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No Depression

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Great Peacock Display their Musical Colors on New Album, Premiere “One Way Ticket”

Great Peacock
Great Peacock

“A peacock has so many colors, and that’s what we want our sound to be like. It’s clearly rock ‘n roll. It’s clearly country. It’s clearly folk. There’s definitely blues and elements of R&B in there, too,” says Nelson.

With their forthcoming sophomore release, Gran Pavo Real, Nashville’s Great Peacock?? Andrew Nelson (lead vocals and guitar), Blount Floyd (guitar), drummer Nick Recio (drummer) and Frank Keith IV (bass)?? obscure the lines between rock ‘n roll, folk, blues, and Americana while tackling the universal themes of heartache, loneliness, and desperation with a striking emotional precision.

Recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, the breadth of Gran Pavo Real is apparent on first listen. Produced by Dexter Green (Jason Isbell, Elizabeth Cooke), who aided the quartet in fusing varied sonic elements, the ten tracks lead the listener into songs both heartbreaking and brittle to those more desolate and uneasy. Enlivened by their nimble musicianship, lyrical insight, and Nelson’s soulful vocals, the band’s grooves run thick on “Rattlesnake,” cut to the bone on “Oh Deep Water,” and emit a palpable yearning on “All I Really Want Is You.” Today, the band shares their first single from the project, “One Way Ticket.” A solid drumbeat lays the foundation for the sweeping, hymn-like track that is supported by alluring key-work, dynamic guitar solos, and Nelson’s hypnotic vocals which tell the story of a free soul who’s reminiscing and finding his path.

Blount Floyd had this to say about the album,

“I’m sure most bands deal with the same trials and tribulations in what is best described as the journey of making a record, I am here to tell you our story of how Gran Pavo Real came to fruition.  It always begins and ends with the songs, which some have been kicking around for quite a while…”

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PREMIERE: Jamie McLean — “Virginia” (Featuring Sam Bush)

Jamie McLean Band
Jamie Mclean Band

Here’s the new single from Brooklyn-based Americana/rock & roll artist Jamie McLean, off his forthcoming LP, One and Only (out February 23rd). The follow-up to 2011’s Sunday Morning, One and Only was produced by Wilco’s Ken Coomer at the Sound Emporium in Nashville and features some lovely mandolin playing by Sam Bush (NPR, Billboard, No Depression) and Jeff Coffin (Dave Matthews Band)

McLean has cut his teeth as a musician touring the globe as the guitarist for artists including The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Aaron Neville, Brett Dennen and more. Now focused primarily on his solo career, One and Only comes as an 11-track collection of gritty alt-country combined with Tom Petty-channeling heartland rock & roll.

You can catch Jamie McClean and his accomplished band at the following dates and places:

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Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.

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R. Finn Shares “I Am A Soldier”

R. Finn
R. Finn

Following a two-year stint working with The Band’s Levon Helm at his studio in Woodstock recording the famous Midnight Rambles, R. Finn returned to Los Angeles and started his own recording studio and creative space, The Heritage Recording Co. It was in that studio that Finn recorded his debut LP, Collecting Trip—a ten-track collection of timeless Americana that finds the singer-songwriter channeling influences from Woody Guthrie to Leon Russell. Co-produced by legendary drummer Jim Keltner (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon), Collecting Trip is an ode to the singer-songwriter’s (nee Chris Rondinella) deep dive into folk and Americana and features contributions from Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), Sean & Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek), and more.

A heartfelt album colored by subtle, lush, haunting, and hopeful arrangements, the album represents the years of accumulating songs, players, and styles that have resulted in his affecting, long-evolving sound and lyrics which explore relationships and his worldview. Today, Finn shares one of the album’s tracks entitled, “I Am Soldier.” The hard-edged, yet meaningful tune is led by Finn’s airy vocals and assisted by softly muted percussion, somber keys, and guitar riffs that lend tension to the track. “I am a soldier in an unknown army/just a peaceful fighter in an endless war.”

 

Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.

 

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Pedigo’s Magic Pilsner shares Christmas single at No Depression

 

Americana project Pedigo’s Magic Pilsner (helmed by John Pedigo of The O’s) ushers in the holiday with the Christmas single, “Counting Back Down.” A dreamy, retro-flavored ballad, “Counting Back Down” centers around the joy the holiday instills in our hearts.Where, through the magic of the season, even those relationships that are strained or those that foster negativity, unite and look ahead with optimism, offering welcome sentiments that encourage one to perhaps, consider carrying all year through.  Pedigo’s Magic Pilsner—named for a nearly-undrinkable batch of beer once brewed by Pedigo’s father—seamlessly blends touches of honky-tonk piano, the sizzle of a gospel organ, a few festive brassy blasts of dixieland horns, driving drums, & acoustic and electric guitars to create an expansive and unique collection of alt-country/Americana that tackles mourning with an optimism rarely found in the genre.  Look for the debut album in 2018.

 

Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.

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No Depression premieres Sara Rachele’s new single, “Anna”

Sara Rachele has impressed me from the get-go, and her upcoming album April Fool(out November 17) looks like it’s going to be her best yet. Already a master at baring her soul, the sparse instrumentation on “Anna” shows Sara Rachele at her most vulnerable. Of the song Rachele writes,

“Sometimes music is an easier way of communicating for me. I’ve been that way since I was a child. With “Anna,” the conversation is imaginary—a preparation for the actual conversation…

There are times when you know the truth will crumble, instead of materializing. These moments are phases, which often take shape in a song. The pain becomes more bearable, and albeit awful, the lies become understood. Yet, these moments are potentially necessary Machiavellian stepping-stones to get to the truth. I wrestle with the lack of permanence and its illusiveness… I once heard Ryan Adams talk about getting over the ‘illusion of permanence,’ and that definitely resonates with me in life and in my music.

So much music is about love and relationships, and in a sense, I guess this song is too. I’m recounting a story to a friend, and they couldn’t possibly understand—but art allows us a true closeness, even within ourselves, where we can say, “This is the best I am, and this is me doing the best I can. I know it’s not good enough, and I’m sorry.”

The overwhelming swell of Rachele’s voice brings the emotional fragility of the song into stark relief. This is one that will certainly stick with you.

Sara Rachele — Official, Facebook, Bandcamp

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Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.

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No Depression premieres Tom Irwin’s new single, “I Have Wandered”

Called “a modern day troubadour” by John Stirratt (Wilco), singer-songwriter-musician Tom Irwin has spent a lifetime making music in the Midwest using his long standing (sixth generation) Illinois roots as his base for a world view of a life in the musical arts. On September 8th, Irwin will release his latest record, All That Love, which was produced by Stirratt (who also played on the album), and features esteemed players including Greg Wieczorek on drums, John Pirruccello on 12-string guitar and pedal steel, Scott Ligon (piano, organ, accordion, bass and guitar), Theresa O’Hare (flute), Paul Von Mertens (sax) and Irwin’s hometown band, the Hayburners. The eleven song collection includes tunes recently penned, a few that were written over thirty years ago, and what ever else John and Tom agreed to from the hundreds of original compositions in the prolific songwriter’s back catalog. Today, Irwin shares the second track from the album, “I Have Wandered.” Led by sparkling keys and a swinging rhythm, the buoyant “I Have Wandered” is an introspective tale of personal struggle – “Let me roll and rumble and curse with all my might/And fake and fumble until I get it right/I will stand and stumble and crawl towards sunlight/And take and tumble as long as I can fight” – that’s perfect for the dance floor.

Irwin had this to say about the track, “The second track on All That Love was originally titled, “Let Me,” and once called “‘Til I Get It Right” by my oldest son when he was about eight. Producer-musician John Stirratt of Wilco, kept referring to it as “I Have Wandered,” from the first line of the song, because he didn’t know what else to call it, and the new name stuck. The lyrics kind of came out of nowhere with no real story behind the meaning, though I get flashes of where they came from and what they related to in my life during different moments when I sing the song. Most of the time I have a tale to tell, but this one is a bit more mysterious as to what’s happening or what peculiar struggle the narrator is working through. Perhaps the words describe a fight against convention or a push back to those hoping that this guy will act a certain way that wasn’t particularly what he had in mind. Whatever the meaning, I have sang this song hundreds of times and never get tired of finding out what it means and where it leans.

         Musically based around a G-Am-C, the chord progression that drives Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere,” those were about the only chords I could play when this one came out. John added a cool chord substitution of a B minor on the refrain, plus a little turnaround in the verse. All I could say was, “That’s neat. Wish I had thought of that,” but that’s Mr. Stirratt’s wonderfully musical brain in action. Then we all thought a whole step modulation would be a grand gesture to finish out the song with a jam and fade on the refrain.

         Scott Ligon of NRBQ played the signature piano part on a 1898 Steinway upright, a house instrument at Wall to Wall Recording in Chicago. First, he asked John if he should play guitar, his main axe, and John suggested the Steinway to great success and shades of Floyd Cramer. Later Scott returned to the studio to overdub the electric guitar solo. John Pirroccello, who worked the pedal steel guitar, owns and operates the Lakland and Hanson guitar company our of Chicago and plays with John in The Autumn Defense. Greg Wieczorek of Norah Jones’ band, and also in The Autumn Defense, does the distinctive swinging drum rhythm, while Brad Floreth of Jacksonville, Illinois added some electric guitar rhythm on his Creston built Tele. I sang the lead vocals and played my Gallagher acoustic, while John added intermittent harmonies later.

Always a crowd and fan favorite, no matter what you call it, this song takes me there to where I’ve wandered time after time. READ MORE

 

Baby Robot Media is a music publicity and media service agency with employees in Los Angeles, Memphis, Atlanta & New York and represent musicians from all over the world. We specialize in promotional ( PR ) campaigns for albums, singles and videos, tour press, radio, music video production, music marketing, social media campaigns, Spotify campaigns and creating promotional content. Our mission is to help great unknown bands reach a wider audience and to help already successful artists manage their brand identity and continue to thrive. Our music publicists have over 50 years of combined experience in the music industry. We are known as one of the best in the business.