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.
