A couple of the good twangy websites have had news of a new Texas Tornados record. It’s due out in in March on Bismeaux Records and is called Esta Bueno. But no one shared an mp3 from the new record yet. Until now that is; here’s “Whose To Blame Senorita”.

Who’s to Blame Senorita

I’m a big Pokey LaFarge fan. I declared his last record one of the best of the year, I hosted a house concert for him in Chicago and I have sung his praises as much as possible. He’d kind of be a lovable loser character if it weren’t for the fact that he tours relentlessly (and successfully). His songs often poke fun at himself and the situations he finds himself in. There’s a fair amount of lovers’ angst and just downright bluesy songs. But Pokey’s presentation, both lyrically and musically, usually finds at least a shred of humor and life in even the most difficult situations.

Pokey’s new record is with a group called the South City Three and is titled Riverboat Soul. You’ll be missing out on some of the best mix of roots, bluegrass, folk and old timey music from this (or any) side of the Mississippi if you pass on this one. Buy it here from Amazon or here for a little cheaper from Free Dirt Records.

La La Blues

I love my fake music blogging job. Writing about such great music day in and day out is inspirational. It really is.

I somehow stumbled upon Walter Spencer and his new record A Sunday Night Roast a couple of weeks ago. It took some work to get this up on the site so I hope you like it.

Walter’s from LA, but his music would be more comfortable in the Appalachian Mountains, or Baton Rouge, or Austin. He plays an odd mix of americana, bluegrass, honky tonk and hippy folk. If this wasn’t recorded in a shack up in the mountains it certainly should have been. I’m not sure of the story behind “Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” but this tale of contraband soap that gets an Orange County man arrested is pretty classic (esp with lyrics like: “was it crack cocaine or heroin or a little bitty bag of dope? nope he had a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap” and “it makes my balls tingle, but it don’t get me high”).

Buy A Sunday Night Roast here through Cd Baby.

Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap

I don’t know if this kid from England just emailed me or if he did a huge blast to every music blogger in town. For selfish reasons I hope I’m the only one, but for his sake I hope he at least hit up all the A-list music blogs. How does a kid like this just appear fully formed, with videos, songs, artwork and beautiful songs (did I say that yet)?

I’m going to give partial credit to the British school system and the rest to endless nights listening to Nick Drake, Felt, Bon Iver, and probably a fair amount of The Smiths.

Here’s Keaton Henson’s humble bio (check out his art as well here):

The songs i’ve put online are 7 of over 100 written since i was in pink converse and wearing headphones at the dinner table (about 16).

The fact that people can hear them is terrifying.

The fact that the people they’re about might hear them is mortifying.

I cannot play stairway to heaven. I struggle with bar chords. My songs are unashamed self indulgence and my only defense is that i didn’t think they would ever be heard.

They were recorded in my bedroom mainly, and occasionally in friendly studios, with help when needed from talented friends and family members.

I started charging for illustration in order to afford studio time. And got carried away.

My plan in the coming months is to release a limited edition cd in case anyone wants one, which would be madness.

I hereby promise not to blog about meals i’ve eaten, cool things ive bought or hilarious videos containing cats. I’m not entirely sure what that leaves to blog about but we’ll have to see.

i think that’ll do for now.

This is the song that struck me first and heaviest (although “Nests” below is steadily gaining ground with every listen).

Sarah Minor

Videos:

“Sarah Minor”

‘Sarah Minor’ from Keaton Henson on Vimeo.

“Nests”

‘Nests’ from Keaton Henson on Vimeo.

Will Kimbrough is known as a modern day musical renaissance man. He has produced, played with, written songs with and performed with all the A-listers in the americana scene and a few that are outside of that scene (namely his work with Jimmy Buffet). I’ve been into his stuff since he first surfaced as leader of Will and the Bushmen. I love his work with the band Daddy and his solo records have been consistently great.

He’s back in 2010 with a new record called Wings. There are a couple references to angels and miracles on the record. But this one that describes the three women in his life as three angels is especially nice. Pre-order Wings now through Village Records here.

Three Angels

If you’re a guy reading this I encourage you not to play this song for your significant other/spouse. If she is anything like mine this will be a complete turnoff. The Legendary Shack Shakers are not afraid to make a ruckus. Their brand of punk infused hillbilly blues has even been taken up a notch on this new record with the presence of a new guitarist and percussion provided by a blacksmith’s forge.

The new album is called Agridustrial and is purported to be fairly political but I think a lot of that may well get lost in the mix and in the band’s rowdy live performances. Here’s “Sin Eater” from the new record.

Sin Eater

The new record from Danny and the Champions of the World has been very widely praised in the UK. It’s just been released (Jan. 25) and already has received major kudos from Mojo, Uncut, Q Magazine, The Independent, The Mail and The London times. But strangely enough a cursury glance at Elbo.ws and Hype turned up nothing. The new record Streets of Our Time is out now on London’s Loose Records which is also home to The Felice Brothers, The Duke and the King, Willard Grant Conspiracy, and The Handsome Family.

The 9 songs on Streets of Our Time share a sound with label mates The Felice Brothers. The band and lead singer Danny Wilson channels Dylan while the music is a blend of alt-country, acoustic folk, and americana. The lead off track “Henry the Van” tells the tale of an old, cranky van that has grown long in the tooth and may have to be retired to the junkyard. It’s a surprisingly bitter sweet song about a van.

Preorder here.

Henry the Van

If you asked me what one of my favorite records of all time is you’d get kind of a strange answer. It would probably be this little record from Bob Cheevers called Gettysburg To Graceland. While it was up for a Grammy in 1998 it was mostly overlooked by music industry types. I couldn’t put my finger on it right at the moment but when I do find it we are going to have a nice reunion that CD and I.

In the meantime Bob Cheevers has a new record out in Europe that will see the light of day here in the states on February 14. It’s a concept album about Texas called Tall Texas Tales. And seeing that certain parts of Texas are also some of my favorite places (namely Austin) it was a no brainer to point this one out to you. Bob Cheevers is a storytelling songwriter and this record (like the title suggests) is full of wonderful stories about Texas and its unique people.

Tall Texas Tales comes out officially on Feb. 14 but you can buy it early now via Cd Baby here.

Texas Is An Only Child

Music Bloggers get a lot of email and that’s the truth. Most are hard sell from bands or promo people with photos, quotes, tour dates, reviews and proclamations of greatness. Here’s just a tiny sampling of artists that sent out overblown pr missives from the last couple of days: Paul Weller, the National, Riley Etheridge, Sander van Doorns, Dynamic Truths, etc, etc, etc. So it’s refreshing to get an email that simply says:

hey there

here’s a copy of my new album: http://jonathanburks.bandcamp.com/

cheers!!

Loudmouth Soup is a record mostly about drinking (of course it’s no surprise then that Jonathan Burks is a resident of Milwaukee). Style wise you get a mix of Billy Bragg, Lou Reed, and Merle Haggard. There’s a little honky-tonk rapping thown in as well. It works. The record is available as a free download here.

Fancy Hobo

Bonus:

It’s On

P.S. I don’t want my mention of Adam Carroll and Michael O’Connor’s record Hard Times to be a one and done situation. But I don’t think I have permission to post another track. So if you missed my review check it out here. More reviews here and here. You can also stream the whole record here.

Take my word on it and buy it here. You won’t be disappointed. Here’s “Bernadine”:

Bernadine

I went a little bit off the deep end for the songs of Jon Jackson about two years ago. As a result I’m now a lifelong fan. So much so that I actually prefer the songs he’s written to any number of cover songs he’s performed over that time. Nonetheless Jon’s latest release is a 5 song EP of Magnetic Fields cover songs. I know those guys have plenty of cult fans so I hope this does well for Jon.

While it’s a pleasure to hear his idiosyncratic voice once again, I just wish these were his songs instead. Jon is selling these handmade creations on his website for $5. Head on over and get a couple or email jon here- jon@trailerparkjackson.com.

Yeah! Oh Yeah!