I am supposed to simply cover Lance Rogers latest single “Green Empire.” Who is rarely seen without an iconic Stetson Open Road coupled with a voice as authentic, warm, weathered and worn as any back road in America. This simple assignment proved to provide several beautiful, scenic twists and turns, leading to the fantastic discovery of Lance Rogers, a tremendously wonderful, wistful Kentucky treasure.
Hailing from the Buckeye state, Cleveland native, Erin Viancourt releases Won’t Die This Way this Friday via Late August Records. Viancourt is the first artist signed to the new label founded and led by Cody Jinks. Produced by Erin Viancourt and Kyle Dreaden, the album was recorded at Nashiville’s Forty-One Fifteen and The Smoakstack studios. If you haven’t already heard her on the road performing with Cody Jinks, then this record serves as the perfect heart warming introduction. Won’t Die This Way is shaping up to be the perfect companion for the summer and the perfect addition to your music libraries and playlists. Viancourt began writing songs as a teenager after finding inspiration from writers such as Jerry Jeff Walker and Shel Silverstein. After high school, she moved to Nashville to hone her skills as an artist before heading out on the road, where she now spends most of her time.
I’m not telling any secrets when I say that the first time most of us heard Miles Miller sing, he was contributing backup vocals on Tyler Childers’ debut album.. While the last several years of Miles Miller’s life have been spent behind the kit backing another titan of the alt-country world in Sturgill Simpson, the first time that I heard Miles sing and thought “why isn’t this guy putting out material of his own?” was an instagram post, singing a Don Williams song. Luckily for all of us the universe was apparently whispering the same thing in his ear.
Tommy Prine’s highly anticipated debut album This Far South has been on its own in the wild a mere week, but is steadily making a name for itself as one of the most refreshingly individualistic releases the Americana genre has produced in some time. This Far South melds Tommy’s creative lyrical heritage with a rockin’ sensibility born of ‘90’s grunge and thoughtful notes of graven imagery, resulting in an intriguing and somewhat unexpected track by track journey into Tommy’s personal evolution from the free living son of the Great John Prine, to a stand alone musician in his own right - out of the shadows and onto the stage with gusto.
His East Kentucky roots run deep. Jordan Lee King of Bell County, Kentucky keeps the very heritage that runs through his veins alive through his stories and songs. His latest release, “Cars and Refrigerators,” is a raw and intimate perspective on the trials faced when you grow up in the eastern region.
If you haven’t heard the term Nordicana, make sure you get familiar with it, as there’s a whole offshoot of the Americana genre that’s represented by a host of talented, Scandinavian artists. Today we’re talking with one of those artists, Malin Pettersen, who wowed us with her last album, Wildhorse. Although in the past Pettersen’s music drew from her influences in bluegrass and country, Malin’s newest music is embracing the genres of jazz and R&B, while “redefining the boundaries of pop music.” Whatever direction Malin plans on going, the world would be smart to follow, as she’s a talented and ever evolving artist. Malin Pettersen is back with new music and she just released her new single, “Cry If I Want To”, a duet with Bergljot Bejella. Her video for the single debuted on June 14th and if you haven’t had the chance to watch it yet, you can find it below.
Listening to Texas native, Dallas Burrow’s stories, you get the feeling he has lived several lifetimes in his thirty-five years on earth. A former hell raiser with a knack for getting kicked out of his hometown bars, Dallas has wandered far and wide across this country and Europe and then returned like the prodigal son to his hometown of New Braunfels, Texas. Now the owner of the Redbird Listening Room and a devoted dad and husband, Dallas has traded crazy nights for morning cups of coffee. You can’t discuss Dallas and the reason behind the title of his new record without mentioning his father, Mike. If you’ve seen Dallas perform in the last couple of years, then you’ve likely seen his dad on stage with him or intently watching the set from the crowd. Armed with a cup of coffee, Mike makes the rounds pre-show, chatting with fans and checking in with those he’s already met on previous runs. At times he’ll jump on stage to sing a few songs with Dallas and the band, and inevitably, you’ll hear the story of Mike and Townes Van Zandt. It’s the kind of story that legends are made of, but this one happens to be true. In the 1970’s, after meeting Townes and friends at a bar that Mike and his siblings were operating and a late night after party, he became blood brothers with Townes on that fateful night, and the rest they say is history.
Vulnerability is an attribute that few are comfortable with revealing. We’re taught from a young age not to cry, not to be scared, not to admit when we’re sad or depressed. We are expected to just pick ourselves up by the bootstraps and carry on like nothing happened. So, when you know you need to be vulnerable and when you want to be but you are afraid it will push away those closest to you, it creates angst and internal struggles. Some compartmentalize those feelings; some push them down to let fester; and others act out. It could be anger, violence, substance abuse or even self-harm and suicide.
When the world shut down for the pandemic, Jess Williamson got to work – on herself and on her music. On the personal side, she recovered from the breakup of a long-term relationship, started a new one and re-oriented herself in the world.
On the music side, she found herself unable to tour behind her May 2020 album, Sorceress. So she hunkered down and began writing. The first product was a top three best album of 2022 – I Walked With You a Ways, teaming with Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield as the duo Plains.
Emerging singer, songwriter, and “outlaw” musician Colby Acuff releases his anticipated major label debut album, Western White Pines, this Friday via Sony Music Nashville. Produced by Eddie Spear (Zach Bryan, Cody Jinks) and recorded at Nashville's Sound Emporium Studios, Western White Pines, once it completes its rounds around the world, shall promptly and swiftly propel Colby Acuff to the top of the most wanted list. This is the artist and the quintessential country album that we have all been desperately searching for.
Katie Callahan, a Baltimore-based indie-pop/Americana/folk singer-songwriter is an effervescent beam of light, who brilliantly shines through on her third record and second studio project, EXTRAORDINARY. Without a doubt she delivers a refreshingly scintillating album with incredible inspiring interwoven messages that she hopes, “that whoever needs it would find.”
The Cult of Kassi Valazza, founded in 2019 after her self-released debut album, Dear Dead Days, is sure to get a surge in membership following her newest release of Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, a stellar cosmic soup concocted of hazy, honky tonk highway vibes and that neon-lit, lilting Valazza warble.
…Knows Nothing finds it heart and soul in Valazza, and its feet in Portland-based band TK and the Holy Know Nothings, made up of Taylor Kingman (guitars, bass, vocals), Jay Cobb Anderson (harmonica, guitars, pedal steel, bass), Lewi Longmire (pedal steel, piano, bass, trumpet), Sydney Nash (organ, Farfisa, cornet, Wurlitzer), and Tyler Thompson (drums). The group’s swirling psychedelia combines with Valazza’s gutsy and graceful poetry for a singular sound that washes over the listener like a flash flood, heavy and without warning.
Nicholas Jamerson has done it again. Over the last decade he has put together quite a catalog to tickle the ears and tug on the heartstrings of many with his songs of home, love, and loss. Peace Mountain is no different. Thirteen tracks make up this album from happy-go-lucky tunes like “Strangers” and “Holler Child” to the heart wrenching “Mr. Buzzard” and “This Ain’t Supposed Happen in Our Town,” Jamerson delivers what may be one of the most eclectic records of 2023.
The path is within us, traveling nurse and musician Donnie Bowling would come to realize. His latest release, Work Yourself Out, is an unapologetically honest look into the human mind, following the journey from self-doubt to self-actualization. Sparked from a years-old lyric rediscovered, the 10-track record reflects a collection of these moments from Bowling's own life that remind us we’re our own worst enemies.
Bowling would affirm the feelings that are the hardest to express are the most important to share; it’s this that creates the stark honesty he carries in his lyrics. “It’s only then that we find the way to survive. A path to fix our problems is within us all,” Bowling told The Amp.
When the Martians decide to make their presence known on U.S. soil, I want Abe Partridge to be our official interplanetary Ambassador, without damn question.
You see, compared to the typical backwoods bumpkin that simply gets beamed-up and probed, Partridge would be the strongest example of the creative prowess contained within Humankind: A fine specimen demonstrating the purest of arts - writing, singing, playing and painting - the whole enchilada, rolled-up tight in a delicious tortilla of talent. Thankfully, we all get to enjoy Partridge’s latest collection of tunes with Love in the Dark, reminding us all that some folks are just plain gifted - period.
Life is too short not to spend it doing what you love. This is a lesson all too familiar to the Pulaski County native supplying the freshest contribution to the “Appalachian Renaissance.” Hunter Flynn tells The Amp it was last December when he dropped everything to pursue a life driven by his passion for creative expression. The release of “Appalachian Soul” showcases Flynn’s artistic capability while paying tribute to the experiences that led him here.
Hard to believe it’s been nearly ten years since Parker Millsap burst onto the Americana music scene with “Truck Stop Gospel” from his eponymous album released in 2014. The song jumped out with an energy and exuberance that immediately gained many new fans for the young singer-songwriter from Purcell, Oklahoma. Millsap has since moved his base of operations to Nashville and is set to release his sixth studio album, Wilderness Within You, May 12 on his Okrahoma label via Thirty Tigers. The ten tracks on the new release find Millsap exploring some new musical landscapes but still retaining enough of his signature sound, featuring minimal accompaniment to his wonderful finger-picked guitar with emotion-filled vocals, to satisfy long-time fans.
Zach Aaron, a Cleveland, Texas-based singer/songwriter, along with his elegantly tarnished tenor voice, fingerpicked guitar melodies and raw honest sentiments in his lyrics make him seem of a different time than many of his contemporaries, yet timeless, all the same.
Zach Aaron provides an impressive record with sumptuous musicality and truly admirable storytelling. I am certainly his newest fan. His latest album, This Lovely War, contains eight delightfully thought provoking songs, dipped in nostalgia whisking many of us away to a long forgotten time that conjures up memories of watching Technicolor Westerns: Gunsmoke, Bonanza and Rawhide.
