The High Divers consist of the married Luke and Mary Alice Mitchell, Julius DeAngelis, and Kevin Early. Their new EP, Ride with You, was released on June 7, about two years after their touring van was T-boned by a semi-trailer truck, giving them broken bones, deep scars, and new perspectives.
Live the Love Beautiful is the latest album from the legendary Drivin N Cryin and the group’s first full-length album of new material since 2009’s working-class opera, Whatever Happened to the Great American Bubble Factory. Produced by acclaimed singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, who had his own two-year stint with the band as touring guitarist circa 2013, the album captures a number of things, including the current all-cylinders lineup, which features co-founders Kevn Kinney and Tim Nielsen, longtime drummer Dave V. Johnson and Estonian-born guitarist Laur Joamets.
In the song “I Used to Live Around Here,” Kevn Kinney sings, “I used to live around here / a long time ago / I used to play in this bar / before we had a stage.” It’s just one number from Drivin N Cryin’s ninth studio album, Live The Love Beautiful (out June 21 via Drivin N Cryin Records), a collection of inward ruminations and distant personal memories set to the tune of no-frills Southern rock ’n’ roll. It’s also the kind of thing Kinney might say during a lull in the conversation at pretty much any local music haunt. Therein lies the allure of Live The Love Beautiful’s sentimental journeys. Bass player Tim Nielsen, drummer Dave Johnson, and guitarist Laur Joamets have crafted a winding backdrop to Kinney’s personal narratives about everything from reconnecting with Drivin N Cryin’s first LP to looking within himself to find true happiness.
New York City based folk-duo Joanie & Matt are Joanie Leeds and Matthew Check, and they have a new album out on July 19th called ‘Sterling‘. On it Joanie & Matt have crafted songs for the marginalised, but have done this by working from their joint interpretations of what they describe as the “inherently misogynistic ancient texts from the Hebrew Bible“. Recrafting their Jewish heritage they have on ‘Sterling‘ created seven tracks that are provocative tales encompassing the #MeToo movement, the LGBTQ+ community and substance abuse; each chapter unfurling gritty honesty through a modern feminist lens.
Angela Perley has been making tunes for over a decade now. In fact, our own Chris DeVille reviewed one of her shows way back in 2011. In the time since, she’s released played on bills alongside acts like the Flaming Lips, St. Vincent, and Randy Newman. Perley is gearing up for the release of her third full-length LP, 4:30, which is named for the time she goes to bed. Definitely a night owl.
“Don’t Look Back Mary” is gorgeous in composition, and swings with a slow, grooving snare bump. Sprinkled high hats, when combined with a sliding guitar riff, create this illusion of an expansive horizon. Vocally, it’s a slow croon, but a stepwise motion on the shimmery strings adds just the right amount of gravity to the lyrical content. Here Perley is with more details on the track:
Country rocker Kyle Daniel released his stellar album What’s There To Say?, an honest collection of songs chronicling life’s hardships and hard won victories, earlier this year. Today, Wide Open Country is premiering Daniel’s live performance of the album’s title track. Daniel recorded the song at Acme Radio Live (recorded at Nashville’s Acme Feed & Seed).