Three Chords and the Truth UK

This uncomplicated stripped down collection of traditional numbers by Sheffield based blues performer Tom Rodwell is as pure example of modern day roots music as your likely to come across. From the opener, a slow burning version of raw blues song 'Over the Hill' through the slightly more beat orientated second track 'You Better Mind' right to the gospel tinged single 'Adam in the Garden' , Rodwell's fine guitar playing and versatile vocals, assisted by a stomp-box and traditional percussion instruments tabla, kanjira and pandeiro, show how contemporary performers can add value to timeless original recordings. Rodwells's renditions of gospel, spiritual, calypso and blues music, recorded on one inch tape without any modern day enhanced sound aids may have taken a while to hit the market in a saleable format but the finished article titled 'Live Humble' will enable him to further promote his work alongside his burgeoning live presence in ...

Swedish based music promotional organisation Hemifran are extremely active in helping a wide range of artists, many under the Americana banner, to get their work better known in Europe generally and Scandinavia particularly and, from time to time, they put together compilation releases that encompass both old and new acts. However this new project, originated from an idea put forward by veteran LA singer songwriter Greg Copeland, has gone down the route of mainly embracing the work of many long time performers who have decades of experience producing highly respected Americana music in their U.S. homeland. The result, not surprisingly, has a very 70’s laid back California feel about it which was inevitable with songs contributed by artists such as Copeland, Jack Tempchin, Steve Noonan and J.D. Souther. Although there was a switch of tempo with the contribution by folk legend Judy Collins whose inclusion embraced the album’s title with a hymn-like aura to her song ‘ How Can I Keep Fro...

The Canadian roots music scene is currently in buoyant health and this situation is further enhanced with the upcoming highly anticipated third release from Vancouver based five piece band – Viper Central. This new album titled ‘ Thump and Howl’ will be having its launch aligned with a summer UK and Ireland tour and its blend of bluegrass, country and old time traditional will surely be enthusiastically endorsed by connoisseurs of this music. The strength of the album lies within the fine string instrumental skills of the five vastly experienced band members each demonstrating their expertise with the blend of sounds from banjo, fiddle, mandolin and guitar, laced with a little lap steel to add a more county flavour to the feel of the   music. Multi skilled Vancouver music activist Steve Charles is the architect of the band and is capably supported by Kathleen Nisbet on fiddle and lead vocal on around half the tracks, as well as Tyler Rudolph on banjo, Mark Vaughan on mandolin a...

After the misfortune of not being able to attend the Madison Violet show earlier in the year at this venue, due to the rare intervention of wintry inclement weather this past winter, there was no such hindrance when the current Good Lovelies UK tour arrived at the small Herefordshire market town of Ross-on-Wye. This unique church setting added to the growing list of unconventional venues prepared to host roots artists and provided the perfect backdrop for this Canadian trio to showcase their brand of folk music. The group comprising of Kerri Ough, Caroline Brooks and Sue Passmore, formed in Toronto around half a dozen years ago, are currently riding the crest of a resurgence of old time traditional music given a new lease of   life by a younger generation and increasingly embraced by UK audiences. These audiences are being spoilt by the number of quality artists being prepared to cross the Atlantic with Canada comparing very favourably with their more populous southern neighbours. ...

As an experienced performer on the European rock circuit for nearly thirty years, ‘ The Light of a New Sun’ is an attempt by Italian artist J.C.Cinel to further enhance his credential as a purveyor of country rock in the international market. The eleven-track nearly hour long album is a comprehensive effort to promote his work but it’s felt that it may fall short in creating much interest outside the areas where he is already established. It is certainly a challenge to break into an English speaking market when it’s not your first language and it’s a brave move to mix the heavily guitar featured tunes with a couple of semi rock ballads that showcase the vocals. J.C. has certainly made a valiant effort but is unlikely to make much inroad with the UK or US album buying public should that choose to be his objective. The considerably sized continental European country scene seems to be its natural home and the songs will definitely be enhanced in a live setting. There is an eleme...

There is certainly a slight irony in the naming of this album, as this is the first full length release for Swedish band Crossing Keys, despite performing together for around eighteen years. So it really was about time that they put together a collection of songs to reward the fans who have supported this band over the years. After several listens, mainly on commuting journeys, this probably sums up the positioning of this album as it’s unlikely to create much of an interest outside the inner circles of the band’s sphere of influence. This doesn’t indicate that the record is not a well-produced collection of country-tinged pop rock and the songs wouldn’t be out of place on the live European music circuit, but there is a shallowness that is exposed when up against many of the finer exponents of this type of music. The band's vocal performance is fine, but the electric guitar oriented tunes have a soft-rock throwaway feel about them that, while a pleasant listen, doesn't creat...

Since leaving the emerald city of Seattle around thirty years ago, Tom Kell has become a firm fixture of the L.A. singer songwriter community carving out a diverse career through a variety of different projects. These have included working alongside some of the southern Californian musical elite such as J.D. Souther and Timothy B. Schmidt as well as getting heavily involved in writing songs for children. Yet with a burning desire to showcase several new songs to the wider music listening community and after the absence of several years of doing so, Kell has decided to return to the studio and record a conventional new album. The resultant piece of work is ‘ This Desert City’ , a record lavished with a southern Californian flavour that allows Kell to use the back drop of the golden state and the wider US south west to express his song writing skills. He does this ably on eight self written tracks competently assisted by an experienced set of backing musicians assembled by producer, ...

Although Waz E James has been making fine music in his Australian homeland for a number of years, it wasn’t really until his 2009 release ‘ Watermelon’ that he started to get some international promotion, mainly in the U.S. This drive for increased recognition will surely gain further momentum when his impressive brand new album ‘ Noisy Trucks’ starts to get some airplay in its target markets. The album is pure ‘Americana from down under’ with a heavily influenced Texas feel about it. This is hardly surprising as its recording was split between James’s home city of Melbourne and the town of Brenham, Texas, probably the choice of ex-Flying Burrito Brothers band member, John Beland who produced the fourteen track album. Without wishing the originality of James’s style to be dismissed, there was definitely an element of acclaimed Texas musician Ryan Bingham within the earthy vocal style and a country/rock/blues tinged sound to the music. This is not deemed a criticism as Bingham is a...

Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland have enjoyed reasonably successful careers for a number years both as performers in their own right and as members of multi Grammy and Juno award winning Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan’s backing band. Yet this husband and wife duo are embarking on perhaps their bravest challenge to date in launching a collaboration as equal partners in the newly created act, recording and performing under the band name Whitehorse. Their self titled debut release initially hit the Canadian market last year under the Six Shooter Record label and the band are about to promote this album on their short UK tour that visits several towns and cities later this month. Live music regulars at these venues will get the pleasure of the duo showcasing this album along with its successor that is very much in the pipeline. The reason for this sharp follow up is the cautious step the band has taken in recording a relatively short album containing only eight tracks and ...

There’s a lot of debate in music about the over classification of artists and genres. Some even say there are just two types, either – good or bad – or even -   music that you like or music that you don’t. One such act currently due to promote their new album in the British Isles is the husband and wife duo Hat Fitz and Cara. They certainly fuel the debate by throwing into the mix- an Australian bluesman, an Irish folk singer, Cara Robinson to give her full name, a touch of alt-country and instruments ranging from lap steel, piano and bass to flutes, fiddles and the usual guitar to cement the blues sound   that resonates throughout their music. This current record is only their second full length album release since their formation in 2008 but Wiley Ways , a follow up to 2010’s Beauty and the Beast is set to help them get further established on the UK and Ireland roots circuit throughout the summer of 2012. Their growth plan is on the back of the success t...