Angela Perley hasn’t changed her sound, but she definitely feels a new sense of freedom on 4:30, the Ohio singer-songwriter’s first album outside of her band the Howlin’ Moons. Perly’s video for the rocking track “Let Go” is premiering exclusively via Billboard today (July 30).
Over the last few decades, Americana has evolved to encompass a myriad of sounds rooted in folk, country, blues, gospel, and rock & roll. And while fans and critics may never agree on exactly how to define it, one thing is certain: It’s a sound borne of our need to express all the hurt and joy bursting from our hearts. Three-time Grammy winner Shawn Colvin stopped the industry in its tracks with her arresting 1989 debut, Steady On. The following spring, Colvin took home the GRAMMY for Best Contemporary Folk Album, legitimizing a burgeoning genre that’s grown ever stronger and richer with time. As the record’s 30th anniversary looms, the trailblazing singer and songwriter readies a truly mesmerizing acoustic reinvention of her breakthrough release, lacing up each track with fresh layers of warmth, charm, and wisdom.
Grand Canyon’s upcoming EP, Yesterday’s News, sees the California band trading out their classic roots influences for the psychedelic thrills of ’70s and ’80s-era rock. With inspiration rooted in the transitional phases of artists like Warren Zevon and Bruce Springsteen as they shifted into a new sonic landscape, it’s an exciting leaf to turn for Grand Canyon.
Americana singer-songwriter and purveyor of “cosmic Southern soul” King Corduroy is premiering his new song “Everyone Has to Love” exclusively for readers of The Boot.
The lyrics to “Everyone Has to Love” are inspired by a nugget of wisdom passed on by someone King Corduroy met in Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, where he lived for a short time. After he met a traveler who claimed to have set foot on every continent, the artist asked the man where his favorite place in the world was.
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“Dreamy” – Wide Open Country
“A singer/songwriter who is able to evoke the essence of Laurel Canyon circa the ‘60s…able to paint beautiful tapestries from words and music.” – No Depression
”There is a consistency to the strong songwriting and sweet melodies throughout.” – The Telegraph
“Among the likes of Judy Collins, Joan Baez, Allison Krauss, Linda Ronstadt, et al., in that her greatest instrument is her voice.” – East Oregonian
Sofia Talvik // Paws of a Bear
With her wistfully gilded new album Paws of a Bear, Swedish artist Sofia Talvik gazes upon her life’s journey, carefully weighing each chapter. Lead single “Take Me Home” recently debuted in the top ten on the U.S. Folk Radio Charts, offering a hint of what’s to come for this artist on the rise. Beneath timeless layers of lush string work and a voice as angelic as it is heart-rending, Talvik explores dualities of stagnation and freedom, sacrifice and dream-chasing, work and family, along the way experiencing personal revelations that forever shift her perspectives on time, life and love.
Talvik has performed at festivals ranging from Lollapalooza to SXSW, she’s opened for Maria McKee & David Duchovny, and has collaborated with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, as well as Tobias Fröberg (Peter Bjorn and John), who produced her 2008 LP Jonestown. Primarily a live artist, Talvik has taken her music across Europe and through 47 U.S. states, riding in her 1989 Winnebago Warrior with her husband and sound technician Jonas at the wheel, digging deep into the American sound and channeling it through her Nordic roots to create a singular brand of Americana.
Delving into folk melancholy akin to fellow Swedes First Aid Kit, Paws of a Bear delivers Talvik’s own neatly packaged stories across its 10 stunning tracks. Haunting pedal steel intertwines with warm upright bass, acoustic guitars and piano, creating an ideal foundation for the stark beauty of Talvik’s vocal work. Her carefully thought-out steps serve her airy productions well, meandering between reflections of her childhood on the island of Orust, on Sweden’s west coast (“Take Me Home”), the transformation of age (“Reflections”) and love’s sweet elixir as our greatest, most cherished gift (“Wrapped in Paper”).
“When you’re younger, I don’t think you appreciate things in the same way,” Talvik says. “Different subjects are important to you, and you take much of it for granted. You never stop to look at where you are. Then when you come back to this place a little further down the road, with more wisdom, you see things differently. You see nature in a different way and maybe you appreciate new things you didn’t appreciate before.”
Talvik releases all of her music on Makaki Music, a record label she started early in her career to maintain full control over her own recordings. While her Swedish roots serve as the basis for her songwriting, she often calls upon her many journeys and experiences for inspiration, especially the uniquely American archetype of roaming the endless highway. It’s no surprise that Paws of a Bear unspools threads of longing, uncertainty, adventure and hope.
“A lot of people stay in one place, raise a family and work the same job their whole lives,” Talvik says. “Others go on the road and have all these wild experiences. People always say to me, ‘You’re living the dream! You get to see the world!’ I mean, yes, it’s wonderful, but also it’s hard. I don’t get to do anything. I work really hard for it everyday. It’s a choice that I’ve made.”
On the new record, Talvik addresses the current U.S. political climate (“Pharaohs & Friends”) and the ravaging wildfires that have ripped through the West (“Blood Moon”). Then, with sly closer “Die Alone,” she unpacks what it’s like to be bombarded with questions regarding her choice not to have children. “So if you think that I will die alone / Well so will you / And so will everyone,” she sings. Her guidance is warm in the face of intrusion.
“I think audiences feels like they know you better than they do,” she says. “I would have all these people come up and ask if I had children. When I said no, they would have a lot of opinions about it. They’d say, ‘Oh, you still have time!’ Some people would say it was a selfish thing to not have children. We chose not to have children. Even if it wouldn’t have been a conscious choice, it’s a very personal question, and one that potentially could be very hurtful.”
Paws of a Bear plays like a picture book, flipping through some of life’s most earnest moments. Through her tattered indie-folk, Talvik’s tells her own tale, while giving listeners plenty of room to contemplate their own lives. As the album unfolds, she lures you into her world with stunning heft and grit, once again proving a master of her craft.
Life works in a delicate balance, a push and pull of tragedy and hope. Singer-songwriter Sammy Kay teeters with acrobatic ease between both facets of the human condition across the entirety of his new record. A storybook by nature, civil/WAR depicts a smorgasbord of characters — many of them weary and downtrodden from addiction, mental health, death, suicide and heartache.
Kay, whose voice is unmistakably shattering, has played with or onstage alongside such bands as The Gaslight Anthem, Mumford & Sons, American Aquarium and The Bouncing Souls. His impressive resume has certainly not diluted the craft itself; even after he wanted to walk away from the industry altogether, the songs inside his head drew him back in again.