Graham Nash Shines On New Album Now

Let me get to the point right away. Graham Nash sounds absolutely amazing on Now, his seventh solo album and first in seven years, which came out last Friday (May 19). Prior to Now, sadly, I only knew Nash as a brilliant member of Crosby, Stills & Nash, sometimes enhanced by Neil Young, as well The Hollies. Unlike Young and to some extent Crosby, I didn’t follow Nash’s solo career, which he launched in 1971. That will change now – no pun intended!

“I find myself in between totally in love and totally pissed off,” Nash told Billboard in what could be called a perfect summary of the album. The feelings of love refer to artist and photographer Amy Grantham who Nash married in April 2019 after leaving his second wife, American voice actress Susan Sennett in 2016. The “pissed” aspect reflects Nash’s activist side, which is still burning in his belly, 50-plus years after he wrote Chicago to support the so-called “Chicago Eight” who were charged with conspiracy over anti-Vietnam War protests disrupting the 1968 Democratic National Convention in the windy city.

Let’s take a closer look at Nash’s new set of songs. He kicks it off with what essentially is the album’s title track Right Now. The nice mid-tempo rocker also became the lead single on February 21. In a press release record label BMG issed at the time, Nash said, “I believe that my new album Now is the most personal one I have ever made.” I particularly love the guitar action by Shane Fontayne and Thad DeBrock, as well as the work by Todd Caldwell, Nash’s longtime keyboardist who also produced the album.

On A Better Life, Nash asks parents to leave a better life for their children. The inter-generational message is somewhat reminiscent of Teach Your Children, a song Nash wrote in 1968 while still being a member of The Hollies. It first appeared in March 1970 on Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà Vu album. Nash’s vocals sound sweet, especially when he harmonizes with himself!

On the country-flavored Stars & Stripes, a tune with a CSN vibe and beautiful pedal steel work by DeBrock, Nash muses about the seemingly never-ending conflict and division among people. At the same time, he’s not entirely pessimistic. “Thank God that I do live in America – a very beautiful country with many faults, and so much more going for it.” Nash told Variety. “I know that here that I have the right to speak my mind, even if people don’t agree with me.” Let’s hope that will always continue to be the case!

Stand Up, a second single that appeared ahead of the album, is another tune revealing Nash’s activist side by asking people to play an active role in society, not sit on the sidelines: Stand up for what you believe/Stand up for those you love/Stand up for what you want/Stand up for what you need/stand up, take a stand/ lend a hand, if you can.

Buddy’s Back is a beautiful tribute to the amazing Buddy Holly. Appropriately, the tune features vocals by Allan Clarke, who together with Nash co-founded a duo in the late 1950s, which in 1962 evolved into The Deltas, a band that in December of the same year renamed themselves as The Hollies. The name reflected their admiration for Hollie. Obviously, the tune’s Buddy Holly vibe isn’t a coincidence. Man, I love this!

The last track I’d like to call out is I Watched It All Come Down. According to Billboard, the album’s oldest track addresses Nash’s “occasionally turbulent relationships with Crosby, Stills and Young.” Nash explained, “Basically, it’s about my delight with the music that we made all these years and dissatisfaction because we could’ve done more.” The pretty string quintet arranged by Cladwell gives the tune a chamber pop feel.

“I just want people to know you can still rock at 81,” Nash said to Billboard. “I’m 81 now, for f–k’s sake! Holy sh-t! And I’m very happy in my life. I’ve been around a long time, as you know. I’ve made some fine music in my life, with my fantastic musical partners. And I feel there’s still more of it coming.” Here’s a Spotify link to the album:

And, btw, Nash doesn’t keep it to new music only. Since mid-April, he has been on the road for the Sixty Years of Songs & Stories Tour. I completely missed it, including the recent opportunity to see him in New York City where he played City Winery for three consecutive nights! Upcoming dates in June include gigs in California, Arizona and Colorado. The current schedule is here.

Sources: Wikipedia; Billboard; BMG press release; Variety; YouTube; Spotify

Bruce Cockburn Is On a Roll on New Album With Songs of the Heart, Soul and Conscience

The name Bruce Cockburn first entered my radar screen a few years ago when my longtime music buddy from Germany mentioned the Canadian singer-songwriter. He did so again when I saw him last in December, recommending that I check him out. Subsequently, I started some listening and featured one of Cockburn’s tunes in a Sunday Six installment in January. But I’m still at the very beginning of exploring this artist, which makes a review of his new album O Sun O Moon, out May 12, a bit tricky. But after having listened to the 12 tracks a few times, I’m confident to say that would this be Cockburn’s debut album, I sure as heck would already look forward to his sophomore release!

O Sun O Moon is Cockburn’s 35th album and, according to this Glide Magazine review, “his first vocal album since 2017’s Bone on Bone.” At 77 years and soon to turn 78 on May 27, Cockburn sounds in amazing shape to me, both as a guitarist and as a vocalist. Sometimes, he reminds me a tiny bit of fellow Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago at the age of 84. Unlike Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn has pretty much been absent from U.S. charts since he started his recording career in 1970. That seems to be a real shame!

Before getting to some music, I’d like to provide a bit of additional background on Cockburn. I’m doing this by borrowing from his bio written by AllMusic. Most of the time, I feel they do an outstanding job I couldn’t beat. One of Canada’s greatest singer/songwriters, Bruce Cockburn has won international acclaim for his insightful songs of emotional honesty and social significance in a career that’s lasted well over five decades. While usually lumped in with the contemporary folk and singer/songwriter communities, Cockburn’s sound encompassed elements of blues and world music on early efforts like 1971’s High Winds White Sky and 1973’s Night Vision, and the gentle blend of folk and jazz on Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws won him his first significant audience outside his homeland.

Cockburn’s progressive politics came to the fore on 1984’s Stealing Fire with songs like “If I Had a Rocket Launcher,” as well as a stronger rock influence, and these themes would become a major part of his work, extending to 2003’s You’ve Never Seen Everything and 2011’s Small Source of Comfort. Cockburn is also celebrated for his skill as a guitarist, and he’s matured into an éminence grise of Canadian music. 2023’s O Sun O Moon shows that he hasn’t stopped writing graceful, challenging songs of the heart, the soul, and the conscience.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the new album’s tracks. And where better to begin than with the opener On a Roll. The tune has a nice bluesy vibe and features The McCrary Sisters, Ann McCrary and Regina McCrary (of American gospel quartet The McCrary Sisters) on backing vocals. I love the resonator guitar sound! “The adventure continues,” Cockburn said in an interview with Innerviews posted on his website. “I don’t take any of it for granted. I do think that it’s going to hit the wall at some point. The hands are going to stop working or something else will happen, but for now, I’m able to keep doing this stuff.”

On Orders, Cockburn reflects on how religion keeps getting hijacked to serve political agendas. “I do hope that people will be encouraged by “Orders” and what it has to say,” Cockburn stated during the above interview. “It’s one thing to sit there and say, “Oh yeah, we’re supposed to love thy neighbor,” but Christians have been failing to live up to that for 2,000 years. And there’s no reason to think we won’t keep on failing at that. But it doesn’t hurt to be reminded every now and then, that’s what we’re supposed to be doing.”

To Keep the World We Know is another socially-conscious song. In this tune, Cockburn sings about environmental degradation, referencing more recent wildfires in California where he lives near San Francisco, as well as other countries like France, Greece, Spain and Australia. “The actual song came about because Susan Aglukark (a fellow Canadian singer-songwriter – CMM) called up and wanted to write a song together, and I thought it seemed like a good idea,” Cockburn explained. “We had a good time working together on it. The title was mine, but the idea of the world being in flames was hers. We’re seeing all this drought and wildfires all around the world, and it just seemed like something worth writing about.”

In addition to being a socially-conscious songwriter, Bruce Cockburn is also known as a talented guitarist. He gives us a nice flavor of his skills on the beautiful instrumental Haiku. “I’ve always felt like there was a sense of space that went with instrumental music that doesn’t typically happen with songs with lyrics,” Cockburn told Innerviews. “If I listen to Bob Dylan, I’m thinking about what he’s saying, as well as savoring the music and whoever’s playing on the record. But if I listen to Japanese flute music or Bach, I’m not doing that. Rather, I’m allowing myself to be transported to wherever that music takes me.”

The final track I’d like to highlight is O Sun by Day O Moon by Night, in which Cockburn reflects on death but does so in a peaceful way. “I think the manner of going is the part that scares us and the part that is too often tragic, and sometimes horribly inflicted on us,” Cockburn mused. “But the result of the departure I think can be approached with joy, or at least with kind of joyful anticipation. Not that I’m in a hurry or anything, but I think since it’s inevitable, death is as much a part of life as birth.”

Before wrapping up this review, a few words are in order about the other musicians on the album. First, there’s Cockburn’s longtime collaborator Colin Linden (guitar) who also produced O Sun O Moon. Other musicians include Janice Powers (keyboards), who is also Linden’s wife; Jeff Taylor (accordion); Jenny Scheinman (violin); multi-instrumentalist Jim Hoke; Viktor Krauss (bass); as well as Gary Craig and Chris Brown (both drums). In addition to Colvin and Ann and Regina McCrary, guests include Buddy Miller, Allison Russell and Sarah Jarosz.

Here’s Spotify link to the album:

With O Sun O Moon, Bruce Cockburn has delivered an impressive album, which not only demonstrates top-notch musicianship and great vitality but also a singer-songwriter who after more than 50 years still has a lot to say. If you like what you’ve heard and want to experience Cockburn live, he’s scheduled to embark on an extended North American and UK tour. It kicks off on June 1st in Plymouth, N.H. and wraps up on December 2nd in Berkeley, Calif. The current schedule is here.

Sources: Wikipedia; Glide Magazine; Innerviews; Bruce Cockburn website; YouTube; Spotify

If You Could Read My Mind

By now it’s safe to assume you’ve heard of the death of Gordon Lightfoot who sadly passed away at age 84 on Monday night, May 1 at a hospital in Toronto. According to an official statement on his Facebook page, his death was from natural causes. But the Canadian folk singer-songwriter had some health issues, which last month forced him to cancel his 2023 U.S. and Canadian concert schedule.

Lightfoot was known for melodic, oftentimes personal songs and his distinct soft baritone voice. None other than Bob Dylan once said “I can’t think of any Gordon Lightfoot song I don’t like,” as noted in this New York Times obituary. He added, “Every time I hear a song of his, it’s like I wish it would last forever.”

Obviously, a substantial amount of obituaries have been published over the past few days, so I’m not going to add yet another biographical write-up. Instead of focusing on what was, I’d like to celebrate what remains – Lightfoot’s beautiful music. And with a recording career spanning more than 50 years, there’s plenty of it!

Gordon Lightfoot in 2017

While Lightfoot’s output significantly slowed starting from the mid-’80s, he still released 20 studio albums between 1966 and 2020. His catalog also includes three live albums, 16 greatest hits compilations and 46 singles. According to an obituary by The Associated Press, Lightfoot recorded 500 songs. Based on his studio output, that number looks high to me, but I have to assume they verified it.

In the following, I will highlight six tunes. At the end of the post, you will also find a career-spanning playlist of these and additional tracks. Let’s start with Early Mornin’ Rain, off Lightfoot’s debut album Lightfoot!, which came out in January 1966. Written by him in 1965, the tune about a down-on-luck man far from home, who observes the takeoff of a Boeing 707 plane, became one of his most covered songs. Ian & Sylvia (1965), Peter, Paul & Mary (1965), Bob Dylan (1970), Elvis Presley (1972) and Paul Weller (2005) are among the artists who recorded renditions.

Undoubtedly, one of Lightfoot’s best-known tunes is the gem If You Could Read My Mind. Songfacts notes it’s one of his most personal songs, about the breakup of his first marriage to Brita Ingegerd Olaisson, which Lightfoot acknowledged was due to his infidelity. He recorded the tune for his fifth studio album Sit Down Young Stranger released in April 1970. It also appeared separately as a single and was Lightfoot’s first no. 1 in Canada. It also became his first U.S. single, climbing to no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Similar to Early Mornin’ Rain, If I Could Read You Mind was covered by multiple other artists, such as Glen Campbell, Liza Minelli, Barbra Streisand and Johnny Cash.

Another prominent tune by Lightfoot I simply cannot skip since I loved it from the first time I heard it is Sundown, the title track of his ninth studio album from January 1974. The single topped the mainstream charts in Canada and the U.S., his only no. 1 there; reached no. 4 in Australia; and also charted in the UK (no. 33). According to Songfacts, the tune was inspired by Lighfoot’s worries about his good-looking girlfriend who was out at bars all day while he was working on songs. “As a matter of fact, it was written just around sundown,” Lightfoot said, “just as the sun was setting, behind the farm I had rented to use as a place to write the album.”

The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald is one of the best story-telling songs I know. Lightfoot included it on his 11th studio album Summertime Dream released in June 1976. The tune is based on an actual shipwreck, namely the sinking of the bulk carrier S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975, the largest of the Great Lakes of North America. Caused by a storm, the accident killed all 29 crew members. The tune became Lightfoot’s last big hit, topping the charts in Canada and peaking at no. 2 in the U.S. on the Billboard Hot 100. It also received a Grammy nomination for Song of the Year at the 1977 Grammy Awards.

In April 1993, Lightfoot released his 17th studio album Waiting For You, his first since East of Midnight from July 1986, which at the time he had called his final album. His popularity had declined during the ’80s and his albums no longer sold as well as during the ’70s. Waiting For You is considered a comeback. It reached no. 24 in Canada, becoming his highest-charting album since Shadows from 1982. Here’s the opener Restless.

For my final pick, I’m going jump a whopping 27 years, though I’m only skipping two albums. In March 2020, Lightfoot released his 20th and final album, Solo. It came 16 years after his previous studio record. The tracks were from demos he had found from 2001 and 2002. He abandoned his initial plan to orchestrate the songs, deciding they were fine as they were. Remarkably, Solo became Lightfoot’s first album without any additional backing musicians. Here’s the lovely opener Oh So Sweet.

Following is a link to the aforementioned career-spanning Spotify playlist. Hope you will check it out!

Gordon Lightfoot received multiple honors and awards, some of which I’d like to mention. To start with, there are sixteen Juno awards in different categories, including top folk singer, top male vocalist and composer, as well as nominations for five Grammy Awards. Lightfoot was also inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (1986) and the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame (2001). In May 2003, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honor. On June 16, 2014, Lightfoot received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) at their 2014 awards. In 2022, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Sources: Wikipedia; Gordon Lightfoot Facebook page; The New York Times; The Associated Press; Songfacts; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

It’s Saturday again and I’m thrilled to welcome you to yet another set of six new tunes – the third week in a row! All tracks are on releases that came out yesterday (April 28).

Country Westerns/Knucklen’

My first pick is by Country Westerns, a rock-oriented three-piece based in Nashville, Tenn. I first featured in a June 2020 Best of What’s New installment. Their origins date back to 2016 when singer and guitarist Joey Plunkett started working on songs with drummer Brian Kotzur. The trio’s current line-up also includes Jordan Jones, the newest member who replaced their original bassist Sabrina Rush. Here’s a bit more from their website: Country Westerns infuse punk rock chutzpah with a classic rock sheen, yielding a sound that’s simultaneously fresh and reminiscent of all the LPs you used to “borrow” from your cool uncle. Their debut album came out in May 2020, beautifully coinciding with… a worldwide pandemic...CW’s varied inspirations are evident on their self-produced “pandemic EP” that features covers by Richard Thompson, Jad Fair, and Dead Moon. This brings me to Forgive the City, CW’s sophomore album, and the nice melodic opener Knucklen’, co-written by Plunkett and Kotzur.

Annie Blackman/Ash

Annie Blackman is a 24-year-old alternative folk singer-songwriter hailing from Montclair, N.J. After she became a fan of Taylor Swift, Blackman was inspired to pick up the guitar and write her own songs in fifth grade. I love it when music grabs kids – so much cooler than video games! She began her recording career while still attending high school and released her debut album Blue Green in 2016. After Blackman had posted some clips of her original music on TikTok, she came to the attention of San Francisco-based Father/Daughter Records. The independent label signed her in 2021 and released her next (third) full-length album All of It in April 2022. Blackman is now out with Bug, her first EP. Here’s the lovely opener Ash, penned by Blackman.

The Damned/Western Promise

English punk rock band The Damned were formed in London in 1976. They have been active ever since, except for a short break-up from April 1978 to January 1979, after their second album Music For Pleasure had come out in November 1977. To date, The Damned have released 12 studio albums, which includes their latest, Darkadelic. As one would expect, they’ve had multiple changes over the years, with lead vocalist Dave Vanian having been the only constant member. The band’s current line-up also features original guitarist Raymond Burns, aka. Captain Sensible; Laurence Burrow, aka Monty Oxymoron (keyboards, backing vocals); Paul Gray (bass, backing vocals) and new drummer Will Taylor. From Darkadelic, let’s check out Western Promise, credited to Vanian and The Damned – it’s certainly not punk, but I love the tune’s sound!

Dave Hause/Drive It Like It’s Stolen

Dave Hause is an American singer-songwriter who performs solo and with his backing band The Mermaid. Starting from the mid-’90s, Hause played in a series of punk and hardcore bands, including Step Ahead, The Curse, Paint It Black, The Loved Ones, The All Brights and The Falcon, and between these groups released about 10 albums and EPs. In 2009, Hause also started a solo career, which has resulted in six albums to date, including his latest, Drive It Like It’s Stolen. After his third solo album Bury Me in Philly had appeared in February 2017, Hause put together The Mermaid. Hause’s solo work is notably different from hardcore and punk, focusing on heartland rock and Americana. Here’s the great title cut of his new album, co-written by Hause and his brother Tim Hause who also is a singer-songwriter.

Glen Matlock/Something ‘Bout the Weekend

Glen Matlock is best known for being the bassist in the original line-up of short-lived British punk pioneers Sex Pistols. While he left early during the recording sessions of the group’s first and only studio album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, Matlock is credited as a co-writer on 10 of the 12 tracks. Since his departure in 1977, he has been very busy. Matlock has performed and recorded with various other bands and artists, including Rich Kids, Vicious White Kids, Iggy Pop, The Damned and The International Swingers, among others. He remains a member of the last group and also joined Blondie’s touring band last year. Additionally, he took part in various Sex Pistols reunion tours. Oh, and in 1996, Matlock started a solo career with the release of Who’s He Think He Is When He’s at Home? Five additional solo albums have since appeared, including his latest, Consequences Coming. Off it, I got the perfect tune for a Saturday: Something ‘Bout the Weekend. The nice rocker is credited to Matlock, Hotei (Tomoyasu Hotei) and Mark Garfield.

Sock/Change Your Mind

This brings me to my final pick, Welsh alternative rock band Sock. From their Spotify profile: Formed in Cardiff, Sock make guitar-driven alternative rock, taking inspiration from psychedelic music. Known for their creative melodic arrangements and blending of genres, the band describe their music as “a rather progressive affair.” Following on from the band’s debut album ‘Fresh Bits’, in 2018, their much anticipated self-titled follow-up is out this April. The album features Jacob on Rhythm Guitar & Vocals, Billy on Lead Guitar, Sam on Bass & Keys, and Simon on Drums & Percussion. Produced by the band, the album was recorded during the pandemic and sees the music move into a heavier and more refined sound. From that album, here’s Change Your Mind – nice sounding tune!

Last but not least is a Spotify playlist of the above goodies plus a few additional tracks – another pretty good week on the new music front, at least in my book! 🙂

Sources: Wikipedia; Country Westerns website; YouTube; Spotify

My Playlist: Lucinda Williams

Ever since I saw Lucinda Williams open up for Bonnie Raitt in Philadelphia last June, I’ve been wanting to take a deeper dive into her music. This post is a first attempt to further explore the singer-songwriter who has been active since 1978. Over a 45-year-and-counting career, Williams has released 14 studio albums with no. 15, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, scheduled to drop June 30. I recently featured the excellent lead single New York Comeback in a Best of What’s New installment.

Before getting to some music, I’d like to provide some background. From Williams’ website: Lucinda Williams’ music has gotten her through her darkest days. It’s been that way since growing up amid family chaos in the Deep South, as she recounts in her candid new memoir, Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I told You [Crown, April 25, 2023 – CMM].

Over the past two years, it’s been the force driving her recovery from a debilitating stroke she suffered on November 17, 2020, at age 67. Her masterful, multi-Grammy-winning songwriting has never deserted her. To wit, her stunning, sixteenth studio album, Stories from a Rock n Roll Heart, brims over with some of the best work of her career. And though Williams can no longer play her beloved guitar – a constant companion since age 12 – her distinctive vocals sound better than ever.

“I’m singing my ass off,” she told Vanity Fair in February, following her first European tour since 2019. The love emanating from audiences and her musical family onstage and in the studio exemplify the healing power of music, says Williams. In 2020, she spent a week in intensive care, followed by a month in rehab before returning home. The blood clot on the right side of her brain impaired the left side of her body’s motor skills, forcing her to relearn some of the most basic of activities, like walking.

In July 2021, she played her first gig, opening for Jason Isbell at Red Rocks. She began seated in a wheelchair, but soon she was upright. “Just the energy of the audiences being so welcoming and warm and the band playing so great and being so supportive gave me so much strength,” Williams relates. “I figured, ‘Hell, all I have to do is stand up there and sing. How hard can that be?”

Williams got into songwriting and music at an early age. She started writing as a six-year-old and was playing guitar by the time she was 12. Five years later, she found herself on stage in Mexico City for her first live performance, together with her friend and banjo player Clark Jones. This was followed by gigs in Austin and Houston, Texas in her early 20s. In 1978, a then-25-year-old Williams move to Jackson, Miss. and recorded her debut album Ramblin’ on My Mind, which appeared the following year.

Williams first gained critical acclaim with her third, eponymous studio album from 1988, which was voted the 16th best album of the year in The Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. Lucinda Williams has since been viewed as a leading work in the development of the Americana movement. In 1998, Williams broke through into the mainstream with Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. Her fifth album topped the aforementioned Pazz & Jop poll and won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. It also became her first album to chart on the Billboard 200, climbing to no. 68.

Time for some music! I’m going to highlight six tunes, followed by a Spotify playlist featuring these and additional songs from all of her albums. Kicking it off is a great rendition of Robert Johnson’s Ramblin’ on My Mind, the title track of Williams’ above-mentioned 1979 debut album, which she recorded together with guitarist John Grimaudo.

After two blues, country and folk-oriented albums, Lucinda Williams started to embrace a more Americana and roots rock-oriented sound on her third, eponymous album. Here’s Changed the Locks, which also became the album’s first single. Like all except one tune, it was penned by Williams. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers covered this song on their 1996 soundtrack album She’s the One.

This brings me to Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Williams’ acclaimed fifth album. It featured guest appearances by Emmylou Harris and Steve Earle who in addition to Williams served as one of the producers, along with Ray Kennedy who was working with Earle at the time, as well as Roy Bittan, best-known as longtime keyboarder of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. While the recording process was drawn out, in part due to some tensions between Earle and Williams who ended up bringing in Bittan to finish the album, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road overall became her most successful album to date. Here’s the great opener Right in Time – love the guitar sound on that cut!

Next, let’s jump to October 2008 and Little Honey, Williams’ ninth studio album. It featured guest appearances by Elvis Costello, Susanna Hoffs, Matthew Sweet and Charlie Louvin. Little Honey earned a nomination for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, the category’s inaugural year, which was won by Levon Helm for Electric Dirt. Here’s the excellent opener Real Love, which also appeared separately as a single. Penned by Williams, with backing vocals by Hoffs and Sweet, the roots rocker was also featured in the 2007 American comedy-drama The Lucky Ones.

In September 2014, Williams released her 11th studio record Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, the first on her own label Highway 20 Records. The double album debuted at no. 13 on the Billboard 200, becoming one of Williams’ highest-charting on the U.S. mainstream chart. It also won the 2015 Americana Music Award for Album of the Year. Once again, there were various guests, including Jakob Dylan, Tony Joe White, Ian McLagan and Elvis Costello, among others. Here’s the great Burning Bridges, penned by Williams.

Fast forward to April 2020 and Good Souls Better Angels, Williams’ 14th and most recently released studio album. Another widely acclaimed album, it earned Williams yet another Grammy nomination, for Best Americana Album. Here’s When the Way Gets Dark. Like all except one other track on the album, it was co-written by Williams and Tom Overby who also served as producer, along with Williams and Ray Kennedy.

Last but not least, here’s the aforementioned Spotify playlist featuring the above and some other Lucinda Williams tunes. This artist is a true treasure! Hope you have as much fun listening to her music as I had putting together this post. I’m really looking forward to her new album, which based on the lead single sounds very promising.

Sources: Wikipedia; Lucinda Williams website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

Welcome to Best of What’s New, and I hope your Saturday is groovy. In this installment of my weekly new music revue, I decided to feature six tunes. The first five tracks are from releases that came out yesterday (April 14), while the final song appeared on April 7.

Kara Jackson/Pawnshop

Kara Jackson is a poet, published book author and singer-songwriter hailing from Oak Park, Ill. She was named the 2019 U.S. National Youth Poet Laureate. The title is awarded annually to a young person who, according to Wikipedia, demonstrates skill in the arts, particularly poetry and/or spoken word, is a strong leader, is committed to social justice, and is active in civic discourse and advocacy. In 2019, Jackson released her debut EP A Song for Every Chamber of the Heart. Now she’s out with her first full-length album Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love? Here’s Pawnshop, a great tune co-written by Jackson, Kaina Castillo and Sen Morimoto.

Fruit Bats/Waking Up in Los Angeles

Fruit Bats are an indie folk rock band around singer-songwriter Eric D. Johnson. The group I first featured in a March 2021 Best of What’s New installment, was initially founded in 1997 in Chicago as a side project for Johnson who also led space rock group I Rowboat and played guitar in several other bands. Fruit Bats evolved into a band in 2001 when I Rowboat members  Dan Strack (guitar) and Brian Belval (drums) joined Johnson’s project. They released their debut album Echolocation in September that year. Since then, the group has had many lineup changes, with Johnson remaining as the only constant member. Waking Up in Los Angeles, penned by Johnson, is from Fruit Bats’ latest and 10th studio album A River Running to Your Heart – pretty catchy!

Brian Dunne/Bad Luck

Brian Dunne is a singer-songwriter based in New York City. From his website: Born and raised in Monroe, NY, Dunne learned to roll with the hits when he moved to NYC roughly a decade ago, barely scraping by at first as he forged his early career one hard-fought show at a time…In the years that followed, he would go on to release a trio of widely respected albums, share bills with everyone from Cat Power to Caroline Rose, and earn praise from the likes of Rolling Stone, who hailed “Chasing Down A Ghost” from his most recent album, 2020’s Selling Things, as “a stunner.” In 2021, Dunne landed an unexpected hit in the Netherlands with “New Tattoo,” a standalone single that reached #2 on the Spotify Viral 50 and landed him on a slew of Dutch national TV and radio programs. This brings me to Dunne’s new album Loser On the Ropes, which as his website puts it explores defeat and denial, fortune and faith, shame and redemption, all set against the backdrop of a world run by blowhards and bullshitters who manage to perpetually skate by without cost or consequence. Unlike its title may suggest, Bad Luck, written by Dunne, sounds pretty upbeat.

Hippo Campus/Moonshine

Hippo Campus are an indie rock band from Saint Paul, Minn. They were formed in 2013 by five students who met at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists: Jake Luppen (lead vocals, guitar), Nathan Stocker (lead guitar, vocals), Zach Sutton (bass, keyboards) and Whistler Isaiah Allen (drums, vocals). After three EPs in 2013, 2014 and 2015, they released their first full-length studio album Landmark in February 2017. In addition to the co-founders, it featured DeCarlo Jackson (trumpet), who also had studied at SPCPA. Moonshine, credited to the group’s co-founders, Caleb Wright and Raffaella Meloni, is a pleasant pop rock tune from the band’s new EP Wasteland.

Danko Jones/Guess Who’s Back

Danko Jones are a hard rock trio formed in Toronto in 1996 by frontman Danko Jones (vocals, guitar), John ‘JC’ Calabrese (bass) and Michael Caricari (drums). Following a succession of various drummers that started in 1999, the band’s line-up has been stable since 2013 when Rich Knox joined. From a press release: Powered by a DIY punk rock spirit, and inspired by the good, great and grotesque of electrified rock ‘n’ roll, they have steadily built a colossal international fan base and become one of the most acclaimed live bands around, embraced by everyone from mainstream radio-rock fans to diehard metalheads. Along the way, they have released ten widely praised studio albums, generating a peerless repertoire of fists-in-the-air crowd-pleasers into the bargain. Now they announced their forthcoming 11th studio album Electric Sounds, scheduled to drop September 15 on German rock/metal label AFM Records, and released the first track, Guess Who’s Back. Co-written by Calabrese and Knox, it’s a pretty kickass tune from what the above-mentioned press release called “the undisputed kings of balls-out rock’n’roll.”

Greta Van Fleet/Meeting the Master

This brings me to my last pick for this week, the first track from Greta Van Fleet’s upcoming third full-length studio album Starcatcher, scheduled for July 21. Greta Van Fleet, who I covered on various previous occasions, were formed in Frankenmuth, Mich. in 2012 by brothers Josh Kiszka (lead vocals), Jake Kiszka (guitars, backing vocals) and Sam Kiszka (bass, keyboards, backing vocals), along with Kyle Hauck (drums). Other than Hauck who was replaced by Danny Wagner in 2013, the band’s line-up hasn’t changed. Starcatcher, which follows April 2021’s The Battle at Garden’s Gate, was produced in Nashville by the band and Dave Cobb, who has worked with the likes of Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, The Highwomen and Rival Sons. “We had this idea that we wanted to tell these stories to build a universe,” Wagner said about what appears to be a concept album in a statement, as reported by NME. “We wanted to introduce characters and motifs and these ideas that would come about here and there throughout our careers through this world.” Here’s Meeting the Master, which appeared on April 7 – sounds pretty epic!

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above and a few additional tunes.

Sources: Wikipedia; Brian Dunne website; NME; YouTube; Spotify

On This Day in Rock & Roll History: April 6

I cannot believe it’s been 10 weeks since the last installment in my irregularly recurring feature where I take a look at events in music on a specific date throughout the decades. Today, it’s April 6. As always, the content reflects my music taste and isn’t meant to provide a full accounting of things that happened on this date.

1965: The Beatles were busy with filming their second motion picture Help! From The Beatles Bible: The Beatles completed the interior kitchen and dining scenes for the Rajahama Indian restaurant sequence in Help! on this day. The scenes were filmed on a set at Twickenham Film Studios in England. During a break while filming, the group saw traditional Indian musical instruments for the first time. George Harrison, in particular, was fascinated by them, and the music had a significant effect on The Beatles’ musical development. “The first time that we were aware of anything Indian was when we were making Help!. There was an odd thing about an Indian and that Eastern sect that had the ring and the sacrifice; and on the set in one place they had sitars and things – they were the Indian band playing in the background, and George was looking at them.” (John Lennon quote, 1972 – from The Beatles Anthology, paperback, Sep 1, 2002)

1968: The soundtrack of the romantic comedy-drama picture The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman, Anne Brancroft and Katherine Ross hit no. 1 in the U.S. on the Billboard 200, fueled by the popularity of Simon & Garfunkel tune Mrs. Robinson. Written by Paul Simon and initially titled Mrs. Roosevelt, the song was also included on the duo’s fourth studio album Bookends and appeared separately on April 5, 1968 as the record’s fourth single. Like the soundtrack, it climbed to the top of the U.S. charts, in this case the Billboard Hot 100. The Graduate soundtrack also included four other songs by Simon & Garfunkel, most notably The Sound of Silence.

1974: Swedish pop group ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo, which turned them into European stars overnight. Co-written by the group’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, together with ABBA manager Stig Anderson, Waterloo was the lead single and title track of the group’s sophomore album. It also became ABBA’s first major international hit though in their homeland of Sweden it “only” reached no. 2, just behind Ring Ring, the title song of their debut album, which topped the charts there. Waterloo hit no. 1 in the UK, Norway, The Netherlands, Ireland and Germany. Elsewhere, it climbed to no. 2 in Austria, no. 3 in New Zealand and no. 6 in the U.S. It marked the beginning of a remarkable 8-year international career that lasted until their first breakup in 1982. In 2016, ABBA reunited which culminated in a new album and ABBA Voyage, a virtual concert residency at a purpose-built venue in London. It started in May 2022 and is currently slated to last until January 2024.

1992: Annie Lennox, formerly a member of British synth-pop duo Eurythmics with Dave Stewart, released her debut solo album Diva. It became the most successful album of her solo career to date, topping the charts in the UK and Italy, and placing in the top 10 in Austria (no. 3); The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland (no. 5 in each); Germany (no. 6); Australia (no. 7) and Canada (no. 8). In the U.S. , it reached no. 23. Diva has sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, and won the 1993 Brit Awards for British Album of the Year, as well as the 1993 Grammy for Best Long Form Music Video. Here’s the beautiful debut single Why, released in March 1992. Written by Lennox, it also enjoyed significant international chart success:

Sources: Wikipedia; The Beatles Bible; Songfacts Music History Calendar; YouTube

Song Musings

Happy Humpday and welcome to another installment of my weekly feature where I’m taking a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date. For today, I decided to write about a tune by one of my favorite singer-songwriters, who I also admire for his great acoustic guitar skills – the one and only James Taylor.

When thinking of Taylor, the first thing that comes to my mind is his warm smooth voice. I feel it has the amazing quality to instantly put listeners at ease. At least, I can confirm it does so for me! That said, this doesn’t mean Taylor is only singing about pretty things. In fact, the song I chose to highlight in this post is a great illustration: A Junkie’s Lament.

Taylor wrote A Junkie’s Lament for his seventh studio album In the Pocket released in June 1976. That record is best known for Shower the People, which became Taylor’s third single to top Billboard’s Easy Listening chart, following his covers of How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) and You’ve Got a Friend in June 1975 and May 1971, respectively.

According to Wikipedia, A Junkie’s Lament was also released as a single, though I couldn’t find any evidence of that on Discogs.com. What I did find is that Art Garfunkel and Carly Simon who was Taylor’s wife at the time provided duet vocals and backing vocals, respectively. The backing musicians included Leland Sklar (bass) and Russ Kunkel (drums), who along with guitarist Danny Kortchmar were core members of The Section, a band of top-notch session musicians who frequently can be heard on albums by Taylor and many other artists. Here’s a great live version from Taylor’s 2001 Pull Over Tour, which was also captured on DVD.

Following are some additional insights from Songfacts:

This is an autobiographical song about Taylor’s battles with addictions (primarily heroin), the “monkey on his back.”

Speaking with Rolling Stone in 2015, Taylor explained: “This one’s a warning not to think of a junkie as a complete functioning human being. Heroin should’ve killed me about five times, but it never did. My kids suffered from their father being an addict. I think there’s no way they can’t. People take drugs to be in control. They want to short-circuit any risk that they might take in life, any uncertainty, any anxiety. They just want to find the chemical route, to just push the button that gets the final result. So all of your relationships suffer, no question about it.”

You don’t think of mellow singer-songwriters like James Taylor as junkies, which made this song rather surprising. But drug addicts come in many forms, which is his point: the guy you see dropping off his kids at school could be shooting heroin an hour later. The song led to a better understanding of addiction. [I couldn’t have said it any better – while prospects of getting into drugs vary, the reality is nobody is immune, so this tune has an important message – CMM]

“A Junkie’s Lament” is the second track on Taylor’s seventh album, In The Pocket, following “Shower The People.” Taylor had taken some time off and wasn’t the hit-maker he was in the early ’70s, but his music didn’t suffer. He survived the decade and sustained a long and fruitful career that found him performing well into his 70s.

Well, he still is. In fact, I’m thrilled to say I have a ticket to see James Taylor in Philly on Saturday, July 1, my first time!

Last but not least, here are the song’s lyrics:

Ricky’s been kicking the gong, lickity-split, didn’t take too long.
A junkie’s sick, a monkey’s strong, that’s what’s wrong.
Well, I guess he’s been messing around downtown, so sad to see the man losing ground.
Winding down behind closed doors on all fours.

Mama, don’t you call him my name, he can’t hear you anymore.
Even if he seems the same to you, that’s a stranger to your door.
Go on, ask him what’s he come here for.

Oh my God, a monkey can move a man. Send him to hell and home again.
An empty hand in the afternoon, shooting for the moon.
It’s halfway sick and it’s halfway stoned. He’d sure like to kick but he’s too far gone.
They wind him down with the methadone, he’s all on his own.

But baby, don’t you throw your love away, I hate to seem unkind.
It’s only that I understand the man that the monkey can leave behind,
I used to think he was a friend of mine.

Oh, La la la la la la la la,
Oh, la la la la la la la la.
La la la, la la la, la la la la.

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

Members of Crazy Horse and Neil Young Debut As Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young

After 53 years, the current members of Crazy Horse and their on-and-off leader throughout this period Neil Young decided to do something they had never done before: Instead of creating new music together, they each recorded songs individually and compiled them on a new album, All Roads Lead Home, which appeared last Friday (March 31). For the first time, they also released music as Molina, Talbot, Lofgren & Young. Inevitably, it makes you think of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Ralph Molina (drums) and Billy Talbot (bass), the only consistent members of Crazy Horse since the band’s official inception in 1969 on Young’s sophomore album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, and Nils Lofgren (guitar) who first joined in 1970, each wrote three tunes. Young contributed a solo version of Song of the Seasons, a tune that first appeared on the album Barn, which he released with Crazy Horse in December 2021. I reviewed it here at the time.

From left: Nils Lofgren, Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot and Neil Young

The four artists pointed to the dreadful pandemic to explain their approach. Sure, travel restrictions would have made gathering more challenging, not to mention the fact that getting sick would have put each gentleman at significant risk – after all, they aren’t exactly 18 any longer! Yet, modern technology could have overcome physical separation. Simply put, they could have recorded their parts individually and exchanged them via digital files. Of course, the latter would be hard to imagine for a band like Crazy Horse who have been known to create music together in the moment – a spontaneous approach that while it resulted in various outcomes has served them well overall!

In their review, Ultimate Classic Rock rightly notes All Roads Lead Home feels like “four solo records collected in a single home”. They add, “That makes for a scattered and occasionally unfocused listen, already a characteristic of recent Young and Crazy Horse albums.” That doesn’t bother me at all. True, there’s no apparent overarching vision or theme here, but I actually think the resulting variety of the songs enriches the listening experience. Also, unlike Neil Young and Nils Lofgren, frankly, I hadn’t exactly thought of Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot as songwriters. Looking at previous albums released by Crazy Horse without Neil Young, such as Crazy Moon (1978) and Left For Dead (1989), reveals Molina and Talbot had done some occasional writing in the past.

I’d say ’nuff talk, let’s get to some music! The opener Rain is one of the songs by Talbot who also provides lead vocals in addition to acoustic guitar and piano – the first time I recall hearing Talbot sing! He’s backed by the Billy Talbot Band featuring Matt Piucci (electric guitar, organ, acoustic guitar, vocals), Michael Hamilton (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, baritone bass, vocals), Mark Hanley (slide guitar, electric piano, vocals), Ryan James Holzer (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals), Jack Hughes (organ, piano, vocals), Tommy Carns (bass guitar, steel guitar, vocals) and Stephen Junca (drums, vocals). According to Talbot’s website, the Billy Talbot Band has been around since 2004 when he launched his solo career with the album Alive in the Spirit World – who knew! This all works for me!

You Will Never Know was penned by Lofgren. He also sings lead vocals and plays all instruments, including guitars, keyboards, bass, drums and percussion. One of his brothers, Tom Lofgren, who is a musician as well and performs with his brothers Mike Lofgren and Mark Lofgren in a trio known as The Lofgren Brothers, is credited with vocals. I love Nils’ slide guitar work on this song, which has a bit of an Eagles vibe, especially once Tom sings harmony vocals. Love Will Keep Us Alive anybody?

Here’s Young’s aforementioned solo version of Song of the Seasons. You could say supplying only one tune that isn’t even new is a bit of a measly contribution. Again, I’d like to see the upside here. While Neil Young is very well-known as a prolific singer-songwriter, the same cannot be said about Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot. As such, I like the fact that both guys are given room for three tunes each on the album! Coming back to Song of the Seasons, apart from singing, Young plays guitar and harmonica, making it classic acoustic Neil Young. This stripped-back approach and sound is a key reason why I fell in love with him in the first place many moons ago!

One of the album’s highlights is Look Through the Eyes of Your Heart, written by Molina. With its rugged sound, it’s got a Crazy Horse vibe, though perhaps not as rugged as you could imagine it when Young goes grunge. Like Talbot, Molina who sings lead chose to be backed by musicians other than his Crazy Horse bandmates: Marco Cecilia (guitars), Francesco Lucarelli (tremolo guitar), Anthony Crawford (acoustic guitar) and Marco Melino (drums). Backing vocals are provided by Brad Stock and Sonny Mone. I like how this tune came out!

Let’s do one more, The Hunter, another song co-written by Talbot. Like in his previous above tune, Talbot is singing lead and playing piano and guitar on this ballad, with backing by members of the Billy Talbot Band. In this case, the line-up is slightly modified and includes Payton Jerde (bass, vocals) in addition to Holzer, Hamilton, Junca and Hughes. In a post on Neil Young’s website neilyoungarchives.com Talbot explains the tune which he co-wrote with Ryan James Holzer came out of sessions with the band in late 2017. Once again, I have to say I’m impressed with the outcome!

So, what do you think? While All Roads Lead Home doesn’t break new musical ground, I feel it’s not only a pleasant listening experience, but it also elevates the profiles of Ralph Molina and Billy Talbot as songwriters. And, who knows, perhaps the Crazy Horse formula has changed forever! Plus, who would have thought we’d see another band that has “& Young” as part of their name!

The last words shall belong to the members. “After Billy and I talking, we finally realized it was time to have our own album together..along with Nils, and the big guy, we thank wholeheartedly, adding a song,” Molina said in the aforementioned post on neilyoungarchives.com. “We now have what we feel is a good one.”

“I loved working on the All Ways Lead Home project,” Lofgren stated. “Thrilled to share it now. After 53 years of friendship and music, it was a joy to participate.”

“Playing with these guys for over 50 years is one of the greatest joys of my life,” added Young.

The album isn’t available on Spotify, most likely because of Young’s well-publicized beef with the streaming platform (you can hear his explanation in this interview snippet with Howard Stern), though you can stream it on Apple Music and I assume other platforms. Following is the tracklist:

01 Rain (Billy Talbot)
02 You Will Never Know (Nils Lofgren)
03 It’s Magical (Ralph Molina)
04 Song Of The Seasons (Neil Young)
05 Cherish (Billy Talbot)
06 Fill My Cup (Nils Lofgren)
07 Look Through The Eyes Of Your Heart (Ralph Molina)
08 The Hunter (Billy Talbot)
09 Go With Me (Nils Lofgren)
10 Just For You (Ralph Molina)

Sources: Wikipedia; Ultimate Classic Rock; Billy Talbot website; neilyoungarchives.com; YouTube

Best of What’s New

Welcome to another installment of my new music revue. Unless noted otherwise, the picks are from albums that appeared yesterday (March 24). As oftentimes is the case in this series, I’m completely new to all featured artists.

The Reds, Pinks and Purples/Life in the Void

The Reds, Pinks and Purples are an indie pop project launched in 2015 by San Francisco-based musician, singer-songwriter and producer Glenn Donaldson. According to an AllMusic bio, he is dedicated to the pristine melodies and unvarnished emotions of mid-period Sarah Records [a British independent record label that existed from 1987 to 1995 – CMM] and indie pop outsiders like East River Pipe. Working mostly alone, he released a string of singles and albums, like 2021’s exquisite Uncommon Weather, that showcase his laser-focused vision, intimate vocals, and unerring way with a hook. 2022’s Summer at Land’s End showed him expanding his musical reach to include the influence of the ethereal sounds of late-’80s 4AD bands like This Mortal Coil, while the next year’s The Town That Cursed Your Name [his fifth and latest album – CMM] drew from fuzzier, more earthbound college rock influences while the lyrics examined the turbulent lifestyle of trying to survive as a working musician. Before launching this project, Donaldson notably played in lo-fi psychedelic pop duo the Skygreen Leopards, the Television Personalities-loving Art Museums, and a host of other projects, like the heavy shoegaze duo Vacant Gardens and his lo-fi psych-folk project the Ivytree. Here’s Life in the Void, a melodic tune written by Donaldson, which instantly spoke to me!

Lankum/Newcastle

Lankum are an Irish contemporary folk group from Dublin. Founded in 2000 by brothers Ian Lynch (vocals, uilleann pipes, concertina, tin whistle, percussion) and Daragh Lynch (vocals, guitar, percussion, piano), along with Cormac Mac Diarmada (vocals, fiddle, viola, banjo, double bass, vibraphone, piano, percussion) and Radie Peat (vocals, bayan, concertina, harmonium, organ, piano, electric organ, harp, mellotron), the band was initially known as Lynched. After changing their name in October 2016 to avoid associations with the practice of lynching, the group signed with Rough Trade Records in 2017 and released Between the Earth and Sky the same year, their first album as Lankum. That name comes from the folk ballad False Lankum by Irish traveler and folk singer John Reilly. False Lankum is also the title of the band’s new album, their third as Lankum. Here’s the beautiful Newcastle.

The New Death Cult/High + Low

Unlike their cheerful name may suggest, The New Death Cult aren’t some death metal outfit. Instead, the Norwegian group, according to their website, has been referred to as a brilliant mix between Queens of the Stone Age, Biffy Clyro and Muse, with their critically acclaimed self-titled debut album earning praise in The Guardian’s “50 New Artists for 2020” and single airplay on BBC1 Rock Show. The band has been touring with the likes of Wheel and Djerv while making several festival appearances, before heading to the studio to record their second album in Ocean Sound Recordings in May 2020. That new album, Super Natural, was released on March 17. High + Low is a nice melodic hard rock tune penned by vocalist and guitarist Jon Vegard Naess. Eirik Naess (lead guitar), Vegard Liverod (bass) and Anders Langset (drums) complete the band’s line-up. High + Low is a fantastic illustration that heavy-charging rock and great melodies can go in perfect harmony.

Highway 61/Stranger

Sometimes good things take time. In the case of Los Angeles-based blues-rock & roll band Highway 61, it was 30 years between the group’s breakup in 1993 and the release of their debut album Driving South. From their bio, which was kindly provided by manager Gregg Bell of Wanted Management: Highway 61 began in the early ‘90s and tore it up on the Southern California club circuit alongside bands like B.B. Chung King & the Screaming Buddaheads, Marc Ford’s Burning Tree, and The Havalinas, yet they never managed to get that elusive major label record deal...After the band’s breakup, singer/guitarist Frank Meyer went on to form award-winning punk outfit The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs…Despite Highway 61 calling it quits in 1993, the guys stayed friends and occasionally collaborated, but it took an unfortunate event to reunite the band. In 2020, as the pandemic hit, guitar player [Andy] Medway was diagnosed with Leukemia. After a year of chemotherapy, Medway had a bone marrow transplant, which required more than a year of recovery and isolation that was followed by a series of complications and setbacks... Inspired by the challenge, Medway started firing off ideas. Soon he and Meyer had written several songs, including the Driving South track “Black Magic,” which led to the reunion with [drummer and percussionist Mike] Knutson and [bassist and vocalist Russell] Loeffler. In summer 2022, the foursome reconvened for the first time in decades at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles with producer Paul Roessler (The Screamers, 45 Grave, Nina Hagen) to make Driving South, which mixes doses of The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty with dashes of The Black Crowes and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Here’s the great-sounding lead single Stranger, which appeared on March 14. The album’s official release date is April 7, but it’s already available on streaming platforms as of yesterday.

Last but not least, following is a Spotify playlist of the above and some additional tunes by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; AllMusic; The New Death Cult website; YouTube; Spotify