Jack Carty first caught my attention earlier this month when I came across his wonderful tune “She’s Got A Boyfriend.” This self-deprecating uptempo lament about losing a girlfriend to another holds an ingratiating charm that suggests a young, lovelorn Billy Bragg.

Investigating further, I discovered that Carty is an up-and-comer singer-songwriter from Down Under. Since 2009, the impressive twenty-something troubadour has released an EP and a pair of full-length albums. Both…

Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale have been friends so long, making a record seemed almost beside the point. They’ve played in each other’s band, recorded each other’s songs and followed each other from New York to LA to Nashville, and along the way done a fine job carving out the sonic roots and origins of today’s Americana movement.

But time teaches people to honor their core, seek those things that are overtly pleasurable. Thankfully, Buddy…

The Black Twig Pickers have a new recording out called Rough Carpenters (via Thrill Jockey). The album was recorded during the same sessions as their recent Whompyjawed EP (a sprawling 2-track jam), which was released last fall.

Since I interviewed the band when their last album, the magnificent Ironto Special, was released, a lot has…

Janis Martin's set of 11 rockabilly tunes, "The Blanco Sessions," finds itself in the record bins due largely to the tireless work of singer Rosie Flores. It was Flores who met Martin in 1994, enlisted her to sing on her "Rockabilly Filly" album the following year and inspired Martin to record this set over 2 days in 2007 at Dennis Challman's Rancho Relaxo studio in Blanco, Texas.

It's also Flores who's responsible for the album's release, having taken…

Sean Rowe's Magic was one of my favorite records of last year. It was his second full length (his first was his self-produced 27, now out of print) and it marked the true arrival of a singularly unique songwriter with a voice that evokes wonder, mystery, and awe. Not surprisingly, names like Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits often got name-dropped when discussing the album and attempts to describe his live performances. One listen and the uninitiated quickly learned…

I first heard of Jesca Hoop when I was interviewing songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz last year. She called out Hoop's "Hunting My Dress" as one of her favorite albums at the time. History repeated itself when I was speaking with banjo-master Noam Pikelny (of Punch Brothers)…

Santa Rosa, CA, June 6, 2012 –

For over five years, a young Ramblin’ Jack Elliott stuck to Woody Guthrie like rust on a boxcar, becoming so proficient at his style that America’s most famous ballad writer remarked, “Jack sounds more like me than I do.” (He would soon teach Woody’s tricks to a young Bob Dylan.) Fast forward to July 29th, 2012: Ramblin’ Jack, having forged a unique legacy of his own, takes the stage at This Train: A Woody Guthrie 100th Birthday Jubilee - a…

This week the Tompkins Square label is releasing Oh Michael, Look What You've Done: Friends Play Michael Chapman. The collection features an impressive lineup of artists, all paying tribute to the music of Mr. Chapman, while adding their own unique stylistic sensibilities to the source material. Contributors to the project include Meg Baird, Black Twig Pickers, Lucinda Williams, Thurston Moore, Hiss Golden…

In this episode I respond to an issue that a couple of people had with the last episode. The title of this episode should give away my response to that issue. Also, I'm now a strong advocate for getting massages. Awesomeness never felt so good. And in between these segments of talk, I pack in some awesome music with the likes of which I'm pretty have been unheard.

Enjoy!

Download this episode…

Here's a few new Americana and roots-type music releases for the week of April 24th, 2012. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist's names link to their websites and the CD title links go either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering. The Freight Train Boogie podcasts…

Apparently I'm in rare form in this episode. I find out some irritating news about the podcast apps that I've been trying to put together for Android and IOS systems, and I got on a lengthy rant about it. Fortunately there's some amazing new music in this episode to distract you from my distraction.

Download this episode HERE

Music in this…

Woody Guthrie would have been 100 years old this year, and there was a BIG old party for him last night at the Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Because it was Los Angeles, we dealt with the usual trifecta of traffic, long lines and confused box office workers, so we were late to the show, but were in good company as Steve Earle and Tim Robbins straggled in with us too, and seemed just as excited to get in. I learned a lot about Woody Guthrie from my friend, Tom Morello, so was most excited to see…

Weeks before Patsi Cox left her mortal coil, she got busted. Riding shotgun down from Kentucky with a guy running moonshine; the feds in an unmarked pulled the pair over.  BANG! Put the bracelets on. Took her in. Couldn’t make the charges stick, but what an outlaw move!

How Patsi…

Right before she checked out, she goes flying on the wrong side of the law, laughing and telling stories, feeling more alive than most of us would ever dare. Sixty-some odd years old, and there she…

My introduction to Guy Clark came early.  I was 14 years old in 1975 when a friend of my dad’s brought over Guy’s first LP Old No. 1.  Dad was into Memphis soul music and the friend tried and failed to interest him in folk music.  But one listen to Old No. 1 and folk music was IT for me.  “She Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” was the theme song for my teen angst. I eventually moved on to other folkies and 70s rock…

By 1942 he’d been…

Dex Romweber is a man on a mission. His first band, Crash Landon and The Kamikazes, was started when he was 11, and he later started the legendary and highly influential Flat Duo Jets with Chris "Crow" Smith. The Duo Jets were together for 15 years and have been described as a significant influence by such artists as Cat Power, Neko Case, and Jack…

Leaving The Commonwealth was released earlier this year and is the third album by D. Charles Speer & The Helix. Guitarist and songwriter D. Charles Speer (David Charles Shuford) along with the band members of The Helix, which includes Hans Chews, Marc Orleans, Ted Robinson, and Steve McGuirl, have crafted- in my opinion- their best album yet.

From what I have read, Leaving the Commonwealth has been best described by their own Thrill Jockey…

The Black Twig Pickers are keeping the tradition of old-time music vibrantly alive by releasing their own recordings and performing live whenever they can. The Pickers: Isak Howell, Nathan Bowles, and Mike Gangloff, listen to field recordings and old-time records, study with local old-time masters in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia respectively, and continue to challenge  themselves musically by exploring new instrumentation with each release. 

With a deep respect for…

Middle of Everywhere

(Free Dirt Records, 7/19)

Mr. LaFarge and the South City Three return hot on the heels of their excellent last album, 2010's Riverboat Soul, and their recently released 7" single for Jack White's Third Man Records, "Chittlin' Cookin' Time In Cheatham County" b/w "Pack It Up", with their superb new long player, Middle of Everywhere.

The group's…