A late night blog entry. It’s 3 am here in Finland, I’m on vacation and I poured a little bit of whiskey into a glass and I’m introducing my heart to the new Patrick Sweany album Ancient Noise that is finally out here in Europe as well. Life is good, the record is too. Patrick Sweany is a master of soulful blues from Nashville, Tennessee and I’ve been fan since his 2011 album That Old Southern Drag. This new one was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis and it’s got both the beauty and the howl. Here’s one early favourite that might not actually be the best selection for introductory purposes, but a bit of Country Loving just fits perfectly to this late night. Ancient Noise is now out on Nine Mile Records and you can stream/buy the whole thing by hitting the links on that Bandcamp player below.

Patrick Sweany Website

A jump across the ocean to New Zealand. Emily Fairlight is a folk songwriter from Wellington and her new album Mother Of Gloom came out in May. I bought a download of it a week or so ago and find it rather special. The songwriting is really good and her voice is powerful and captivating. Occasionally the voice reminds me of Hurray For the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra, but that’s obviously not a bad thing. Here’s a couple of personal favorites from the new Emily Fairlight album.

Emily Fairlight at Facebook

Back to the US and this time West Virginia to finish this little round up blog entry. You might have seen this new William Matheny EP on the mid-year list thing I did a week or so ago. It certainly would deserve a bigger blog post, but there’s so much great music out there for one dude who has a day job too. Anyway, Moon Over Kenova EP is sort of a companion piece to William Matheny’s excellent 2017 album Strange Constellations, but it sure has enough quality to live on its own merits even if you have never heard of that record. There’s some completely new songs, alternate takes, live versions and covers and it’s out now on Misra Records. This is the title track Moon Over Kenova.

William Matheny Website

A small video post before it’s time to focus on football for the rest of the day. A long time favourite Turner Cody from New York has a new album called The Duke of Decline coming out sometime later this year I would assume. I’m not sure exactly when and failed in my search to find out. However, the first outtake and music video The Wee Wee Hours is already out and available and it’s a great song once again. Here’s the music video that was directed by Jimmy Giannopoulos.

Turner Cody Website

There’s also a new John Calvin Abney music video out there. This time it’s for a song called Always Enough and it was directed by Bobby Dean Orcutt. Always Enough is the album opener of his excellent 2018 album Coyote that came out the 18th of May on Black Mesa Records.

John Calvin Abney Website

The first half of 2018 gave us a lot of great music and the latter half isn’t looking any worse. Here’s a quick look of three albums that I’m extremely excited about.

First there’s the new Austin Lucas album Immortal Americans that is due out August 17th on Cornelius Chapel Records (who are having a really strong year btw, Caleb Caudle and Will Stewart albums are some of my favourites of the year and the one song I’ve heard from Leon III was really good as well). I love Austin Lucas and I’m sure this new album is going to be special. The first outtake from the forthcoming album that Austin co-produced with Will Johnson is this gorgeous title track Immortal Americans.

Austin Lucas Website

Next up is the new Clay Parker and Jodi James album The Lonesomest Sound that Can Sound that will be released on the 20th of July. I’ve had the chance to hear this and I absolute love this. In fact, it’s been the album that I’ve listened to by far the most during the past month and I can’t get enough of it. I was really into the Clay Parker solo Queen City Blues last year and if possible this one is is even better, because it has the both of them singing together in perfect harmony. Oh my how I could listen to Jodi and Clay sing together all day long. This will be their year.

Oh and bonus points for the fact that I actually first heard them singing together at the great Couch by Couchwest festival and I’ve been following them since that day. Oh how great way that was to find new music, if you were into things like americana, folk and country. Anyway, here’s an old video of a great song Gallows Tree that will also be on the new album. More about Clay and Jodi when the albums hits the stores and our hearts on the 20th of July.

Clay Parker and Jodi James Website

And last but not least, there’s a new Aaron Lee Tasjan album on the horizon. Karma For Cheap will be released by New West Records on the 31st of August. Check out the first outtake If Not Now When from the forthcoming album below and start counting days to the release. ALT also has a new weekly Spotify playlist called Karma Jukebox. I recommend that as well, because besides being an excellent songwriter and musician, he is always recommending and sharing music from other artists and I love that. He is a good guy and has a good taste and I’ve picked a few based on his recommendations. Like the excellent Harrison Whitford album early in the year.

Aaron Lee Tasjan Website

The people who took a look at that mid-year list I posted the other day are aware that my absolute favorite songs of the year so far are Matt Dorrien’s I Can’t Remember and All I Wanted To Say. They are both outtakes from this wonderful album In The Key of Grey that came out on Mama Bird Recording Co on the 18th of May. It’s a charming piano-driven album that echoes the work of Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman and Brian Wilson and goes even further into history to The Great American Songbook era. The whole album is a treasure, but those two songs I mentioned above are the standouts for me. I can just feel the deep pain and burning loneliness in every note. I Can’t Remember probably hits even another level of heartbreak due to the fact that I live here in the north. I passionately hate Finland in December, because the sun sets around 3 or 4 pm and the only chance to see the daylight is through the factory window. It’s dark when I go to work and it’s dark when I get back home. So perhaps that’s another reason why the chorus where the love disappears like the sun in December feels overwhelming in its longing intensity. However, it’s not really the sadness and the melancholy of it that gets stuck in the heart of the listener. The overwhelming sadness collides with a deep-seated warmness and gentle timeless beauty and the album turns out to be a very kind and comforting companion. In The Key Of Grey is one of my favourite albums of the year so far.

Matt Dorrien Website