Category: Americana

• The Lucky Ones: The Lucky Ones

  The Lucky Ones sound like they come from Kentucky or some other Appalachian area, playing what is musically straight bluegrass / roots string music, but they’re actually from the Yukon, Canada, made famous by the Klondike Gold Rush and more latterly by Ice Road Truckers. (We once went to the Motown Museum in Detroit, where […]

  jerobear

  January 27, 2022

  Acoustic, Americana, Folk

  bluegrass, folk, Klondike, The Lucky Ones, Yukon

• Peach and Quiet: Just Beyond the Shine

  This self-released album from a Vancouver Island duo is a pleasant mix of pop, country and Americana, with a nice organic feel, possibly recorded in minimal takes.Opener Empty To Fill is a catchy 60s pop tune reminiscent of The Byrds, while the next one up is For My Love, a gentler folk/pop tune with some […]

  jerobear

  March 9, 2021

  Americana, Country, Pop rock

  Just Beyond the Shine, Peach and Quiet

• Still Corners: The Last Exit

  Still Corners are, as they say, a dreamy pop duo who tweak their sound with every album, from pop to a more synthy sound to this, more Americana and even Tex Mex: half of Still Corners, Greg Hughes, grew up Arizona and Texas so perhaps not surprising. Tessa Murray is English, and the two met […]

  jerobear

  March 6, 2021

  Americana, Indie, Pop rock

  baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Last Exit Tessa Murray White Sands Shifting Dunes Crying Static Till We Meet Again

• Ben Bedford: Portraits

  

  This is Bedford’s sixth album; his last, Hermit’s Spyglass, was excellent and this is even better. Perhaps not surprising, as he has picked songs from his first three albums to create a collection of songs, the intention’s clear from the album title. Hermit’s Spyglass told some good tales – it mapped daily life on a […]

  jerobear

  January 22, 2021

  Acoustic, Americana, Folk

  baroque, Ben Bedford, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, good new music, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, pop, Portraits, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul

• Jack Henderson: Where’s The Revolution

  If the injustices of the world leave you feeling helpless because there’s so much wrong and so little you can do, we can offer a small action you can take – buy Jack Henderson’s new album.Henderson sounds as if he’s a jobbing musician who does well – his biography says he’s played with the likes […]

  jerobear

  December 3, 2020

  Americana, Folk

  baroque, Blues, brother, buy busic, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Difficult Girl, Don't Drink the Water, early, funk, good new music, Hey Batman, It's Only Rain, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Jesus & Jezebel, Like We Never Do, music, Next Time I Meet You, Nobody Gets Hurt, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, Stars, Where's the Revolution

• Justin Wells: The United States

  The title is a pun: it’s about life in the USA in these divided times but it’s also about the fact that we have more in common than differences, particularly the fact that we’re all born, live and die. “This record starts in the womb, and it ends after death,” Wells says of the album. […]

  jerobear

  September 9, 2020

  Americana, Country

  baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Dear, early, Farewell, funk, How Much I Love You; The Screaming Song; No Time For a Broken Heart; Some Distance From It All; Never Better; After the Fall; It’ll All Work Out; Temporary Blue; Walls Fall Down; Ruby, jazz, Jem Condliffe, Justin Wells, Mr. Hooper, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, The Bridge, The United States, You’ll Never Know

• Jeffrey Foucault: Blood Brothers

  When we started this reviewing lark we’d sometimes have a record of the week, although we usually forgot: this week it would be this. Foucault’s from Wisconsin so this is Americana with some of the twang of country. He has an evocative voice and the songs are all good. We’ve not felt this much settled […]

  jerobear

  May 6, 2020

  Americana, Country, Folk

  baroque, Blood Brothers, Blown, Blues, brother, CDs, Cheap Suit, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, Dishes, Dying Just a Little, early, funk, I Know You, jazz, Jeffrey Foucault, Jem Condliffe, Little Warble, music, pop, Pretty Hands, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, Rio, rock, soul, Wart on the radio

• Sam Lewis: Solo

  Lewis is a grizzled looking American dude and sings the songs you might expect; modern life and its many facets, just him and guitar. He’s good because he has a soft voice, lyrics that can be thoughtful, amusing or silly, and makes honest, simple music. This is just him and an audience in what sounds […]

  jerobear

  March 12, 2020

  Acoustic, Americana, Blues, Country

  3/4 Time, a, baroque, Blues, Bluesday Night, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, Everything’s Going to Be Different, funk, I Love You, I’m a River, I’m Coming Home, In My Dreams, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, Neighbors [Explicit], Never Again, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Runaway Bride, Sam Lewis, Solo, soul, Southern Greek Tragedy, Talk About It, The Light, The Only One, Things Will Never Be the Same, Virginia Avenue, Waiting on You, What Does It Mean, When Come the Morning

• Gill Landry: Skeleton at the Banquet

  Landry — formerly of Old Crow Medicine Show — wrote these songs while spending the summer in small-town Western France. He doesn’t say, but we bet 80s-vintage Leonard Cohen was being played as he wrote; Cohen of that era will spring to mind when you play it. Musically, its dominated by Landry’s soft baritone; the […]

  jerobear

  February 24, 2020

  Americana, Country, Uncategorized

  A Different Tune, Angeline, baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, Gill Landry, I Love You Too, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, Nobody’s Coming, pop, Portrait of Astrid (A Nocturne), Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, Skeleton at the Banquet, soul, The Place They Call Home, The Refuge of Your Arms, The Wolf, Trouble Town

• West My Friend: In Constellation

  Canadian folk trio West My Friend have roped in a symphony orchestra and choir to go with their regular guitar, mandolin and accordion for this new album. If your record collection is stuffed with 50s style crooners and big bands accompanied by an accordion, this is for you. For the rest of us, it’s an […]

  jerobear

  February 23, 2020

  Americana, Country

  baroque, Blues, brother, CDs, Chronicle Series, Classical, Congleton Chronicle, early, funk, In Constellation, jazz, Jem Condliffe, music, pop, Reggae, Review Corner, reviews, rock, soul, West My Friend