Nick Lowe featuring Los Straitjackets
Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello-Graham Parker-Pretenders-The Damned), songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart, short-lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician. But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he has no equal.Starting with 1995′s ‘The Impossible Bird’ through to 2011′s ‘The Old Magic,’ Nick has turned out a fantastic string of albums, each one devised in his West London home, and recorded with a core of musicians who possess the same veteran savvy. Lowe brings wit and understated excellence to every performance, leading Ben Ratliff of the New York Times to describe his live show as “elegant and nearly devastating.”Los Straitjackets are the leading practitioners of the lost art of the guitar instrumental. Using the music of the Ventures, The Shadows, and with Link Wray and Dick Dale as a jumping off point, the band has taken their unique, high energy brand of original rock & roll around the world. Clad in their trademark Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling masks, the “Jackets” have delivered their trademark guitar licks to 16 albums, thousands of concerts and dozens of films and TV shows.Together Nick & The Straitjackets have toured extensively around Europe and the United States, and are releasing an EP of new songs in June 2017.Nick Lowe: Website | Facebook Los Straitjackets: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Kym Register + Meltdown Rodeo Album Release Show
Sometimes the process of mining for melody in words eviscerates the raconteur, gutting them like a tornado through a trailer park. Sometimes, “the truth” is a revival of shit rather forgotten, igniting a coward’s desire to look away. With “Meltdown Rodeo,” Kym Register foregoes such consolatory diversions for visceral scrutiny and unbroken stares. The result is a body of tunes that forages the American South, dislodging its ducked bullets from pearly white sand. According to Register, “Scottsboro,” the album’s opener, was years in the making. It recounts the little known history of “The Scottsboro Boys,” nine Black men falsely accused of raping a pair of white women in hyperpyrexic 1930s Alabama. One accuser eventually admitted the allegations were bullshit, but, for Black men in the Jim Crow South (as it is now), any assumptions of guilt are soon proven a permanent brand. Register wails against America’s foremost refrains—jury and peers and whole truths—in lyrics hefty with reconciliation and metaphor. “A blind eye, A blind eye is all justice knows / Of the truth of what happened in Scottsboro / Come on now, this story’s not that old.” Contrary to Register’s demand for account, the American South knows no shame. Balancing the album is Register’s odes to white, working class reckoners—Ella May, Maureen, Soni Wolf—that encase their unsung acts of defiance in mid-tempo rhapsodies. The aptly-titled “Blue” is a diagnosis of Joni Mitchell’s unchecked iconoclasm. Little-known fact: the cover of Joni Mitchell’s 1977 album, Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter, featured Mitchell in a blaxploitation era pimp suit, afro wig, and Blackface. “Blue”’s gutsy call-out challenges the conditions that still allow Mitchell amnesty, even after she traded her counterculture folk for jive turkey racism. Register’s literary acumen leads to exalting lesser-known white, southern, and queer freedom fighters and allowing leftist liberation struggles the air of legend generally reserved for America’s Wild West fetishes. Even in compositions that most closely resemble love songs (like “Water to Wine,” “Some Boy,” and “Traveler’s Cross”) Register never grabs the artificially colored bouquet or strums an acoustic verse to woo a corseted lover. Register prefers thorny things growing amidst the piss weeds, the fist-high, belligerent ballad that heralds love as the heartbeat of change. Register is also contributing a queer lens to the southern rock ethos. By way of supporting cast, Sinclair Palmer (bass), Joe Westerlund (drums), and Matt Phillips categorically deliver. Check out the title track for a perfect example of the band’s ability to travel between gritty responsiveness and tender reflection at Register’s lyrical instruction. Website | Bandcamp | Instagram
The Handsome Family
The Handsome Family’s new record (released Sept, 2023) began with a scream in the night. “It was a bleak winter during the middle of the pandemic,” says Brett Sparks. “One night around 4 a.m. Rennie started screaming in her sleep. She screamed, ‘Come into the circle Joseph! There’s no moon tonight.’ Scary as it was, I thought, man, that’s a good chorus!”The Handsome Family (songwriting and marriage partners Brett and Rennie Sparks) have been defining the dark end of americana for over 30 years. Brett writes the music and Rennie writes the words. Their work has been covered by many artists including Jeff Tweedy, Andrew Bird and most-recently Phoebe Bridgers. Their song “Far From Any Road” was the opening theme for HBO’s True Detective season one and still receives thousands of Shazams every week from all over the world.Handsome Family songs take place under overpasses and inside airports. Historical figures like George A. Custer and Nikola Tesla appear alongside a flying milkman and the whisper of an air conditioner against a plastic tree.Their eleventh studio album, Hollow (out Sep. 8, 2023) delves into the natural world at the edges of the man-made. It is a record lush with leaves and shadows and echoing with occult mystery. It begins with the dream-inspired “Joseph”— full of Mott the Hoople swagger and electric guitar so overdriven it sounds like an organ run through a vacuum cleaner. Next is the haunting “Two Black Shoes” which filters a Portishead groove through the highway motels, homeless encampments and McMansions of post-pandemic America.“I wanted to get an electronic feel with organic drums, “says Brett, “So I chopped up our drummer’s takes into little bits, quantized the beats, and ran those through an Echoplex. I really like that hybrid of real and fake.”“The King of Everything,” brings Brett’s harpsichord background into the mix plus Rennie’s time on the back porch taking muscle-relaxants and watching the white-winged doves.“Squirrels in the basement / Raccoons in the walls / Centipedes with stingers,” Brett sings on the mischievous and mysterious “Skunks.” The spooky Beethoven-inspired piano and Brett’s eerie whooping create a jingle for an increasingly desperate business. “Call us anytime at night,” Brett sings. “Call us day or night.”“The Oldest Water” is the real story of a primordial sea found deep in a Canadian mine. Dave “Guts” Gutierrez’s trilling mandolin gives the song an old-timey parlor elegance and the rushing feel of flowing water.“Mothballs” is a simple hymn for voice and piano. “A buddhist friend of Aleister Crowley’s always wore this old purple coat,” says Rennie, “and moths were continually flying from its pockets. The man refused to harm even the tiniest wool moth and I think that’s something we should all aspire to.”The softly-strummed “Shady Lake” is based on a real fishing hole hidden in the cottonwoods outside of Albuquerque where soft waves lap the reedy shores as turtles dive from wet rocks into the murky glory.“To The Oaks,” sings of the shady groves of ancient mystery cults while Alex McMahon’s overdriven guitars conjure up more modern tones. Brett sings, “Phantoms fly the forest / Twist up dripping ferns / Spirits in the shadows / In root and dirt and bone.”Website | Facebook
Leigh Nash & Jeremy Lister
“The world knows Leigh Nash best as the delightful pixie-esque voice atop massive global hits such as “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes” with Sixpence None The Richer, but she’s worked tirelessly to define her perspective though her songwriting output, showcased on her latest project, “The Tide, Vol. 1,” a six-song collection of duets recorded with people Leigh considers personal superheroes.“What I’ve found to be true with my songwriting is that I seem to serve a story or song better when it’s something that just happened naturally with me, like an encounter or conversation,” she says. “I tried it back with Sixpence, but I’m just now starting to feel a little bit more at home in those songwriter shoes.”Combine those choices of subject matter — honesty with partners in times of strife, recognizing others’ perspectives in periods of trouble, identifying blessings in the everyday — with duet partners featuring voices both iconic and close to home, and The Tide reveals an artist at the peak of her powers.”Website | TikTok | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube Nashville’s Jeremy Lister started connecting with music while growing up in the middle of Mississippi. A son of a preacher, he began singing and learning harmonies in church at the age of two. Lister moved to Nashville in 2003, bringing his first EP, Shooting Star, with him. In 2005, he released his second EP, So Far, followed by the release of his Just One Day EP on Warner Bros. Records. That same year, he was invited to join the Ten Out of Tenn collective of singer/songwriters, which included then up-and-coming artists such as Andrew Belle, K.S. Rhoads, and Gabe Dixon.In 2010, he joined a cappella group Street Corner Symphony for the second season of NBC’s “The Sing-Off.” The group became a fan favorite, eventually claiming the second-place title in the competition. Ben Folds invited them out on the road immediately following their success on the show, which launched their touring career. Street Corner Symphony performs dozens of headlining shows all over the world each year.Lister released his first solo full-length album, The Bed You Made, in 2011, which featured a duet with Alison Krauss on the song You and I. In 2013, he released the single Set Us Free, which became the theme song for the MTV series “The World Of Jenks.” In 2017, he and his brothers, together under the name Lister Brothers, co-wrote and released the album Helium Ocean.In the 16+ years since he moved to Nashville, Lister has become a Music City staple, known for his prolific songwriting and unequaled vocal range. He has worked with some of Nashville’s biggest names, from Alison Krauss to Amy Grant, Meghan Trainor, and Chely Wright.Since signing with Big Yellow Dog in 2019, Lister has had songs placed with T-Mobile, Dignity Health, the Netflix movie 2 Hearts, the promo for the season finale of Modern Family, and more, and has released four EPs: “Sign Language” – 2019, “Cool Cool” (side project with Bergie) – 2020, “Forest for the Trees” – 2020, and “Happy Holidays, Everyone” EP – 2020. His most recent release is the full-length LP version of “Happy Holidays, Everyone,” featuring ten original holiday jazz songs.Website | Instagram | Facebook
Dyke Night
CALLING ALL DYKESWelcome to the return of Dyke Night, a queer performance experience presented by the one and only Lady Dyke and the queen of Chapel Hill herself Nyx Adonis.Featuring drag from the delectable Danny Libido and delicious Daydream, original music from the gorgeous AGA the Goddess, and a special guest appearance from the legendary Poison Venemisis.Bring your friends, your nail polish remover, and strap yourself in for the party of the summer.
Nick Shoulders and The Okay Crawdad
All Bad, the latest album from Nick Shoulders, ultimately encapsulates everything that makes Shoulders’ inimitable form of country music so vital: a heady balance of dazzling musicianship and punk defiance, coupled with gritty eccentricity and a generational connection to the roots of the genre. With a singing style inherited from his family’s vocal lineage, Nick’s songs achieve the rare feat of imparting difficult truths while inciting a certain joyful abandon, balancing a sound forged by years of hard travel with a heartfelt reverence for the origins of country music. In the spirit of Hazel Dickens and Jimmy Driftwood, the incisive yet wildly jubilant All Bad vocally objects to the reckless destruction of the natural landscape and development run rampant, while still offering plenty of joy and dance-ready rhythms. Spanning a variety of early country styles, the album’s infectious harmonies shine alongside everything from jangling cajun waltzes to surf-rock infused bluesy ballads–all tied together by a voice seemingly out of place in this century, yet ever ready to speak up about its problems.Released via Gar Hole Records (a label founded and co-owned by Shoulders), All Bad marks the first LP made with his longtime band, the Okay Crawdad, since 2019’s premier full-length Okay, Crawdad and their subsequent pandemic-imposed hiatus. After writing most of the album from the front seat of a tour van, the Fayetteville, AR-based musician and bandmates Grant D’Aubin (harmonies/bass), Cheech Moosekian (drums) and Jack Studer (lead guitar) recorded the album in a home studio on the banks of the Mississippi River with New Orleans collaborators Ross Farbe and Sam Doores.Surrounded by a singing style passed down from a time before microphones, Nick’s childhood of bird call whistles and an over-exposure to southern gospel music eventually steered him toward an adolescence drumming for metal and punk bands, and subsequent years as an active illustrator and member of Arkansas’s heavy music scene. After numerous personal calamities and a growing obsession with the rural musical traditions of his lifelong home, Shoulders left the Ozarks and lived out of his van, singing on the street corners of the west while slowly being drawn to the vibrance of the New Orleans dance and busking world.Instagram | Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify
Michael Minelli
When Michael Minelli sings, you know it’s him. With show-stopping delivery, dynamic range, and timeless panache, the Connecticut born & raised singer/songwriter immediately sets himself apart. It’s no surprise he’s earned the praise of everyone from Ryan Seacrest to BuzzFeed.For Minelli, it’s all a matter of soul. “Soul is the core of everything,” he affirms. “It’s that thing you can’t put your finger on. Anytime somebody hears my music, I want them to immediately say, ‘That’s a Michael Minelli record’.”With over a decade of experience as an artist, Minelli seems to finally have hit his stride gaining over 20 million views, hundreds of thousands of followers & a 300% increase in streams all during the first month of being active on tiktok singing his song in public all over the country.Michael set the foundation in 2022 with major labels calling, huge sponsorships, and a 30 city, nationwide tour with fellow artist, Anees. With 2023 on the horizon, Michael is set for his long awaited explosion. One thing is for sure. When the time comes, he’ll be ready
Beth Orton
English singer/songwriter Beth Orton’s latest album Weather Alive was one of the most critically acclaimed records of 2022, landing on year-end ‘Best of 2022’ lists from NPR, Pitchfork, and The New York Times—the latter of which praised Orton for her “modal vocal phrases and marveling [stories].” Pitchfork also named the title track a Best New Track, calling it “a slow-burning tour de force,” while The Late Late Show with James Corden invited Orton and her band to perform album highlight “Fractals.” Orton self-produced Weather Alive, laying the foundations of the album on an upright piano that she installed in her garden shed at home in London. When the time was right, Orton invited an incredible group of collaborators to join her across the album’s eight tracks, including jazz poet Alabaster DePlume, The Smile drummer Tom Skinner, multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and Mercury Prize nominated bassist Tom Herbert of The Invisible. The musicians locked naturally into Orton’s sensibilities, expanding the emotive and dream-like world she’d created and conjuring a deeply meditative atmosphere that remains long after the final note has evaporated.Orton has long been regarded as possessing one of the most unique and expressive voices in music – a voice that has grown evermore rich and wise over time. Her 1996 debut, Trailer Park, pioneered a synthesis of electronic and acoustic sounds, while its 1999 follow-up, Central Reservation, garnered international success. Further albums like the Jim O’Rourke-produced Comfort of Strangers and 2016’s largely electronic Kidsticks co-produced by Orton deepened the breadth of her craft. A turbulent life that progressed with long periods of ill health slowed her down and made for experience that she was only able to process through music. She began to spend more time making music at the piano than on guitar and the songs she wrote turned into the eight-track Weather Alive, the first album she’s ever self-produced in her nearly 30-year career.“Music has always worked as a way of seeing,” she says. “I found myself writing until the words lost sense, which is really scary in the real world but really interesting when you’re making music. It gives all meaning new meaning. One of the most exciting elements of writing songs is how they reveal their truth as the process develops.” Indeed, the first notes of the album-opening title track usher the listener into an expansive, emotive and dream-like world of sound with little precedence in Orton’s prior work. The artist challenged herself to create music accordingly. Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden or Alice Coltrane come to mind at times throughout the record.“I had brought myself a cheap old piano but it had a resonance that really spoke to me, almost an emotional resonance. I could explore in a way I wasn’t able to on guitar — I was able to find a depth, a voice I’d never trusted before. I worked with the atmosphere the piano created as an instrument in and of itself.” On producing she enthused “It wasn’t about proving myself to myself. That would be reductive, but in the end I did find capabilities I wasn’t aware I held. This was a collaboration between my unconscious self and some wonderful musicians and the piano was the constant anchor.”Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
We Are Scientists
We Are Scientists is an American rock band started in California in 2000 who’ve carried out their last 20 years of art business from a base in New York City. Founding members Keith Murray (guitar) and Chris Cain (bass) have played with guys like Adam, Michael, Andy, Danny, Chris, Matt, and Gary on drums, but for over five years now have had Keith Carne, who looks like he isn’t going anywhere. Their first album, “With Love & Squalor,” was certified gold in the U.K. and enjoyed by dance rock fans in many other countries. Subsequent records like “Brain Thrust Mastery,” “TV en Français,” and “Megaplex” saw the incorporation of more synthesizers, strings, and a horn. Although 2021’s “Huffy” returned to a guitar-driven sound, “Lobes,” the band’s eighth studio album, is their synthiest, electronic beatiest collection yet. So, really, who even is We Are Scientists? The release of “Lobes” on January 20, 2023 was celebrated with a very special hometown show at Brooklyn Made, followed by touring in the U.K. and Europe. The band is currently on a run of European shows and festivals this summer. Additional U.S. dates follow in the fall.
Houndmouth: One Night, Two Night, Three Night Tour
Three Night Pass tickets still available here!Thursday / Friday Two Night Pass tickets still available here!Houndmouth is an American alternative rock band from New Albany, Indiana formed in 2011, consisting of Matt Myers (guitar, vocals), Shane Cody (drums, vocals), and Caleb Hickman (keyboard, vocals). Nostalgic sounds from their first album seemed to serve as a welcome escape for listeners from the relentless demands of the digital age. This led to performances on Letterman, Conan, World Cafe, and several major festivals (ACL, Americana Music Festival, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Newport Folk Festival). SPIN and Esquire.com named Houndmouth a “must-see” band at Lollapalooza, and Garden & Gun said, “You’d be hard pressed to find a more effortless, well-crafted mix of roots and rock this year than the debut album from this Louisville quartet.” Through their humble start, genre-defining hits, and experimentation, Houndmouth makes an impact with their unique take on storytelling through music.
