New Music

Imogen Clark

photo by Michelle Grace Hunder

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC | YOUTUBE | BANDCAMP

“4.5/5 stars. This EP will become a landmark.” - Rolling Stone

”Imogen Clark may not have tailored her record to this era but her vibrant, bracing songs – kind of like a dip in a cold September sea – might just be one of the things to carry us through it.” - Sydney Morning Herald

“A searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor.” - Atwood Magazine

Imogen Clark is an AIR Award nominated indie artist from Western Sydney. Her music ranges from intimate to arena-ready, anthems with the soul of a confessional singer-songwriter.

“My whole life has been a struggle to stand up for who I am and what I’m worth, in life, in relationships and as an artist,” says Imogen. “That’s what my music is about in one way or another. With Nonchalant, I got angry with a guy who used me and kept me dangling on his hook, and now with Compensating, I’m getting even. When I got with Xavier Dunn to write this song, I wanted to take my heartbreak and make it something fun and cathartic, something that would make me feel powerful when I’m singing it and all the single girlies can listen to all summer by the pool with some margaritas in hand”.

Indeed, Despite the subject matter, ‘Compensating’ is one of Imogen’s frothiest songs to date – a swinging kiss off to a an ex who ‘social climb[s] in skinny jeans ripped with a knife’, co-written with and produced by Xavier Dunn (Jack River, CXLOE).

An artist who has always been compelled to create and connect with her audience, even at the nadir of the pandemic, 2022 has been a busy year even for her.

Barrelling into the year collaborating with Mo’Ju, Ali Barter, I Know Leopard and more on her 2nd Annual Holiday Hootenanny show in Melbourne, she followed that up by assembling a supergroup featuring Adam Newling and members of Middle Kids and Egoism to record a new version of live favorite ‘Enemy’ to kick off her epic 100 Shows in 100 Days tour.

A sprawling trek across Australia that saw her play everywhere from Newcastle to Cowra, Melbourne to Mudgee, Brisbane to Gippsland and many more places besides, mixing high octane full band sets with intimate solo performances and a sprinkling of surprise pop-up shows (like a protest set outside Kirribilli House in the lead up to the Federal Election) and full production online gigs for her international fans. The tour powered through obstacles including visa issues, a COVID-induced week off, floods and more to wrap up triumphantly in Adelaide the night before the AIR Awards, where Imogen was nominated for Best Pop Album/EP for her 2021 release ‘Bastards’. She also managed to release her cathartic single ‘Nonchalant’, described by Atwood magazine as “a searing, soaring anthem full of fire and fervor”.

It has been the most ambitious year yet from an artist who has spent the most challenging two years the music industry has ever faced refusing to rest on her laurels, releasing critically acclaimed EPs The Making of Me and Bastards, two Christmas singles, a live record and even touring, including sold out EP launch shows in Sydney and the first two editions of her now annual Holiday Hootenanny shows, featuring guests including Ali Barter, I Know Leopard, Mo’Ju and Montaigne.

The 26-year-old started 2020 in LA, recording with producer Mike Bloom (Julian Casablancas, Jenny Lewis) and a cast of rock legends, recording The Making of Me and what would become Bastards, which was later finished across the globe from Sydney over Zoom. The EPs form two halves of an artistic rebirth for Clark, featuring her most raw and intense music to date, covering addiction, suicide, misogyny and doomed romance.

Amongst the murderer’s row of collaborators on the records include Men at Work’s Colin Hay, Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith, Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel and Melbourne indie-pop artist Eilish Gilligan as co-writers, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and Elvis Costello and the Attractions drummer Pete Thomas lending their legendary chops to the recordings.

Cutting her teeth playing in Western Sydney bars during her teen years before touring and recording around the world, from the US to Europe to the UK, Imogen brings the depth and confidence of a seasoned rocker to the stage despite her youth. Taking inspiration from legends like Bruce Springsteen and Joni Mitchell as much as contemporary heroes Maggie Rogers and Gang of Youths, Imogen’s music continues to dissolve the barriers between her emotions and her audience, even as her music and shows get bigger in size and scope.   

Teddy Grossman

Credit: Steph Port

Credit: Steph Port

FACEBOOK || INSTAGRAM || YOUTUBE || SPOTIFY || TWITTER

“I’m finally feeling like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be,” says Teddy Grossman, and the forthright, ever-soulful singer-songwriter speaks like a man who has been down many paths only to arrive back definitively where he’s forever belonged. Adds Grossman, a palpable determination and resolve in his voice: “I need to be able to look back at my life and say I gave it every ounce of energy.”  This steady perseverance, this take-no-prisoners passion of Grossman’s— it all goes a long way in explaining why the multi-talented artist has finally arrived at this moment, his moment, the moment he’s been winding and weaving his way towards in life until this very time. That’s because for years, the lifelong music lover had kept music on the back burner, forever wondering if he’d ever take the leap and make it his principal career. Only recently however has he moved to Los Angeles and at last embarked on that long-gestating journey. And, Grossman says, he’s never felt more self-assured than he does right now. “It’s the happiest I’ve been in my life,” the shaggy-haired old soul says of the rich and inspired sessions for Soon Come, the musician’s highly-anticipated debut album out on November 19th.

Grossman spent much of his life getting his mind around what it meant to fully commit to a life in music.  He’d always been a lifer at heart — his childhood was spent ingesting Otis Redding and Steve Wonder and Dylan and The Band— but upon graduating from the University of Michigan in 2009, he took the road often traveled and got a 9-5 job in the tech world. A few years back, however, after a near-decade living in Chicago and New York City, all the while working for the Man, in 2018, Grossman was finally ready to take the plunge. “It was all about taking that leap,” he says looking back at his decision to break out on his own and transform his passion into his livelihood.

All that time spent wondering what a music career — his music career — would look like now comes pouring forth via his cerebral and sublimely centered songs— the sort that speak to years of hard-won wisdom and, well, maybe a bit of luck. “There’s something about this music that feels modern,” Grossman says of the 12 songs that comprise Soon Come. “It feels organic and homemade.”

The album is highlighted by lead single “What I Owe” — a punchy pop song that fell out of Grossman in a single day and lyrically encapsulates the journey he’s been on…and one that’s still ongoing. “I’ll take my time/Wait my place in line/To make it shine like gold/till I pay down what I owe,” he sings on the hook, and there’s the sense that the musician has made amends with himself for all those years he waited to get right here. “It’s all about this feeling of despite having taken a decade to get here I still have this feeling of the iron being hot,” he says of the song, which was featured on the soundtrack for the documentary film “Maybe Next Year.”

But if there’s a song that perhaps best captures where Grossman is coming from — at least, sonically — it’s undoubtedly “Leave It On The Line.” Not only was it the first song he recorded for the project with producer Ryan Pauley — a childhood friend he reconnected with in Los Angeles and with whom he recorded the entirety of Soon Come — but “Leave It On The Line” is pure Grossman at his core: rootsy and soulful, infected with a dash of pop panache. “I had this vision in my head of taking Music From Big Pink meets Voodoo as the central heart to the approach of what I wanted this record to sound and feel like,” Grossman explains. Part gospel and blues and rock and folk and Appalachia and soul and R&B... “As a vocalist, those are equal-parts my influences,” Grossman continues.  “And ”Leave It On The Line” executes on that lofty aim.”

As for the most personal songs on the LP? Grossman points to both “Crowned” and “Why Should I Pretend?” — both with their own respectively rich backstory. The former, “Crowned,” sprang forth from an unlikely friendship Grossman struck up with the iconic singer-songwriter Bill Withers near the end of the legend’s life. After a chance meeting one night, in 2018, at a small Bill Withers tribute concert in Los Angeles, Grossman and his drummer friend, Josh Teitelbaum, wound up going over to Withers’ house for a few inspired sessions. “I’m crowned in glory,” Withers kept saying as he’d run his fingers through his hair during their time together. To that end, Grossman calls the song “almost as an autobiography about Bill’s life.”

“Why Should I Pretend?” however might be the most touching song on the LP. First written by Grossman’s grandfather back in the 1930’s, and recorded later that decade by jazz icon Louis Prima & his New Orleans Gang, Grossman covers the song on Soon Come and even plays trumpet, his childhood instrument, as a tribute to his late grandfather. While his grandfather was an attorney by day, and only played music in his spare time — much like his Grossman’s own father who never took the leap and pursued a career in music — Grossman feels he’s in some ways he’s taking his family legacy to the next level. “It feels fortuitous,” he says of reinterpreting his grandfather’s tune.” And of taking the leap into music, he adds, “It’s like I’m breaking the chain of a third-generation creative of actually going for it.”

For Grossman, where things head from here is the exciting part. He’s eager to hit the live stage — “I really intend to get on the road and get out in front of people and perform these songs,” he says. “I’m excited to see how it translates” — and says no matter how his music career unfolds he knows he’s reached his proper destination.

“For a long time in my life, I felt this low-grade hum in the background that I wasn’t really where I was supposed to be,” he admits. Soon Come, then, he says, “is about hope and transformation. And I feel deeply spiritual and connected to some higher power at my arrival in this place.”

 

The Loyal Seas

Credit: Ann Sullivan-Cross

For the last decade, trailblazing alternative rock figurehead Tanya Donelly —  co-founder of Belly, Throwing Muses and The Breeders — has pursued meaningful collaborations with favorite artists and friends. The resulting work is by turns poignant, delightful and entirely surprising, melding folk, rock, pop and orchestral sounds. Her latest, The Loyal Seas, pairs Donelly with New England cult-favorite Brian Sullivan, who’s worked under the moniker Dylan in the Movies since the mid ’00s. A skilled singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Sullivan’s debut, Feel the Pull (2005), and follow-up full-length, Sweet Rebel Thee (2014), are each teeming with a lush, discrete form of alt-pop, Sullivan’s private mind garden translated as cinematic vignettes.  

Donelly and Sullivan first met in the mid ’90s at Fort Apache Studios, the famed New England recording studio that has produced legions of beloved albums. They were friends almost instantly and have collaborated over years, appearing on two of American Laundromat’s most popular tribute compilations. The pair contributed a sparkling cover of “The Lovecats” for Just Like Heaven: A Tribute to The Cure (2009), where Donelly’s honeyed rasp is brightened by the contrast of Sullivan’s lower-register growls. Their take on “Shoplifters of the World Unite,” from Please, Please, Please: A Tribute to the Smiths (2011), glimmers with melancholic wonder, Donelly’s silken lead vocals textured by an orchestral scythe and Sullivan’s backing anchor.  

The Loyal Seas’ dynamic debut single, “Strange Mornings in the Garden” b/w “Last of the Great Machines,” released in December 2020, was a label exclusive that sold-out instantly. Each side was an individualistic statement showcasing a particular side of the pair’s personality, one a luxuriant, sweeping ballad, and the other tightly-knit, kinetic alt-pop. The group’s full-length debut “Strange Mornings In the Garden” will be released on May 20, 2022. 

Erika Lewis

Prolific songwriter and singer Erika Lewis has been churning out American originals all her own for the past several years. Inspired many years ago by listening to Jolie Holland’s impromptu performances for Lewis and her housemates on a farm in the Hudson Valley, she began flexing her creative muscle by writing songs herself. In 2007, Lewis relocated to New Orleans and started a band called The Magnolia Beacon with Meschiya Lake, now a notable figure in the traditional jazz scene. The pair worked out original material and earned a living by busking on the streets of the French Quarter before crossing the Atlantic to explore what Europe had to offer.

“We based ourselves in the Kreuzberg neighborhood of Berlin, busking daily on the bridge or at the Turkish market and playing in bars at night. A local artist even painted a mural of us on the building near our busking spot by the canal!” Lewis recalls fondly.  “At one point we traveled to Riga, Latvia where my mother’s family is from, played on the streets, and explored the city.  My grandfather spoke very little about ‘the old country,’ but when I told him we had gone there, he told me that his mother, Lena, sang on the streets with her three sisters to earn money before fleeing to the states.” Lewis made her way back to Berlin and joined a group called The Cyclown Circus. “We rode bikes from western Europe to eastern Europe busking as we went, mainly playing old jazz standards intermingled with some slapstick from the clowns,” she says. 

Eventually Lewis returned to New Orleans and began busking again, which led to the formation of beloved New Orleans jazz band Tuba Skinny and featured fellow street performers and friends like Alynda Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff. “There was this crew of folk musicians and songwriters that settled in New Orleans post-Katrina, and she, Kiki Cavasos, Sam Doores, Riley Downing, Meschiya Lake, and others were a big inspiration to write more and start playing my own songs outside of Tuba Skinny,” Lewis explains.

In 2020, Lewis had a health scare that required a surgery that could damage her vocal nerves and effectively end her career. “My friend Lani Tourville said, ‘You have to make an album because you will regret it forever if you don't do it and you can’t sing again.’” With the help of Lani’s husband John James Tourville (The Deslondes), and a funding campaign organized by Tuba Skinny bandmate Shaye Cohn, Lewis began the journey of creating her forthcoming LP, A Walk Around The Sun. 

Produced by Tourville and recorded in Nashville at Andrija Tokic’s analog paradise The Bomb Shelter, A Walk Around the Sun features 11 all-original songs. In tracks like album opener “A Thousand Miles,” “If You Were Mine,” and “First Love,” Lewis recalls the magic and endless possibility of new love, comes to terms with the loneliness of mandated isolation, and remembers the affection for and intimacy shared with her childhood best friend and realizes after drifting apart, that she was Lewis’ first love. 

Other songs encompass the push and pull of love, the swirl of emotions at the end of close relationships, and the primal need for connection. In A Walk Around The Sun’s series of lyrical vignettes, Lewis deftly explores the gray areas between love and loss, joy and grief, longing and contentment. From classic country to cosmic Americana to dreamy indie-folk, Lewis continues to dip her toes more deeply into an ever-expanding pool of roots music styles. A Walk Around the Sun is a testament to her songwriting prowess and exceptional vocal ability. 

Though her songwriting shines brightly, it’s never at the cost of melody or arrangement; complete with sweeping strings, pedal steel, and even the occasional fuzz of a psych-rock guitar solo, Lewis’ voice soars with emotion and texture throughout. Beautifully balanced, adroitly performed, and masterfully produced, A Walk Around the Sun brings Lewis’ solo work out from the wings to center stage, beneath a spotlight nearly impossible to ignore.

Calling Cadence

Fronted by Oscar Bugarin and Rae Cole, Calling Cadence is a band rooted in harmony — harmony between voices, between songwriters, and between genres like rock, country, swampy blues and Southern soul. 

The result is a sound that's as warm and diverse as the duo's native California, where Oscar and Rae first crossed paths. He was an ace guitarist from L.A. who'd grown up listening to old-school rock and roll pioneers like Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, only to discover country music while serving in the U.S. Army in Kansas. She was a lifelong vocalist who'd grown up onstage, starring in countless theater productions in her hometown of Huntington Beach before exploring her interests in classic rock, folk and modern pop as an adult. Together, they began writing songs that blended their vintage influences — the dreamy pop of Fleetwood Mac, the sunny soul of Stevie Wonder, the rootsy rock and roll of the Eagles — with modern melodies. 

Calling Cadence, the band's self-titled debut album, showcases a group whose songs nod to the past while resolutely pushing forward. It's a classic-sounding record (recorded, mixed and mastered straight to analog tape) for the contemporary world. Computers were only employed for streaming prep and CD replication. Produced by David Swartz and Matt Linesch, the album is being released on their own hi-res records label. Producers and band thought long and hard about diving into the all-analog domain but came to the conclusion that the final product would benefit in a way that digital would not allow. All are pleased with the end results. These 15 songs shine a light on Calling Cadence's strength as a live act, blending Oscar and Rae's entwined voices with vintage keyboards, guitar heroics and plenty of percussive and low-end stomp. Josh Adams (Norah Jones, Beck, Fruit Bats): drums, Elijah Thomson (Father John Misty, Nathaniel Rateliff): bass, and Mitchell Yoshida (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros): keyboards, round out the core band.

"Before I met Rae, I played with two different projects: a blues-rock band and a band like Crosby, Stills & Nash," says Oscar, who co-wrote the bulk of the album's material with Rae and collaborator Coby Ryan McLaughlin. "When we began writing songs together, our styles meshed and it was like my two dream bands became this one thing. Our music was harmony-based from the very start, and it was all about storytelling, too. A lot of these songs are about our real lives."

From the dark, descending riffs of the album's anthemic opener, "Throw My Body,” to the folksy acoustics of the closing track, "Wasn't It Good," Calling Cadence offers a mix of love songs, breakup ballads and character studies. Along the way, the songwriters make room for '70s funk ("Good Day"), atmospheric Americana ("California Bartender") and country-soul ("Took a Chance"), shining a light on the full reach of their musical range. 

"It's a lot of lessons in love, along with songs about self-realization, self-confidence and knowing your worth," says Rae. "There's so much authenticity in the music — not only because we're singing about our own experiences, but because we're singing without Auto-Tune. What you hear on the album is what you'd hear at our shows. It's raw. It's real."

For Calling Cadence (whose name nods to Oscar's time in the army), recording to analog tape wasn't just a production choice; it was a way of maintaining honesty with themselves and their audience. Like the classic albums that inspired Calling Cadence's layered vocal arrangements and warm, guitar-driven sound, the record is a genuine snapshot of a band on the rise. And, once again, it all comes back to harmony. 

"When you're playing live and people know your songs, it's like you're calling cadence in the military," Oscar says. "There's that connection — that call and response with your audience — that brings everyone together. And that's what we hope to do with these songs."

Hamish Anderson

photo credit Emma Gillett

Website |  Facebook |  Twitter | Instagram |  YouTube | Spotify 

Named one of Total Guitar's: Top 10 Best New Guitarists in 2018 two years after being named one of Yahoo! Music’s “Top Ten Best New Artist,” Australia’s roots-rock artist, Hamish Anderson follows his uplifting 2021 release Morning Light, with Everything Starts Again, available February 4, 2022.  

Hamish Anderson debuted in 2016 with the full-length album Trouble -- produced by Grammy-winner Jim Scott (the title track, Trouble, still appears on Spotify’s Official Blues & Roots Rock Playlist from April 2016). He supported the album with 11 performances at SXSW (2017); opened for BB King, Vintage Trouble, Drive-By Truckers, Jared & The Mill, Low Cut Connie; and toured the US while appearing at US festivals such as BottleRock, Firefly, Echo Park Rising, Mountain Jam, High Sierra, Big Blues Bender, Summerfest, Telluride Blues & Brews Festival and Canada’s RBC Bluesfest Ottawa. He was a Taco Bell “Feed the Beat” artist and was featured on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic with his single, “U”, which was profiled also on NPR Music’s Heavy Rotation along with the entire album, Trouble. 

In January 2018, NPR profiled Hamish’s album -- a year after it was released --on “Here & Now”/DJ Sessions via Anne Litt from KCRW. That summer, he released "No Good” the first single from his sophomore album Out of My Head (which still appears on Nu-Blue Spotify Official Playlist), did a 3-week festival tour in Europe, performed at BottleRock Napa, and toured the East Coast. He ended 2018 by opening for Doyle Bramhall II at a sold-out show in LA. His single, “Breaking Down”, was released in November 2018 on All Things Go where they stated: "the young artist clearly knows the path from nostalgia to the future.” 

While “Breaking Down” and “No Good” are superb examples of rollicking rock, they are just one of many genres that Hamish dips his toes into on Out Of My Head. Americana, soul, pop, roots, blues, rock; that’s a lot of ground to cover, but Hamish does it with a natural ease that’s far beyond his years. The mellow (“What You Do To Me,” “Damaged Goods”) and the upbeat (“No Good,” “You Give Me Something”) tracks on this record sit comfortably next to each other; all buoyed by a knack for clever, hook-driven songwriting and a clear, burning passion that drives the music from the first strum to the last. 

He opened for Gary Clark Jr. in April 2019 in his home country of Australia and then returned to the US to appear at Beale Street Music Festival in Memphis, TN in May and release his new album. He rounded out 2019 with appearances at Mont Tremblant Music Fest in Quebec, Canada, and a headline tour of Europe. 

Hamish returned to Australia in early 2020 to open for George Thorogood & The Destroyers on his sold out tour. Then, while the world pivoted from March on, he stayed busy supporting Out of My Head as it was awarded the Independent Music Award for Best Album - Blues with its fifth radio single, “The Fall” at AAA Non Comm (#60) and Americana (#41). He and his album were also featured in Guitar Player Magazine in the August 2020 Issue which resulted in a cover mention for Hamish.  

In 2021, during lockdown in Australia, he returned with a new single, Morning Light -- a first for Hamish in many ways including his first time co-producing (with David Davis, Miguel, Lauren Ruth Ward), first time recording remotely and first time releasing a revealing and upbeat song style in a pandemic! 

He looks to start 2022 off right with “Everything Starts Again” available February 4th, 2022. 

Suzanne Santo

Suzanne Santo has never been afraid to blur the lines. A tireless creator, she's built her sound in the grey area between Americana, Southern-gothic soul, and forward-thinking rock & roll. It's a sound that nods to her past — a childhood spent in the Rust Belt; a decade logged as a member of the L.A.-based duo HoneyHoney; the acclaimed solo album, Ruby Red, that launched a new phase of her career in 2017; and the world tour that took her from Greece to Glastonbury as a member of Hozier's band — while still exploring new territory. With Yard Sale, Santo boldly moves forward, staking her claim once again as an Americana innovator. It's an album inspired by the past, written by an artist who's only interested in the here-and-now. And for Suzanne Santo, the here-and-now sounds pretty good.  

Yard Sale, her second release as a solo artist, finds Santo in transition. She began writing the album while touring the globe with Hozier — a gig that utilized her strengths not only as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, but as a road warrior, too. "We never stopped," she says of the year-long trek, which often found her pulling double-duty as Hozier's opening act and bandmate. "Looking back, I can recognize how much of a game-changer it was. It raised my musicianship to a new level. It truly reshaped my career."  

Songs like "Fall For That" were written between band rehearsals, with Santo holing herself up in a farmhouse on the rural Irish coast. Others were finished during bus rides, backstage writing sessions, and hotel stays. Grateful for the experience but eager to return to her solo career, she finished her run with Hozier, joining the band for one final gig — a milestone performance at Glastonbury, with 60,000 fans watching — before flying home to Los Angeles. Within three days, she was back in the studio, working with producer John Spiker on the most compelling album of her career.  

Santo didn't remain in Los Angeles for very long. Things had changed since she released 2017's Ruby Red, an album produced by Butch Walker and hailed by Rolling Stone for its "expansion of her Americana roots." She'd split up with her longtime partner. Her old band, HoneyHoney, was on hiatus. Feeling lonely in her own home, Santo infused songs like "Common Sense" and "Idiot" with achingly gorgeous melodies and woozy melancholia. She then got the hell out, moving to Austin — a city whose fingerprints are all over Yard Sale, thanks to appearances by hometown heroes like Shakey Graves and Gary Clark Jr. — and falling in love all over again. Throughout it all, Santo continued writing songs, filling Yard Sale with the ups and downs of a life largely spent on the run. 

If yard sales represent a homeowner's purging of old possessions in order to clear up some much-needed room, then Yard Sale marks the moment where Suzanne Santo makes peace with her past and embraces a better, bolder present. Musically, she's at the top of her game, writing her own string arrangements and singing each song an agile, acrobatic voice. On "Since I've Had Your Love," she bridges the gap between indie-rock and neo-soul, punctuating the song's middle stretch with a cinematic violin solo. She mixes gospel influences with a deconstructed R&B beat on "Over and Over Again," recounts some hard-learned lessons with the folk-rock anthem "Mercy," and drapes "Bad Beast" with layers of spacey, atmospheric electric guitar. Shakey Graves contributes to "Afraid of Heights," a rainy-day ballad driven forward by a metronomic drum pattern, and Gary Clark Jr. punctuates the guitar-driven "Fall For That" with fiery fretwork. 

"This is like one of those yard sales where there's something for everybody," Santo says. "You want a crockpot or a racquetball paddle? A duvet cover? I've got it." On a more serious note, she adds, "But I've also gotten into the emotional concept of what a yard sale really is, too. This record is about the things I've left behind and the things I've held onto. I was broken up with while writing the record. I fell in love again while writing the record. And I learned to fearlessly follow my gut, in all places of my life, while making this record." 

You can't blame Suzanne Santo from looking back once in awhile. Raised in Parma, OH, she was scouted as a model and actress at 14 years old, spent her summer vacations working in locations like Tokyo, and later moved to New York City, where she attended the Professional Children's School alongside classmates like Jack Antonoff and Scarlett Johansson. Moving to Los Angeles in her late teens, she formed HoneyHoney and released three albums with the duo, working with top-shelf Americana labels like Lost Highway and Rounder Records along the way. Working with Butch Walker on 2017's Ruby Red resulted in an offer to join Walker's touring band, followed one year later by a similar request from Hozier. 

"It's a rollercoaster, and I've been strapped in pretty good," she says. "I've been riding it out." 

 

 

Ali Sperry

Photo credit: Fairlight Hubbard

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | PRESS MATERIALS

Ali Sperry, when faced with a year of trauma, racial reckoning, and downright worldwide existential crisis, did what she has always done — turned inward and wrote songs that channeled, mirrored and ultimately DISTILLED those cultural currents — distilled is the operative word, here, as she and her producer, Jamie Dick, wisely avoid long-form folk indulgence for streamlined contours and razor hooks that feel more rock/pop than folk, and are fairly begging for a decent car stereo and an open road.  

Ali, in her singing and writing, is the people’s champ of the “less is more" ethos. There is a slight echo of Laurel Canyon in the sonics of the record, and, always, the confident under-singing of a woman who knows her words and melodies will happily do the heavy lifting. 

She and Jamie have brought in an absolute murderers' row of beloved Nashville players, including Jen Gunderman, Audley Freed, Sadler Vaden, Joe Pisapia, Owen Biddle, Kai Welch, Kristin Weber, Rich Hinman, and a slew of other bright lights. It's a testament to both their instincts and their respect for Sperry’s presence and voice, that it never feels like a cavalcade of assembled star-turns, but a real love-in of massively talented musical souls. 

Jamie Dick’s production artfully maintains the connective tissue from song to song, and always gives pride of place to Sperry’s voice and truth telling.  Raised by musician/Transcendental Meditation-teacher parents in Fairfield, Iowa, music has been a constant thread throughout Sperry’s life and was the driving force that brought her to Nashville in 2009. She is such a beloved presence around Nashville -co-writing, teaching yoga or lending a listening ear to friends in high-end coffee shops or low-end dives…who knows how much the world will be able to get her away for extended touring…we can hope. Nevertheless, this is a record that should quietly find its way into a lot of needy hearts. 

Natalia M. King

It’s neither a remake of the film starring Bette Davis, nor a documentary on the tragic destiny of an American singer exiled in France, and yet this story could be called “What happened to Natalia M. King?”

It’s the story of a pioneering musician with a powerful impact and a captivating voice who, on Woman Mind Of My Own, her seventh album which comes out in February via DixieFrog Records, enters for the first time, the ancient—almost sacred—territory of blues, rhythm and blues, and American roots music. Through its nine tracks, all either composed by King or borrowed from others, there is a marvelous feeling of rediscovery of that magical style, unaffected by the wear and tear of time.

Carefully orchestrated by guitarist and producer, Fabien Squillante, Woman Mind Of My Own is no exercise in retro-mania. On the contrary, it’s very much a contemporary oeuvre, a holistic record that doesn’t stop celebrating Love with a capital L, ever seducing like a magic potion. It’s not just a self-portrait of an incredibly intense artist who has always presented herself exactly as she is, no-frills attached, but of a courageous, larger-than-life lady.  

In the year 2000, and on the verge of being discovered wild-child busking in the Paris metro, trying to earn a few bucks with her voice and guitar, King was fiercely determined to find and create her own unique style—a thorny free-style rock, somewhere between the lyricism of Jeff Buckley and the formal radicalism of Ornette Coleman. Then, with 2014’s Soul Braz and 2016’s Bluezzin T’il Dawn, she followed the trail of Billie Holiday and Nina Simone. Today, it’s in the crossroads of Etta James and Robert Johnson where she’s finding her fulfillment in Woman Mind Of My Own. And so, yes, what did happen to Natalia M. King?

“At one point, playing what one might call ‘alternative’ music began to bore me,” she explains. “It was less and less exciting as more and more people began to jump on the bandwagon, and ‘alternative’ wasn’t really ‘alternative’. It had become pretty unhip. I had decided on becoming a musician that I was not going to be a part of any tradition or trend, to have no connections. And quite frankly, at that time, there was no way I would ever play jazz or blues. I had never performed in a club, had never hung out in a Southern Juke Joint. I had no background whatever for these styles. But after Soul Braz and Bluezzin T’il Dawn, the natural thing seemed to go further, to carry on digging to find the roots of the tree : the blues.”

Born and raised in Brooklyn by a strong Dominican mother, King finished her studies and set off across the US in true beatnik style, hitching rides and taking the Greyhounds, her sole baggage consisting of a notebook and overflowing courage. She got by doing different jobs; everything from delivering pizzas and working as a mechanic, to trying her hand as a trawler on an Alaskan fishing boat. Her vagabond life lead her to Paris, where, energized by the writings of James Baldwin, she arrived with her Ovation guitar, destined to become a blues singer.

“It didn’t instill the blues in me but it got me curious. A curiosity that led me to Skip James, John Lee Hooker, and Robert Johnson,” she recalls. After watching “The Soul Of Man” at a cinema in Nimes, King was overcome by hearing Skip James for the first time. “That gave me one hell of a kick up the backside,” she explains. “That film began my initiation.”

King, who had begun her musical career wanting to take everything apart, found herself rebuilding on foundations established by the legendary players. “First, there was a Revelation, then a time of adapting, followed by the belonging which was through feeling. I didn’t want to imitate,” explains King. “I wanted to live this music in body and soul. The truth is, you don’t get the blues; it’s the blues that either gets you or not”

King enlisted the talents of Fabien Squillante,  an experienced producer with a deep knowledge of American music, who then assembled a lineup of musicians and began and begin forging the space where she could totally shine. The resulting work became Woman Mind Of My Own, nine tracks that encompass rocky soul searching, tracks that tell the tale of a hungry heart forever seeking to be filled.

THE SULLY BAND

On March 11, 2022, The Sully Band, voted Best Live Band at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards, will release their debut LP, Let’s Straighten It Out, conceived in the hallowed halls of Henson Recording Studio in Hollywood, California (formerly A&M Studios). With Let’s Straighten It Out!, Sully and his bluesy, nine-piece beast of a band take us on a journey through the ups, downs, and all-arounds of love by way of 10 classic ‘60s and ‘70s soul, blues, and R&B tunes. The album will be released via Belly Up Records, and marketed and distributed by Blue Élan Records. 

This labor of love album was recorded in only five jam-packed days, with “mostly-live” versions of carefully curated love-themed songs that made a mark when they were originally released and yet also feel relevant today. Sully’s soulful, heartfelt vocals cut across layers of horns and guitars that take the listener on an emotional arc of joy, disappointment, struggle, and redemption. 

Multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Head Todd) provided the musical curation that makes up Let’s Straighten It Out. Treasured tunes like Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” share the tracklist with lesser-known nuggets like “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” by Ray Charles; the title track, first recorded by Latimore in 1974; Shuggie Otis’ “Ice Cold Daydream”; and “I Wish It Would Rain,” first made a hit by The Temptations. Acclaimed San Diego soul singer, Rebecca Jade, shared vocal duties with Sully on Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) and Jessie Hill’s “When the Battle Is Over,” while on “If You Love Me Like You Say,” the late Albert Collins is evoked by Anthony Cullins, the 20-year-old guitar sensation from Fallbrook, California. 

Anchored by Grammy Award-winning slayer of the bass, James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson, and many others), The Sully Band is composed of seasoned, accomplished players who hail from diverse locales like Japan, Panama, and the island of Lemon Grove. The horn section features sax-flute-harp-man Tripp Sprague (Kenny Loggins, The Little River Band, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd). 

Sully himself is an enigma. He caught the music bug at age six after picking up a nylon-string guitar and playing the first few chords of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” with his dad. In high school, the barrel-chested, all-American football player rocked out to Boston and Foreigner with his buddies, starred in every show-tune-laden musical theatre production through college, and ended each day with James Brown or Stevie Wonder on his Pioneer receiver.   

In his 20’s, after pounding the unforgiving Los Angeles pavement trying to cut a record deal, he embarked on a 35-year detour, traveling a storied path from Price Club cashier to self-made entrepreneur and national radio/TV personality, ultimately finding his way back to his first true love: music.  

Now, after years away from the stage, he is back in full force. He and the band have been playing regional and national shows to small but mighty crowds, from Southern California’s legendary Belly Up Tavern to Austin’s illustrious Antone’s Nightclub, making his mark as a compelling musician and live performer ready to “Straighten it Out.” 

PHOTO CREDIT: STEVE SHERMAN

Brian Mackey

BrianMackey-Paris-July7-nicolemago-8.jpg

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | PRESS MATERIALS

Singer-songwriter Brian Mackey voices what often goes unsaid with warmth and vulnerability that is reminiscent yet new. He's often been told that he has a sound that combines a healthy balance of folk, pop, rock, and Americana, drawing comparisons to artists like the late Jim Croce. Originally from the northern Florida panhandle, Brian was raised on a diet of 90s alt-rock and 70s folk music.  

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian released his single "Keep the World Alive," written and recorded remotely as an anthem for 2020 and how the world as we knew it has changed - simultaneously with the loss of his brother. In a time when the pandemic has also changed the landscape of the music and live entertainment industry in its entirety, it was featured in American Songwriter Magazine; the video garnered over 2M views on Facebook, and sparked much coverage across numerous press outlets. 

Brian recorded his forthcoming full-length album, his second, at Sony Tree Studios in Nashville. A writing project during 2019-20 with his friend Jeff King (Reba McEntire/Brooks & Dunn) sparked several tracks—“My Only Friend” and “Six Strings” on the new album, as well as Mackey’s new standouts, “Saturday Night Sleeping,” “Even Though I Try,” “Count The Stars,” and “Bird In A Cage.” 

The album comes after a period of touring and single releases. In 2018 and 2019, Brian toured with Kate Voegele and Tyler Hilton on their joint European tour and on Hilton’s solo tour, with Howie Day, and American Idol Winner Taylor Hicks. The tours supported a collection of singles, "Promise Me," "Don't Own Much," "Underwater," and "Learn to Be," produced in Los Angeles by Jon Levine (Rachel Platten, Andy Grammer). "Learn to Be" charted #1 Most-Added for three weeks in a row, tied with John Mayer on the US FMQB A/C Charts. This single, poppy and bold, reflects on the life lessons of learning to live without a crutch, and the liberation of breaking free. The music video for "Underwater" premiered on the Huffington Post, boasting the headline "Sublimely Gorgeous Music From Brian Mackey." It was also officially nominated for an HMMA award for "Best Independent Music Video,” along with his video for “Don’t Own Much.” During this timeframe, he has also toured with David Bromberg in the US, with Ron Pope in Europe, and Jon McLaughlin for select dates.  

In 2015, Brian released his first full-length album Broken Heartstrings, a collection of pop infused American folk-rock, also in Nashville. The music took him through a very personal journey, spurred by loss and then renewal and signified a new beginning for Brian. He assembled a talented team: Producer Sam Ashworth, Engineer Richie Biggs (Tom Petty, The Civil Wars), bassist Mark Hill (Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban) and guitarist Jeff King, (Reba McEntyre/Brooks & Dunn). 

 Broken Heartstrings yielded his hit single, “Are You Listening,” which, after being featured on YouTube by gamer Gronkh about the PlayStation 4 game “Until Dawn,” became a runaway hit in Germany. The song peaked at #8 on the A/C Radio Charts in the US, charted top 25 on German iTunes, was on the ‘100 Most Sold’ chart on Amazon Germany, had over 400k streams on Spotify, and resulted in sold-out shows throughout the country.

Jesse Correll

Photo: Stacie Huckeba

Shibori is a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique. A pattern is made by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or compressing a natural fabric, dyeing, and then releasing the bind and pressure to reveal its pattern. Techniques were ancestral, handed down exclusively within families.  When the fabric is returned to its flat form after dyeing, the design that emerges is the result of the bound and tied three-dimensional shape. The cloth sensitively records both the form and the pressure; the “memory” of the tied shape remains imprinted in the cloth. 

“The technique spoke to me. We endure a lifelong process of unfolding, unbinding, unstitching, and unblocking. Little by little, we see that what we thought were stains, are intricate patterns; the design of unseen hands,” singer-songwriter Jesse Correll shares. The Nashville-based artist explores this parable on his latest album, Inner Shibori, out February 11, 2022. It’s a timeless and elegantly expressive record that feels like a singer-songwriter album draped in torch-song finery.  

Inner Shibori is Jesse’s fourth record since 1994, and his second release after a 15-year hiatus from music. The 13-song release is an album oozing luxury and longing. The production approach; sophisticated and tastefully sentimental songs; and the smooth musicianship recalls Frank Sinatra and Chet Baker’s lonely balladeering, and the type of recordings made at Capitol Studios in Hollywood during the 1950s and 1960s. The songs are also interwoven with threads of Americana, R&B, soul, and folk, recalling contemporary artists such as Ray LaMontagne, Jacob Collier, and Madison Cunningham.  

Jesse’s last release, 2015’s Held Momentarily, was an intimately soulful bedroom production that captured the joys of romantic and personal reclamation. For Jesse, this included a new love relationship and returning to music. Jesse is a Berklee graduate and a lifelong musician, and he came back with a vengeance. He left New York and followed his muse to Music City, where he blossomed as a songwriter, a member of the Nashville music community, and a popular podcaster. Parallel to this evolution, another dynamic was playing out. Jesse and his lady were two marriage-resistant lovers that decided to do the thing, but unfortunately, their seven-year union unraveled in under a year of marriage.  

What seemed and felt like a bottom, like Sinatra’s In the Wee Small Hours come to life, became a turning point of self-reflection, acceptance, and even a love rebirth. This journey became an inner Shibori experience for Jesse, and he processes it on his album.  “It was like a breakup with my former self. I had been running from old stuff—like early abandonment—and I needed to address them to move on. There is definitely a story of the greatest love ever followed by the worst pain ever. To the outside, I’m sure it looked like wtf happened,” he says laughing.  

The 13 tracks of the Inner Shibori came to life during three days of tracking at Skinny Elephant Recording, in Nashville with engineer Dylan Alldredge. The album was produced by Jesse and guitarist/singer-songwriter/producer Anne McCue. The pair also handpicked the core band and the session auxiliary musicians.  

 Reflecting on the Inner Shibori, Jesse says: “This album felt like a homecoming. Rebirth, the record I made at the end of my Berklee years, hinted at my musical identity. I can see now that I got lost for a while, and struggled to find my way back. Held Momentarily was a turning point. I needed all of those years of being lost to be able to fully express myself as a musician; as a human being. Making this record, and finding my home in the Nashville music community, has been a peak experience that I will never forget.” 

CJ Temple

Credit: Shawnee Custalow

WEBSITE || FACEBOOK || INSTAGRAM  || TIKTOK

Dreamy yet down-to-earth, singer-songwriter CJ Temple distills her vibrant personality and chaotic emotions into stirring anthems that hover between indie folk and serene, modern pop. Her music comes from deep within, borne by a lifelong love of singing and laced with homemade, hip-hop-inspired beats that transform the songs into what she calls “ethereal bedroom pop.” CJ’s distinctly smooth vocals have been compared to artists like Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan, and Amy Lee, but her agile range and empathetic approach to songwriting set her apart: “The way I see it, I’m creating a space, not selling you a product.” After years working in corporate America, struggling with self-doubt and mental health, CJ returned to music with a singular goal: to provide a space of calm amid the chaos. Her debut full-length album Smoke, set for release in late 2021, showcases her softness as well as her sharpness in eleven intimate, atmospheric tracks. “Music has always been what keeps me connected to my sense of self. I just want to make people comfortable, give someone a little moment to breathe.”

The daughter and granddaughter of opera singers, CJ spent her childhood singing in church choirs, surrounded by the gravitas of two early musical styles that helped shape the unique depth of her sound. Though she left the religious part behind, she developed a penchant for “the kind of music that’s so beautiful it’s almost painful,” later recognizing the same balance of joy and melancholy in contemporary secular acts like Bon Iver and Iron & Wine. She pursued vocal training throughout her teens, performed in show choirs, and fell in love with musical theater (which she continued in college). Her evolution as a songwriter began when she wrote her first official song at fifteen, finding an outlet that allowed her to tell stories and use her voice as an instrument. What began as a personal practice eventually led to posting songs on Soundcloud, but crippling fear kept her from seeking feedback or fame. In 2015 she composed the title track for a friend’s feature-length indie film before resigning herself to a corporate job. “I’d convinced myself it was just a hobby, so I quit before I even started. Self-preservation is cute until it robs you of your passion.”

What led CJ back to music was, oddly enough, TikTok. Inspired by the lighthearted nature of the video platform and the wild creativity of its members, she began posting covers in 2020, then her own originals, finding both an outlet and a following for her candor and self-deprecating charisma. Her audience grew to one million followers in nine months, and when those followers began requesting songs, she started singing more, reigniting a passion for what she’d always loved most. She was discovered via TikTok by Nashville artist manager Erin Anderson, who encouraged CJ to record and release an album. “Music heals me, and for years I didn’t let myself feel that joy. I had thirteen songs on my computer written, just sitting there. I realized I wanted to share them.” Those songs, which offered a glimpse into CJ’s private life from ages eighteen to thirty-three, became the basis for her debut album Smoke. In February 2021, Anderson helped her launch a Kickstarter campaign to fund the album, raising forty thousand dollars of support from friends and followers.

A collection of stunning, narrative songs driven by well-crafted vocal melodies and supported by symphonic swells, Smoke represents everything that clouds the good in life: depression, anxiety, sadness, and struggle. It’s what you have to wade through to get to the other side. Recorded and produced in Nashville by Josh Kaler (Marc Scibilia, William Fitzsimmons, Frances Cone), the album feels intricately polished yet somehow raw. CJ has the chops of a seasoned a capella singer paired with a vulnerable, self-aware lyrical style and a knack for lush, well-placed harmonies. Her smooth voice seems to float over the mix, creating a compelling style that feels both expansive and pure (think Imogen Heap meets Depeche Mode). With elegant, thoughtful lyrics drawn from personal experience, the songs explore themes of love and sadness with characteristic authenticity. “It’s the culmination of everything, right? Love and sadness. Put 'em together and that’s life.”

Angus Gill

Photo Credit : Jackson James

Photo Credit : Jackson James

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY

Angus Gill is a brilliant young singer/songwriter and if you want to be thoroughly entertained, you’ll go and see his show” - Ray Hadley OAM, Legendary Broadcaster 2GB.

“Gill cares about the idiosyncrasies, the small things in songwriting that make a big difference in what he brings to the world.” – American Songwriter.

“…a musical sugar fix.” – Americana Highways.

Wauchope wunderkind, ARIA & 3x Golden Guitar nominee Angus Gill makes a return to his traditional roots while simultaneously breaking new ground with his latest offering and fourth studio album The Scrapbook, out on September 24 on Rivershack Records/MGM. Recorded virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic with a host of stellar US bluegrass musicians, including Tim Crouch, Randy Kohrs, Clay Hess, Tony Wray, and others, The Scrapbook marks the second time Gill has embraced the bluegrass genre. His John Scott Sherrill co-write Fly on the Wall was one of the standouts on his 2019 offering Welcome To My Heart.

“I’ve always been a big fan of traditional bluegrass music. From a young age, I’ve been drawn to the high and tight harmonies, vocal stylings, phrasing, and virtuosic playing. There’s also this beautiful juxtaposition in some bluegrass music when a poignant lyric is set against a rapid tempo and a major chord structure. I just love that!” said Gill.

The project came about in late 2020, after the release of Gill’s critically acclaimed 3 Minute Movies, recorded with the members of Paul Kelly’s band. Gill started laying the bed track down for a song Whittling Away, written with multiple Grammy winner & bluegrass icon Jim Lauderdale in 2019. This eventually became the catalyst for a bluegrass record.

“Jim and I wrote Whittling Away in 2019 and I liked it then, but after revisiting it in late 2020, the sentiment of the song hit me even harder than it did when we wrote it. Due to the broken narrative structure, I decided it would work as a duet and Jim agreed to do it with me. I was hearing a slow bluegrass production, so decided to take that approach with this song. I wasn’t sure where to place it at the time, but I had a strong instinct that I needed to record it then. A month later, I start- ed pre-production on another song Samson, which I had intended to have more Americana stylings. However, it occurred to me after playing it live, that my delivery and phrasing was in much more of a bluegrass fashion. Not to mention, I was playing it on banjo! I have always wanted to record a bluegrass album with players that are incredibly passionate about the genre and know it like the bow of their fiddle or the metal picks on the tops of their fingers...people that have bluegrass in their blood. I had half a dozen bluegrass songs that I had written from several years ago that I restructured or altered for this project. I wrote a few new ones and then we had all of the songs for a new record. I called up Tim (Crouch) and asked him if he would play and co-produce the album with me and we brought Randy, Clay & Tony onto the project and recorded it all remotely at the start of 2021. It’s pretty cool because it sounds like we were all playing in the same room, despite being over 15,000 km away.”

The album opens with a rollicking homage to hard-working women Always on the Run, co-written with 2021 Grammy nominee Thomm Jutz. Gill quips, “she’s moving like a bullet that was fired from a gun/she’s always on the run.” The narrative-based Samson is a masterclass in character development. The Jim Lauderdale duet Whittling Away highlights the resilience and strength that people are displaying during these trying times. Gill’s signature wit comes to the forefront in the swing-grass romp Caught Between a Rock and a Heartache. The challenges of a paternal bond are explored in the heartfelt Feet of Clay, a song co-written with Nashville star Charles Esten, which Gill and Esten performed on the Grand Ole Opry in 2019. Let’s Have a Drink (To Not Drinking Again) is the ultimate high-spirited bluegrass drinking song, featuring Music Row veteran tunesmith Jerry Salley. Gill sings of his grandmother’s affection in the autobiographical title track The Scrapbook. After a near 300 bpm sprint in Heartquake, the album closes with the exquisite epitaph Forget Me Not. “Our heartstrings will be tied up in a never forget me not,” Gill sings a cappella in perfect four-part harmony.

Taylor Scott Band

Screen Shot 2021-06-22 at 12.46.55 PM.png

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | YOUTUBE | SOUNDCLOUD

For roots rock artist Taylor Scott, 2020 was a year of reckoning. After a rocky year weathering personal storms, and having live music come to what seemed to be an indefinite pause, Taylor realized the only option was to shift his perspective, and he decided to use the time to reflect and regroup. 

“I recommitted myself to music and personally had to work through so much. I felt like I was hitting my head against the wall for so long, and something finally just broke open. ‘Some of the new songs dealt with those dark months, charging ahead, because the only way out of it was to go forward through it.  The others are so happy and lighthearted, and I haven’t written that way for years. I’m feeling celebratory now, and those songs reflect that.” 

Taylor Scott is known for his soulful brand of funk-infused rock n’ roll and gut-punching lyricism, punctuated by his prodigious guitar skills.  So it made sense to enlist the production expertise of Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) to help him realize the vision for his 2019 scorcher of an album, All We Have.  After releasing a live EP in 2020 recorded at legendary San Diego venue The Belly Up, Scott was compelled to get back into the studio to lay down what had transpired musically over the last year. The decision to team up with Berlin again to produce was a no-brainer . 

The upcoming album is a collection of tunes written over the past few years, throughout all of the unexpected ups and downs, from all different angles.  There are a lot of different viewpoints defined in these songs.  The first single, “Bleeding Out”, may be a good example of what Taylor calls an angry funk tune.  “After being cooped up playing acoustic guitar for so long, I guess I was feeling aggressive musically. I'm really proud of how the band sounds and carries the groove on that track.” 

Taylor Scott has toured the US, Canada, and Europe as guitarist for blues legend Otis Taylor, and played alongside the likes of Warren Haynes (Allman Brothers, Gov't Mule) on Otis Taylor’s critically acclaimed release Hey Joe Opus: Red Meat.  He sits in as a guest guitarist with Los Lobos on many occasions, and the Taylor Scott Band has provided opening support for bands like Los Lobos, Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Buddy Guy, and many more.  As Scott and his crew prepare to unveil new music, they are eager to bring their signature style of joyful energy to the stage.   

“It feels better then ever to be out on the road now with new music, and a new perspective.  See you out there.” – Taylor Scott     

Look for Taylor Scott Band on the road and follow them on the socials to  

get the latest on the new music. 

Tiarra Girls

TiarraGirlsB.jpg

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify

The Tiarra Girls Are Set to Ignite Hearts and Souls

with Their Inspiring, Indefinable Sound

The Trio of Young Women Makes Music That Ignores Genres

Creating Punchy, Groove Heavy Tunes To Lift Spirits

and Fill Dance Floors

Lucky Hound Music Will Introduce The Band

With A Series Of Singles Throughout the Rest of the Year

Starting with a cover of the Go-Go’s “Can’t Stop the World.”

The Tiarra Girls have been thrilling audiences in their hometown of Austin, TX for the past decade. It’s an impressive accomplishment, especially since the oldest member of the band just turned 22-years-old. The trio of sisters – singer and guitarist Tori Baltierra; bass player Tiffany Baltierra and drummer Sophia Baltierra – were making music before there were teenagers. “We started as a cover band,” Tori said. “We played stuff by The Black Keys, Selena, Santana, Stevie Wonder, No Doubt, anything we liked. With encouragement from our parents and our music teachers, we started writing our own songs. Our dad was a DJ and played all kinds of stuff – rock, blues, dance music, hip-hop, R&B, country, mariachi, Tejano and rancheras. We love it all.”

The Baltierra’s grew up bi-cultural, aware of the difficulty that can create in today’s America. “We’re fourth generation Mexican Americans and grew up speaking English,” Tori explained. “Our grandparents and parents were bullied and punished for speaking Spanish. Our family wanted to protect us, so we mostly spoke Spanglish at home. With our parents’ help, we’ve delved more into our culture as we’ve grown up. Our dad was our roadie and occasional soundman and our mom managed and booked us. Their support has gotten us to where we are today.”

The Tiarras are also part of a generation that’s interested in pursuing music without limits. Rock, Latin, pop, soul, reggae, blues, world music and many other genres, blend together in their sound. “We absorbed a lot of what we heard in our dad’s enormous record collection, and our own listening. All those subconscious influences come out when we write songs or arrange a cover.”  

High profile gigs, including a showcase at SXSW to help promote Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls empowerment organization and the Trans-Pecos Festival, helped expand their fan base, leading them to producer Michael Ramos and a deal with Lucky Hound Music. The label was planning a series of singles, leading up to an album. When the pandemic hit, everything was readjusted. Lucky Hound and its parent company, Studios at Fischer, produced an introductory Live at SF concert that was streamed on July 18. They’ll be releasing a series of singles for the rest of 2020, starting with a cover of The Go-Gos’ “Can’t Stop the World,” with new lyrics written for the Tiarra’s by Austin resident (and Go-Go’s bass guitar player) Kathy Valentine, who has become a fan of the band.

“We played a show with her band The Bluebonnets last year,” Tori said. “We didn’t know a lot about The Go-Go’s, but we made a connection and decided to cover “ ’Can’t Stop the World.’ ” The tune was cut live with producer Michael Ramos, who helped Tori overdub the backing harmonies. The Tiarras replace the original surf beat with a syncopated Latin rhythm and add Flamenco influenced hand clapping to the familiar chorus. The new lyrics have a modern slant and Tori delivers them with swagger to spare.

“Soy Chingona” is an original tune with an English verse and a Spanish chorus. The title, loosely translated, is “I’m a badass.” It rides a catchy rhythm – a mix of cumbia and ska - created by Tori’s guitar and Tiffany’s bass, with Sophia adding flurries of brittle percussive fills to compliment her stomping bass drum. Engineer, Chris Bell, added atmospheric textures, while Tori delivers an anthemic lyric, encouraging listeners to avoid compromise and crash through the barriers that oppress them.  

Despite the lockdown, the band is excited about their musical future. “We want to inspire and build a path for other young musicians,” Tori said. “Since signing with Lucky Hound Music, we’ve been motivated and encouraged to write and play on our own terms. Change begins with young people and since marginalized communities are targeted, we want to be on the front line, advocating for change, using music to express ourselves in a way that people will relate to, and be moved by.”

Tori, Tiffany and Sophia began playing music before they were in high school. Their father, Hector, was a nationally known breakdancer and a DJ celebrated for his eclectic taste, playing sets that mixed hip-hop, country, R&B, soul, pop and traditional Mexican sounds. When they were girls, they accompanied him to gigs at clubs, house parties and weddings, learning how to dance to a wide variety of music. “When our dad rehearsed in our garage, we’d run in and start dancing together,” Tori recalled. “He exposed us to a world of music we wouldn’t have discovered on our own.”

The sisters picked up instruments while they were in elementary school. Even before then, Sophia had been tapping out rhythms on every hard surface in the house. Her parents got her a snare pad, then a drum set and she was off and running. Tiffany first played her grandmother’s piano. When the band started, she tapped out the bass lines on her electric keyboard. Eventually, she picked up the electric bass, although it took time getting used to its size and the thick strings. When Tori heard one of her teachers playing a Beatles song on the guitar in third grade, she was hooked. Her parents got her a guitar and, after a few formal lessons, she was soon developing her own style of playing.

“One Christmas, our parents got us the Guitar Hero video game,” Sophia said. “We had to work as a team to reach the end of a song, without the audience booing us. We pushed each other to reach new levels and argued with each other when we were trying too hard. It was the beginning of us developing a love for sharing music, together as sisters.”

Their musical skills evolved quickly. They became a band when Tori was 10, Sophia was 12, and Tiffany was 14. With their parents and music teachers encouraging them, they played on stage at a school recital and a family work party. “We were nervous and stiff and did Stevie Wonder’s ‘Isn’t She Lovely.’ Playing covers helped us explore genres and develop our own sound.”

The excitement of playing for a live audience was all the inspiration the trio needed. The Tiarra Girls were soon performing at family gatherings, house parties, community events, fundraisers, church festivals and bars, accompanied by one, or both, parents. They began composing their own songs and adding them to their sets, writing arrangements that drew on reggae, ska, rock, cumbia and other Latin sounds. In 2016, they received the award for Best Performing Band Under 18 at the Austin Music Awards, and won again in 2017 and 2018. 

Balancing school, jobs, a musical career and the usual worries of growing into adulthood was a challenge, but their dedication to music, each other and their family, carried them through. They released their first recording, a protest song called “Leave It To the People,” after the 2016 election. They released it online and promoted it with a series of public service announcements for Rock the Vote, Jolt and Voto Latino, encouraging young people to vote. In 2017, they made a three song, self-titled EP that showed off their diversity. “I Made a Garden” was a rocker, “Lonely Room” had a jazzy/funk feel and “Answers” rode a mellow reggae/ska backbeat. They put the songs up on the usual digital platforms and kept playing dates and festivals. 

As they shelter in place, they’re concentrating on their day jobs and finishing school. Tiffany is working on a nursing degree, Sophia is studying business marketing and Tori is learning audio engineering. Tori and Sophia are interns at Siete foods, helping fill the online store orders. They’re also busy rehearsing and expanding their musical vision. “We play everything – anything we like,” Tori said. ”People want to narrow us down to indie rock with a Latin influence, but we play blues, pop, Tejano, anything that sounds good. There are no rules when you create music. You have to follow your feelings and let the song tell you how it wants to come out.”

Andy Ross

TheFearEngine.png

ANDY ROSS The Fear Engine

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | YOUTUBE

Is this an English musician’s idea of antipodean bliss?

Andy Ross is sitting in his apartment overlooking the sparkling Pacific Ocean at Bondi Beach. He is surrounded by his own studio, masses of equipment and instruments, and everything to allow him to create, and develop his own projects. How close to musical paradise is that?

“My favourite question,” he says of the ten questions which have driven his latest, unique multimedia project, “of all is the very last one – ‘If you knew you couldn’t fail … what would you do?’ It is a very powerful question … I heard it on a TED talk and I thought ‘Wow! That’s a good question.’”

His project – The Fear Engine – is centred around ten questions which are designed to explore the central theme of the project which Ross describes as “a metaphor for unconscious fears, fears that we all live by”. A hugely ambitious project as he has produced, more or less single handedly an album and an hour long documentary film with this theme in mind. The album includes a collection of ten songs deeply rooted in British rock of the 1970/80s with nods towards the subtle mix of sonic washes and accessible rock sensibility which characterise the work of Pink Floyd, 10cc, Yes, Godley & Creme and Howard Jones – the latter of whom features in the movie and who has worked extensively with Ross. The documentary interleaves interviews with a wide range of thoughtful people with the story of a man who leaves his work and goes searching for meaning in his life.

And why The Fear Engine? Ross explains that “It seems that people default to distrusting others”. You have to prove that you are trustworthy. That veneer of fear is a shroud over everything. And the news that goes out is so terrible that we end up saying ‘I don’t trust anybody’ Then that is coupled with darker unconscious fears that drive our behaviours. What Carl Jung would have called the shadow self, all the parts of yourself that you don't want to admit to having. That is the Fear Engine. That is where you are trying to hide.”

The album and film are the culmination of years of thinking about the nature of human beings and a lot of rigorous, positive thinking about “the meaning of life” in the twenty-first century.

Ross comes from an impeccable musical pedigree. His father, renowned jazz saxophonist, Ronnie Ross, worked with the likes of Miles Davis and Frank Sinatra; taught David Bowie to play sax; and played the famous sax solo on Lou Reed’s ‘Walk on the Wild Side’.

His own credits include working with Paul McCartney, Robert Palmer, Basia and Tom Robinson and writing and producing for the likes of Howard Jones and Martin Grech.

He came to Australia looking for new challenges but initially had trouble finding work.

“When we came to Australia I was looking for work as a producer and composer … I was offered a job, which was highly irregular for me, to see if I could write a piece of music that would articulate the issues of drought.

“Because I was new to Australia, and had this open-eyed view and wanted to take on everything, I thought “Well I’ll give it a go” but I didn’t want to patronise the farmers by pretending I was Woodie Guthrie or Bob Dylan.

“I didn’t know anything about Australia let alone farming in Australia. So I said: ‘Can I visit the farmers and at least talk to them?’ and I had this fantastic experience of going out into New South Wales for a few weeks and meeting lots of farmers. There was one in particular who I stayed and worked with on a sheep farm.

My mother suggested I should write a journal because it was so unusual going and spending time on a sheep farm. I didn’t write a journal but I took a video camera and I got carried away with filming. This amazing story unfolded while I was there.

“I went with a very patronising view that it was all about water. I was told that the farmers were really suffering and that the story really needed to be told. I was met with short shrift by the farmers who told me ‘Don’t patronise us. We’re doing our best. In fact we’ve got some great ideas.’

“In the case of one farmer I was wondering why his sheep were all happy and healthy and he said: ‘Come with me’ and took me down the road. Five kilometres down the road were emaciated sheep, overgrazing. He said: ‘It’s the same rainfall.’ I thought it was an interesting point and wondered what was going on.

“So, the film became much more than just about water. It was about an inability to adapt, the difficulties of dealing with change and all sorts of interesting things. That’s what I learnt when I went out there.

“I produced all this interesting footage and I thought ‘What am to do with all this? It’s not the brief I’ve been given. I’m supposed to write a piece of music, I’m not a film maker” I felt I had to honour the farmer in a way. This man who had been struggling to do something positive about it. “So, I made a film – Well Beyond Water -. It went on to win an international film award. [New Zealand’s Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival - it took the prize for best short]. I was so shocked, but I realised that here was another way of communicating ideas. I had only ever worked in music but here was a story. It is all about composition and good pacing. It doesn’t matter what the medium is.”

Ross was eager to continue with his film career but did not want to rush into a project that he wasn’t totally committed to. It was nearly a decade later “I had this thought, that was inspired by the farmer actually because he’s such a positive man … he was determined not to whinge and he was determined to look for solutions …” I thought ‘I wonder if I can scale that up and ask people how to make the world a better place.’”

 The idea was to craft a series of questions, find a cross section of people (from the ordinary to the extraordinary ), interview them (“talk to people who are not experts but are everyday people who have good intuition and good insights”) and to set the questions and the music against a man (he used himself to play the Everyman in the film) who “is the classic example of someone who has been trying to climb the corporate ladder all his life and has done so and has done pretty well. He is average. He is nothing special. He gets to 50 and his life has no meaning. He is secure. He’s got that security of knowing that he is not insignificant, and he’s got a nice house but he’s not happy. He’s trying to figure out where life’s meaning lies. That is symbolised by the story of him going to work and saying ‘I can’t do this anymore’. This is soulless. This is meaningless. It is all corporate. It is all dog eat dog. Why? Why is that important? He suddenly feels empty and he doesn’t know why. It is his search for meaning and that is symbolised by his refusal to go into the office … and he just walks away from civilisation. And he goes aimlessly, but doggedly through the streets. He is being pulled by something … by a desire for something. And he ends up getting on a train … ends up on a park … and then goes into farmland and then into the wilderness. He ends up by the sea.”

The result is a remarkably coherent multimedia statement which combines, songs, questions, thoughtful observations and a quest for life’s meaning. It is an inspired attempt to find meaning in the world and to be positive about the essential goodness and decency of humanity.

At a time when the world seems to be collapsing in so many ways (climate change, plague, poverty, authoritarian governments, economic chaos) it is a brave, deeply felt message of hope about the future of humanity.

As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said in 1933 “The only thing we have to fear … is fear itself” and The Fear Engine has turned that stark truth into a powerful and positive, artistic multimedia experience.