Dutch Artist Judy Blank said anyone who matters in music plays at Americanafest. “It’s what everyone in Nashville talks about year-round,” she said. Still, she wasn’t sure if she was good enough to make the Americanafest roster simply because so many of her heroes were playing there.
One of the most exciting areas for new weird Americana is in the land Down Under, believe it or not. And after over 40 years of being largely defined by Nick Cave, INXS and AC/DC, it really is damn good to see the influence of such long established acts as Paul Kelly & The Messengers and Midnight Oil imbued through the sounds of modem artists like Ruby Boots and Henry Wagons bringing new life to the concept of country music and roots rock on a global scale. Heck, speaking of INXS, even Andrew Farriss is getting in on the country game with his forthcoming solo debut.
As one half of the internationally acclaimed folk duo The Ahern Brothers, Josh Rennie-Hynes has surely played a key role in the evolution of Australian Americana. But for his third solo LP Patterns, he took full advantage of the Nashville Songwriters Residency grant bestowed upon him by the Australian Council for the Arts. With the blessing of his continent, Rennie-Hynes headed to Tennessee and set up shop at the legendary Sound Emporium Studios. And like any wayfaring stranger worth his or her salt breezing through the Music City streets, Josh rounded up a new generation of Nashville Cats to create his grittiest and most compelling work yet.
Atlanta-based indie rockers Quiet Hounds are gearing up to release their sixth record, Everything Else is Noise, on Oct. 11. In a single-day recording session circa summer 2018, the quartet drafted about a dozen ideas that eventually became the bones of Everything Else is Noise over the course of the next year. The forthcoming EP trades the low-tempo tones of 2017’s Characteristics of Living Things for more pop-forward sounds and introspective lyrics.
The latest single, “Antioch,” which leans a little more indie-folk, was the “catalyst for the record as a whole,” according to frontman Eric Toledo. He also cited Michael Stipe as a strong influence, linking “Antioch” to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” The song uses the ancient Greek city of Antioch, aka the “cradle of Christianity” that eventually receded into ruin as a result of war and natural disasters, as a symbol of loss.
Frontman. Acclaimed songwriter. Sideman. Nationally-endorsed multi-instrumentalist. Producer. Since moving to Nashville in the early 2000s, John Salaway has become one of the city’s most accomplished musicians, holding down a weekly residency at the world-class BB King’s Blues Club while also playing shows with acts like Peter Frampton, Ben Folds, Anderson East, Zach Williams, and Denny Laine from the Moody Blues and Paul McCartney’s Wings. He’s a drummer. A guitarist. A pianist.
Salaway has returned with a highly anticipated new album Americana Dreams out 10/25. The album shows the full range of his abilities, mixing a lifelong appreciation for the Beatles’ classic pop melodies with the southern-fried sounds of his adopted hometown.
For fans of: First Aid Kit and Jewel.
The song: “Paws of a Bear” is the title track off Swedish singer-songwriter Sofia Talvik’s upcoming album, available September 27.
About the artist: Growing up in Sweden, Talvik always made music that was in line with her Scandinavian heritage. But after a 16-month, 37-state long tour in the United States, her sound slowly developed into a unique Nordic-Americana hybrid.
Following the release of her 2005 debut album, Blue Moon, and her sophomore album, Streets of Dreams, Talvik began to get noticed. When her breakout album, Big Sky Country, dropped in 2015, it garnered rave reviews from New York Music Daily, which hailed it as “one of the most distinctively memorable Americana albums of recent years.” Now Talvik’s following up with the highly anticipated album Paws of a Bear.
On September 13, Shawn Colvin will release an acoustic anniversary edition of her landmark 1989 album, Steady On. Ahead of the album’s release, Colvin has shared her new take on the classic Steady On track “Cry Like An Angel,” premiering below.