Category Archives: CD Reviews

Ronnie Fauss – I Am The Man You Know I’m Not

  By naomi | October 15, 2012 - 8:08 pm |
3 Comments
I Am The Man You Know I'm Not

I Am The Man You Know I'm NotSpecial October  treat!    Ronnie Fauss’s debut full length CD,  I Am The Man You Know I’m Not, was released on NormalTown Records, an imprint of New West Records.  For now, at least, it’s streaming here.

Fauss continues with his trademark raspy voice and he’ll get you coming and going – with his music AND his lyrics.  He’s versatile – pretty clean cut (for Americana, anyway) but he can hang tough with the Laramie crowd.  He can write love songs and he can write break up songs.  They all speak to you.  “With Love” will make you cry – about a boy/man losing his father at a young age, wanting to show his Dad how he made it through that loss  and came out on the other side.

(more…)

Dara

  By gracey | July 28, 2012 - 12:53 pm |
Leave a comment
Dara

 

Dara

Ever just wanna kick back on the porch and listen to something new – then you realize that the perfect voice, perfect song sends you sailing far, far away?

The voice is so soothing, sweet, clear, touching.  Another UK import with sweet, sweet guitar, played so lovingly, lyrics so hopeful and stirring.  Smart.
Dara had me from the first song – “Guilt”.  Just matched my mood.  Don’t ask me why.
My interest has been peaked.  I’ll be doing further research.

Dara’s Facebook Page

Rose’s Pawn Shop

  By naomi | June 8, 2011 - 1:51 pm |
3 Comments
Rose's Pawn Shop - Dancing on the Gallows

Rose's Pawn Shop - Dancing on the GallowsUm, okay, so I found this email from Rose’s Pawn Shop way down deep in my inbox.  Don’t know how I missed it. Glad I found it though ’cause these guys are really good!  It’s that Appalachian/Bluegrass/Americana/Rock thing we like so well at SlackerCountry.com.  Yeah, think Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show, like that.

I sampled most of the tunes on their second disc, Dancing On The Gallows, and I can see I have some catching up to do.  I have to admit that I haven’t really sat down and heard all the tracks yet because I’m just streaming this – like I recommend YOU do but it’s grabbing me.  More every time I hear it.

Love “Pine Box”, for example.  See what you think.

 

But then I listened again and was really liking this one.

(more…)

Rat Trapper

  By gracey | June 8, 2011 - 7:57 am |
1 Comment
Rat Trapper - Laramie, Wyoming

Rat Trapper - Laramie, WyomingThere are just a whole helluva lot of things that don’t happen around here a whole helluva lot of the time, but sometimes….the strangest combinations of people get together and form a band – the right way.

I’m fascinated, intrigued and ever-so entertained by a new young band that just sprung up outta nowhere – well- at the hardware store, really, I guess.  It started with a washtub, a broomstick and some weed-whacker line, the way I heard it, but check the bios on their site for the real story.

See, thing is, they write their own songs!  Yeah, words, music, all that!  You will be amazed at the weird mix of killer keys, banjo, guitars and that crazy washtub bass.  It’ll make you scratch your head.  Well worth the listen – funny, smart, serious, danceable,,,,,,

(more…)

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – “Here We Rest”

  By gracey | May 7, 2011 - 7:34 am |
2 Comments
Here We Rest - Jason Isbell

Here We Rest - Jason IsbellIt’s not a well-kept secret that Jason Isbell songs just send me tingling all over, right?  So, my old cabana boy called me the other night and said “Have you heard the new Jason Isbell record?”

“No, where’d you hear it?”

“Oh, they’re playing a few tracks on Outlaw Country on Sirius.  There’s one song with a line that goes something like ‘I’m taking it home to go it alone again.’”  Then he said a lot of other shit while I scrambled to look up the phone number of the only available place to shop in this little town, the sub-par conglomerate that I won’t even name.  They had two copies, so I snagged them both.  One for him (to rub it in, see?) and one for me to keep in the wrapper and fondle, while I “tested” the gift copy.  Cover art by Browan Lollar.  Birds, this time.  Beautiful, as always. (more…)

The Streakin’ Healys – “Booze Fighter”

  By naomi | April 12, 2011 - 2:35 pm |
1 Comment
The Streakin' Healys "Booze Fighter"

The Streakin' Healys "Booze Fighter"They sign their correspondence “Your friend in whiskey.”  You gotta like that.

And they are altruistic, claiming their debut album, Booze Fighter “is saving country music one shot of whiskey at a time.”

So, naturally, I was intrigued.

The first song “Honky Tonk Nights” got my attention.  It starts with  a mellow guitar chord, the sound of beer can popping open, and then busts into some Celtic punk-sounding hillbilly bluegrass with redneck/punk vocals and a manic fiddle.    That’s the best I can describe it.  Fun.

(more…)

The good, the sad, and the pretty…

  By gracey | February 18, 2011 - 10:34 am |
Leave a comment
Jon Durham

 

JON DURHAM - Roots and Wings (2008), Half Fast Music

Jon DurhamI was so pleased to find this in my mailbox one day. The cover art and the song titles are so pretty. Inside are words of wisdom – “Remember your roots and use your wings”, “Wings can unfold at a moment’s notice.”

 

In the first song, Jon revisits the small town he remembers. It’s true, man. I grew up that way, too.

“Courtesy” follows and brushes up against a question that’s been on my mind lately -  Are we growing more patient because so many things take so much longer due to the lack of courtesy, customer service, thoughtfulness and general efficiency in our day to day activities? Or, is it just driving us crazier? (more…)

Donna Dean

  By gracey | February 10, 2011 - 10:45 am |
Leave a comment

 

I wanna hang out with this band.  Check it out.  They look like they are having fun.  I love music when it’s fun.  

No Depression rocks.  Still.  They interviewed our boy Ronnie Fauss, then Shady from the New Zealand radio station, Radioactive-FM,  interviewed him.  Now they have introduced Donna Dean to the masses and about time, I’d say, because it’s clear that they have been practicing for a while….uh, duh…..where has she been?  where have I been?  Thanks for the alert on this, Shady, because I am richer for having heard it this morning.  

(more…)

Ronnie Fauss’s “Mulligan”

  By naomi | August 8, 2010 - 8:52 am | ,
3 Comments
Ronnie Fauss's "Mulligan"

Why the heck would Ronnie Fauss call his new album  “Mulligan”?  In golf, a mulligan means a do-over.  It means you screwed up so bad people feel sorry for you.   I don’t feel sorry for him and this ain’t no do-over.

Fauss’s first EP, New Songs for The Old Frontier, was damn good (see my review).  But his new stuff is nothing like his old stuff was. It’s better.  Rocks more.  Rougher voice.  I like that.  Got a fiddle on some of it.  I like that too.

I can’t get the first song, To Ease My Mind,  out of my head.  Very catchy tune.  And It’s a Long Long Way is a funny talking blues song (think Todd Snider’s Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues) explaining the direction, or lack thereof, of a guy growing up in the post-Nixon era.  I’m pretty sure that anyone who rhymes “riches” with “bitches” is headed in the right direction.

Wish had me fooled.  I thought it was a  sweet little love song but then I really listened to the lyrics.  It’s more like a hate song.  There’s a lot of bitterness packed in that one, with amusing lyrics to boot.  And the mandolin and harmonica just make it that much better.

(more…)

We Got Mail

  By gracey | July 25, 2010 - 6:21 pm |
1 Comment

We don’t get all that much mail, ‘cause we’re slackers and all, but The Philistines, Jr. band sent me a free listen to their new album “If A Band Plays in the Woods…” Hmm.

Maybe I was just in a mood this morning like I felt like I needed a nudge in a new direction. Maybe I just love innovation supported by well-written, thought-tickling lyrics and a we-are-all-in-the-same-boat-together attitude.

This is NOT my kind of music. At all. Is it? Sounds like some weird combination of electronica and a toy-store xylophone. It’s sure not raging southern guitar rock, folky Americana or banjos and mandolins. So, why did they send this to me? Did it leak that I’m a closet ABBA and Boy George fan? Did someone catch me listening to that danged White Stripes stuff? I don’t know.

(more…)