Posts by Neil Ferguson

[rating=9.00] Photo by Alexandra Valenti It’s hard to believe ten years have passed since Austin band Okkervil River released Black Sheep Boy. Since then they have released four albums and a few EP’s, all of which garnered praise from critics and fans alike, but even now Black Sheep Boy may stand as their greatest achievement. […]

[rating=9.00] Picture this: you’re hanging in a dingy barroom somewhere in the East Village – maybe it’s CBGB – in the late 70s. Outside the Bowery bums are splayed across the sidewalk and the streets are filthy. Inside, you’re surrounded by a crowd that consists of a who’s who in the downtown club community. Alex […]

Lloyd Price is a man who should need no introduction. Getting his start in the 1940’s when he was still just a teenager, the young performer from Kenner, Louisiana released some of the biggest and most widely covered songs of all time. Songs like “Lawdy Miss Clawdy”, “Personality”, and “Stagger Lee” sold millions of copies and […]

Remember when Mumford & Sons blew up seemingly out of nowhere and suddenly the masses were acting like folk and bluegrass was this incredible new discovery? Nathaniel Rateliff is just like that, but with soul music. That’s not to say this bearded bandleader isn’t talented and that he didn’t release one of the better albums […]

“Texans, don’t get nervous, there’re a lot of Oklahomans in the house tonight,” JD McPherson quipped to the crowd at the Parish in Austin on Tuesday night. He wasn’t lying either, as this two-night run was spearheaded by Oklahoma natives JD McPherson and the young singer-songwriter Parker Millsap, who hails from Guthrie, OK. The Texans […]

[rating=9.00] We’ve heard this story before. An extraordinarily talented artist cuts one perfect record and, too often under tragic circumstances, the album is lost in time. Then, years later, a dedicated archivist or a savvy record label comes upon this artist as if discovering a shipwreck deep below the sea that holds stories upon stories […]

It felt a bit surreal walking into a concert venue on Friday night given the context of what was happening in Paris at that very moment. Concerts, after all, are a place to escape the sometimes painful realities of life and revel in this magical thing we call music. The crowd at Stubb’s in Austin […]

In Vinyl Lives we spotlight and profile record stores around the country who offer music lovers an experience that goes beyond an iTunes purchase or a Spotify playlist. Vinyl has found a new resurgence and the good folks behind independent record stores are on the front line, directly responsible for curating a unique collection of […]

Memphis power-trio Dirty Streets are entrenched in the kind of deep soul, funk, blues, heavy boogie and psych-rock that was a domineering force of nature during the Seventies but is hard to come by these days, at least in a way that feels authentic. These guys are as real as it gets and they’re ready to […]

All photos by Merrick Ales unless otherwise noted. The final day of Fun Fun Fun Fest was gifted with the kind of weather that promoters, attendees, and artists dream about. Under a blue sky dotted with clouds, those three groups and everyone else at Auditorium Shores basked in sunshine that had been missing the previous two days. […]

All photos by Merrick Ales unless otherwise noted. Saturday of Fun Fun Fun Fest saw a crowd nearly double the size of Friday’s trampling across damp grass from the previous night’s rain. There was a palpable sense of eagerness in the air as fans of all ages sought to check off bucket list acts and conjure a […]

All photos by Merrick Ales unless otherwise noted. Under overcast skies the tenth anniversary of Fun Fun Fun Fest kicked off at Auditorium Shores in Austin on Friday. Luckily, the looming rain held off save for a bit of drizzle. Perhaps it was a blessing from the rock gods, as the first day of FFF […]

When I first heard Boroughs I was caught off guard. This young quartet from Los Angeles was tapping into something reminiscent of Whiskeytown and Wilco in their more sentimental moments. There was the twang of JD Carrera’s seductive pedal steel and the honest, simple lyrics of Kyle Neal, whose smokey vocals with just a slight […]

Ahhh yes. Can you smell the delicious aroma of the taco cannon as it is readied to fire tasty egg and bacon filled tortillas upon the hungering, moshing masses? Fun Fun Fun Fest is upon us once again. This year Austin’s long-running debaucherous fall party celebrates a tenth anniversary, no small feat in a town […]

[rating=8.00] When Bloodshot Records signed a little known trio from Denver called the Yawpers earlier this year, it seemed like a move out of left field. Then again, in its 20 year history the Chicago record label has always had a gift for discovering and signing fresh talent (Ryan Adams, Old 97’s, Waco Brothers) before the […]

The Nouveaux Honkies are originally from Florida, but these days they call the road their home. This Americana duo literally travel around in an RV, which is pretty convenient when you happen to also be touring on a regular basis. Their new album Blues For Country, which comes out November 5th, reflects the rambling life with its […]

[rating=7.00] Jason Boland and his band the Stragglers are that rare act who succeed in making fans out of both country music traditionalists and those more inclined to the modern, more pop-inflected styles of the genre. The band’s eighth studio album, the oddly titled Squelch, finds these Oklahomans going in all sorts of musical directions […]

Illinois native Ike Reilly has worked as a gravedigger and a hotel doorman, but where he has always shined is as a singer-songwriter. On June 16th Reilly released his seventh studio album Born On Fire via Rock Ridge Music and Firebrand Records, the latter of which is the label owned by Ryan Harvey of Riot-Folk Collective and Rage Against […]

Considering a seemingly endless output of country music and awards that’s spanned over five decades, Loretta Lynn has no reason to give a damn these days. What makes this Coal Miner’s Daughter a living legend and a true class act is that, at the age of 83, she still does give a damn. Loretta Lynn […]

For Austin nine-piece Grupo Fantasma, the road to get their newest studio album released has been a long one. Five years have passed since these masters of Latin-funk put out their acclaimed album El Existential, which won them a Grammy in 2011 under the Best Latin Rock or Alternative Album category. In that time Grupo […]