THURSDAY MORNING MIX
February 25, 2010
Scott Foley

We were all over the proverbial board for this Episode of TMM. We previewed the new, Will Johnson-produced album by Austin Collins & the Rainbirds, as well as a pleasingly strong collection from Ken Will Morton. Fresh tunes from old friends John Hiatt and The Holmes Brothers played alongside less familiar names like the former Colorado alt.country band Tiny Television. Especially nice to hear a second solo offering from Dolly Varden frontman Steve Dawson, who tends to skew more pop for his Dolly-free offerings.

* The Derailers, "Guaranteed To Satisfy" Guaranteed To Satisfy (Palo Duro, 08)
* Danielle Talamini, "Pack My Bags" The Road Rises (Self, 08)
* Backyard Tire Fire, "Learning To Swim" Good To Be (Self, 09)
* Paul Burch, "Waiting For My Ship" Still Your Man (Ramseur, 09)
* She & Him, "In the Sun" In the Sun (Merge, 10)
* Austin Collins & the Rainbirds, "Worn" Wrong Control (Eight Dollar Music, 09)
* Scott Miller & the Commonwealth, "I Made a Mess Of This Town" Thus Always To Tyrants (Sugar Hill, 01)
* John Hiatt, "Wonder Of Love" The Open Road (New West, 10)
* Great American Taxi, "New Madrid" Reckless Habits (Self, 09)
* Oh Susanna, "Bootlegger's Blues" Things About Comin' My Way (Black Hen, 09)
* Holmes Brothers, "Rounding Third" Feed My Soul (Alligator, 10)
* Mumford & Sons, "Sign No More" Sigh No More (Self, 10)
* Jolie Holland, "Mexico City" Living and the Dead (Anti, 08)
* Clem Snide, "Stoney" Meat Of Life (429 Records, 10)
* Deadstring Brothers, "Can't Make It Through the Night" Sao Paulo (Bloodshot, 10)
* Johnny Cash, "Redemption Day" American VI: Ain't No Grave (American, 10)
* Joy Kills Sorrow, "New Shoes" Darkness Sure Becomes This City (Signature Sounds, 10)
* Richard Buckner, "Lil Wallet Picture" Devotion + Doubt (MCA, 97)
* Ken Will Morton, "Breathe" True Grit (Sojourn, 10)
* Kasey Anderson, "Bellingham Blues" Nowhere Nights (Red River, 09)
* Tiny Television, "Hallelujah" Mission Statement (Groove House, 10)
* Lynn Miles, "Map Of My Heart" Black Flowers (True North, 09)
* Preservation Hall Jazz Band w/Steve Earle, "'Taint Nobody's Business" Preservation (Self, 10)
* April Smith & the Great Picture Show, "Stop Wondering" Songs For a Sinking Ship (Self, 09)
* Yardsale, "Bullet That You Dodge" Knock Alley West (Self, 09)
* Steve Dawson, "Today She Found a Way" I Will Miss the Trumpets and the Drums (Undertow, 10)

THURSDAY MORNING MIX
February 18, 2010
Scott Foley

Is alt.country experiencing a revival? Well, this Episode of TMM certianly went heavy. Between Have Gun Will Travel, Slimfit and the stellar new Kasey Anderson, I'm certain several folks in No.Colorado got an extra shot with their morning coffee. Not to mention the Deadstring Brothers' strongest effort to date, and the return of Chip Robinson, former singer for the seminal alt.country trailblazers Backsliders.

Excellence was also demonstrated by Tim Barry, whose "Bozeman" might be Barry's first really good tune sans expletives, and Amy Cook, whose Let the Light In album keeps landing in my Box of Awesome.

* Adam Carroll, "Home Again" Live at Flipnotics (Self, 09)
* Star Anna, "Hawks" The Only Thing That Matters (Self, 09)
* Robbie Fulks, "I'd Be Lonesome" Country Love Songs (Bloodshot, 98)
* Preservation Hall Jazz Band w/Jason Isbell, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" Preservation (Self, 10)
* Watson Twins, "Savin' You" Talking To You Talking To Me (Vanguard, 10)
* Have Gun Will Travel, "Wolf In Shepherd's Clothes" Postcards From the Friendly City (Self, 10)
* Ryan Adams, "Goodnight Rose" Easy Tiger (Lost Hwy, 07)
* Great American Taxi, "Reckless Habits" Reckless Habits (Self, 09)
* Amy Cook, "Let's Go Down To the River" Let the Light In (Self, 10)
* Band of Heathens, "Shine a Light" One Foot In the Ether (Self, 09)
* Texas Tornados, "Girl Going Nowhere" Esta Bueno (Bismeaux, 10)
* Deep Dark Woods, "Bakersfield" Deep Dark Woods (Self, 06)
* Reckless Kelly, "Pure Quill" Somewhere In Time (Yep Roc, 10)
* Elliot Randall, "Red Velvet Curtains" Caffeine & Gasoline (Self, 09)
* Sera Cahoone, "Couch Song" Sera Cahoone (Self, 06)
* Deadstring Brothers, "Adalee" Sao Paulo (Bloodshot, 10)
* Tim Barry, "Bozeman" 28th & Stonewall (Suburban Home, 10)
* Rosanne Cash w/Neko Case, "Satisfied Mind" The List (Manhattan, 09)
* Chip Robinson, "Mylow" Mylow (Red River, 10)
* Kasey Anderson, "Sooner / Later" Nowhere Nights (Red River, 09)
* South Austin Jug Band, "Jack Ass" Strange Imitation (Self, 08)
* Slimfit, "Whisperin' Wind" The Path (Self, 10)
* David Hidalgo & Louie Perez, "When Love Fails" The Long Goodbye (Gonzolandia, 10)
* Kara Suzanne, "Eyes Wide" Parlor Walls (Sublimity, 09)
* Ray Wylie Hubbard, "Down Home Country Blues" A Enlightenment ... (Bordello, 09)

THURSDAY MORNING MIX
February 11, 2010
Scott Foley

O what a bounteous year for our kind of music (so far)! Just a couple steps into a young 2010, and we already have a handful of releases that I can imagine may show up in my year-end favorites list. Ray Wylie Hubbard, the Crazy Heart soundtrack, Blue Rodeo, Amy Cook, Will Kimbrough, Joe Pug, Patty Griffin, not to mention a few of this week's debuts: Kasey Anderson, Clem Snide, and Mumford & Sons. I just began previewing a seemingly tremendous new Deadstring Brothers, too. The gods of americana are good.

An unprecedented number of covers on today's Episode, too; I count 7 of them from here. As previously mentioned, I happen to be a big fan of unexpected americana covers of pop and rock songs. Some day this year, I shall appease those gods of americana with a full slate of the best of these, as I did a couple years ago at KRVM in Oregon. In the meantime, we've got these:

* Earl Pickens & Family, "Running To Stand Still" Joshua Tree (Self, 09)
* Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, "Dear Companion" Dear Companion (Sub Pop, 10)
* Billy Joe Shaver, "Live Forever" Greatest Hits (Compadre, 07)
* Brandi Carlile, "Us Again" XOBC (Sony, 10)
* Clem Snide, "WalMart Parking Lot" The Meat of Life (429 Records, 10)
* Kasey Anderson, "Bellingham Blues" Nowhere Nights (Red River, 09)
* Drag the River, "Fleeting Porch of Tide" You Can't Live This Way (Suburban Home, 07)
* Have Gun Will Travel, "Paperback" Postcards From the Friendly City (Self, 10)
* Calexico, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" Sweetheart 2005 (Hear, 05)
* Joe Pug, "How Good You Are" The Messenger (Lightning Rod, 10)
* Suzi Ragsdale, "Less of the Same" Best Regards / Less of the Same (Stark Raven, 10)
* Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez, "Let's Leave This Town" Let's Leave This Town (Train Wreck, 02)
* Caroline Herring, "Dixie Darling (w/Cary Hudson)" Silver Apples of the Moon EP (Signature Sounds, 10)
* I See Hawks In LA, "Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulet" Shoulda Been Gold: 2001-2009 (American Beat, 09)
* April Smith & the Great Picture Show, "Terrible Things" Songs for a Sinking Ship (Self, 09)
* Johnny Cash, "Ain't No Grave" American VI: Ain't No Grave (American, 10)
* Avett Brothers, "I Love" Sweetheart 2010 (Starbucks, 10)
* Jon Dee Graham, "PopSong" Not As Bad As It Looks (Freedom, 10)
* Blackie & the Rodeo King, "Tie Me At the Crossroads" BARK (True North, 03)
* David Hidalgo & Louie Perez, "Till the Hands Fall Off the Clock" Long Goodbye (Gonzolandia, 10)
* Elliot Randall & the Deadmen, "Good Love" Caffeine & Gasoline (Self, 09)
^ Mumford & Sons, "Little Lion Man" Sigh No More (Self, 10)
* Dog Roses, "Kit's Song" Just Another Saturday (Self, 09)
* Patty Griffin, "Little Fire" Downtown Church (Credential, 10)
* Michael Perry & the Long Beds, "Alice Mayhew Jackson" Tiny Pilot (Amble Down, 10)
* Devotchka, "Hot Burrito #1 (I'm Your Toy)" Sweetheart #3 (Starbucks, 09)
* Over Mountainmen, "Rembrandt" Glorious Day (Ramseur, 09)
* Yardsale, "Fencepost" Knock Alley West (Self, 09)
* Barton Carroll, "Past Tense" Together You and I (Skybucket, 09)

THURSDAY MORNING MIX
February 4, 2010
Scott Foley

Been eagerly awaiting a CD from a band that stands as the UK's Avett Brothers. Most CDs that arrive "for my listening pleasure" do so with a RIYL line: Recommended If You Like, if you like. For Mumord & Sons, the promoter tagged Fleet Foxes, Low Anthem and Avett Brothers. Not bad company to keep, by my book. Ideally, though, a band will rise above and overflow its RIYL, and Mumford & Sons does that. The quartet floats the harmonies of Fleet Foxes, the occasional atmospherics of Low Anthem, the banjo and scruffiness of Avett Brothers, and fortunately that something more. I'll debut their Sigh No More album on next week's Episode.

In the meantime, this week brings new listens from April Smith & the Great Picture Show, as well as something from a beautiful new album by Clem Snide. Produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, Backyard Tire Fire's new effort sounds like Drive-by Truckers as crossed with Los Lobos, curiously enough. Which isn't a bad thing at all. And I remembered to grab the Jon Dee Graham from the dining room table on the way out ...

* Caroline Herring, "Little Bit of Mercy" Golden Apples of the Sun (Signature Sounds, 09)
* Curtis Harvey, "Bag of Seeds" Box of Stones (Fatcat, 09)
* Justin Townes Earle, "Yuma" Yuma EP (Self, 07)
* Texas Sapphires, "Riddled Days" As He Wanders (Ike, 10)
* April Smith & the Great Picture Show, "Movie Loves a Screen" Songs For a Sinking Ship (Self, 09)
* Somebody's Darling, "Horses" Somebody's Darling (Shiner, 09)
* Adam Carroll & Michael O'Connor, "Gulf Coast Losers" Hard Times (Self, 09)
* Old 97s, "Moonlight" Drag It Up (New West, 04)
* Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore, "Only a Song" Dear Companion (Sub Pop, 10)
* Malcolm Holcombe, "For the Mission Baby" For the Mission Baby (Echo Mt, 09)
* I See Hawks In LA, "Sexy Vacation" Shoulda Been Gold (American Beat, 09)
* Jon Dee Graham, "Beautifully Broken" Not As Bad As It Looks (Freedom, 10)
* Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers, "Such True Love" Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers (Self, 09)
* Patty Griffin, "Move Up" Downtown Church (Credential, 10)
* Lucinda Williams, "Lines Around Your Eyes" Sweet Old World (Elektra, 92)
* Will Kimbrough, "Wings" Wings (Daphne, 10)
* Joe Pug, "Unsophisticated Heart" Messenger (Lightning Rod, 10)
* Eleven Hundred Springs, "This Crazy Life" This Crazy Life (Smith, 10)
* Reckless Kelly, "Little Blossom" Somewhere In Time (Yep Roc, 10)
* Wanda Jackson, "You Know That I'm No Good" internet single (Third Man, 10)
* Clem Snide, "Song for Mary" Meat of Life (429, 10)
* Allison Moorer, "Broken Girl" Crows (Ryko, 10)
* X-Rated Cowboys, "Low Self-Esteem & Alcohol" X-Rated Cowboys (FFN, 05)
* Backyard Tire Fire, "Good To Be" Good To Be (Self, 09)
* Kate Campbell, "Miles of Blues" Blues and Lamentations (Large River, 05)
* Blue Rodeo, "Arizona Dust" Things We Left Behind (Red Eye, 10)
* Elliot Randall & the Deadmen, "Caffeine & Gasoline" Caffeine & Gasoline (Self, 09)

Scott