Baby Robot Media

The Deep Hollow talks with No Depression about their single “Freedom Street” and upcoming album

Springfield, Illinois’ The Deep Hollow would seem to have an overnight success story, but that’s not actually the case. Staples of the local music scene of Springfield, Illinois, Micah Walk, and DaveLittrell have an especially long list of previous credits and musical explorations, from collaborating in other Americana bands to touring extensively in a prog-rock band. Notably, Walk worked on a project with Jamie Candiloro, whose biggest collaborators include Ryan Adams, Willie Nelson, and The Eagles, among others. Singer Liz Eckert comes from a community theatre background. She tried out for American Idol once and made it all the way to Hollywood. Thoughher star wasn’t catapulted into the stratosphere then, her talents would come of great use around town, leading her to serve as a fill-in for a cover band, a side project of Walk’s. The two would strike an instant chemistry, and the duo formed in 2013.

Some time later, when Littrell was itching to try out some new tunes he wrote, he turned to the duo ahead of an upcoming show. With no rehearsal, the trio hit the stage and something truly stupendous happened. A smooth blend of three-part harmonies poured out and set the foundation for an already impressive catalog of work together. “That was when we knew what we wanted next,” remembers Walk.

It was the song “Devil” that proved to be groundbreaking for them. They submitted it to American Songwriter’s 30th Anniversary Song Contest and ended up winning. “Not to sound jaded or disheartened or anything, but when you apply for a lot of contests for a few years and you maybe make it through a round or something, you almost assume nothing is going to come of it. We were excited to just be a finalist. When we won, it was like holy cow.”….READ MORE

by Baby Robot Media

AmericanaUK reviews Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters new album “All Damn Day”

The second full album from Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters is an enjoyable southern country rock romp, offering a varied selection of lively toe-tapping songs and melodic, reflective pieces. What holds it all together is Dittmeier’s authentic storytelling. These ten character-driven tales are packed with arresting details and bear repeated listening. The opening track ‘Love Me Like You Did’ starts and finishes with the vocal, drawing the listener in immediately and ensuring the focus is on the lyrics. The song’s narrator complains about his new lover: “She don’t understand Townes Van Zandt…She don’t know me like you did,” which seems to make an early statement about Dittmeier’s country credentials.

The opener sets the tone for much of the album. Jaunty, upbeat rhythms and melodies often mask bleak lyrics and sharp phrasing, such as: “He worked real hard and he worked real smart, Got a pretty good spot at the city graveyard” from ‘Head to Rest’. The longer, more introspective songs are punctuated by short, rocky numbers with a higher tempo and simpler structures, including the title track, which chugs along, while Dittmeier sings about hard physical labour and: “…hammering rocks, all damn day.”
One of the album’s highlights is the reflective tale ‘Two Faded Carnations’,in which the narrator visits a family cemetery to lay carnations at the graves of: “The only one I’ve ever loved and the daughter I never met.” But the song is ultimately hopeful because: “Spring’s around the corner, I can feel it in the wind, it rips right down a soy bean plain and the rows grow strong again.””

This is ‘country’ music and so it is only right that Dittmeier’s stories are full of references to rural living and landscapes. The characters are chopping wood, sitting on porches, fishing, staking out deer and complaining about the……READ MORE

by Baby Robot Media

Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters share two new singles with The Daily Country

Southern Indiana alt-country/Americana outfit Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters have shared singles from their forthcoming LP All Damn Day, due October 26th. Wide Open Country praised Dittmeier’s songcraft on “Love Me Like You Did” as “heartland rock riffage meets classic country storytelling” while Glide compared the group favorable to the likes of John Fogerty and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Southern Indiana musician Nick Dittmeier finds a needed reprieve from the looming presence of loss in his life with his new record All Damn Day (due October 26th). Fronting Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters, the singer-songwriter lingers on the omniscient Grim Reaper in a way that’s hopeful and uplifting as it is forlorn, harkening to the works of such literary giants as John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl and Mark Twain.

“I look at this record as a continuation of a lot of storytelling by these writers. Their themes touch on a lot of forgotten people, working class people and characters that have impossible situations in front of them,” says Dittmeier, who also draws heavily upon the work of Frank Bill, Dave Eggers, Kurt Vonnegut and Daniel Woodrall. His perceptiveness in his craft is refreshing and has so far earned him stage slots with the likes of Cody Jinks, John Prine, Turnpike Troubadours, Justin Townes Earle, The Mavericks and several others.

Suffice it to say, he needed this cathartic musical release to come to terms with a handful of challenging life events. “I went through a lot of deaths when I was starting to record this album,” he says. “So, a lot of the songs touch on people dying, something I normally wouldn’t have done.” His mother-in-law succumbed to an aggressive form of cancer, and he honors her life and homestead on the exceptional “Two Faded Carnations,” written during a lonesome drive from Salem to Scottsburg, Indiana, nestled deep….READ MORE

by Baby Robot Media

EarBuddy premieres Lindsay Kay’s new song “Clean & Fair”

Last week we featured Lindsay Kay in our artist spotlight Fresh Wax. This week we premiere a new song from Kay’s forthcoming album, For the Feminine, by the Feminine, which arrives October 5th. Check out the new song, “Clean & Fair”, and find out more about it from the artist herself below.

What is the new song about?

“Clean & Fair” is about falling out of love, the truths of a relationship becoming clear, and running out of excuses to stay. I also feel it has undertones addressing the expectations and pedestals men can often time put on women, and how our experiences are secondary and our sacrifices expected…..READ MORE

by Baby Robot Media

Wide Open Country premieres The Deep Hollow’s new single “Carry Me Home” off of their upcoming album

Illinois-based Americana trio The Deep Hollow’s new single “Carry Me Home” adds new lyrical depth to a familiar story. Members Micah Walk, Elizabeth Eckert and Dave Littrell consider a familiar conundrum: some artists must leave their small town to grow creatively and commercially, but the best songs come from a lingering love of a simpler home-town existence.

“This song is about taking a leap of faith and knowing that at the end of the day, if things don’t go your way, you can always come back home,” Eckert says. “It’s about taking chances so you won’t look back and have any regrets.”

Lyrical inspiration hit Eckert suddenly while she was out exercising. “Micah had sent me a voice memo of a guitar part he had written, and it sort of just fell out,” she adds. “I was basically sprinting home so that I could make sure I didn?t forget any of the lyrics!”

The new song teases the fuller sound captured on forthcoming album Weary Traveler, out Oct. 26. Instead of resting on the laurels of its self-titled 2016 debut album, featuring American Songwriter Magazine’s 30th Anniversary Song Contest winner “Devil,” the trio saw a new release as a chance to further flesh out their storytelling chops and musical accompaniment. To realize their ambitions, they brought in producer Gary Gordon (Montgomery Gentry, David Davis & the Warrior River Boys).

With its three-part harmonies sounding richer, “Carry Me Home” might just crush it in some other songwriting contest. The band tells its own small-town stories and speak for strangers throughout an album that also features the politically-charged story about homelessness titled “Freedom Street” and a tale about suicide called “Anna’s Gone.”…..READ MORE

by Baby Robot Media

Americana UK features Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters new single “Love Me Like You Did”

Southern Indiana alt-country/Americana outfit Nick Dittmeier & the Sawdusters have announced the October 26th release of their latest LP ‘All Damn Day’ and have released the lead single ‘Love Me Like You Did’ which Wide Open Country described as “heartland rock riffage meets classic country storytelling.” Frontman Nick Dittmeier says of the new record: “I look at this record as a continuation of a lot of storytelling by these writers. Their themes touch on a lot of forgotten people, working-class people and characters that have impossible situations in front of them.”…..READ MORE