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.
