Three Chords and the Truth UK

THOSE TEARS I’VE CRIED by Steve Scott Country is an intriguing release which succeeds in both striving to conform and challenge convention. With a very slick presentation and set up, Steve seems to have a firm idea of where he is heading .The radio friendly vibes which Steve does not hide as an intended influence are prevalent across the record and the themes will resonate with many. You get the impression that Steve is a highly focussed and principled person and there is sufficient merit in the record to buy into what he is trying to achieve. The slogans and hyperbole liberally frequent his online profile and they are not too far from the mark in suggesting that Steve Scott is attempting to marry the ideals of country music with the more urban sounds of Detroit Michigan. Certainly many bases are covered throughout the eleven tracks which make up Steve’s sophomore solo release, One concern is whether there is enough country in it for that genre or being suitably progressive enou...

Buoyed by a six month stint in Austin Texas, Birmingham based family group The Toy Hearts have further cemented their passion for Western Swing by releasing this short collection of tunes they mastered during their Lone Star State stay. Over the last couple of years their live show has evolved from a Bluegrass bias to one more influenced by a traditional Texas sound and previous coverage of the band has commented on how the switch has embraced their talents.  This extended play release may be brief but FLYIN’ TOO HIGH is further proof that they are very fine interpretative exponents of a style anchored to the core of country music.   The four tracks selected for recording are all non-originals (their song writing skills have been temporarily put on hold) but they formed part of their many shifts undertaken keeping the floors in Austin’s dance halls busy. They may not be songs many people will be previously aware of but one of The Toy Hearts missions is to share a love a...

With their debut EP just about to be formally released, it was an ideal time to check out a live performance by UK based Folk-America duo The Black Feathers. Having been blown away by the five songs on their exceptional new record, it was hardly surprising to form the same opinion after enjoying this short set at the Tower of Song. It was a lengthy wait to see Sian Chandler and Ray Hughes take to the stage as they were officially the guests of the Rea River Roots club who hosted the evening. The format of this regular gathering is to run an open mic session for local folk and roots enthusiasts before introducing the main act around 10 pm. The diverse range of performers kept you suitably entertained before The Black Feathers elevated the quality level considerably straight from the off with their opening number ‘ You Will Be Mine’ . In the current vogue style of two voices and a single guitar, The Black Feathers showed they were the masters of such delivery with the key rede...

While this blog tends to prefer covering US artists who appear to be actively seeking UK coverage, occasionally you come across somebody who you feel would be a neat fit into the burgeoning Americana scene over here. Just after Christmas an impending release by Ashley Riley crossed my radar and made an instant impression. The good news is that ALL THE PRETTY THINGS has now been formally issued and if the hard copy may be tricky to get hold of at least that well known popular download store is making the record available over here. The reason you should check out Ashley’s album is that it’s a gorgeous collection of nine beautifully crafted songs that encompasses all that is valued in the folk/rock/acoustic scene. Her sublime vocals straddle a varied selection of song structures given added impetus by a backing band keen to mix strings and keys to full effect. Often you have to take a step back when a bio or press release indulges in name-checking hyperbole but it is difficult to...

I first discovered The Redlands Palomino Company around half a dozen years ago when they played the delightfully named Marr’s Bar in Worcester. In the intervening years they have flickered on and off my horizon, mainly catching their live shows such as an appearance at Americana International and a gig at The Musician in Leicester. However in the summer of 2013 they came right back to my notice big time with two storming sets at Palmfest and Maverick. This personal momentum is now being carried forward by a new album release which has the potential to cement their reputation as one of the UK’s premier alt-country rock bands. A striking feature of seeing Redlands live was how they managed to come over as a good time jovial band and at the same time deliver some cracking tunes with pure energy. Amongst many references to beer and kebabs, songs likes ‘Doing It For The Country ’, ‘ Wasted On You’ and ‘ She is Yours'  soon became embedded live standards. The big change with this...

Following in the footsteps of many great American troubadours of the past, David Berkeley has produced an outstanding package of songs to rival those traditionalists who trawled the land far and wide for song writing influence. THE FIRE IN MY HEAD is David’s fifth studio album and succeeds from start to finish in absorbing the listener and taking them on a literary journey fuelled by poetic licence. David extracts every sinew from his itinerant lifestyle and draws upon his Harvard education to create a gem of 8 recordings gift wrapped for your listening pleasure in pure sartorial elegance. The barren landscape of David’s latest base, New Mexico, has come up trumps in providing the inspiration for this record which gets its formal UK release on March 17 th . It also gives credence to the myth that freeing the mind from visual stimulation loosens the shackles for a total creative explosion. The simple production of David (vocals, guitars, percussion, bass), Bill Titus (guitar, keys,...

Away from the bright lights of Music Row and the glitz of corporate driven country music, the eastern part of Nashville continues to buzz with a style that takes the genre down a more folk and Americana inspired road. This thriving refuge of likeminded artists has been the perfect environment for Amelia White to flourish and her latest release looks set to take her residency in the city to a new level of artistic recognition. OLD POSTCARD is a gritty collection of creative guitar-led tunes that never waivers from balancing a rock overture with a tender heartfelt undercurrent. With numerous releases behind her in the dozen or so years since discovering Nashville as her true home, Amelia has settled on a sound that pays homage to her banjo playing grandfather while encompassing the passion acquired while cutting her teeth on the Boston rock and folk scene. The result is a highly competent and rock solid composition of 11 songs straddling the genre triangle of her influences and in p...

Police Dog Hogan If you like a good-time band blessed with an adeptness to replicate quality roots rock then look no further than Police Dog Hogan. Having finally caught part of their set at last year’s Maverick Festival, the next step was attend a full live show and what better way to experience their talents than a Saturday night in a small packed venue. The seven-piece combo were in top form entertaining an enthusiastic Oxford crowd with a thrilling blend of sounds encompassing such pretentious genre descriptors as alt-country-punk-bluegrass all in a traditional style with a contemporary twist. There was probably no finer poignant moment in my early gig travels of 2014 than seeing a diverse aged audience singing and dancing along to ‘ I Saw The Light’ as Police Dog tipped their hat to Sir Hank with their parting shot. This exhilarating climax crowned a superb evening which had not got off to the best of starts after misjudging the early on-stage time of supporting artist D...

Rachel Sermanni From a personal perspective there was a tenuous Canadian link to this evening’s gig. Rachel Sermanni first came to my serious attention when she was invited to play at last year’s Calgary Folk Festival. One of her sets at this fairly prominent event was to open the cavernous main stage arena and although the audience was sparse at that time of the day, the experience was surely invaluable to Rachel’s burgeoning career. After sharing a platform which was later graced by artists such as Steve Earle and Alabama Shakes, Rachel returned to Canada for a series of further dates and there is no doubt that her style of traditional Scottish folk blended in well with their roots scene. Having pencilled in Rachel’s latest live appearance in Birmingham a while ago, and being a great fan of Canadian roots music, the double delight for this date was the inclusion of Mo Kenney as the support act. Hailing from the eastern province of Nova Scotia, Mo is the latest in a long line...

The late winter annual jaunt around the prestigious concert halls of the UK is fast becoming a ritualistic extravaganza for the Aly Bain-Jerry Douglas inspired Transatlantic Sessions project. Once again a near sell-out Birmingham Symphony Hall marvelled at the virtuosic performance of seventeen artists spanning two nations, which could easily become three by the end of the year. The formula is tried and tested although with a streak of compartmentalised and structured rigidity. Seasoned veterans of these shows will get the drift but the structure works as the esteemed guests, of which the immense quality never wains, ease into their solo, duo and collaborative slots. However there was a feel this year of a more Americana bias towards the near three hour show which was punctuated by a short break to allow your cultural intake to take a breather. Nevertheless when you can tempt such fine artists as Sarah Jarosz, Shawn Colvin, Darrell Scott and Tim O’Brien to join the Sessions then t...

Hank Wangford has been a long established cult figure on the UK country music circuit for many decades and now into his 74 th year he still continues to entertain folks up and down the land with a show that succeeds in grasping the reality of the genre. The shows are billed as discovering the dark underbelly of country and through tales, songs, recollections and insight, Hank truly achieves his objective leaving the audience splendidly entertained in the midst. He may be a confirmed urbanite but Hank has spent many years taking his shows around the rural village halls that are sprinkled liberally across these isles. For this evening, he is in more familiar territory or at least in a city environment but the intimacy of the Kitchen Garden Café fits his ideals perfectly of total connectivity with a like-minded audience. The sold out café enthusiasts were more of a Ray Price country persuasion than Blake Shelton and this suits Hank well as there is a defined traditional stance to th...

Some prodigal talent can ultimately run dry due to a lack of substance but in the case of Sarah Jarosz, the sheer depth of her ability is suggesting a fruitful career lies ahead. Initially heralded as the future of roots music when signing for Sugarhill Records at the age of sixteen, Sarah then set about consolidating her undoubted potential with a stint at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Upon graduation Sarah has undertaken the most ambitious project in her short career but reaction Stateside to BUILD ME UP FROM BONES has been incredible. UK fans will be presented with the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the record via its formal January release over here and the presence of Sarah on this year’s Transatlantic Sessions tour. This third album release from Sarah, all under the guise of the Sugarhill label, has already wooed critics via a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album and its title track being up for Best American Roots Song. Alas both w...