Currently in love with this guy

Ever bought an album by an artist, having bought one or two previously, but it's taken the new one to unlock the greatness in the old ones?

New McMurtry album did this, I'm loving the earlier stuff now too.



Choctaw Bingo was always a cracker though.

Desperate to hear the new Ray Wylie Hubbard album, but my Amazon.com delivery window is 20th April-20th May.

My friend just released her album which is quite country based, her name is Hannah Rose Platt and the album is called Portraits. Its on itunes etc worth a look, especially "you dont know jack" which I think is really clever

I do love that performance. Another chick I've been led to this year, not sure if she's been mentioned here at all, but Nikki Lane, has a certain bubblegum quality to her voice, which since the days of Shampoo, Kenickie, Aqua and the voice of rave Diane Charlemagne has always been something that really appeals to me

Doesn't ooze sex appeal like Lydia, but definitely a decent listen

Just to add to the Cory Branan love in, and it's on no hit wonder, but the opening to "the only you" sums him up perfectly, all smug with his new girl then hits you with the heartbreak

"well I got another girl, she looks like you at 23,
While she sleeps I trace the places your tattoos used to be"

Love him

Did both albums today, plenty of good stuff on there.  I think I prefer some of his solo performances of these songs, like the Music Fog set on Youtube, as a couple of them are a touch Gaslight Anthemed on the album and work better with just him and a guitar (don't mind GA but only bought one album).  Definitely worth the cash though, I'll probably get another album at some point because Tall Green Grass isn't on either of mine and the studio version of that is great.

There's only two others of his to get and if you asked me to choose, I'd struggle. The Hell You Say has Crush, Whiskey Grove, Troublesome Girl in fact yes take that album. But 12 songs has Mohammed Ali, Tall Green Grass, girl named go and Easy. Fuck it I don't know, go hit up Austin Lucas instead

I'll give Linda a listen tomorrow, will feed back soon, also in love with Ben Nichols covering Joey Kneiser as both Lucero and Glossary are quality bands

Commencing my payday splurge, bought Black Listed as I don't own any Case pre Fox.

Ray Wylie Hubbard's Ruffian's Misfortune arrived today, it was a long wait but the first two spins suggest it was worth it.

Also been listening to this:



Which is a double disk 52 track 'frontier cowboy folk opera'.  I always look forward to concept albums but often leave nonplussed.  Even the T Bone Burnett/Mellencamp/Stephen King effort Ghost Brothers of Darkland County was a wee bit disappointing (Neko Case makes an appearance btw, along with an assortment of other greats and not so greats).  Shooter Jennings' effort was worse (Stephen King narrates some of that).  The Rose of Roscrae is full on fun & goodness though.  I've only had it for a couple of weeks, so I can't call it a masterpiece yet, but it's addictive, humourous, touching and beautifully crafted.

An out of context example:

New Eilen Jewell album is as lovely as expected.  Not as good as Queen of the Minor Key, but expertly crafted and Jerry Miller's guitar makes every track sound great.

Off to see Sturgill Simpson in August, pleased with that.

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A random song/performance, misty eyed Woolies memories:

Not heard of him, will have a listen.

Trying to type this on a Wii U, lost everything I wrote about Neko Case's Blacklisted being her best record.  Should've bought it ages ago.

Been looking for a podcast as I've never really done any, will go for that as I love the quote.  Fox Confessor... is another great Neko Case album, very accessible.  Blacklisted is a bit more twangy and just edges it for me.  Our Lydia's vocals often get compared, especially looking back at Indestructible Machine reviews.

American Night has a nice driving sound, love a bit of straight ahead country rock.  Not overly keen on the vocals but I'd happily listen to an album, I've been overly acoustic recently so a wall of guitars is nice.  The remind me of The Bottle Rockets, leaning towards the slightly heavier sound of Lucero.  

I'm more than happy to swing my dadpants to Jason & the Scorchers or The Outlaws, despite the 'dated' sound.  Dylan covers are notoriously hit and miss, but I'm particularly fond of this one:




Also, I'm gonna have to devote some time to Shel Silverstein's catalogue, was reading about him recently and picked up a covers album called Twistable Turnable Man.  Been listening for a few days now, and it's very nearly as good as my favourite covers comp (This One's For Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark).  He wrote A Boy Named Sue, but I'm starting to think I prefer this one, which I can't stop listening to:



Not a duff line in there, great stuff.  Plus it's clearly one of those 'someone had too much time on their hands' Youtube videos where footage is synced to the lyrics like a bad Dire Straits video.

Been listening to Isbell's latest, probably given it 8-10 goes so far.  It's not as dark as the previous one, which to be honest it had no chance of living up to anyway (Southeastern is probably top 5 ever for me), but it's consistently good, unlike his earlier efforts.  24 Frames has a lovely Tom Petty/Heartland rock feel, and the lyrics to Speed Trap Town are the sort of thing I lap up.  It feels like a not-disappointing 7 so far. 

I've got Musgraves' last album, some v.good tracks on it.  It's radio friendly despite being considered un-radio friendly in the bible belt.  She wrote a song about John Prine once, and she's obviously lovely to look at, so she's good with me.  Check out Brandy Clark's 12 Stories for a similar-ish yet slightly better record imo (compared to Same Trailer Different Park).

Charles Hale can't afford the Podbean fees anymore, but luckily the radio station have agreed to host the files for him, so the podcast is still kind of alive. Not sure how to make it feed into my podcatcher, but it can be found here, and either downloaded or streamed across the web

https://www.krfcfm.org/show/ajax-diner-book-club/