by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Deer Tick – Mayonnaise
Deer Tick aren’t just one band. Under the sobriquet Deervana, they’ve covered the music of Nirvana, and John McCauley served as a replacement Kurt Cobain (along with Joan Jett) during last October’s Foo Fighters Cal Jam Nirvana show with Dave…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Mandolin Orange – Tides of a Teardrop
Sad without being mournful, there are ghosts at play on Tides of a Teardrop, Mandolin Orange’s latest record. Andrew Marlin’s mother died when he was just 18, yet her influence has been felt greatly over the years. Along with Emily…
by For Folk's Sake • • Comments Off on Album | Serious Sam Barrett – Where The White Roses Grow
Citing Hull folk dynasty the Watersons as a primary influence, fellow Yorkshireman Serious Sam Barrett’s traditionalist credentials are clear throughout a career now stretching to nine albums and a seemingly never-ending touring schedule. This time around, he has branched out…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Single | Jula King – Lovers Lament
In late 2018, For Folk’s Sake lauded Julia King upon the release of her single, ‘Cannonball’, for being a genuine article as far as her billing as folk fusion took her. Her take on the Americana genre transports listeners into…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Album | Heather Gruber – Dance Into the Desert
Just as Regina Spektor has found herself to be a famous flower of Manhattan, Heather Gruber is an LA desert rose. Dance Into the Desert affirms as much, detailing the journey that the Tennessee-born singer-songwriter took from her hometown to the…
by Jonathan Frahm • • Comments Off on Album | Chris Lastovicka – Fortune Has Turned (Remixed)
Albany composer Chris Lastovicka is often regarded as a “mystic minimalist”. Giving an ear to his craft, it does not take long for the mystique of the veneer surrounding such a title to fade, paving a path to legitimacy. While…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Junius Meyvant – Across The Borders
Iceland got soul and Junius Meyvant delivers it like a modern day Sam Cooke. On his self-produced second full-length record, Across The Borders, the soul gods have clearly smiled on him. Born Unnar Gisli Sigurmundsson, he lived on a volcanic…
by Bob Fish • • Comments Off on Album | Katie Doherty and The Navigators – And Then
An almost twelve-year gap between albums one and two would be almost interminable for most people, but for Katie Doherty a lot of things just got in the way of And Then. She had a child, composed for Northern Stage…
by Ian Parker • • Comments Off on Premiere | Sive – Holding
From the first strike of the kalimba, ‘Holding’ will have you hooked. Its pulsing rhythms creep under the skin as the song builds, before Sive’s soaring velvety vocals elevate it to another level. Written about the need for clean slate…
by Pete Bate • • Comments Off on Album | William Tyler – Goes West
It’s hard to believe baby-faced William Tyler is pushing 40 and has been forging his solo guitar path for over a decade. After earning his left-field Americana stripes with the likes of Lambchop, The Silver Jews and Will Oldham, he…