Heart Hunters’ Drew de Man founded his first band, No River City, in 2001 and spent the next several years making records, touring the country and sharing bills with artists such as Iron & Wine, Calexico and Alejandro Escovedo. After a decade away from the spotlight, his new project Heart Hunters—a duo with his wife, singer/songwriter Brianna Blackbird—builds on the moody indie/alt-country sounds de Man explored with No River City, updating them for a new era with debut LP American Eclipse…
The Bluegrass Situation Features New Song From Heart Hunters
In Their Words: “The song comes from a Buddhist story. A thief comes to the hermitage of a poor monk. Recognizing the suffering and ignorance of the thief, the compassionate monk looks around but has nothing to offer the thief but his own robe. Now the thief is getting pretty sketched out by the crazy dude offering him the clothes off his back…
PopMatters Debuts New Track From Kate Vargas
Kate Vargas’ smoky vocals slink across the ominous corridors of “7 Inches”, a jazz-infused folk song from her forthcoming LP, For the Wolfish & Wandering. Having played with this chord progression since she was 16, the song silkily sleuths through potentially criminal permutations before a big reveal…
Glide Magazine Shares New Music From Kate Vargas
A reformed wild child, in recent years Kate Vargashas traded the party for meditation, yoga, clean eating and a renewed focus on what she values most—her music. The New Mexico-raised, NYC-based artist is building ever more mindfully on her sound, and the music press is taking notice, Vargas receiving praise from a variety of respected outlets including Impose, The Boot and the Huffington Post, the latter assessing, “There is an unlimited amount of potential in this superstar on the rise.”…
The Boot Debuts New Music From Heart Hunters
Atlanta-based folk duo Heart Hunters are premiering their song “Angels” exclusively for readers of The Boot. Press play below to listen. Husband and wife Drew de Man and Brianna Blackbird wrote “Angels” — described by the pair as a “hymn for a broken country”…
Glide Magazine Streams New Chuck Westmoreland Album
Portland, Or.-based Americana singer-songwriter Chuck Westmoreland has shared the first single & video from his forthcoming LP Long Winter Rodeo at No Depression, who praised it in saying that “fans of the late Jason Molina’s musical endeavors will find a familiarity in Westmoreland’s work…this is no-frills Americana of the highest order.”
The mind is the greatest escape. Chuck Westmoreland should know. Having already garnered acclaim from Noisey, the AV Club, & more with his eponymous 2016 debut, and having shared stages with the likes of Justin Townes Earle and Whitney Rose, Westmoreland is poised for a breakout with his forthcoming second album Long Winter Rodeo. Proud owner of a Portland, Ore., bar named The Red Fox, which he compares to the creepy watering holes of Twin Peaks, Westmoreland weaves his story songs from years of regulars shuffling through his doors, his characters drawing from a deep, personal well, while also pulling bits and pieces from his relationship with bar patrons with all the understanding of an old friend.
“He knows that there’s nowhere to go when you’re gone / There ain’t no direction,” Westmoreland sings with desolate beauty on Long Winter Rodeo’s title cut. Inspired by the real-life Tygh Ridge Rodeo Grounds (featured prominently in Westmoreland’s “Sharp Rocks” video), the sparse track unveils a simple love story. “A guy falls for this woman,” he says, “but she’s already with somebody else.” In an act of serendipity, the two finally end up together. Ultimately, it’s a hopeful tale, though one laced with an inescapable sadness. The song’s guitars ebb and flow beneath Westmoreland’s vocals, walking the line of solemnity and jubilee. “In the morning, you can see the outline of the rodeo, but it’s shrouded in mist—a lonely, desperate looking thing,” he says, detailing the colossal presence of the song’s Tygh Ridge backdrop. “When you drive by it after you’re done fishing, the fog is all burned off, and it turns into the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen. Every single mountain in Oregon is visible standing there in the arena.”