The Best Americana, Country and Folk Music Publicity
Nordicana – we love it, especially when it comes in the form of West Coast harmonies, and claims influences from all the best people – Erin Rae, for example, and The Byrds. Harmonies, guitars and just the right amount of swearing: “they say that girls can’t play guitar I don’t give a fuck“. And neither do we. Like we say, we love it.
The Northern Belle culled this track from their third album “We Wither We Bloom” which sees the Norwegian septet launching themselves into the wider world.
From the opening chords of The Chaser, the new album from Secret Emchy Society, you realize you have been transported to a special world. You have walked through the proverbial swinging doors and entered a place where the band is playing a mixture of the frenetic rockabilly of Elvis and Charlie, the Bakersfield boldness of Buck and Merle, the Outlaw swagger of Waylon and Willie, and the frenetic cowpunk of Jason and The Scorchers in a way quite unlike any other band in America right now.
As you listen to the booming and beautiful voice of bandleader Cindy Emch, you hear her delivering her affecting lyrical observations on life, loneliness, heartbreak, longing, regret, alcohol, barfights, dreams, and love with a Patsy Cline clarity and Loretta Lynn bravado…
Once a fiddler with Apache Relay, multi-instrumentalist Kellen Wenrich begins his solo career as Kellen of Troy with his debut LP, Posthumous Release (out February 16th). The upcoming release finds the singer-songwriter mellow, focused, and rich with realization in songs where blissful folk melodies are juxtaposed with reflective, vulnerable, and somber lyrics that pull from the personal and professional.
Today, Kellen of Troy shares the new song, “Rule Your Heart,” a cleverly crafted indie-pop gem with a spacious melody that floats alongside Wenrich’s honest, endearing vocals. Wenrich, who is happily married, says the song is “about my beautiful, brilliant, compassionate, talented, bad-ass wife and how I don’t really care about what anybody thinks of me besides her. Also, how I don’t really care to do or be anything else besides her husband.” Adding, “Full-disclosure, she is sitting next to me right now, but that in no way has influenced my answer.”
Indie-folk outfit the Good Graces has released the lead single “His Name Was The Color That I Loved” off upcoming album Prose And Consciousness, due for release via Potluck on October 11. The Good Graces is an artistic collective featuring singer, songwriter and guitarist Kim Ware. “His Name Was The Color That I Loved” emerged from an online writing challenge and pays respect to Ware’s traditions with her father…
Shawna Virago steps behind the bar with a gleam in her eye and fluttering eyelashes. That’s the central image nestled inside her new song “The Barman’s Daughter,” in which Virago dissects family problems from the eyes of a daughter, whose father is “still stuck acting like an extra from the film ‘The Outsiders,’” Virago explains.
The song’s subtext bursts from the trans perspective, but its innate, rambling grit gives it a universal shine. “If you’ve ever worked in a bar, you know you need to be an ambassador of peace, while practicing your boxing skills,” Virago tells B-Sides & Badlands. “In my case, I also learned to smile more and batten my eyelashes for bigger tips. Works every time.”
Cover songs are always hit or miss. There is no in-between. In the case of Jared Deck‘s latest offering, he brings a fierce, pummeling growl to Garth Brooks’ “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House.” It’s an easy slam dunk, finding the singer-songwriter swapping out Brooks’ signature twang for his throaty grit.
Deck’s “Two of a Kind, Workin’ on a Full House” anchors his forthcoming Head Above Water, a rich tapestry that “tells a story of trying to get ahead in a just-getting-by world,” he says. “There are so many of us working to keep our heads above water, and it’s witnessing that collective struggle and work to overcome that gives me hope. It’s that shared human experience that sustains me.”