While up in St. Louis this past weekend, I remembered a bunch of bands that have struck a name for themselves through the record label Big Muddy Records. So, this episode we’re going to check out the musical stylings of some St. Louis local flavor. This episode was recorded on my iPhone in between drunken wedding party events. A couple of days of boozing it up took its toll on my voice. So by the end, my voice gets a little rough. Enjoy!

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Second in a six-EP series features a new song, a remake and a cover

After a less-than-satisfying engagement with his last record label, Marshall Crenshaw’s taking his music straight to the people. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, Crenshaw’s developed a subscription project that will turn out a series of six three-song 10” vinyl EPs, each featuring a new song, a…

Modern-rock with roots in the '70s

This Provo, UT quartet has a modern rock sound that usually suggests the The Shins, but the A-side, "I Won't See You," of their new EP is sweetly rooted in the 1970s soft-rock hits of Fleetwood Mac, Andrew Gold and others. The song's melody and harmonies are warm and comforting, and it's not until the song…

Nancy & Lee meet Hope & Ennio

What if, after cutting his musical teeth in Phoenix, Lee Hazlewood had turned East to Nashville, rather than West to Los Angeles? And what if he'd met Nancy Sinatra in Music City rather than the City of Angels? The answer might sound like a twist on the Western-tinged landscapes of "…

My column usually includes some heartfelt commentary about music ’cause I try and I try and I try and I try to keep readers connected to the latest happenings.  In the summer of 1965, I was six years old riding around in the car with my big sis driving when this song comes on the AM radio. A three note guitar riff starts one of the greatest songs ever recorded and forever grabbed my attention, as well as the music world.  Ladies and Gentlemen…

This episode is as straight forward as they come. No distractions or rants and ramblings in this one. It's just all about the new music, and there's plenty of it in this episode. Enjoy!

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Music in this episode:

- Little Bit Of Mud AND Piece Of Land by The Mallett Brothers Band

(from Land)…

Bonus-laden reissue of Steve Forbert's first two albums

Steve Forbert fell from recording star escape velocity with surprising quickness. His 1978 debut, Alive on Arrival, was a precociously well-formed introduction, recorded only two years after leaving his native Mississippi, and the 1979 follow-up, Jackrabbit Slim, was refined…

Coming back strong after my much need week off. Unfortunately over the past week, the studio was neglected, and it’s amazing how fast things pile up. But at least that means that I have plenty of new music waiting for me to add to future episodes.

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Music in this episode:

- 100 Pages Of Lies AND Don’t Come Around by…

The Ohio thread continues in this edition of liner notes as Kim Richey, the sweetheart of Zanesville and Kettering, will be releasing a wonderful new album titled Thorn In My Heart on April 16^th.  I first heard about Kim from magazine publisher Wayne Green…

Tuneful combination of rock, pop, Americana and blues

The sophomore release from this Queens quartet continues to mine the intersection of angsty guitar pop, twangy Americana and Stonesish rock they debuted in 2009. Vocalist (and songwriter) Mike Montali also continues to…

Four kids from Forest Hills, Queens who might not have set out to do anything but perhaps ditch the stigma of being from Queens ended up making musical history, pioneering the punk movement of the late ’70s.

Jeffrey Hyman, Douglas Colvin, John Cummings, and Thomas Erdelyi. Sound familiar? Well, you probably know them better as Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny,…

Stamp collecting, by many accounts, has fallen out of favour. Indeed, my attempts recently to sell an inherited collection suggest that a lot is not worth much. But for us music geeks, value is not everything, so stamps celebrating sounds are still worth a look.

One of my close friends, a lover of Hispanicana, is getting excited about the release in May of a U.S. stamp dedicated to…

“A Little  Physics and a Lot of Luck” from Di-Tone Records  is the new six song CD from veteran songwriter Thom Bishop (also known as Junior Burke). Thom burst onto the Chicago music scene in the mid-70’s in a blaze of creative energy and has been performing and writing (plays, screenplays, musical theater, novels, and songs) ever since. Despite a fairly considerable…

In this episode I play a lot of brand new stuff. Some of the music is so fresh, that it doesn’t even belong to an album yet. This one is a MUST LISTEN TO episode! Enjoy.

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Music in this episode:

- Judging You AND Devil’s Rope by Tim Lee 3

(from Devil’s Rope)…

On another part of this site, Joanna Colangelo posits a poetic appreciation of the quintet of 1960s-70s Canadian and American musicians known as The Band – Levon Helm, Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Robbie Robertson, and Garth Hudson – and how they successfully iconized aspects of America's long gone agrarian past -- or seemed to.

Like Ms. Colangelo, there is not one song in…

In this episode I announce the bands currently set up to play the Americana Rock Mix 5 Year Anniversary Party. Also, I play a small tribute/mini mix for the recent passing of Jason Molina. Enjoy!

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Music in this episode:

- Say I Won't (Recognize) by The Gaslight Anthem

(from The Señor And The Queen)…

It’s seems that my turn-of-phrase lately has been to call things “pretty solid” when I think things are good. I don’t know where it came from. I say it at least twice in this episode. It just popped up one day. Weird how that happens.

Anyway,this show is packed with some really great music! Enjoy!

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Music in this episode:

- 20 Pound…

Hey - if you're listening to this on this sight, LET ME KNOW. I don't get much love around here anymore, so I'm not going to waste my time posting here if no one is checking it out.

There is a very high pitched and piercing chirp in the studio this week. It’s coming from a smoke detector that I’m not allowed to touch. It’s what my apartment complex calls a “no-hassle luxury”. Well this “luxury” is extremely hassling when you’re trying to record audio…

Anyway, I…

Right now folk music is hot. One need only to turn on the radio or the television to hear modern folk rockers like The Lumineers or Britain's chart conquering Mumford & Sons for proof. But between all the bombastic sing along choruses and impossibly catchy hooks of the modern folk rock movement young bands like the acoustic folk rock band Seryn from Denton, Texas have found new and creative to ways to string together vocal harmonies with interesting music instrument…

Stirring set of Memphis pop-soul singles in glorious mono

Fans of the Box Tops’ Memphis-tinged radio pop, whether period AM listeners or working their way backwards from Big Star or Alex Chilton’s solo work, will find something interesting here. The band’s ten charting singles (from 1967’s chart-topping debut, “The Letter,” through the non-LP “Turn…