Best of What’s New

My exploration of new music continues with the latest installment in the new recurring feature.

Larkin Poe/Holy Ghost Fire

Holy Ghost Fire is the second single from Larkin Poe’s upcoming fifth full-length studio album Self Made Man, slated for June 12. Previously, I covered this band here, which have been called the “little sisters of The Allman Brothers,” given the southern flair of their blues and roots rock. Larkin Poe are 29-year-old Rebecca Lovell (vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums) and her one year and four months older sister Megan Lovell (vocals, lap steel, slide guitar, keyboards), who have performed under that name since January 2010. With kickass guitar playing and great harmony vocals, these two young ladies are just amazing, in my opinion. Apart from recorded music, they have a very active YouTube channel that among others includes their Tip o’ the Hat fun video series featuring stripped-back covers of many well-known rock and blues tunes.

Daniel Merriweather/Rain

This 38-year-old R&B artist, who hails from Melbourne, Australia, has been active professionally since 2002. He has worked with UK songwriter and record producer Mark Ronson, who also produced Merriweather’s solo debut album Love & War from June 2009. It peaked at no. 2 on the UK charts. His catalog to date also includes two EPs and various singles, the most recent of which is this tune, Rain, which was released last Friday, April 3. What caught my attention here are the vocals and the groove, which remind me a bit of Earth, Wind & Fire.

Jack Savoretti/Andrà Tutto Bene

I used to listen to Italian music much more often in my teenage years than I do nowadays. So I’m particularly happy I came across this ballad by Jack Savoretti, who Wikipedia describes as an English acoustic solo singer of Italian descent. Since 2007, he has released six English language studio albums. His most recent one, Singing to Strangers from March 2019, became a chart-topper in the UK. Among others, it includes a co-write with Bob Dylan, Touchy Situation. Released last Friday, April 3, Andrà Tutto Bene (everything will be fine) not only is Savoretti’s first song in Italian but also a tune to raise money for Policlinico San Martino Hospital in Genoa, Italy to support the town’s fight against the coronavirus. As NME recently reported, Savoretti penned the beautiful tune together with Italian fans during a writing session he recently broadcast on Instagram Live. I love the idea to combine music with a cause, especially one we can all well relate to.

Danielle Cormier/Berlin

Danielle Cormier is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter. According to her website, the 23-year-old is a pure and powerful voice for the new age…she credits her love for the arts to seeing her first Broadway show at five years old. From there Cormier learned to play the piano, guitar, performed in many school plays and regional theatre productions. Then, she began to write. In 2017, Cormier released her debut album Fire & Ice, for which she wrote nine of the ten original tracks. Thanks to producer Adam Lester, who also plays guitar in the band backing Peter Frampton during his current farewell tour, Frampton contributed lead guitar on one of the tunes. Berlin, a lovely folk-oriented song, is Cormier’s most recent single released on February 28.

Sources: Wikipedia; NME; Danielle Cormier website; YouTube