Best of What’s New

Happy Saturday and welcome to another installment of Best of What’s New. Sometimes it’s challenging to find new music that sufficiently speaks to me. This week, I had the opposite situation – a nice problem to have! Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Sunny War/Baby Bitch

Sunny War is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who, according to her Apple Music profile, enlivens traditional folk and blues by freshening her musical attack and writing lyrics that reflect 21st century concerns. Her first album, Worthless, arrived in 2014, and she continued to gain attention over the next few years as she built up a cult following that crested with the release of 2018’s With the Sun. Her fourth and latest album Anarchist Gospel, which appeared yesterday (February 3), documents the conflict between her two sides, the “very self-destructive, and the other is trying to work with that other half to keep things balanced,” as she notes on her website. Evidently, she had a tough past, including heavy drinking and addiction to heroin and meth. Baby Bitch, a great tune co-written by Aaron Freeman and Michael Melchiondo, reminds me a tiny bit of Tracy Chapman.

Tas Cru/Stand Up!

Tas Cru is a blues guitarist and singer-songwriter based in Central New York. From his website: Tas Cru is truly a blues eclectic who refuses to let his music be bound to just one blues style. With a repertoire of over 100 original songs from multiple albums and dozens of crowd-pleasing classics, this seasoned singer-guitarist-songwriter is truly one of the most unique of bluesmen plying his trade today. Cru was honored with his first Blues Foundation Blues Music Award nomination in 2018 for his album, Simmered & Stewed. That album and the two that followed (Memphis Song & Drive On) were all recipients of the Syracuse Area Music Awards (the SAMMY’s) for best blues recordings. His 2021 album, Broke Down Busted Up was nominated by Blues Blast Magazine (Best Acoustic Blues Album) and the Independent Blues Awards Modern Roots Album, Modern Roots Artist and Content Creator Award.) This brings me to his new album Riffin’ the Blue. Released on February 3, it features guitarist Mike Zito and keyboarder Bruce Katz as guests. Here’s Stand Up! – love that tune!

Arctic Rain/Fire In My Eyes

Arctic Rain are a Swedish rock band whose sound drew me in pretty quickly. I couldn’t find much background on them. Here’s their Spotify profile: Arctic Rain is yet another shining example that Sweden is truly the golden land of melodic rock. The band writes songs with strong melodic rock vibes based around tasteful instrumental harmonies. With new keyboardist Kaspar Dahlqvist, drummer Richard Tonyson and bassplayer Anders Janfalk, “Unity” [their new album – CMM] sees Arctic Rain building upon and surpassing their musical goals they aimed for on their debut album, “The One”. Bigger, bolder songs with a more rockin’ edge, but still very much melodic rock. From the above-mentioned Unity, their sophomore release that came out on January 27, here’s Fire In My Eyes. The clip also reveals Tobias Jonsson (vocals) and Magnus Berglund (guitar) as additional members. Does anyone else hear a touch of Journey in here?

Meg Baird/Will You Follow Me Home?

Meg Baird is a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In addition to being a solo artist, she also is the lead vocalist and drummer of Heron Oblivion, a psychedelic rock group she co-founded in 2014. Prior to that, Baird, who originally is from New Jersey, was a member of psychedelic folk band Espers and played drums in punk outfit Watery Love, both groups from Philadelphia. While still playing with Espers, she released her solo debut album Dear Companion in 2007. Baird also frequently collaborates with L.A.-based classically trained harpist Mary Lattimore, and has put out two albums with her to date. This brings me to Furling, Baird’s latest solo effort, which appeared on January 27. Here’s Will You Follow Me? This tune grabbed me right away!

Eddie 9V/Missouri

Eddie 9V (born Mason Brooks Kelly) is a soulful blues artist from Atlanta who has been active since ca. 2011. From his website: All his life, Eddie 9V (9-volt) has acted on instinct. Aged just 15, this old-soul artist turned away from the path of college and jobs to burst all guns blazing onto the roots and blues club circuit of his native Atlanta, Georgia. Flash forward to 2019, and for his debut album, Left My Soul In Memphis, the prodigious multi-instrumentalist simply powered up the amps in his mobile trailer and with his brother/co-writer/producer, Lane Kelly, laid down one of the year’s breakout releases, acclaimed as “fresh and life-affirming” by Rock & Blues Muse. “ Following sophomore release Little Black Flies, he is now out with his third studio album Capricorn (January 27). Let’s check out Missouri, a nice tune he co-wrote with his brother.

Ian Hunter/Bed of Roses (feat. Ringo Starr & Mike Campbell)

Wrapping up this week’s new music revue is a real goodie by Ian Hunter, who is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of Mott the Hoople. Following his departure from the English rock band, Hunter launched a solo career with his eponymous debut album in 1975. It was the first of many solo efforts on which he collaborated with Mick Ronson, ex-guitarist of The Spiders from Mars, David Bowie’s backing band from 1972 to 1973. Hunter who is now 83 years has continued to release solo albums at a fairly steady pace. Bed of Roses is the lead single off Hunter’s upcoming album Defiance Part 1, which is packed with prominent guests. On this song, released January 20, Hunter got a little help from his friends Ringo Starr and Mike Campbell. Man, this sounds sweet! Defiance Part 1 is scheduled for April 21. And, yes, as the title implies, there’s more. According to Hunter’s website, it will be followed by the arrival of DEFIANCE PART 2. The second chapter will feature an equally stunning range of special guests while projecting an entirely different thematic approach and songwriting aesthetic.

Last but not least, here’s a Spotify playlist of the above goodies, topped up with a few more tunes by the featured artists.

Sources: Wikipedia; Apple Music; Sunny War website; Tas Cru website; Eddie 9V website; Ian Hunter website; YouTube; Spotify

Best of What’s New

I can’t believe it’s October. What happened to summer? Perhaps on the upside, if time continues to race at its current pace, it also means this year will be over soon and we’re into 2021, which will hopefully bring better times. While it remains uncertain when live concerts can safely resume and some artists have delayed releasing new material, it’s great to see decent new music continues to come out.

As more frequent visitors of the blog know, my favorite music decades are the ’60s and the ’70s. As such, I’ve generally given up on what’s in the mainstream charts these days. Yet, in March this year, rather than continuing to complain about generic and soulless music populating the charts, I decided to pay more attention to new music that’s not in the charts, even if it’s not by artists I usually listen to, and to start the weekly recurring feature Best of What’s New. While finding new music I dig forces me to do some detective work, it’s been pretty rewarding, so I have every intention to continue this quest.

This brings me to the latest slate of songs. It’s a diverse set, featuring great music by an African American singer-songwriter reminiscent of a ’60s folk protest song, rich soul by a dynamite husband and wife duo, a delicious Louisiana music gumbo by a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, and folk rock by a prolific Canadian artist. Like is oftentimes the case in this series, I had not heard of any of these artists before. Let’s get to it!

Tré Burt/Under the Devil’s Knee (featuring Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Sunny War)

Tré Burt is a Sacramento-based singer-songwriter. According to his website, Burt was drawn to music from an early age. He was raised with his grandfather’s passion for soul music, like the Temptations, Nina Simone, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. A school project on Woody Guthrie opened his eyes to the power of folk songwriting. And he discovered one of his songwriting heroes, Neil Young, through his older brother, Joey. In 2018…[he] self-released his debut album, Caught It From the Rye. The album, which showcases Burt’s literary songwriting and lo-fi, rootsy aesthetic, landed him a handful tour dates and some positive press, but Burt had no idea just how far it would get him: to a spot on the roster at John Prine’s Oh Boy Records. Burt’s first work appearing on Oh Boy is the single Under the Devil’s Knee. Released on September 22, it’s a powerful tune about the senseless deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Eric Garner and the Black Lives Matter movement. To me it has a ’60s protest song vibe. It almost feels like looking at a modern day Richie Havens. Check it out!

The War and Treaty/Little Boy Blue

The War and Treaty is a husband and wife duo of Michael Trotter, Jr. and Tanya Blount. Apple Music describes their style as impassioned soul music that draws on traditional folk, country, R&B, and spirituals, often combining them all. Initially known as Trotter & Blount, they released their debut album Love Affair under that name in 2016. This was followed by the EP Down to the River in July 2017, their first music appearing as The War and Treaty. Healing Tide, the first full-fledged studio album under the current moniker, came out in August 2018. The record, which featured a guest appearance of Emmylou Harris, was well received and reached no. 11 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums and no. 26 on the Independent Albums charts. Blount first became prominent in 1993, when she performed a duet with Lauryn Hill in the comedy picture Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. The following year, she released her solo debut album Natural Thing. Little Boy Blue is a terrific soul song from Hearts Town, the second full-length album by The War and Treaty that appeared on September 25.

Ric Robertson/Louisiana Love Thing

Ric Robertson is a New Orleans-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who according to his website synthesizes the full canon of American music—New Orleans jazz, classic American pop songsmiths, country, modern funk, swampy blues, and R&B to name a few—and births it into something out of this world…Robertson conjures this musical pedigree into a cohesive potion, a finely-tuned sonic concoction with just enough rock n’ roll to kill, just enough blues to keep you alive, and just enough country to make you hold on to love. It’s stirred by Robertson’s distinct voice: sweet, enticing, and contoured with the finely subtle grit of Mississippi River silt and the warmth of vintage vinyl. Robertson’s debut album The Fool, The Friend was released in June 2018. A review in The Big Takeover characterized it as “a fresh and authentic blend of swampy blues, rock and country” and called Robertson “a force to be reckoned with.” While I haven’t listened to that album yet, I agree based on Robertson’s new tune Louisiana Love Thing. It’s from his new EP Strange World that came out on September 25. That’s one delicious gumbo!

Daniel Romano/Joys Too Often Hollow

Wikipedia describes Daniel Romano (born Daniel Travis Romano in 1985) as a Canadian musician, poet and visual artist based out of his hometown of Welland, Ontario. He is primarily known as a solo artist, though he is also a member of [Canadian indie rock band] Attack in Black and has collaborated with [fellow Canadian music artists] Julie Doiron and Frederick Squire. He has also produced and performed with City and Colour, the recording project of Dallas Green [another Canadian music artist]…and is a partner in his own independent record label, You’ve Changed Records. Romano is a prolific artist. His solo debut Workin’ for the Music Man appeared in 2010. He has since released 11 additional solo records, nine collaboration albums and two EPs. An incredible 10 of these releases all appeared this year, including How Ill Thy World Is Ordered, his fourth 2020 album with his backing band Outfit. Here’s Joys Too Often Hollow, a nice folk rocker from that album released on September 18.

Sources: Wikipedia; Tré Burt website; Apple Music; Ric Robertson website; The Big Takeover; YouTube