Posts by Jason Gonulsen

Singer-songwriter Amos Lee has been here before. His first two albums, Amos Lee and Supply and Demand, both vaulted him to a “must-hear” level, and many people took notice.  With Last Days at The Lodge, you’re hearing much of the same praise – and that’s because it’s a brilliant piece of work filled with soul, excellent songwriting, and passionate vocals.

In the first part of Glide’s interview with Melora Hardin, much of the focus was on her life outside of “The Office.”  But it’s now September, and that means new seasons of your favorite shows on television, including new episodes of “The Office” starting the 25th on NBC. Hardin’s role as Jan on “The Office” is just warming up – she’s pregnant (who’s the father?), single, and, as always, unpredictable.   

A Backyard Tire Fire show is just that – rocking, loud, and fun.  They’re currently on tour supporting their newest album, The Places We Lived, and the new tunes couldn’t hold up any better in a live setting.

When Elliot Martin, lead singer of the progressive reggae band, John Brown’s Body, had throat surgery in early 2008 to remove polyps, one might think a laid-back set of songs could be in order. Nothing could be further from the truth on Amplify, the band’s newest album, which features 12 new tracks, highlighted by the beats of the opening title track and the inspiring “Give Yourself Over.”

Intense, organized chaos can make some beautiful music.  Wilco has achieved this with songs like “At Least That’s What You Said,” “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” and “A Shot in the Arm,” to name just a few.  And while Gentleman Auction House isn’t as established as a band like Wilco, their newest album, Alphabet Graveyard, has that mystic and iconic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot feel to it,

Before Matthew Ryan and his band, MRVSS, took the stage at Blueberry Hill, he and his bassist, Brian Bequette, were joking with me and my wife, explaining how the headliner, Tift Merritt, was a “firecracker.” Ryan and his band seemed happy to be on the road with the energetic singer-songwriter, eager to share their music with a respectful room of people.

In Neil Young’s newest riveting film, CSNY: Déjà Vu, Young features a young marine, Josh Hisle, who also happens to be a musician, husband, and father. We’re taken into Young’s hotel room where they jam to Hisle’s “Traitor’s Death,” and the two instantly hit it off. For Hisle, his first tour or duty in Iraq was a success. But when Hisle was sent back to Ramadi in 2004, his outlook on the war changed and he did not want to give his life for a purpose that he no longer recognized.

“It’s always been the honest kind of writing that strikes a chord with me.”Those were Brooke Fraser’s direct words to me as we spent around 40 minutes in conversation earlier this summer. Originally from New Zealand, Fraser was speaking from Los Angeles, getting ready for her summer tour that would take her all across the U.S. to perform songs from her most recent CD, Albertine.

t’s true, and cliché, to call a band like Backyard Tire Fire guitar heroes.  And with all the nasty licks and six-string thunder on their newest album, The Places We Lived, it’s difficult to resist from noting this.  But this impressive piece of work is more than a heap of broken guitar strings, it’s rather a complete presentation built on solid songs, brief harmony, and homespun musicianship, and it shines.

Take a journey through Rachael Sage’s newest album, Chandelier, and you’ll find an independent artist asking many questions. Some are basic, some are personal, and some probably don’t have worthy answers. But the point is, Sage still doesn’t hesitate to inquire, and that is something you’ll need to know as you listen to her music.

Denver, Colorado, which has also recently brought us the lovely and talented Jessica Sonner, is now also ready to unleash another superb singer-songwriter, Dan Craig.  Sure, this isn’t Craig’s debut, but it’s bound to be the album that you’ll be talking about for years to come, mostly because of its introspective blend of folk-rock and Craig’s rangy vocals.

If you attended any shows during CSNY’s 2006 “Freedom of Speech” tour, or have listened to Neil Young’s Living With War, you’ll already know the emotion attached to the songs that are included on this striking live album.

Anything Milwaukee in your name usually won’t get you very far in St. Louis these days.   The Cardinals are chasing the Brewers (and the Cubs), and once-proud Bud Light drinkers are depressed about the sale of Anheuser-Busch, so don’t come at them with your Miller Lite or High Life.  So really, who in St. Louis gives a crap about a band named What Made Milwaukee Famous, right?

Since forming the duo eastmountainsouth with Kat Bode, things have been moving pretty fast for Peter Bradley Adams.  Deciding that he would rather record and perform as a solo artist, Adams started over, minus Bode’s harmony and musicianship.

On the hit TV show The Office, Melora Hardin wants to fool you.  Her character, the quirky, crazy, and emotional Jan, although anything but one-dimensional, doesn’t exactly give off the vibe that she’s multi-talented.  An accomplished singer and songwriter with two CDs, Hardin also starred in At the Water Cooler, a one-woman show that took place at the Catalina Jazz Club in Los Angeles last January and will be starring as  Fantine in Les Misérables. 

I usually don’t go to concerts by myself, but sometimes curiosity gets the best of me. And last winter, Jessica Sonner was a major curiosity of mine. Having listened to her music via her MySpace page for a few days, I was hooked; and luckily for me, she was coming to town.  So while my wife worked a night shift, I saw her play an early set at Off Broadway in St. Louis, and I was gratefully rewarded with an intimate performance.  It was just her and an acoustic, one that had been damaged on the plane the day before.  She seemed concerned about it, and I don’t blame her – for most songwriters, a certain guitar is irreplaceable.  Sonner seemed no different.

Rarely do you get the chance to listen to a finished product 30 years in the making.  Even rarer is when it’s any good.  But Bill Cutler’s Crossing the Line is just that – a nice piece of work; it’s solid enough to make you wonder what took so long to get these songs — six of which were recorded with Jerry Garcia — released. 

Ingrid Michaelson does not appear to be the least bit fragile.  She showed off her sense of humor to the crowd, joking that she wanted to “make out with them” and “feel them up.”  And later in the night, before treating everyone to her Old Navy commercial hit, “The Way I Am,” she busted out a couple raps – “Ice Ice Baby” and the theme to “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.”  Yeah, I’d say she’s quite a talent.

In the summer of 1998, I can’t remember exactly when, I went out and bought a copy of Neil Young’s Comes a Time. The album’s words have stayed with me for a long time; it remains one of my favorite Young albums, and I still don’t know what to call it: county, folk, or just great music that is timeless. I don’t mind that I can’t categorize it, because I’ll have it forever, and that’s all that matters to me.

“All I can do is keep breathing,” Ingrid Michaelson sang on “Keep Breathing,” a song that helped close out the 2007 season of Grey’s Anatomy.  And she’s taken quite a few buoyant breaths since that moment, including another slot on the 2008 Grey’s season finale, offering up the previously unreleased “Giving Up” to keep a healthy buzz glowing around her music.