Just in time for 4/20 festivities, Nashville singer-songwriter Kyle Daniel is premiering his stoner-friendly new song “A Friend With Weed” exclusively for readers of The Boot. Press play below to listen, and just try to resist the urge to light up.
Americana Highways presents this premiere of Bridge 19’s song “The Middle Age” from their album In the Afterglow which is due to be released on April 26. “The Middle Age” is Amanda Lucas on vocals, Audrey Cecil on vocals, and guitar, Joey Thieman on accordion, Meg Samples on drums/percussion, and Jeff Faith on bass. The album was recorded with engineer Anne Gauthier at Louisville’s La La Land Studio.
The accordion is lively and sets the tone for the rest of the song in a Bridge 19’s unique variation on country music with country style harmonies. We have all been there through breakups in one form or another and Bridge 19 has found a way to support the process with their highly relatable lyrical imagery, accompanied by their pop stylings and vocal trills.
After touring the country with a number of bands as a drummer, David Quinn returned to Chicago, where he began his journey, with a catalog of tunes and an Americana sound that harkens back to the days of yore. Seemingly straight from the heighdays of the Opry comes Wanderin’ Fool, a phenomenal time warp collection of originals shaped by Quinn and sought after producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Langhorne Slim, and Hurray for the Riff Raff) at his studio in Nashville with the legend Dave Roe on bass, and studio players Jimmy Lester (Hayes Carll, Billy Joe Shaver), Jon Estes (John Paul White), Micah Hulscher (Margo Price,) and background singer Alexis Saski (of Americana-blues band Muddy Magnolia.)
This latest sonic offering from the journeyman songsmith Brad Byrd is somewhat middle of the road in places, but has charm, and moments of soaring brilliance. Describing his music as somewhere between indie-rock and alt-country, California resident Byrd has been writing songs his whole life, and that certainly comes through in the polished sound of ‘Phases‘, which is an album of self-examination. The songs take us all the way from Byrd’s childhood in Massachusetts to the sun-soaked hills of California where he lives today, exploring a number of elements drawn from personal experience.
“Sweet Thing is a collection of songs that represents the last year or so of my life. It’s about living in a new town, falling in love, losing it, falling apart, and picking up the pieces. It’s about trying to become a better person in your 30s when you’re fighting all the demons from your past and you feel worn-out and washed up.” – D.L. Rossi
Leahey told The Daily Times recently that the album reflects his love for the radio anthems he heard and enjoyed while growing up in Richmond, Va., in the early ’80s. Its songs ring with an anthemic frenzy and fury that aims them straight for the stratosphere with stadium-filling choruses and refrains.