Posts by Jason Gonulsen

If you saw Neil Young on tour last year or read about his eco-friendly car in the news, you probably saw this coming. Heck, if you have been following Young’s career for the past 40 years, you probably saw this coming. It’s no secret he does what he wants, when he wants to do it; and he’s done it again

Omaha’s Cursive really only has one recognizable pace—fast and furious. And minus a bit of moderate cruise control during the latter half of their newest album, Mama, I’m Swollen, this unflappable identity is once again on successful display.

With the recent boom of female singer-songwriters in the past few years, there is reason to believe that there is room for all the talent in the world, even if you’re not the second coming of Lucinda Williams—you don’t have to write the next Car Wheels on a Gravel Road to make a decent living. But, the truth is simple for McCarley: if her first offering, Love, Save the Empty, gives us any hint about what is to come, it’s that her musical pulse is not to be denied.

“Just because you don’t believe it/ Doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it,” Neko Case sings on “The Next Time You Say Forever,” one of the many superb tracks on her sixth solo album, Middle Cyclone. Believe this: Case has turned in an album that easily ranks among her best—quite possibly the best of her career. 

There is a scene in The Shawshank Redemption where Red, played by Morgan Freeman, and his fellow prisoners are treated to a piece of music, courtesy of fellow inmate Andy Dufresne.  Red, who is the narrator in the film, confesses that he had no idea what the two Italian ladies were singing about that afternoon, and he didn’t want to know. “Some things are better left unsaid,” Red tells us. There are times when I feel the same way about Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

Volume Three of New Arrivals features 19 tracks by independent artists who are devoting their music for a great cause: National Eating Disorders Association.

Saying you’re from Wasilla, Alaska these days is like painting a giant bulls-eye across your face – you’re going to get stuff flying at you from every direction. For Portugal. The Man, the up-and-coming band from—you guessed it—Wasilla, this can be a wondrous thing. Take their latest album, Censored Colors, as an example. Around its release, lead singer John Baldwin Gourley posted this blog to the band’s MySpace page, which centered around Wasilla’s most famous figure—you guessed it (again)—Sarah Palin.   

Though Wellspring is only the second offering from singer-songwriter Ashton Allen, it seems that he’s got the relaxing-acoustic-pop-art thing down to a science.

When Justin Vernon speaks these days, people line up to listen at every corner. It wasn’t always this way for Vernon, who now records under the name Bon Iver. You know him because of his beautiful For Emma, Forever Ago, a record that everyone seemed to love because of its cold truth—that pain is somehow always around us.

In 2001, when I was overly busy following Ryan Adams and Cowboy Junkies around the Midwest, I was first introduced to a guy and his violin. This particular person could also whistle clear enough to give you chills, create imposing fractured patterns on guitar, and draw you into his music because it changed in similar ways your feelings do when you’re first in love. Of course, the guy I’m referring to is Andrew Bird.

For writer and teacher Jenny Lumet, this has been a long time coming.  Her first screenplay to be made into a film, the Jonathan Demme-directed Rachel Getting Married, has made waves in the movie world, something that Lumet, daughter of Academy Award-winning director Sidney Lumet, didn’t necessarily see coming, but has enjoyed.

Last February, we began our first collaboration with Strangers’ Almanac, a bi-monthly tribute to our much loved singer-songwriters, including both veteran artists and newcomers to the music scene.  Slowly, we’ve been building a thoroughly subjective reference section to help you navigate your way through the best lyrical poets making music today.

Lucinda Williams originally came as a recommendation to me as a country artist. That always scares me, only because it seems that country music these days can mean so many things. Is it Hank Williams country? Garth Brooks country? You really don’t know.

Jessie Baylin's Verve Records debut, Firesight, has garnered attention across the nation, making her a musician to watch over the coming years. Calling it a “collection of a bunch of moments in my life,” Firesight is really more than that – songs like “See How I Run,” “Leave Your Mark,” and “Was I on Your Mind?” reveal a blossoming songwriter just scratching the surface of what the 24-year-old can offer.

You might remember Madeline Zima as Emma in 1992’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, but that’s now light years away from what she is now – a versatile actress who’s willing to try anything to make a character’s life seem as real as possible. Glide was fortunate enough to talk with Zima about playing the guitar, acting and her role in Californication.

On Lucinda Williams’ last album, West, we were taken through misery after misery – a boatload of “what ifs” until you started to wonder if she would ever write another happy song.  Of course, Williams is known for sad, angry songs, which I don’t have a problem with – it’s just so nice to hear her voice filled with joy on her latest offering, Little Honey.

The story of Andrews and Sam Quinn of the everybodyfields is furiously engaging: you get twisted around while you’re witnessing the beauty of it all. There are no straight roads, and there is no turning around once their songs have gotten a hold of you. Much like the beautiful harmonies that the two create, there is always give and take.

I first heard Neil Young’s music in high school, sitting on the passenger side of my friend’s beat up car. As we were pulling out of his driveway, he fumbled through a few cassette tapes, and, not knowing what he had chosen, threw one in. The album was Harvest Moon. The song happened to be “One of These Days.” My life has never been the same.

Gossip in the Grain, his third offering, finds LaMontagne at the top of his game, with his voice again being his best weapon of choice.

“I’m so tired, I wish I was the moon tonight,” Neko Case sang midway through her breathtaking set at The Pageant in St. Louis. We’ve come to expect the best from Case over the years, and that’s what she continues to deliver in her live performances and albums. 2006’s Fox Confessor Brings the Flood showed off Case’s talents as not only a singer and songwriter, but also a capable producer of creating her own vision and bringing it to life.