On this weeks show (December 14th) I will be looking back at the ten albums I featured each month February to November. I'll be playing a couple of tracks from each. The ten albums are featured below.
In the coming weeks on the show will be my annual Christmas Special on December 21st and then two weeks looking back on 2009. I will be counting down my favorite Top Twenty Albums of 2009. Numbers 20-11 on December 28th and 10-1 on January 4th.
Hope you can tune in!
February: Chuckanut Drive - Fidelity Grange
Chuckanut Drive is an alt country band from Bellingham, Washington spearheaded by Texas born singer/songwriter Stephen Ray Leslie. The band has released 3 full-length albums in the past five years and sold copies in over 10 countries.
Over the years, the cast of characters in this raucous alt county collective has changed several times, but anchored by Leslie’s songwriting and raw emotive voice one thing remains the same, great songs that bypass pretension and go straight for the gut.
March: Phosphorescent - To Willie
In 1975 Willie Nelson recorded the album To Lefty From Willie, 10 songs in which Nelson pays homage to Lefty Frizell, reinterpreting his favorites from the Frizzell catalog and stamping them with his own unique voice, reshaping them into his own new classics.
Now Phosphorescent has done the same for Willie Nelson by bringing us To Willie. Here, Matthew Houck has selected 11 of his favorite Willie Nelson songs and does much more than just simply cover them. He has not selected the greatest hits, but rather digs deep, offering renditions of hidden Nelson gems and lost classics. The songs collected here seem cracked from Phosphorescent's proprietary mold with Matthew Houck's unmistakable voice leading the way. They feel lived in, they feel weathered and they feel just like Phosphorescent.
April: Downhills Home - Wolves in the Woods
Downhills Home are a Melbourne based band. The band is made up of Sean McMahon (guitar, vocals), Michael Hubbard (guitar, vocals), Brendan McMahon (keyboard and piano), Josh Duiker (drums) and Tim McCormack (bass).
They deliver a sound that is raw and pure, with a late- 60’s country quality, inspired by The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, The Band and early Wilco. The Wolves in the Woods is there second full length album.
Recorded over a week at Guruland Studios, The Wolves In The Woods was tracked mostly live to tape with additional guitar and keyboard overdubs providing the songs with rich and varied textures. This is highlighted from the very start with the opening track Travelling Light. Building from a basic introduction of guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, the song moves into a long descending chorus line orchestrated with violin, viola and mellotron opening up the vast sonic field in which the rest of the songs on the album are brought to life.
May: Old Californio - Westering Again
Recorded in their old chicken coop garage turned recording studio in Pasadena, CA, Old Californio set out to mix a gritty soup of bucolic rock and roll influenced as much by Moby Grape, Crazy Horse and The Grateful Dead as by the chaparral canyons and ungovernable San Gabriel mountains themselves. Songwriter Rich Dembowski sings with a heartfelt voice that might remind some of the Band's Richard Manuel. His lyrics on the 10 song Westering Again evoke winsome images of riparian vistas and wine stained front porches, of places forgotten and out of the way. The album feeds from bright guitar-driven melodies with complicated and earthy arrangements, mixed in with a little down-home country twang and dovetailing instrumental jams that venture to the psychedelic/ philosophic.
June: Jordie Lane - Sleeping Patterns
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Co-produced by Jeff Lang and Tim Hall, Sleeping Patterns had been brewing in the subconscious of Jordie’s mind for nearly four years, and eventually came to fruition in the winter of 2008. Recorded in little more than five days, in the open warehouse space called Adelphia in Melbourne the album is storytelling at its rawest, gutsiest, and most fragile.
Featuring guest performances by prominent roots artists Ashley Davies, Jeff Lang, Laura Jean, Liz Stringer, Garrett Costogan and Stevie Hesketh, Sleeping Patterns moves between finger pickin’ ballads, western tunes, rockin’ blues and even the odd sea shanty.
July - Magnolia Electric Co.
With the 2007 death of long time bassist Evan Farrel, Josephine is no doubt the strongest set of songs Molina has written since the inception of Magnolia Electric Co. Molina has approached the universal loneliness before, but never in such a focused, directed manner as found on Josephine. Molina, Magnolia Electric Co. and legendary recording engineer Steve Albini have put it all to heart and on record. The album is also an experiment in Molina's songcraft, introducing some real lessons in brevity as he whittles a handful of tracks into well-under three minutes. There are cues taken from great songwriters like Willie Nelson and Warren Zevon.
August: Drive-By Truckers - Live From Austin Texas
The Drive By Truckers' performance on Austin City Limits was an instant classic. Recorded during their Brighter Tham Creation's Dark tour, the band line-up featured is Patterson Hood, Mike Cooley, Shonna Tucker, John Neff, Brad Morgan and Jay Gonzalez. Formed in 1996, these Southern Rockers are known for their three-guitar attack. The 13 songs recorded for Austin City Limits feature a mix of new songs from Brighter Than Creation's Dark alongside DBT classics 'Let There Be Rock', '18 Wheels Of Love' and 'Marry Me'.
September: Richmond Fontaine - We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like a River
“We Used To Think The Freeway Sounded Like A River” follows on from the band’s landmark seventh album “Thirteen Cities” (2007), the sparse, stripped down, “The Fitzgerald” (2005) and the alt country classic “Post To Wire” (2004), which was named 4th best album of the year by Uncut (behind Brian Wilson, Wilco, & Loretta Lynn). The new album, seen as the band’s most accessible yet, was produced once again by JD Foster (Calexico, Richard Buckner, Laura Cantrell), who was at the helm for the last three albums. Multi-instrumentalist Paul Brainard steps in with pedal steel, trumpet and piano and the core line up of Willy Vlautin (guitars, vocals), Sean Oldham (drums, vocals), Dave Harding (Bass) and Dan Eccles (guitars) remains.
October: Monsters of Folk - Monsters of Folk
Fans of the individuals that make up Monsters of Folk will be pleased to hear an equal dose of Yames, Ward, and Oberst throughout, each taking on an even amount of lead singing duties. And there are magical moments for each. Oberst delivers an absolute gem with “Ahead of the Curve” (surprisingly Oz’s early favorite), M. Ward particularly shines on “Sandman, the Brakeman and Me” and Yames delivers his finest on “Losin Yo Head” (and a heckuva spiritual on “His Master’s Voice”). They also tickle the eardrums by passing the microphone around on numbers like “Say Please” and “Baby Boomer.” But Monsters of Folk are at their best when they share the microphone at once. On songs like “The Right Place” and “Magic Marker,” the three voices blend together at times to form a sort of bionic voice with superhuman powers.
November: The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
I and Love and You is The Avett Brothers' major label debut, produced by Grammy-award winning producer Rick Rubin. The album tracks are diverse and unique, ranging from striking ballads to energetic romps. With over 195k independently released albums scanned, and the follow-up to the critically acclaimed Emotionalism, I & Love & You is sure to be embraced as a new favorite by longtime and newfound fans alike. The Avett Brothers have built up an impressive and loyal fan base with constant touring. This prolific band is renowned for their high-energy live shows and incredible mix of eclectic musical styles. The Avett Brothers' fan base continues to grow in markets all around the country, capturing the hearts of all who are lucky enough to experience their music live.
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