three spring flowers

this is a challenging time for the overall music industry, especially for those who make a substantial part of their income by touring. i have also seen some artists postponing releasing new material, i guess for fear that people’s discretionary income is down and overall sales might suffer.

well, here are three releases that i have bought in the last month that i think might be worth your while.

the first is a new album by whitney rose – her fourth overall and first on her own label. ‘we still go to rodeos’ is a bit of a divergence from her previous efforts, which featured more of an overall country sound. on this she uses veteran producer paul kolderie (radiohead, uncle tupelo, pixies, etc) and a solid core of austin studio musicians to create a more varied palette, easily shifting back and forth between honky tonk ballads and more contemporary rockers. she has mentioned that she became intrigued when she heard marty stuart say that tom petty and the heartbreakers were the best country band ever, and you can here undercurrents of that sound on quite a few songs. some of the songs employ as many as three guitarists at a time, including gurf morlix (lucinda williams), one of the greatest rock and roll names ever.

this canadian import (prince edward island!) wrote all twelve songs, and she tackles all the material eloquently and with a voice that can match any style she tries. why she isn’t more well known is a bit of a mystery to me. she is very talented.

next up is the debut album from logan ledger, a san francisco native that moved to nashville a few years ago. he diligently worked the local club scene, and was discovered by t bone burnett when some demos he had cut made their way to t bone’s bass player.

logan had started playing guitar at the age of twelve and quickly became a fan of the sun records sound, studying the likes of roy orbison, elvis presley, johnny cash, mississippi john hurt, among others. the first time you here his voice you will likely harken back to the great songs from the fifties and sixties, and the sonic landscapes that t bone lays down behind him are perfectly matched. burnett put together the same line up as his grammy winning ‘raising sand’, the robert plant and alison krauss collaboration from a few years back – marc ribot on guitar, drummer jay bellerose, and bassist dennis crouch.

this is a guy to keep an eye on.

last up is a bit of a west texas red dirt country super group, basically taking four singer/songwriters from four different bands and creating an album under the moniker of ‘the panhandlers’. recorded by austin artist bruce robison in his analog studio, it is a solid outing that captures the various talents of all four, and you can decide which you like the best. cleto cordero i think is my favorite, so i also started exploring work from the band he is in, flatland cavalry. if you like turnpike troubadors, you may want to check these guys out. (hat tip to reader dave c. on this one).