The first single invokes tales and experiences of how I first came across Greg. Painting a picture of hard won, small victories, playing small dive bars for free beer and a chance to win over even the most indifferent of crowds. I am taken back to the days of pickin’ tunes around a table in that downtown dive (or at least one of them in some familiar town) for a room filled with people, but none of them paying us no mind. Its how an artist gets to the point of releasing a project like “No Kings”. Cutting their teeth down to the gums and bleeding for their songs.

“Dressed to the nines in my sunday’s worst
On a thursday night and I give you my word
I’ve been getting drunk off rhyme and verse all night
I keep telling lies in this downtown dive
It’s been a hell of a week and I’m getting tired
Of this goddamn heat and this goddamn stride all the time
All the time”

The record as a whole is full of huge sounds and intricately woven layers. A production that, in theory, is quite in depth, but never overdoes what the songs need to fully breath. A prime example of which is just over the halfway mark of the album with “Seven Sisters”.

Loftus, takes a step back and the vulnerability of the tune takes full form. An acoustic guitar, a harmonica and a voice. By comparison, cutting almost deeper than some of the other more rollicking songs on the record. There is something so innately heartbreakingly beautiful about this pause, this reprieve. It sinks in deep and lives there for just the right amount of time.

But we don’t get those precious, quiet moments for too long. “Green River Revival” (next single to be out on 6/12) has plenty of ringing guitar chords, phrase ending riffs and throbbing, descending key lines that build and build and build. A toe tapper, head bopper. There is something to be said about leaning into your influences. Greg’s long been known for his love of Steve Earle, Townes and Springsteen. And “Green River”, feels like its right at place with early 80s Springsteen and the E Street Band.

The record, weighing in at 8 tracks, may seem brief at first blush, but the atmosphere and mood that is created across the course of those 8 songs feels so well thought out, so robust and beautiful, that you will inevitably want to take it for another spin at the close of it all.

What I love about the partnership between Loftus and Lichter on this record is the synergy. Eric has a way of elevating the songs of a songwriter in a way that never compromises their personal voice. And the purity of that relationship is never more clear than on “No Kings in the Wild”. Loftus’s strength as a writer and singer are only hoisted higher as a result. Where his previous releases have always shared that sense of realness and scoured tenacity, “Kings” is able to find a parallel between that authenticity and a sound that truly gets deep into your chest cavity and reverberates in a robust and piercing way.

“Kings” sees the resurgence of a songwriter at the peak of his game. Loftus’s writing has never been stronger and the passion and heart that he infuses into these songs, into this record is crystal clear. Timeless. The kind of record that a songwriter has been waiting their whole career for and when it hits, its impact is boundless.

Head to Greg’s website today. Sign up for the mailing list, get out to a show this summer and be on the lookout for “No Kings in the Wild”

I’ll do my best here to not regurgitate what has already been said about Tyler Childers’ music. Another ‘savior in the saving of country music’…you know, things like that, do of course, carry a large amount of truth and weight to them in respect to the singer songwriter. Such a statement is pretty damn bold, but if you have experience his music and felt “that thing” that creeps up your spine when the first crackling breathe of fire leaves Tyler’s mouth, you know how much water it truly holds. But there is something that runs so much deeper throughout the lines of the songs on ‘Squire’. 

A tight 9 tracks is all that is needed to make you believe. Literally from the first line of the record you are gripping the dashboard in front of you on on a trip through dusty, lonesome landscapes and shitkickin’ stories of sin and redemption. I’ve long been a fan of EPs or full lengths that don’t have a need to fill out 15 songs, because when the shorter track listing commands as much force and sheer power, you don’t need to buffer it out with a couple more. On more than one occasion I’ve seen Childers refer to himself as a country musician, he’s also very adamant about what “country music” truly is and being pigeon holed into what we now refer to as ‘Americana’, a wide umbrella that he feels has more detriment than positivity. In an interview with The Guardian he recent said that Americana was once “a place to recognise people being ignored by their own genres, but now it’s a hindrance. The stuff we used to call ‘good country’ is now getting called Americana. We’ve not fixed the problem of bad country.” Country Squire helps us parse out the gold from the dull river pebbles.

Leading in with the title track we know where we are heading. It’s hard to not see the autobiographical nature of his songs, but the writing is portrayed in such a way that the unfeigned nature of his lyrics are so relatable…with a hell of a chorus hook. He is a storyteller through and through and a music hero for everybody. Of the mission behind the album, Childers comments, “I hope that people in the area that I grew up in find something they can relate to. I hope that I’m doing my people justice and I hope that maybe someone from somewhere else can get a glimpse of the life of a Kentucky boy.” 

I think where a lot of folks may have had concern with Squire was Childers’ move to a major label and there is a certain polish to the tracks here, but it’s never a detriment to the songs and trust me, it’s all about the song. Bringing in a cast of all stars for instrumentation contributions, there is a clean and tight structure to the arrangements. This, however, only further punctuates the real and raw nature of Childer’s writing and voice. It cuts through all the din and does what country music is absolutely supposed to do, weave a narrative of a life lived and experienced. Its fucking beautiful how he commands each and every word.

And the richness of his words and stories are only matched by the pure emotion injected in each line. “Gemini” is a prime example. A two stepper, its compelling rhythm like a virus for your ear canals. It embeds itself deep in there. And the balance, the temperance of the songs with the aforementioned and “Matthew”, taking on an almost foggy Scottish highland field vibe with its distant fiddle intro. Tyler’s voice crying out in a way that pulls your heart strings so hard you can feel the literal strain in your chest as the story unfolds.

But it always the truth and realness to his words that I return to. We live in a musical landscape where it can be truly difficult to sift through the shit to find the true gems, the songs that hit the hardest and slice the deepest. And Tyler’s words do just that. 

Childers has an uncanny way of tempering humor with the heartfelt and sheer power and genuine passion with delicate sincerity. I mean, who else could write such a sweet and deeply felt song about jacking off in a hotel room. Seriously, it’s a tear jerker. 

Country music is meant to be sung and performed with a certain sense of conviction and fuck if you don’t believe and feel every word that the Kentucky born songwriter sings. And while Tyler and the band are undoubtedly one of the tightest bands touring out there today, it’s the inescapable fact that the stories and manner they are delivered that is the start of ‘Country Squire’. Zero apologies, candid and frank songs that cut deep down to bone and leave their mark for a long while after the last note fades.

photo by David McClister

From the first note Cassel’s-Brown shatters my idea of what his music has been and has grown and evolved to be. 2017’s Northern Lights EP was heavily carried by a more lo-fi feel, a strummed acoustic guitar driving the rhythm forward and only one of the tracks having that shit kicking, country swing that pairs so sweetly with his emotive vocal style. It was poignant, a bit quiet overall and let the words bleed out just a bit more until that last track, which was perhaps a signal of what was to come…on this latest release we get thrown right into the fire and the Vermont based singer-songwriter is holding nothing back.

We lean in hard with punchy drums and electric guitars ringing on “Classic Records”. Erin’s voice, however, is the star here. He has a cool and collected way about his delivery. The emotion dripping from each word, but with a calm confidence that is equally as persuasive as it is endearing. There is a sense of believability in the way he addresses his lyrics vocally. But his range has an ability to rise and fall quickly, impressive and wide open.

Where the lead-off tune has a more indie rock feel, we get that country tinged vibe that he has been known for previously on the second tune “Aurora”. Though he may be slightly more Hank III than Hank Sr. in terms of the pure energy he is injecting into his tunes, with swirling steel, the guitar rhythm matching up with the snare. There is a swing and flow. Impossible to not move to this tune. Infectious in its nature as the words pour in rapid succession…and then we get a slow and sweet break right there in the middle. A breather for a moment, to marvel at the genuine nature of his voice. It has that natural break and crack to it that you can ease into. Fuck man, I love it…and then we are back off right into the title track. With a more bluesy rock feel, dovetailing smooth and brilliantly.

“Heavy Heart” tempers and tampers down the energy just a bit. It’s more a slow dance across a dim lit room. A heartfelt, heart on the sleeve feel. The natural flow from two stepping romp to something a bit slower, a bit more open and flowy is impressive. The record as a whole flows in this dynamic and beautiful way. But he still manages to keep his this semblance of humored humility and a bit of self deprecation…something we always love…embedded in the words of his song.

Tired of reading life stories and music reviews

And chasing after someone else’s art

Well I’m tired of not being next to you

And I’m tired of this heavy heart

Yeah I’m tired of this heavy heart

Moving down the tracks, “Live Forever” evokes Springsteen-esque notes. But the pure emotion, no matter what you might be feeling or imagining sonically, never dies out of Erin’s voice. It is the driving force of these songs in this beautiful and heavy way. How he can go from a plaintive verse to exploding into the chorus line. This effectual and zestful fashion in how he arranges the songs.

“No Good Man” continues with a Chuck Berry rock n’ roll roll progression, keys courtesy of Justin Barton dotting the backing lines and the overall dance vibe, man, it hits hard. I dare you to not dance to this one… and again just like that, we dive back down into something more subdued with “Great Divide”. It carries like the surf of an ocean, sweeping outwards down against the sand, before something big comes crashing in again, washing over you with its pure force and fervor.

As much as this record succeeds, drives, hits, punches and cuts sonically in so many ways, Cassels-Brown’s ability as a songwriter can’t be praised enough. He weaves stories of the road and home. The difficulties of trying to bolster up your art combating with human nature of trying to make ends meet. Dreaming of the future versus reality of the present. I think no song better elicits that feeling that the closing track “Northeastern Dreamer”, where he returns to just his voice and a finger picked acoustic guitar to start the tune. A little soaked reverb for some feeling of isolation and being deep in your own head. The pull of the road and the weight keeping you home. One foot in the past and one in the future. It’s a beautiful sentiment, a beautifully written song and man, does it make you feel something. Which is what songs are supposed to do.

I’ve got friends growing up so fast and others who hang around the same old places

I’m somewhere in between, just trying to stay clean so that I might fall back into your graces

I thought about cutting my feet loose and running away from this mess

But I think that’d just make me a Northeastern dreamer with romantic ideas of the West

If you don’t already know Erin Cassels-Brown. You should. He may just be your new favorite songwriter and if you are like this music journalist, “Dreamin’ on Overdrive” might just be one of your favorite records of 2019.

Wilkins voice and writing are at their zenith here and on display, fully. The confidence and grace that he sinks into the sadness and vulnerability of these ten tracks is true beauty, longing and susceptibility. A guitar, a voice and a room are the only variables in the recorded works here. As consequence, words cut swifter and deeper and emotion seeps even further into the listening experience. The sparsity manages to play into the complexity and dim light and whispy smoke encircles my head as I close my eyes and listen. Joshua’s delivery of occasionally barbed and piercing are just as often pointed back at himself as they are at his story’s antagonist. The effect is a collection of tunes, incredibly self reflective and internalizing. Brooding on occasion, self deprecating even but the self awareness and introspection of the songwriter’s protagonist is portrayed brilliantly in these songs.

light up those late night cigarettes, I know they kill but I ain’t dead yet

and pass around another bottle of wine, light up those late night cigarettes

In a time and place where even the good songs seem to be ever embellished with weeping pedal steel and ripping tele solos, Joshua Black Wilkins reminds us that the only production a great song needs is a guitar, a story and the ability of an artist to bleed themselves into their words in a way that makes you weather their pain, their joy and their humanity. 

Caterwaul is a quickfire EP of songs that continue the aesthetic in which Melchin and crew thrive the most. An orchestra of rootsy strings swirling in tandem, Chuck’s voice and lyrics as the centerpiece to a dusty and worn arrangement of gorgeous tones and special intimacy that draw you in. Those tones and sailing strings courtesy of an assemblage of some of the best the region has to offer with Jess Fox on fiddle and vocal harmony, Eric Royer on banjo and dobro, Sean Staples on bouzouki, mandolin and guitar, and Dave Westner on bass and at the helm engineering at Woolly Mammoth in a live capacity. Perhaps that is where that intimacy comes from. The players are actually sitting there playing with each other, rather than some disjointed track by track way of creating a song. It feels honest and real and has a beating heart that is often times lost in a recording.

Consisting of 2 “new to me” songs in the solemn strum of “Aberdeen” and the haunting build of “Shadow Town” alongside new arrangements of one of my favorites of Melchin’s songs as the first track and the uptempo moving “Guy Clark’s Kitchen”, it may be a quick listen, but one you will want to listen to over and over.

So, get after it and pick this new release from The Bean Pickers Union today…

Capaldi sings in almost a whisper at times. His voice has a certain delicate quality to it. It is a bit soft in delivery, rolls off the slight cello bowing in the background and trickling acoustic guitar notes. There is a tenderness to the track “Hands” buried in the middle of the EP. The singer lets his vulnerability show in this tune, but its not necessarily a flaw in any fashion. An openness, an honesty are prevalent in his voice. The arrangement isn’t over the top and doesn’t need to be. The female harmonies are a a sublime accompaniment to Chris’s voice, with its occasional cracks that let the listener in just a bit more.

The simplicity speaks volumes about what a solid voice and some openheartedness can do, an intimacy of sorts as the curtain is slightly drawn back on this songwriter’s heart and he bares all.

Check out “Hands” from Chris Capaldi’s latest EP “Painted Skylines” below and check out the rest of the collection on his Bandcamp.