Search results for

"This whole project grew out of a box of old four-track tapes from the ’90s that I found recently,” singer/songwriter Eric Earley explains. “The tapes were full of songs I’d written and recorded back when I was 19 or 20 years old, and the sound and the spirit of those recordings got me excited to start writing music again, to go back to working the way I did when I was first starting out.” See if you can pick up on that ‘90s psychedelic and classic rock-inspired sound on this one, which will be available May 17th via Yep Roc Records. The Portland, Oregon band will host an online listening party on May 15th, FYI.

"Katie Crutchfield's voice is the centerpiece of her music as Waxahatchee. It's shaky in a way that feels resilient...She's finding herself on Tigers Blood. You can hear the confidence shining through." (NPR). Saint Cloud was a breakthrough album for Waxahatchee, a welcome musical escape and comforting reflection for many from the pandemic, and it cemented her status as an important voice in the indie-Americana scene. We also loved her 2022 collaboration with Jess Williamson for the project called Plains. Now with Tigers Blood we see Crutchfield dig even deeper; the result is a complex and beautiful album that is sure to find a special place in people’s hearts once again. She plays in Asheville on Tuesday April 30th.

We wrap up our New Tunes at 2 series this week with three sneak peeks at some future albums coming our way. The Songs From the Road Band has helped keep Western NC as ground zero for some of the best new bluegrass music, and they’ve got a catchy foot-stomper about musicians’ life on the road with “Get Me Where I’m Going.” Sam Burchfield, from Upstate SC and now North GA, has a beautiful new song about spending time on “The Ridge”. And, well, we lost The Man in Black in 2003, but back in 1993 he’d recorded some great songs he’d written over the years that then got put aside when he signed on with Rick Rubin for that great “American Recordings” series. His son John Carter Cash has recovered these demos, and completed the tracks with work from musicians who played with Johnny in the past including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with others. “Well Alright” is the first single from an album “Songwriter” that will be released on June 28th.

Happy Independence Day Week! Our New Tunes at 2 features this week spotlight two of the most American of art forms, Jazz and Country. Today’s comes from renowned saxophonist, composer, and educator Jeff Coffin of the Flecktones and the Dave Matthews Band. This collection of original compositions showcases Coffin’s extraordinary compositional vision and arranging prowess, blending traditional African rhythms with contemporary composition.

They’re a favorite band of ours since they formed in Miami back in 1989, the same year WNCW was born. We love their Americana/roots fusion of alternative and outlaw country, rock, blues, R&B and Tejano/Tex-Mex influences, and Raul Malo and the rest of the band are back with their 13th album.

The Minnesota singer/songwriter Siri Undlin performs under the name Humbird, and has this new album of 9 songs. She says avoiding apathy is “a central message of the album, and honestly I need to hear it as much as anyone. There is a time for resting and rejuvenating, but I think it’s important to be really honest with yourself about whether you are in that process, or whether you are making excuses because it’s hard. You have to be able to get into the squishy middle of things and really dig in.”

Singer/songwriter Kaitlin Butts has been on the rise in Country/Americana circles lately, and this new album is inspired by Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! musical, to rather hilarious effect. “Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of ‘Oklahoma!’ at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” says Butts. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love.”

Get to know two of our favorites, together on their 2nd collaboration. This follow-up to 2018’s “Downey to Lubbock” has the Texas Flatlander Gilmore and Southern Californian Alvin alternating songs, which include covers from the likes of Blind Willie McTell, Brownie McGhee, and fellow Flatlander Butch Hancock. There’s also an Alvin-penned tribute to Alan “The Blind Owl’ Wilson of Canned Heat fame. Released this month on Yep Roc Records, the two are on an extensive national tour that takes them to the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro on August 31st.

It’s the first album of new material in six years for Colin Meloy and his band of fellow Oregonians. To quote Stereogum, it “feels like a career summary of everything the Decemberists are and have been, juxtaposing stripped-down folk and buoyant pop songs against lengthy monoliths on a 68-minute double album that ends with a 20-minute retelling of the legend of Joan of Arc.”

We’ve got two soul/blues-inspired women in a row for New Tunes at 2 this week. Sierra Green, hailing from New Orleans’ vibrant 7th ward, emerged from the church choir to become the Queen of Frenchmen Street. She recorded this album of originals and well-known hits with terrific players in Nashville, and there are nods to the legendary sounds of Detroit and Memphis with the horns and basslines, too. Here We Are comes out via Big Radio Records / Select-O-Hits on June 21st.