Tag Archives: Americana

Quick plays: TONY McLOUGHLIN, KELLY STEWARD

KELLY STEWARD Tales And Tributes Of The Deserving And Not So

TONY McLOUGHLIN True Native Fuego [Release date 15.11.19] Irish born singer -songwriter Tony McLoughlin’s seventh studio album picks up where his previous offering – The Contender (2013) – ‘a glorious Telecaster infused slab of Tom Petty / Springsteen inspired Americana’ … Continue reading

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Quick plays: ROBERT TEPPER, JEREMY IVEY, INTO THE UNKNOWN

ROBERT TEPPER - Better Than The Rest

ROBERT TEPPER Better Than The Rest AOR Heaven [Release date 27.09.19] Robert Tepper is best known for his song ‘No Easy Way Out’, which was the theme to ‘Rocky IV’ and has been subsequently released in various dance remix guises, … Continue reading

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Quick plays: DUFFY & BIRD, DREW HOLCOMB, TIM GRIMM, BOB BRADSHAW, 3TIMES7

DUFFY & BIRD - Spirit Level

DUFFY & BIRD Spirit Level [Release date 20.09.19] You can’t go wrong with a voice and an acoustic guitar.  That is, if you’ve a decent singer, a decent song, and decent player.  It’s a formula as old as the hills. … Continue reading

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Book review: ELTON JOHN – Every Album, Every Song 1969 to 1979 (On Track) by Peter Kearns

ELTON JOHN 1969 to 1979 On Track

SonicBond Publishing [Publication date 16.08.19] This book is nicely timed what with ‘Rocket Man’ recently being shown in cinemas and the DVD release in August, plus of course Elton John is currently on his worldwide farewell tour. The book covers … Continue reading

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Album review: GOSPELBEACH – Let It Burn

GOSPELBEACH - Let It Burn

Alive Records [Release date 04.10.19] As a genre, Americana is a very broad church of influences and flavors from beards, banjo’s and BBQ to fiddles, flannel shirts and flared pants but possibly it’s most engaging allure is that it is … Continue reading

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Album review: ALBERT CASTIGLIA – Masterpiece

Albert Castiglia - Masterpeice

Gulf Coast Records [Release 15.07.19] It’s often said that an artist discovers their best work when they find their muse. And when Albert Castiglia tells us that his new ‘Masterpiece’ album resulted from finding a daughter he didn’t know he … Continue reading

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EP review: EMMA KING – The Sun and The Blues

EMMA KING – The Sun and The Blues

Great British Songwriting Co. [Release date 26.07.19] The notion of “authenticity” is a difficult tightrope to walk. Go too far one way and you come off as pretentious and rigid, a slave to the past, too far the other way … Continue reading

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Album review: SAMANTHA FISH – Kill Or Be Kind

Samantha Fish - Kill Or Be Kind

Rounder [Release date 20.09.19] There’s no denying the natural vivacity, or the cigar box guitar driven grooves and songcraft of Samantha Fish. Since bursting on the rock-blues scene a decade ago, she’s cut 6 solo albums of which the last … Continue reading

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Album review: SUSAN SANTOS – No U Turn

SUSAN SANTOS - No U Turn

Pete Feenstra chatted to Susan Santos for his Feature show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio.  First broadcast 26 August 2018 and featuring tracks from ‘No U Turn’. TWH Records [Release date 19.01.19] Recorded in Madrid, mixed and mastered in … Continue reading

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Gig review: HANNAH ALDRIDGE – Village Club, Thornton Hough, Wirral, 1 May 2019

HANNAH ALDRIDGE - Village Club, Thornton Hough, Wirral, 1 May 2019

Could the Village Hall be the future of rock ‘n’ roll?  Well, it worked for The Beatles.  In years gone by we’ve seen James Grant (ex-Love & Money) in similar circumstances and Steve Tilston with full band – including Tull … Continue reading

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Album review: SEAN TAYLOR – The Path Into Blue

SEAN TAYLOR - The Path Into Blue

Sean Taylor Songs [Release date 12.04.19] Sean Taylor’s ‘The Path Into Blue’ is a conceptually titled album for our times. He’s political, social and emotional, and while the opening track ‘This Is England’ focuses on a fractured British identity and … Continue reading

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Album review: WILY BO WALKER – The Roads We Ride

WILY BO WALKER - The Roads We Ride

Pete Feenstra chatted to Wily Bo for his Feature show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, playing tracks from the album ‘The Roads We Ride’.  First broadcast 23 June 2019. Mescal Canyon Records [Release date 15.03.19] Wily Bo Walker’s ‘The … Continue reading

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Quick plays: UNION DUKE, AUBURN, CARRIE TREE

UNION DUKE Golden Days

UNION DUKE Golden Days [Release date 14.06.19] Bridging indie rock with bluegrass and country, and laden with three, four and even five voice harmonies, Toronto-based quintet Union Duke put the pedal to the metal with their third release. With banjo, … Continue reading

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Album review: MASSY FERGUSON – Great Divides

MASSY FERGUSON - Great Divides

North & Left [Release date 17.05.19] Massy Ferguson plough a fairly industrial, ‘heavy duty’, furrow of country rock.  Or as the PR sheet for the Seattle based band’s 5th album aptly describes it, ‘amplified Americana’. Driven by the song writing … Continue reading

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Gig review: NEXT OF KIN – Zonnehuis, Amsterdam, Saturday April 13 2019

Hallelujah and hot-damn if there wasn’t a spotlight shining from above on Amsterdam Saturday night as Dutch Americana virtuosos Dawn Brothers, DeWolff and friends put on a quite extraordinary show to launch their new collaborative EP/album under the appropriately-named, band … Continue reading

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Album review: JAMIE FREEMAN – Dreams About Falling

Union Music [Release date 17.05.19] Jamie Freeman (brother of the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Martin Freeman aka Dr Watson!) returns with his third album, which was produced by Grammy-nominated Neilson Hubbard in Nashville. The songs are themed around the fine … Continue reading

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Album review: CORMAC NEESON – White Feather

Cormac Neeson Music [Release date 26.04.19] The solo debut album from the Answer’s vocalist Cormac Neeson has had a bumpy ride as it was one of those caught up in the recent Pledge Music issues, which have scuppered plans for … Continue reading

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Album review: ELLES BAILEY – Road I Call Home

ELLES BAILEY – Road I Call Home

Outlaw Music [Release date 08.03.19] After attracting a slew of favourable reviews with her debut album, 2017′s ‘Wildfire’, the Bristol-based singer-songwriter Elles Bailey is back with a follow-up. Like its predecessor, recorded primarily in Nashville’ Road I Call Home’ is … Continue reading

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Quick plays: KRISTINA STYKOS, DANNI NICHOLLS

KRISTINA STYKOS River Of Light

KRISTINA STYKOS River Of Light Thunder Ridge Records [Release date 05.04.19] With many of the songs delivered in an enforced semi-spoken style (in 2017, she was diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a disorder that makes speaking and singing difficult or even … Continue reading

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Quick plays: MICHAEL McDERMOTT, DANNY SCHMIDT

MICHAEL McDERMOTT Orphans

MICHAEL McDERMOTT Orphans Pauper Sky Records [Release date 12.04.19] In Orphans, a set of songs that while not making earlier records refused to be left to collect dust, Michael McDermott has come up with perhaps his best album yet – … Continue reading

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Album review: SIMON TODD – Half Empty/Half Full

Simon Todd - Half Empty/Half Full

Ginger Tom Music [Release date 21.09.18] Produced by the esteemed songwriter Boo Hewerdine, Northumberland singer/songwriter Simon Todd’s ‘Half Empty/Half Full’ is an aptly titled album that keeps the listener guessing until very end.  The title might be interpreted as a … Continue reading

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Album review: JOHN SLOMAN – El Dorado

Facebook Slogger Records [Release date 04.02.19] John Sloman is known to rock fans of a certain age for his singing in Lone Star and the ‘Conquest’ album by Uriah Heep. He has released a series of solo albums starting with … Continue reading

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EP review: STEVE BALSAMO – Circle The Wagons

www.stevebalsamomusic.com Steve Balsamo came to my musical attention via the country rockers the Storys, who are well worth checking out and sadly another of those bands that had heaps of talent, yet never got the musical success they deserved. He … Continue reading

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Album review: ROADHOUSE – 25 Years And Counting

Roadhouse - 25 years And Counting

Self release [Release date 04.01.19] There can be few independently run bands that have made it to their 25th anniversary with consistently good new material, but Roadhouse is no ordinary band. Originally a roots-rock and Americana outfit with Southern rock … Continue reading

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Album review: HELEN ROSE – Trouble Holding Back

HELEN ROSE - Trouble Holding Back

Monkey Room Music [Release date 21.01.19] I’m not sure what I was expecting from this sax toting singer songwriter debut produced by Marvin Etzioni (Lone Justice bassist and a founder member).  Perhaps, a cross between Maria McKee and Rindy Ross … Continue reading

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