a track that sets the pace for Same Devil New Skin, the recent release from Don Merkle. A snare drum ticks off a somber beat to ride underneath “Murders in This Town” as the Same Devil New Skin title track delivers staggered chord chops to partner with the train-track rhythms and border cantina horns to announce “The Ballad of a Dead Man”.
 
Same Devil New Skin is the Indie soundtrack to a low-budget Sci-fi gem, each tune stand-alone scary yet weaving a tapestry that connects the song cycle of tension that courses through the album. Piano chords are the marching cadence that carries the tale in “The Devil Showed Me His Hand” while a caffeinated groove gets poked by thick organ swells in “Call the Lightning” as ghostly harmonies haunt the melody. Don Merckle makes a request for the details surrounding his demise in “Die in the Country” and Same Devil New Skin hammers a pounding heartbeat to create an edge for the warnings in “Monster in These Hills”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Amy Rigby (from the album Hang in There with Me on Tapate Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
 
For more than a few decades, Amy Rigby has been a Folk Singer. There are many avenues that lead to the Folk song pinnacle; Protest Songs, Sad Songs that leave scar, and fervent messages that incite activism. Amy Rigby fills another integral area of Folk music. A singer that takes what she does seriously but not her topics. Acerbic wit has written the songs of Amy Rigby much more than trends and RIYL assessments. Her recent release, Hang on in There With Me, constructed and recorded by husband Wreckless Eric in the couple’s upstate New York studio, continues her brand as the album deals with what Amy Rigby sees around her, and the realities that greet her each day when her feet hit the floor; mortality, aging, and missteps viewed in her rearview mirror. Determined, don’t-fuck-with-me strums begin “Hell-Oh Sixty”, the first cut on Hang on in There with Me, the soundtrack a Lower East Side take on Folk Rock.
 
Bright guitar chords ground the lyrical flow that signals the end of love with “Bricks” as Amy Rigby describes “Last Night’s Rainbow” on a steady flow of jangly guitar chords while “Requiem” cues up a repetitious beat to support the non-stop lyric assault that points fingers at a personal past. Funky guitar chops push down the pedal to barrel across “Heart is a Muscle” while Hang on in There With Me strums memories for “The Farewell Tour” and Amy Rigby strikes sharp-angled rhythms to make demands in “Bangs”, smirking behind the microphone amid the psychedelic echoes of “Bad in a Good Way”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Greg Copeland (from the E.P. Empire State available on Nel Mezzo Music) (by Danny McCloskey)
The time are a changin’, and Greg Copeland laundry lists the troubles stacking up in his daily life, citing current times as omens when he opens his recent release, Empire State, with first track “Boon Time” as he plays a raggedy Blues bottle slide as the soundtrack for the song. A Folk Singers finger-picking offers its bright notes to the somber tale in “4:49:59” and a Southwestern breeze blows through the desert Country chords in the Empire State title track. Los Angeles, California-based songman Greg Copeland spins a Sonic kaleidoscope of sound to back the songs on Empire State. The album captures the sounds that range from the Hollywood Hills out into the desert span to the east as “Coyotes” have their say while “We the Gathered” percusses the instruments of a tribal gathering as Greg Copeland offers sage advice.  (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Find more information and purchase options on the Greg Copeland website
 
 
Red Spot Rhythm Section (from the album Twilight available as a self-release) (by Danny McCloskey)
 
To open Twilight, the recent release from Red Spot Rhythm Section, the Chicago, Illinois-based band fast-track a Paul Simon tune, putting the African rhythms of Paul’s original onto a spinning wheel that circles the beat to its extremes. That is the perfect introduction to Red Spot Rhythm Section. Quiet chords and hushed rhythms provide an entry into the confessions of “Never Told Her” as a Country sway sets the stride for “Fresh Air” and island beats frenetically wrap around “Win for Losing”. Joshua Siegal, surrounded by a coterie or A-list Chicago players, back the songs of Twilight, the original songs of Joshua mingling with like-minded covers. Riding the rails down to The Crecent City, Red Spot Rhythm Section listen to the train-tracks to keep the beat for “City of New Orleans” as a salvation army band adds Rock’n’Roll guitar for a modern day path to glory with a version of Nick Lowe’s (via Elvis Costello) “Peace, Love, and Understanding”.  (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Sophie Gault (from the album Baltic Street Hotel available on String Place Music) (by Danny McCloskey)
With zero hesitation Sophie Gault roars into her recent release, Baltic Street Hotel, blasting Rock’n’Roll honky tonk beats as she makes plans to “Kick the Devil Away”. If a theme rises above Baltic Street Hotel it is how Sophie Gault takes no shit in any song she writes. The quiet reverbed jangle of “Every Little Bit” showcases a fine-tuned memory bank while a cacophonous rattle wraps sweetly around the admission ‘sick of saying sorry’ that is the topic of “Fixin Things” and “Lately” revolves a rhythm wheel that namechecks the album title in a duet with Gabe Lee. Baltic Street Hotel celebrates “Christmas in the Psych Ward”, wrestles a gnarly riff to introduce “Poet in a Buick” and reminisces as the ‘backroads of your mind’ are illuminated by headlights for “Kid on the Radio”. Sophie Gault voices quiet concerns into “Over & Out”, exiting Baltic Street Hotel as the weather weeps with rain and the radio plays all your favorite songs for the declarations of “Things Are Going Good”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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Find more information and purchase options on the Sophie Gault website