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Who are those masked men? Among other things, they’re the guys who backed Nick Lowe on his great album Indoor Safari last year. Rock’n’roll veterans Los Straitjackets are back, with their first new album of all-original material in over 13 years, through Yep Roc Records. It was produced by Alex Hall (JD McPherson, The Cactus Blossoms).

Welcome to what could be Neko Case’s simultaneously biggest-sounding and most intimate-feeling album yet. Self-produced by Case, this is her first new album in seven years—the longest gap between any of her solo records. “Neko Case is a fighter, as evidenced by decades of some of the most subversive songwriting in a generation, and her force majeure of a memoir, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, released earlier this year. Case’s ninth LP, Neon Grey Midnight Green, feels like a continuation of her recounting, a sort of epilogue for all that floated to the surface—the grief, euphoria, reckoning, self-actualizing, and forgiveness. And true to Case, there is an otherworldly quality that keeps things weighty, but never weighed down.” -No Depression

There’s a lot of Tweedy around here these days, between our Southern Songs & Stories podcast on Jeff (found here), his certain influence on the new Autumn Defense release from two of his Wilco bandmates, his son Spencer providing drums on the latest recording from Case Oats, and now this big new release from Jeff himself. Twilight Override is an intentional, sprawling three-disc album, a testament to creativity in the face of overwhelming darkness. Recorded and self-produced at his Chicago studio, The Loft, Twilight Override features Chicago-based friends and family: James Elkington, Sima Cunningham, Macie Stewart, Liam Kazar, and Tweedy’s children Spencer and Sammy. The three chapters of Twilight Override stand alone, but together, they tell a story of the past, present, and future.

After the Flood: Songs Inspired by Hurricane Helene is a benefit compilation of local Western NC artists. 100% of the net proceeds will go to supporting local relief efforts. One year after Hurricane Helene ripped through Western NC, we are still in recovery mode. What better way to tell the story of recovery than through local music! Over 70 songs were submitted for consideration on the compilation, with 16 ultimately being selected, including Abby Bryant, Andrew Scotchie, the Hustle Souls, and Chuck Brodsky. Twelve of the sixteen songs were recorded locally at Landslide Studio in North Asheville. Info about this project can be found at https://www.experiencemusicavl.com/after-the-flood-compilation.html We’ll host some of the participants live in Studio B on Monday, October 6th!

“What's really fun about making a record with this band is that we actually have no idea how we're going to arrange a song, or what instruments we're going to play, when we get to a recording session,” says bassist Chris Wood, whose years as a member of Medeski, Martin and Wood primed him for the ego-stripped musical collaborations that are a hallmark of The Wood Brothers. “That's why first takes are often the best. You don't have any ideas about the song yet.” We loved hearing them live in Studio B a few Fridays back, and at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival that evening. “Creativity is a winding road, not a straight path, if you’re open to it,” says percussionist and vocalist Jano Rix. “We're not in control,” adds the band’s primary guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Oliver Wood, “and that can be good news.”

Alex Williams wears his Heavy Metal fandom on his sleeve. On Space Brain, Williams revisits his favorite '80s hard rock tunes and gives them some Outlaw Country grit. Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Cinderella, Motörhead and more are converted to backwoods ballads, campfire sing-alongs, and roadhouse roots-rockers. Alex Williams pays us a visit in Studio B on October 10th, on his way to the Grey Eagle in Asheville! He also plays Doc’s Tavern in Greenville, SC on Thursday, October 2nd.

As Americana Highways writes in their review, “With Honeydew, Josh Ritter shows that questioning, imagining, and believing don’t have to be solemn endeavors. The album sparkles with clever turns, rollicking stories, and irresistible hooks—proof that even the weightiest ideas can be entertaining when delivered by a master storyteller.”

Did you ever make it to one of the now-famous Lockn’ Festivals in Virginia, perhaps to see the TTB among others? This recording marks the first time the iconic tribute performance to this 1970 Joe Cocker album has been available anywhere since the original concert 10 years ago. It’s an audio companion to a documentary film the band released in 2021. “There was no better act to reproduce the Joe Cocker/Leon Russell-led infamous Mad Dogs & Englishmen ensemble than the Tedeschi Trucks Band…TTB’s musical tribute captures and exudes the exhilaration and significance of an archetypal if brief moment in rock and roll history.” – Rock & Blues Muse

On this new release, Fulks offers an introspective look at his life’s journey, from his Appalachian upbringing through the experiences that brought him to Los Angeles, where he has lived since 2018. Fulks said: “These songs came out of my feelings about the specific environment of Los Angeles and, more generally, the outlook of older age. I moved to L.A. when I was fifty-five and soon fell in with new musicians and friends. I excitedly imagined how these folks would sound on the songs and tried to musicalize and shape the oddments of my mind as they emerged — anxieties, amusements, dread, scenes of family life, and childhood. Listening back to it now, I’d say it reveals my present psychological profile to be 70% pensive, 20% droll, and 10% angry.” Robbie plays the Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte on October 21st.

Otis Gibbs is a songwriter, storyteller, painter, photographer, and planter of 7,176 trees. He once wrestled a bear and lost. He’s been called “the best unknown songwriter in music today,” but if you ask him, he’ll just say he’s a folksinger. The Trust Of Crows, his tenth studio album, was recorded at the iconic Columbia Studio A in Nashville, where Bob Dylan made Blonde on Blonde and Nashville Skyline. It’s been closed to the public for decades, but Otis was given permission to record there. “Gibbs has been likened to everyone from Guthrie to Springsteen – but his is the rare voice that stands on its own.” (Esquire)