FTB podcast #150 features the new album by FRED EAGLESMITH entitled 6 Volts.  Also new music from JASON ARNOLD, THE REFUGEES and BRONWYNNE BRENT.  Here's the …

Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan

Various Artists

By Grant Britt

It's an ambitious undertaking, 8o artists interpreting the songs of America's greatest living folkie. Amnesty International celebrates the organization's 50^th anniversary with the release of Chimes Of Freedom,a genre-busting collection of 76 Bob Dylan tunes spanning his entire catalog. It's a motley crew of rockers, folkies, hip-hoppers, country, pop, jam, blues and…

Gretchen Peters

Hello Cruel World   

People with early release copies have been raving about Hello Cruel World since before Christmas. Now that it's out, the rest of us understand why.

Deservedly called one of Nashville's best songwriters, Peters' imagination shines through in…

It is difficult to think of a greater gift that Dylan has given us than the way he handles the opening piano chords of “Blind Willie McTell”. They are, of course,the melody of “The Saint James Hotel Infirmary Blues", given a fresh suit and new shoes by Bob here. In his hands they do what all great and timeless music does,sound fresh, alive and vital. They are both sparse and pregnant with import, telling us more in what we don’t hear than in what we do.  Dylan sets the mood…

Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes - better known as Ritchie Valens - was one of my earliest musical heroes, something I am reminded of every February 3, the anniversary of the plane crash that took his life, along with Buddy Holly and "The Big Bopper."  Buddy gets most of the glory in the history books, and I suppose he should.  His hits were bigger, his career (slightly) longer, his music more complex and innovative, his impact on pop culture undeniably greater.  And I love Buddy Holly.  I…

What do you get when you take an avowed Outlaw Country/Metalhead and force him to listen to nothing but the band Chicago for 30+ days?

That's what I aim to find out with 30 Days In The Hole - The Chicago Project.

I forsake all other music but that of the band Chicago, one album per day, chronologically from beginning (Chicago Transit Authority) to…

Life hasn’t always followed the exact course Seattle sing-songwriter Robert Deeble has thought it would. It’s even been painful sometimes, and required taking a long break to focus on family and self. But it’s led Deeble to deeper understandings about what it means to be human, and about change. After several years away, Deeble decided in 2011 to return to the studio and turn this wisdom into the album…

Here I am at the once storied, Crocodile Cafe. About to have a life altering show experience with the buzz worthy band, Alabama Shakes. I had no idea that it would be this good as I purchsed my ticket six weeks ago when a friend told me to check out the show. Thanks Kyla, for the great tip.



Lead singer, Brittany Howard starts Church and I was completely swept away. She and her band had the audience, quoting Dickens here,  "listening to sweet music in a perfect rapture". Although,…

Guy Clark and His Craft: The TJ Interview

By Courtney Sudbrink,…

Some people can get a lot done in a single day. Brian Wright joined up with the …

Contino - Back Porch Dogma

By Grant Britt

Although the music sounds like it came out of N’awleans by way of the Mississippi delta, Contino calls Las Vegas home. Accordionist/ frontman Pete Contino is the son of Dick Contino, the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest accordionist” who made a revved  up version  of “Lady Of Spain” his signature piece, appearing on the Ed Sullivan  show a record 48 times.

But son Pete is not a chestnut revivalist,…

In this episode I open some CD submission that I’ve gotten through the mail and haven’t had a chance to check out yet. I take a risk by randomly playing tracks from the unheard albums. I talk about how wrong I was about thinking that I could just walk away from this show, and shout out some friends.

Download this episode HERE

Music in the…

Part 2 of 2 on award winning singer/songwriter Craig Bickhardt

The song was pitched to Johnny Cash, and he loved it.  Recorded the song with The Highwaymen, but the cut didn’t make 1995′s The Road Goes on Forever.  Could be that the song hit a little too close to home for the record label.

The story of a down-and-out entertainer addicted to drink and drugs, the lyrics parallel Cash’s own history of self-destructive behavior and…

Artist: The Vagabond Union

Album Title: The Motel Sessions

Eschewing hipster clichés, the Vagabond Union forge ahead with meat-and-potatoes country rock on their debut album, The Motel Sessions. Consider that high praise. At a time when solid, old-fashioned rock & roll is becoming harder to locate in the glut of bearded indie folkies, the Vagabond Union convey no shame in unveiling their bar-band tastes. However,…

Hello, No Depression! I thought it was about time to start a blog here. I'm looking forward to getting involved with this most august of music communities. This week, I'm gonna focus on some drrrrrty women's blues. And today we're gonna start with Molly Gene.

I'm not reviewing the album here, because I haven't listened to it (though her previous album is available on Spotify.) I listened to "Country Lover" and "Smells Like Low Tide" and I thought, "What. Is.…

Press Release:

Patterson Hood and The Downtown 13 release "After It's Gone" In an effort to fight a Walmart in Downtown Athens, GA

“Who needs a downtown when there’s a Walmart next door?”

 

Athens, GA:  Some of the greatest songs were written to give voice to anxiety, despair and unwanted change.  “After it’s Gone”, a new single just released by Patterson Hood and the Downtown 13, was inspired by the threat of a Walmart in…

Review by Douglas Heselgrave

This emotive and powerful debut album featuring guest performances from Richard and Teddy Thompson, Martha Wainwright and Sean Lennon is surprisingly beautiful and offers listeners far more than the sum of its parts. 

If a predilection for…