Kevn Kinney, the singer/creative force behind Drivin N Cryin, has been going at it since the 1980s and, as he approaches 60, he’s a different person than he was when Drivin N Cryin’s debut came out in 1986. And it’s literally a different band, with only bassist Tim Nielsen left of the original lineup. Live the Love Beautiful sounds like Drivin N Cryin.
Springfield, Illinois’ The Deep Hollow would seem to have an overnight success story, but that’s not actually the case. Staples of the local music scene of Springfield, Illinois, Micah Walk, and DaveLittrell have an especially long list of previous credits and musical explorations, from collaborating in other Americana bands to touring extensively in a prog-rock band. Notably, Walk worked on a project with Jamie Candiloro, whose biggest collaborators include Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and The Eagles, among others. Singer Liz Eckert comes from a community theatre background. She tried out for American Idol once and made it all the way to Hollywood. Thoughher star wasn’t catapulted into the stratosphere then, her talents would come of great use around town, leading her to serve as a fill-in for a cover band, a side project of Walk’s. The two would strike an instant chemistry, and the duo formed in 2013.
Some time later, when Littrell was itching to try out some new tunes he wrote, he turned to the duo ahead of an upcoming show. With no rehearsal, the trio hit the stage and something truly stupendous happened. A smooth blend of three-part harmonies poured out and set the foundation for an already impressive catalog of work together. “That was when we knew what we wanted next,” remembers Walk.
It was the song “Devil” that proved to be groundbreaking for them. They submitted it to American Songwriter’s 30th Anniversary Song Contest and ended up winning. “Not to sound jaded or disheartened or anything, but when you apply for a lot of contests for a few years and you maybe make it through a round or something, you almost assume nothing is going to come of it. We were excited to just be a finalist. When we won, it was like holy cow.”….READ MORE
It may not be coincidence that Seattle-based singer-songwriter Ben Fisher’s new album trying to humanize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict came out the Friday before Rosh Hashana — the Jewish New Year.
Fisher, a Jewish-American multi-instrumentalist, majored in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Washington and moved to the holy land after graduation. There, he wrote for The Jerusalem Post and eventually earned dual citizenship in Israel before returning to the US in the summer of 2017. The songs borne out of those experiences abroad eventually became his third independent release, Does the Land Remember Me?, produced in part thanks to a small grant from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport.
But with Does the Land Remember Me?, Fisher tries to present the similar struggles Israelis and Palestinians experience through a series of narrative-heavy, contemplative ballads. Clocking in a just more than an hour, the album is as hefty in length as it is in emotional weight. While a number of musical and peace-building groups try to address these issues, an entire record dedicated to it is nearly unheard of, for Americans, Israelis, or Palestinians.
Fisher excels with presenting all of those perspectives throughout Does the Land Remember Me?. “Brave New World” serves as one of his own ruminations on being emotionally and spiritually pulled between Israel and America. “1948” offers multiple stories of the Arab-Israeli war of that year. Israelis refer to it as the War of Independence, in which Israel became a state; Palestinians call it “Al-Nakba, or “the catastrophe” due to the mass displacement that took place in its aftermath. The title track could also be sung from different points of view, since both Israeli-Jewish families and Christian or Muslim Palestinian families have been forcibly removed from this same chunk of land over the past 80 years or so. In fact…..READ MORE
Teaming up with long-time collaborator Jason Morgan, Ellerman settles into a rather dark place and allows himself to feel each emotional punch as I Wish I Was a Train barrels right for the heart. “The clock on the wall echoes out of time with your steps down the hall/And each tick of the tock is like a bomb going off, reminds you how far you’ve gone wrong,” he wields on stunner “Nobody Knows You (Like I Do),” pacing the album with the delicate balance of gloom and hope.
Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.
“With each of these songs I was hoping to create a little world that I could crawl into. Those are the kinds of songs I really love and obsess over.”
Chuck Westmoreland has announced the release of his sophomore LP Long Winter Rodeo, a collection of country-tinged character sketches displaying a songwriting prowess that recalls the introspective storytelling of Taylor Goldsmith and the brutal honesty of John Moreland.
With plenty of ebb and flow between sparse acoustic instrumentation and driving electric guitars, there is a majestic grandeur permeating Long Winter Rodeo which is led by a strong songwriting foundation, especially on tracks such as the album’s searing bookend, “Slaughtered.” “I’m ready to go,” Westmoreland sings, “and I’m ready for salvation.” Armed with only a guitar, his voice cuts to the bone, conjuring a romantic tale inspired by his grandparents, who lived on the Texas-Louisiana state line. It’s a story about a hired hand working the land for an older couple, whose daughter happens to be away at college. He’s 19, young and rugged. Not only does he grow fond of his employers but of the many photos of their daughter along the walls. “It’s in a very genuine way,” Westmoreland clarifies. “He doesn’t meet her for years. Time goes by, and her parents get sick. She finally comes back for her dad’s funeral, and he ends up holding her hand and being with her in her time of mourning.”
Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.
A ten-track reflection of Leslie Tom’s own journey intertwined with Hank Williams-inspired tales of addiction, love, heartache, and loss, can be found on the songstress’ new album, Ain’t It Something, Hank Williams, due March 23rd.
Recorded at Nashville’s Cinderella Sound Studios, produced by John Macy (Los Lobos, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) and featuring all-star players like Lloyd Green (pedal steel), Andy Hall (dobro on the somber “Angel of Death”), Walter Hartman (drums), Joe Reed (bass), and more, the record contains a healthy mix of Hank covers and Hank-inspired originals, some, such as “Are You Ready for Some Hanky Panky?” even stemming from seemingly ordinary conversation.
Tom relays the story behind the song, “Contrary to the song title, it’s NOT about sex. This is a tongue and cheek song about the life of Hank Williams that I’m very, very proud to have written with Dean Miller. The song idea came from my husband, who is amazing in a million ways but god-bless-him, does not have a creative bone in his body. While at a CD release party for a fellow Denver honky tonker, I casually mentioned to my girlfriend I needed to come up with a catchy phrase to put on a t-shirt and would love for the phrase to be about Hank Williams. Without skipping a beat, my husband turned, looked me dead in the eye and said, “Why don’t you get a shirt that says, ‘Are you ready for some Hanky Panky?’.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor (because the idea was not only creative but brilliant), I said to him…”