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JAX HOLLOW – ONLY THE WILD ONES (*OUT MAY 5*)

Nashville Americana singer-songwriter and virtuosic guitarist Jax Hollow manages to refine the heavier, rock ‘n’ roll machismo of previous work with producer Michael Wagener (Metallica, Mötley Crü), distilling a more distinctive sound that yields progressive Southern rock and country twang, as well as expert songwriting on her sophomore album Only the Wild Ones (out May 5). Hollow has been featured on Lightning 100’s “Artist of the Week” and opened for Peter Karp (Mick Taylor, Sue Foley)  and Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy) on her 2022 European tour.

Recorded at The Sound Emporium and Music Row’s Sienna Studios with some of Nashville’s finest musicians, Only The Wild Ones’ lineup consists of drummer Matt King (Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne), bassist Lex Price (k.d. lang, Miranda Lambert) and Tim Galloway (Joshua Hedley, Cody Johnson) on rhythm guitar and banjo. “What an incredible experience, in one of the best studios in the world. Juanita Copeland pulled me aside, telling me stories of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ session in there, and then next thing I know she’s introducing me to Jason Isbell in the break room. I was over the moon.”

Still high on all the excitement and positive output from the sessions, Hollow took the next logical step: “I headed to the Smoky Mountains to camp out for a little while, and that’s where I landed on Only the Wild Ones,” says Hollow. “I wasn’t planning on naming the record after my song, but the title just clicked. There’s radical freedom when you’re trying to make it as an independent artist. It’s a bit feral. Sleeping under the stars, hopping from town to town… there were so many highs and lows to dive into artistically.”

Hollow’s sense of adventure and exponential growth as a songwriter show up in spades on Only the Wild Ones, spanning from rollicking country and scorching guitar solos (i.e. “Ethereal Emerald” & “Renegade Season”) to shimmering folk pop balladry in “Stepping Stone” and “Wallflower Girl In Bloom.” Though there’s a warmth to the album, with Hollow’s crisp guitar tones, bright and crackling, there are undertones of darker notes, where the artist dives into life on the road. “Everyone’s experienced seismic life changes since 2020,” says Hollow. 

“Wolf in Sheepskin” is a fine example, with an undercurrent of something more sinister to this sentiment brewing in the chorus: “Sunrise, waking up with my .45,” sings Hollow. “There’s a beautiful numbness in the midst of chaos,” she adds. “Like the scenes in movies where everyone is frantically running around, while the camera zooms in on the main character, ears ringing and silent, lost in thought.” The grim reality of the lonely existence that comes with perpetual touring is not lost on Hollow – who performs on commercial cruise ships without a permanent residence. The artist makes light of personal affronts (“I’m too feral for your heart / It’s just a waste of time”) and then leans into a more cathartic proclamation, belting, “I’m better sleeping alone!”

Hollow’s tenacity and unrelenting journey as a songwriter continues on “Wallflower Girl in Bloom.” The percussive energy of Hollow’s acoustic guitar work and Galloway’s tuneful banjo underscore the beauty of witnessing a loved one’s transformation. “The essence of that song is being so excited about seeing somebody come into who they’re meant to be. Witness, watch, and you just wanna bask in that glow,” says Hollow. 

Jax Hollow proves she’s not just a shredder, but a damn strong songwriter, too. An artist who truly takes life as it comes, Hollow is a conscious rambler on Only the Wild Ones, in an ongoing quest for authenticity and true-to-form artistry. Look no further for evidence than the accompanying visuals for “Wolf in Sheepskin” – where Hollow can be found donning a wolf hat and happily shedding all her soul-baring truths – and “Wallflower Girl in Bloom,” shot in Arizona beneath the fresh blue sky, and grounded by cacti and mountains, as Hollow stomps with snakeskin boots and undeniable expressiveness. One thing that will always be at the forefront for Jax Hollow is the undeniable power of a song. 

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JOSH RENNIE-HYNES – “MORNING STARS”

Australian-born, now Nashville-based indie-pop artist Josh Rennie-Hynes’ latest single “Morning Stars” continues his progression into a more electronic sound, while sticking true to his emotive songwriter roots. It’s the second single to be released from his forthcoming LP Light/Shade (out early 2023), and continues his knack of writing songs that linger long after the first listen.

“It’s a song that’s saying ‘I love you and I want to wake up next to you every day, let’s try to slow down a bit.’ I’m saying this to myself more than anyone as I often get lost in thought and tend to internalize things,” says Rennie-Hynes.

“Morning Stars” nods to some of the memorable pop artists of the 90’s like Dido or David Gray. Dreamy, punctuated synths open the song before strings airily waft into the verse set over a smooth electronic beat that pulses throughout. All this with a chorus that you can’t help but connect to and sing along with, “I only want to wake up / Wherever you are / I only want to wake up / Together with the Morning Stars.”

The music video for “Morning Stars” takes you on a whimsical journey opening with Rennie-Hynes on a cliff edge at sunrise at one of his favorite places outside of Nashville, Narrows of the Harpeth. Rennie-Hynes came up with the concept and put it to his friend and collaborator, Hanna Hall, a talented Nashville based director and creative who’s seen her career explode in the last few years. This is the fourth video the pair have worked on together. 

“When I wrote the song with Kyle Henderson (Producer/co-writer),” says Rennie-Hynes, “I had the image of an astronaut in my head. I was trying to imagine how it would feel to leave the Earth after saying goodbye to your loved ones. When the concept came to me I immediately ordered the suit and helmet. Then I spent a few days making the dioramas. I wanted the whole video to feel like an astronaut sort of wandering through the land, trying his hardest to figure out how he can get back up there to the stars.”

Rennie-Hynes has always let his ever-changing creative desires lead the way, from his live-to-tape, chimey-guitar, rock ‘n’ roll LP Patterns (2019), to his synth-layered indie pop/rock album Day Rage (2022). Now, Light/Shade sees him once again following his instincts into an entirely new realm, starting with its first dark & sexy electro-pop single “When We Touch,” and now with “Morning Stars.”

“Morning Stars” shows Rennie-Hynes doing what he does best, creating songs that capture your imagination and show a true depth to his writing and artistic inclinations. Unhurried and in the pocket, “Morning Stars” is the song you didn’t know you needed as you stare into the winter night sky and move into the new year.

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Whitney Walker – A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor (out Mar. 3 via RascalZ RecordZ)

Walker’s album A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor is one of the “ones that stand out.” – Paste

“Inhabits dark, rain-soaked landscapes where back-alley transactions, secret affairs, and the underbelly of society is brought out for public inspection… seeks to pair fuzzy acoustic guitars and thumping percussive rhythms against stories of women who’ve informed his present.” – Beats Per Minute

“Walker channels the best part of rustic rock into a heartfelt message of hope.” – Chorus.FM

“Moody and melodic indie-rock… His sound is described as ‘indie-noir’ and it fits the bill.” – Portland Press Herald

Portland, Maine indie-noir singer-songwriter Whitney Walker’s new album A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor covers ground in similarly dark literary veins as Nick Cave and Tom Waits, with the help of Dana Colley of Morphine’s ominous saxophone and bass clarinet throughout the record. It’s an album that’s equal parts grungy dirge and triumphant march towards humanity after years of dealing with bipolar disorder, homelessness, addiction, divorce and keeping his family together.

“These songs are about love or death,” Walker says. “They deal with extreme emotions through the skewed lens of someone with manic depressive viewpoints, plus the addiction. What ties it all together is the title, A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor. Apparently if that happens, a dog will go insane because they see themselves infinitely through the mirror. Their brains can’t handle that. So I guess the mirror to me would be drugs and alcohol, my mom dying, my dog dying and growing up in a broken home. All that stuff leading to intense mental health issues.”

The album kicks off on a positive note with “Amatle” (pronounced a-mot-ley), a birthday song forged from the love of his new wife. It implements a middle-eastern droning waltz, and uses a non-standard blues tuning that Walker found on the back of a John Fahey record. The album then moves into the dark folk-rock melancholy of “Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs,” a direct quote from the priest at his cousin’s wedding while Walker was dealing with the pain of an unfaithful fiancée. “Nobody would accuse me of being perfect except god,” sings Walker over Crooked Fingers style fingerpicked guitar and Colley’s somber bass clarinet.

“I don’t believe in God,” says Walker, “but I believe something’s out there. This is a divine intervention song. I’ve been far from perfect. I’ve been emotionally unavailable to people, and it took me a long time to figure that out.”

Walker has been fronting bands non-stop since he was a teenager living just outside of Boston in the ‘90s. He moved to Oregon where he met his then wife at 18 years old, and got married at 21. From there he moved over 13 times between Oregon (Bend, Eugene, Portland), Chicago and North Carolina before eventually settling in Maine, where he’s been for the past 12 years.

Walker’s life veered way off track in the ‘00s when he began using drugs in a significant way, leading to divorce, custody battles, and eventually finding himself homeless in Portland, Oregon, living under an overcoat in Laurelhurst Park. A pattern of homelessness would continue throughout Walker’s adult life, inspiring the song “Reverse Cowboy,” which was written as an ode to the ‘King of the Homeless’, a legendary transient in Portland, whose nose was broken seventeen times.

This was the height of Walker’s addiction, living in a culture of waking up and needing to drink then figuring out where to score some cheap cocaine and weed while getting three meals a day at Food Not Bombs. He was obsessed with the idealized hobo life presented in the 1926 book You Can’t Win, by the burglar hobo Jack Black. All the while, Walker was battling with his bi-polar diorder, culminating in an attempted suicide by stabbing himself in the heart multiple times, leading to two open heart surgeries and a month-long coma.

“I wrote the song, ‘Single Job Wide’ the morning before my suicide attempt,” Walker says. “It only happened because I had an adverse reaction to a medication and it made me suicidal. I’m not a suicidal person. I called my psychiatrist and he never called me back, then he charged me for the appointment that I missed when I was in a coma. It was a long recovery, but I had a wonderful nurse named Heather who really took care of me.”

“Heather from Here” is a Pixies-esqe, dark-pop, indie-rock track about the townie girls in every small town getting drunk and dangerous nightly, with backing vocals from Brooke Binion (theWorst). This is an ode to all the “Heathers” of the world, and Walker has known a few. “She does not know that she will always be from here,” Walker sings. “People speak of her like a monument / She’s likely outside drinking warm beer / I never know if she’ll make it through a night / She’s working class but she’s never had a job / I don’t know how that exists.”

The Blue Öyster Cult meets Violent Femmes folk rock of “The Second Civil World War III” deals with arguments in relationships. “Freedom and Money” wouldn’t be out of place on a Clash record, dealing with class warfare and the freedom that’s provided when you come from money, as his ex-wife did. Like a warbly, psychedelic, David Lynchian street corner, “Shoeless Joe” is Walker’s ode to busking for money in the streets, something he’s all too familiar with. Written when he was 23, “Make Love in the Middle” is a trippy rocker built around the fantasy of Walker and his ex-wife making love in a pond, surrounded by vineyards, when visiting the Biltmore Estates while they were in their early 20’s, back in better times. “Johnny Fountain” served Walker his very last drink. This song is an elegy to his friend who died too soon of colon cancer. “Maybe the road will find us again / Maybe the road never ends,” sings Walker.

Walker was finally able to turn his life around in 2011 by getting sober. He then became a social worker and now helps addicts find treatment and rehabilitation. Because of his own personal struggles with mental illness, he holds an active position in the Portland, Maine community through assisting the destitute. In 2014, Walker became friends with Will Bradford, bandleader of SeepeopleS, and during the recent COVID-19 lockdown, Bradford and his band mates, alongside Whit’s current bandmates and extended musical family helped bring his songs to life.

Album closer “Hey Buddy” was written for his brother’s wedding, a picturesque love song for two people who called each other buddy as a term of endearment. It takes the folky indie rock of The Dodos or Rodriguez’s “Sugarman,” but with a fuller sound that’s elevated with moments of piano pop charm and the twinkling of bells. Is this a “white picket fence” utopia that Walker will ever see?

“I feel a lot more stable,” says Walker. “I’m married now. I’ve had two manic episodes during the pandemic, but I feel like the music I’m making is better than ever. I’m feeling more human and connected to who I am than I have in a long time.”

A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor is a dark yet hopeful journey through Walker’s life of loves lost and gained, wandering among the forgotten masses of homeless, mentally ill addicts, and through it all, finding hope in family and friends. There’s wonder in this record.

“My music is for the people who don’t fit in,” says Walker. “People on the margins: drug addicts, homeless kids, closeted homosexuals, transgender folks. My dad came out to me first, which meant a lot to me, and my kid came out as non-bianry. This record is for people who look out the window and wish they weren’t in school.”

Walker released the first two singles, “Amatle” and “Reverse Cowboy,” during the pandemic. A Dog Staring Into a Mirror on the Floor is out Mar. 30 via RascalZ RecordZ. Walker is already working on the next record, and plans to tour after this album’s release.

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Album credits:
Whitney Walker – Songwriter, guitar and vocals
Dana Colley – Sax on all songs except “Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs” and “Heather from Here,” bass clarinet on “Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs”
Will Bradford – Keyboards, backing vocals and second guitar on “Heather from Here,” bass
Dan Capaldi – drums on “Reverse Cowboy” and “Heather from Here,” baritone guitar and percussion
Robert Mitchell – drums
Ian Riley – percussion
Jason Grosso – bass
Arthur C. Lee – Banjo
Brooke Binion – Backing vocals

Produced by Will Bradford (SeepeopleS, theWorst) and Will Holland (The Pixies). Mixed, edited and mastered Chillhouse Studios in Boston, MA.