Americana
Austin City Limits TV Season 46 Premieres with John Prine Tribute Episode: Watch
Season 46 of Austin City Limits TV premiered over the weekend with a tribute to John Prine, who died in April after contracting COVID-19. The special hour-long episode compiled highlights from the late singer-songwriter’s eight appearances on the long-running series over a span of 40 years. Entitled “The Best of John Prine”, the episode opened with a message from a modern torchbearer of Prine’s songwriting style, Jason Isbell. “If the artist’s job is to hold up a mirror to society, John Prine had the cleanest and the clearest of anyone I’ve ever known,” said Isbell, who previously participated in a livestream tribute to Prine over the summer. “Sometimes it seemed he had a window, and he would climb right through.” From there, the performances proceeded chronologically, starting with a 1978...
John Prine Performs “Sam Stone” in Previously Unaired Austin City Limits TV Clip: Watch
Austin City Limits TV returns this weekend with the launch of its 46th season. While new episodes began filming in studio sans audience earlier this month, the season premiere will actually focus on archival footage. Specifically, the episode will be a retrospective celebration of the late John Prine, featuring selections from his impressive eight ACL appearances. Spanning five decades from Prine’s first solo acoustic set in 1978 to his final one in 2018, the footage includes one previously unaired clip from 1987. It finds the country folk great singing his classic elegy for a drug addicted veteran, “Sam Stone”. Ahead of the ACL TV season premiere on October 3rd, this rare performance is being shared today. Before going into the track from his 1971 self-titled debut, Prine did what he did ...
Birttany Howard Gets Remixed by Bon Iver and EARTHGANG: Stream
Bon Iver (photo by Graham Tolbert & Eric Carlson), Brittany Howard (photo by Bobbi Rich), and EARTHGANG (photo by Grizz) It’s been nearly a year since Brittany Howard delivered her debut solo album, Jamie. To celebrate its impending anniversary, the Alabama Shakes frontwoman has announced a new remix collection featuring a number of artists putting their own spins her music. Though a due date for the ATO Records release has yet to be revealed, two sample remixes have been shared as an early preview. The first comes from Atlanta rap duo (and former Artists of the Month) EARTHGANG. The pair add their own verses to Howard’s tale of growing up in the South, “Goat Head”, turning the song “into a bold anthem for 2020’s social justice movement,” as a press release puts it. “Songs like these h...
R.I.P. Justin Townes Earle, Singer-Songwriter Dies at 38
Singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle has died at the age of 38. “It is with tremendous sadness that we inform you of the passing of our son, husband, father and friend Justin,” read a statement posted to the musician’s social media. “So many of you have relied on his music and lyrics over the years and we hope that his music will continue to guide you on your journeys.” A cause of death was not immediately made available. Justin Townes Earle was the son of country legend Steve Earle, who named him after his own musical mentor, Townes van Zandt. The father and son had a complicated relationship; Steve left Justin’s mother when he was only two years old. After Steve got sober, however, Justin returned to live with his father and became immersed in Nashville’s music scene. As a teenager, Jus...
Dawes Yearn For Home On New Song “St. Augustine At Night”: Stream
This fall marks the arrival of GOOD LUCK WITH WHATEVER, the newest studio album from folk rock outfit Dawes. Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell), the nine-track LP is being previewed today with a single called “St. Augustine at Night”. Quiet and reflective in tone, it… Please click the link below to read the full article. Dawes Yearn For Home On New Song “St. Augustine At Night”: Stream Lake Schatz You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet rev...
Charley Crockett Shares the Origins of New Single “Fool Somebody Else”: Stream
Our new music feature Origins finds bands giving listeners a bit of an inside scoop on their latest single. Today, Charley Crockett wants you to “Fool Somebody Else”. When a songwriter sings of woe and heartbreak, we want to believe them. We want, in some part, to believe that this person has really gone through the wringer of life, and what we’re hearing is all that adversity spilling out. It’s not that we’d ever wish such hardships on a person, only that if they’ve experienced it, we can feel it in their songs. Well, there’s no doubt that you can feel it in the songs on Charley Crockett’s new album, Welcome to Hard Times. The country musician has been through homelessness, felony stints, family addiction, and the struggle of being an independent artist. Even with all that behin...
Courtney Marie Andrews’ Old Flowers Finds Growth in Moving On: Review
The Lowdown: Old Flowers, Courtney Marie Andrews’ fifth full-length LP, is an album about heartbreak and growth. After a nine-year relationship that began at the tender age of nineteen, Andrews realized it was time for her to move on and grow on her own. In her own words, “Anytime I felt like myself, I was alone and wandering, and I knew that was a sign that it was time for change.” This is a tale as old as time for many, when you realize the love you share with someone cannot grow anymore. As Andrews puts it herself in the title track, “You can’t water old flowers,” meaning, you can’t force something to grow that’s already dead. Andrews understood it was time to take the reins of her life herself, as scary as that would be, and she does this with as much grace as possible on her new album...
Dawes Announce New Album, Share “Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?”: Stream
Dawes have today announced the October 2nd release of a new album called Good Luck with Whatever. In anticipation, they’ve shared the lead single, “Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?”. Marking the band’s seventh full-length overall, Good Luck with Whatever is the band’s first with new label Rounder Records. It follows a series of self-released records including 2018’s Passwords, 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die, and 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands. For Good Luck with Whatever, Dawes teamed with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb (Brandi Carlile, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit) at Nashville’s landmark RCA Studio A. According to a press statement from frontman Taylor Goldsmith, the recording process saw him opening up more to his bandmates’ input: “In the past, I’ve definitely been mo...
The Chicks’ Gaslighter Galvanizes The Trio’s Long-Awaited Return: Review
The Lowdown: The most infamous act in country music, The Chicks (formerly known as the Dixie Chicks), stopped releasing new music 14 years ago, after their seventh album, Taking the Long Way, netted five Grammys. These included Album of the Year, plus Record of the Year and Song of the Year for “Not Ready to Make Nice”, which settled any lingering questions about whether they regretted their 2003 criticism of George W. Bush (they did not). Gaslighter marks the trio’s official return, and a lot has changed, both in the surrounding world and in the sound of The Chicks’ music. But some crucial elements remain the same: their attention is firmly focused ahead of them and on the things they care for. In the songs that focus on deteriorating relationships, and notably lead singer Natalie Maines’...
The Chicks Perform “March March”, Talk Dropping “Dixie” on Colbert: Watch
When the pandemic hit and lockdown was initiated, Stephen Colbert was forced to abandon the iconic Ed Sullivan Theater. His last guests scheduled to appear at the New York City landmark were the then-named Dixie Chicks, but they were understandably bumped in favor of CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta. On Thursday night, the group now called just The Chicks were finally able to make up that missed appearance on The Late Show with a remote performance of “March March” and a discussion about their new moniker. Asked why they’d chosen now to drop “Dixie” from their name, lead singer Natalie Maines said a change was always in the works. “Well, it’s because of everything that’s going on in the world. It was about time; we’ve wanted to change it for a long time, actually,” she explaine...
Margo Price Premieres New Album That’s How Rumors Get Started: Stream
Country singer-songwriter Margo Price has released her third album, That’s How Rumors Get Started, on Loma Vista. You can stream it below via Apple Music or Spotify. For a high-definition listening experience, you can sign up for a 60-day free trial of TIDAL HiFi. That’s How Rumors Get Started was initially slated for release on May 8th, though like many musicians, Price postponed the date due to the coronavirus pandemic. But fans can rest assured that the wait is worth it: in our album review, we called it a “valid look at what it means to make a country record in a modern landscape of country-pop,” making it feel expansive enough for everyday listening. It’s a theme that is evident in the LP’s previously released singles, “Letting Me Down,” “Stone Me,” and “Twinkle Twinkle”. T...
My Morning Jacket’s The Waterfall II Offers a Slice of Thoughtful Summer Escapism: Review
The Lowdown: In our diseased and never-ending present, 2015 feels like a hell of a lot longer ago than just five years. That April, My Morning Jacket released The Waterfall, a record that our Sheldon Pearce praised for its “stunning sonic scenery” and “perceptive, generation-bending kind of songwriting about lost love and nostalgia.” In addition to producing their best-received record since 2005’s breakthrough, Z, the sessions at Panoramic House in Stinson, CA, also produced a second album’s worth of material that Jim James and company decided to save until they needed them most. At the time, James told critic Steven Hyden in an interview for Grantland that “the two records aren’t related or anything” and that he “[didn’t] want to put it out as, like, The Waterfall 2 or anything like that....
