By Tom Semioli

Stop, look and listen to Jessie Torrisi, the sultry, sexy, super-charged  singer / songwriter / guitarist / band leader of Austin trio Please Please Me and you’d think she was born and raised to be a roots rocker ala Shelby Lynne, Lucinda Williams, or Ryan Adams.   Now for the truth – she’s from Philadelphia, and made her bones playing drums in one of New York City’s most notorious glam / punk / shock-rock outfits in the 00’s– Unisex Salon.  “I woke up one day…

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One of the things that already tops my list of "things I miss most about living in Brooklyn" is the reading time during my daily commute. So until moving to Portland this past August, the NYC subway (MTA) is where I have absorbed most of my reading material since I moved there in 2004. Burying my face in a book on the subway was not only a great way to wake up in the morning on my way to work, but it also served as the ideal method of mellowing out on my way home.

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Author David Menconi's Ryan Adams: Losering, A Story of Whiskeytown (out now via University of Texas Press) has already stirred up much heated talk regarding the work of Ryan Adams. In a recent book review on No Depression by Mando Lines, a number of comments poured in the…

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Earl Scruggs almost single-handedly perfected and popularized the rolling, three-finger banjo technique (“Scruggs Style”) that has become the signature sound of bluegrass. Over a period of a couple of years, many of the best banjo players in bluegrass  convened in Nashville to record a tribute to him. The result is the new Rounder Records' release Foggy Mountain Special: A Bluegrass Tribute To Earl…

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Ryan Adams

iTunes Session

(iTunes)

 He may not be releasing new albums at the fast and furious pace he did just a few years ago, but that doesn’t allay the suspicion that Ryan Adams may be the most prolific artist of this generation bar none. So instead of getting a new LP every six months, our man Adams has resorted to other mediums to get his music out, among them iTunes, which released this gem of a collection as an exclusive offering a short time back. Those that…

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For all the bittersweet twang and folksy melodies on singer/songwriter Keith Betti’s latest album,
Company Loves Misery, the ghost of George Harrison haunts the premises like no other. Harrison isn’t named-checked on Betti’s biography and nor is he mentioned on his store page.


Nevertheless, the soaring melodies of “Found a Love” and the sunny warmth of “It’s a Long Way Down” are marked with Harrison’s fingerprints. Being compared to one of the Beatles is certainly…

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The Lumineers will release their highly-anticipated, self-titled album next week (via Dualtone Records on April 3rd). Upon hearing the band's Tracks From The Attic EP (which you can download on the band's site for free) and then a copy of their excellent full-length, The Lumineers, I realized that this a band that is about to burst out of nowhere as soon as the record hits the shelves (both…

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On my way to a Ryan Adams show last night in Baltimore, I was feeling a bit guilty. Lately I haven't been giving Mr. Adams as much attention as I have in the past. Ashes & Fire came out in October and I've only listened to it a handful of times. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that other men have been the focus of my musical desire. I've delved into Justin Townes Earle's catalog recently and fallen back in…

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Bryan Adams

Newcastle Metro Arena

Thursday 24th November 2011

Alan Harrison

 

Just as the last notes from Sheena is a Punk Rocker faded away the house lights dimmed and the roar from the 10,000 strong crowd must have been heard over the river…

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Ryan Adams

Ashes & Fire

(Capitol)

 

Even a year without a new Ryan Adams seems an eternity, especially when measured by a prolific prowess that found him sometimes releasing multiple albums within the same year. Indeed, since the disbandment of Whiskeytown over a decade ago, there’s rarely been more than a few months that have gone by without a new Adams offering. The fact that he’s chosen to take time off after dissolving his steady backing band the…

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Just wanted to let the ND community know that I'm about to give away a bunch of CDs on my blog-- my husband and I cleaned out our music collection to get rid of 'doubles'-- and the first one up is Whiskeytown's Pneumonia. I love that CD with a passion-- from the twangy, relaxed "Ballad of Carol Anne" to raw, unedited joy in the last yelp of "Bar Lights". I'm happy to be able to give one well-loved copy away. 

 

To enter, just check out…

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FTB podcast #130 features the new album by NELL ROBINSON called On The Brooklyn Road.  Also new music from DAVE ALVIN, AMY LaVERE and PETER BRADLEY ADAMS.  The full playlist is… Continue

“NRBQ is a living, breathing, ongoing sound,” says Adams as he begins historic band’s next chapter.

 

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Terry Adams, visionary, driving force, and “untamed genius of the keyboards” for the great American band NRBQ since its inception more than 40 years ago, resumes his life’s work with the release of a new studio album, Keep This Love Goin’ by NRBQ, due out July 19, 2011. Recorded with the…

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In the depths of the new depression, unemployed and in the dead of a desert winter, I sat sobbing to my father about the prospect of being published forever remaining an unrealized dream. Despite the obvious desperation in my ramblings, the old man quite calmly replies, “There’s a woman by the name of Martha Bassett...” He goes on to describe a musician who possesses the intelligence and articulation to carry a conversation with a distanced yet beckoning fragility, fringed with captivating…

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Ryan Adams has officially launched his own label, PAX•AM. The new website is now up and running.



Coinciding with the launch of his new website, Ryan has re-released his first… Continue

Lisa Redford News January 2010



Hey everyone and happy new year!

Hope that you're all doing well. I had a great concert in Barcelona in December and, as well as writing and demoing lots of new songs, I am now busy organising lots of press for my headline Spring 2010 UK tour.

Thanks as always for all your support. All the best for a really happy and healthy 2010!



Brand New Live Vdieos

There are some new live videos posted here and on Youtube. Also go to the… Continue

For a few weeks in September, Ryan Adams became the Morrison Hotel's first artist in Residence. He spent a couple weeks painting away, right there on the floor of the gallery. I'm not sure many people know Ryan even painted...well, perhaps the No Depression crowd... But it was pretty fun going to see this. I know Ryan from the fleamarket where I sell books, and he played on my record for a lark which I recorded on a saturday a couple blocks away from the flea. (I was thrilled Ryan would go… Continue