Anderson, Maddie & Tae, LaFarge release new CDs
Thursday, April 9, 2020 – John Anderson returns with his new album "Years," on Easy Eye Sounds. Produced by Dan Auerbach and David "Fergie" Ferguson, the album includes 10 new original songs as well as special guest appearance by Blake Shelton on the track "Tuesday I'll Be Gone." Anderson and Auerbach wrote all 10 songs together along with help from Paul Overstreet, Pat McLaughlin, Ferguson, Dee White, Joe Allen, Bobby Wood and Larry Cordle. The connection began when Auerbach called Anderson simply as a fan, but when Anderson, Auerbach and Ferguson later met, they clicked.
Maddie & Tae are out with their second full-length disc , "The Way It Feels," after putting out an EP last fall. The CD is comprised of songs from their two recent EPs plus five brand new tracks all co-written by Maddie & Tae. The 15-song set was produced by Jimmy Robbins and Derek Wells. Songs include "Tourist in This Town" and "Lay Here With Me" featuring Dierks Bentley. This is the duo's first album in four years.
Pokey LaFarge makes his debut on New West with "Rock Bottom Rhapsody." LaFarge also left his base of St. Louis and moved to Los Angeles. The disc was produced by Chris Seefried (Fitz and the Tantrums). The album was recorded at Reliable Recorders on Chicago's Northwest Side during the polar vortex of 2019 and features the guitarist Joel Paterson, keyboardist Scott Ligon, upright/electric bassist Jimmy Sutton, and drummer Alex Hall.
More news
CD reviews
Rock Bottom Rhapsody
Pokey La Farge is best described as a musical archivist in every sense of the term. He and his band were described by one source as "artfully dodgy ambassadors for old-time music, presenting and representing the glories of hot swing, early jazz and ragtime blues" who have "made riverboat chic cool again," and indeed, they live up to that description. They recreate the kind of aural imagery that takes their listeners back in time to an earlier era of decades past when »»» |
Years
John Anderson has one of the best, and one of the most recognizable singing voices in country music, and he's in top form on "Years." It's expertly produced by Dan Auerbach (of The Black Keys) and David "Fergie" Ferguson, and Anderson and Auerbach wrote all of the songs, sometimes with the help of noteworthy songwriters like Pat McLaughlin and Larry Cordle. It's a nearly perfect, 10-song album, too.
A few of its songs address aging head-on, opening with »»» |
Manic Revelations
A good many musical artists are looking for a hot new trend to champion, but Pokey LaFarge's only interest from the beginning of his career has been to bring a fresh perspective to folk, blues and soul with a swingy, jazzy, poppy undercurrent. Over the past decade and a half, LaFarge's sound and the
band that helps him create it has evolved at a pace that reinforces the childhood nickname that he has adopted as his stage persona. That shouldn't be construed as a criticism; LaFarge »»» |
Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»
Concert Review: The Lil Smokies provide the perfect antidote –
On a night when the world to be falling further apart thanks to coronavirus (this would be the night the NBA postponed the season), there stood The Lil Smokies to at least in some small measure save the day.
The quintet is part of a generation of musicians with bluegrass as the basis, but not totally the sum of the music either.... »»»
Concert Review: White makes the case for himself, no matter how dark the music –
John Paul White opined with a glint in his eyes that his songs were not of the uplifting variety. In fact, they were downright dark. How else to explain "The Long Way" with the line "long way home back to you." Or "James," a song inspired by his grandfather who suffered from dementia.
But lest you think that the Alabama... »»»
|
|
Follow Country Standard Time
Elsewhere in the news
Currently at the CST blogs
"It had been a while since I'd given my fans any new solo music," Pam Tillis explains, when asked about the motivation behind recording her album "Looking for a Feeling." Until recently, Tillis mostly busied herself by recording and touring with... »»»
Sierra Hull would be the first to tell you that releasing a new CD in the teeth of a global pandemic is a challenge. "It's very strange...just adjusting to being home and knowing what that feels like. It's the most I've... »»»
Linda Gail Lewis has several interesting bullet points on her lengthy resume. She released her first singles in 1963 at age 16, and her first solo album, "The Two Sides of Linda Gail Lewis," in 1969 when she was just 22; her follow up album wouldn't appear... »»»
Neon Cross
Many records are touted as inspiring, but few albums actually live up to that billing by actually striking sentiments worthy of universal appeal. In Jaime Wyatt's case, there's never any doubt, »»» |
Ghosts of West Virginia
In a time when political views are pushing us further apart as a society, Steve Earle is one of the few artists reaching across that divide to seek common ground. In the case of his album, "Ghosts »»» |
Tessy Lou Williams
Welcome country traditionalist Tessy Lou Williams who hails from Montana, the daughter of two musicians who emigrated from Nashville to Willow Creek, Mont. (population 210). Her parents toured with their »»» |
Ready for the Horses
"It ain't for the faint of heart," Jarrod Dickenson croons on the lead-off track on "Ready the Horses," a rallying cry meant to inspire the reticent among us in this era of distrust »»» |
Songs I Can't Live Without
After a seven-year hiatus, Marshall Chapman is back with "Songs I Can't Live Without," her 14th release and eighth on her own label. The 71-year-old singer-songwriter-author-actress had intended to retire from music »»» |
Copy That
Nine songs in, Sara Evans finally unleashes a country song that she wanted to cover. And it's one of the most copied songs at that - Hank's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry." The cut is a decided left turn from the rest »»» |
|
