independent thoughts on indie rock, alternative, and indie pop music
“It’s always nice to play in the southeast,” says David Rawlings as he watches the snow fall outside of his east Nashville home and prepares to go on tour in support of his latest album, Poor David’s Almanack. “There are a lot of people here who connect with the same music we connect with,” he... Continue Reading →
When you finally get a chance to see a group you’ve liked for years perform live for the first time, the excitement and anticipation is next level. You spend more time getting ready. You rush your friends out the door so you’re sure to get a good vantage point. You’re amped the minute you walk... Continue Reading →
“Check, check, and check, Check all those boxes,” reveals Nashville’s JD McPherson when asked about the pressures he faced when making his new record, Undivided Heart & Soul, out now via New West Records. “I’m a compulsive worrier,” he admits. “I’m confident in my taste, and I have, at the same time, this incredibly crippling... Continue Reading →
If you’ve never heard of Glossary, you can be forgiven for it. The Murfreesboro, Tennessee-based band hasn’t played a show in quite a few years, but Glossary is probably a favorite band of several of your favorite Americana bands. John Moreland is a fan. Two Cow Garage. Austin Lucas. Lucero (with whom they even shared... Continue Reading →
Having stretched my musical muscles the night before, I was prepared for a marathon of artist talent coming up on the second day of the MEMPHO Music Festival. It only took a quick look at the lineup to see that the Saturday’s performers boasted strong ties to the Memphis and Tennessee music scene. Friday night at... Continue Reading →
Southern California rootstastic string outfit Moonsville Collective, purveyors of what they call “California Goodtime,” got their start by sitting in on jug band and old-time music circles where an infectious and pure spirit of “music for music’s sake” lived, and injecting that same spirit into their songs and their lives became their quest. Before 2017, the band... Continue Reading →
Nick Pankey and Kaston Guffey, who seem more like brothers than life-long friends, met each other in the Ozark, Missouri middle school equivalent of home economics class. “It was a great class, and of course we met girls,” says Pankey with a laugh. The pair bonded over music in high school, and made basement recordings... Continue Reading →
With the clear summer sky came a touch of balmy heat that didn’t go unnoticed on the Musicans Corner stage. “Pretty soon we hope that your tears will mingle with the drops of sweat running down your face,” quipped Laura Rogers, who, with her sister Lydia, composes Americana duo The Secret Sisters. “We are going... Continue Reading →
Flying Buffaloes, composed of Barry Stone, Johan Stone, Jordan Harazin (co-frontmen), Danny Pratt (drummer), and Tommy Leland (lead guitarist), blend together the traditional rollicking rhythms of classic country with the unapologetically gritty rock n’ roll wave currently crashing over East Nashville. Their debut, Taking Off, features five tracks of storytelling doused in rich vocal harmony,... Continue Reading →
“You can put one of those records on and it casts a magic spell—you can be somewhere else in some other story. It was an escape,” says Jason Wilber, who discovered Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins and Tom T. Hall in his parents’ record collection as a child. From childhood piano lessons and commandeering his... Continue Reading →
