Country & Folk

New album: Josh Gray || Walk Alone

“All these radio stations // They won’t play my songs // They’ll be back one day // When I’m old and gray // To try and right their wrongs.” The chorus of the opening track of Walk Alone grabbed me and I knew right away that Josh Gray‘s music could hold me for the full 40 minutes. We’re talking about the third album from the San Francisco-born/Nashville-based singer-songwriter, featuring ten diverse powerful songs with relatable stories of hope, hardship and perseverance. Musically it’s a quality mixture of country, blues, rock, folk and bluegrass, with poetic self-aware lyrics by irresistible dark vocals in the lead role. From the closing tune: “Finally found // The solid ground // My feet were missing all along // The perfect site // On a moonlit night // To sit and write these silly songs.” Silly songs for the win – when we finally have a radio show, we’ll play them immediately.




Walk Alone, recorded to tape in The Bomb Shelter and featuring skillful Nashville musicians, is out now digitally and on CD through Continental Record Services.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Josh Gray

New album: Ryan Curtis || Ain’t Ever Easy

Boise, Idaho-based musician Ryan Curtis has returned with his sophomore solo album Ain’t Ever Easy. You get nine old school honky tonk and high desert country-blues songs, in which his mighty gravelly  vocals and heartfelt lyrics play the leading role, but an excellent band – Rider Soran (guitar), Nevada Swole (bass), Daniel Blumenfeld (keys) and Cooper Trail (drums) – provides high-quality backing. It is an atmospheric and optimistic record with a gritty and funky sound, which makes every road trip less difficult.

Ain’t Ever Easy, recorded by Bart Budwig, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through American Standard Time Records / Free Dirt Service Co.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Quality Used Cars || Quality Of Life

Two and a half years after their fine debut album Good Days/Bad Days, Australian alt-country/garage-pop five-piece Quality Used Cars return with their sophomore LP Quality Of Life. A lot has happened since then, or as one of the standout tracks puts it: Since The World’s Been Turning Upside Down, but Francis Tait’s fabulous storytelling and distinctive vocals are just as beautiful if not more so. The central theme of the record – finding yourself in the world and being content with where and who you are – but especially the way in which it is conveyed, makes this an intimate, melancholic and relatable listen. The eleven new songs not only radiate more optimism but they are also a bit more idiosyncratic, the sound of instrumentalists Hannah McKittrick, Benny Leahy, Isobel Caldwell and Ryan Leahy being a bit less polished, and those ragged edges tickle our senses in a pleasant way.




Quality Of Life is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Spoilsport Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: A-Go-Go || It’s Alright

Last Spring, Columbus (Ohio) trio A-Go-Go released a compilation of the three EPS they sent into the airwaves over a 12 month-period. Well, it’s not even Autumn and the next EP has already arrived.  It features brand new garage pop goodness by the band, or as the band’s tagline reads “Rainbow cowpoke garage-rock baby.” I’d almost include a yeehaw! because there is a definite sense of country to the music of A-Go-Go. It’s more a vibe than a sound though. That vibe is pretty laid-back, making It’s Alright a solid pick for the title of the EP.

In my previous post I described A-Go-Go as Jacuzzi Boys meets Allah-Las meets Jaill, and for the It’s Alright EP, I’d like to drop the Jacuzzi Boys reference. Intentionally or not, the first seconds of the EP do sound eerily close to the notes and tones of Big Star. Anyhow, this EP is a great way to start your week of music. By the way, last time I checked A-Go-Go had zero monthly listeners on Spotify. That is a criminal offense!



The It’s Alright EP is out now on Super Sport Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp ||

New album: Symbol Soup || Slow Puncture

About 25 years ago I bought the Symbol Soup box set, nine magazine-like books by two trend watchers about the up-and-coming visual generation at the time. A lot has changed since then, but I really like that the concept of Symbol Soup is getting a new life as the moniker under which UK singer-songwriter Michael Rea releases music. Somehow his full-length debut album Slow Puncture feels like a belated – symbolic – soundtrack to the book: “Pulling up to a new site of destruction // Where I burn just like the bruise // There’s a ransom on your golden days in magazine collage // I’ll be lapping water from a tire in the park let me wait for you // Cause I’m tired of missing cues” (from opening track Dial-A-Dream). You get twelve jangly indie-pop songs, in which folk and rock influences and personal reflections and limitations can be heard. The music is captivating and atmospheric, the lyrics are poetic and appealing: “I dreamt I was in a game show with the prize of becoming human, and that’s been true the whole time” (from Gameshow).


Slow Puncture is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Sad Club Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: T.R. Burge || Selling You

British singer-songwriter Tim Richard Burge has lived in Australia, Canada, Scotland, Siberia and England, he studied classical guitar at an old style Soviet Music Institute (whilst teaching children to speak English) and old style blues guitar with John Morris of The Blues Preachers in Sydney, and he plays in Manchester goth rock/synth band Mercury Machine – experiences that don’t seem important for this blog but they are, because they heavily influence and inspire his style of writing and playing as T.R. Burge. Just listen to his new EP Selling You, the successor of last year’s debut EP God Ache. You’ll hear five acoustic indie-folk tracks, subdued, melancholic and atmospheric, with optimistic and hopeful lyrics, recorded in rural Sweden during winter. No fillers here, but the title track in particular – an irresistible melody and lush vocals – is a modern pinnacle within the genre.

Selling You, produced by Robbie Moore, is out now digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Secret Admirer || Better Yet

Nick Ainsworth is a singer-songwriter who made his mark in Manchester-based bands such as Former Bullies, Dinner Party and Feel Right, but has been working solo under the moniker of Secret Admirer for some time now. For his new (third) full-length album Better Yet, he and some skilled friends recorded eleven subdued songs that hover somewhere between alt-country, indie pop and folk rock. You’ll hear meandering melodies and solid vocals, but also instruments that respectfully compete for attention with each other. This album is intimate and inviting, charming and clever, atmospheric and appealing.



Better Yet is out now digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Phil Smith || Into The Night

Tasmanian singer-songwriter Phil Smith returns with his fifth LP under his arm, whose title – Into The Night – and cover photo – by Lib Newman – set the tone. The sister album to 2014’s Year Of The Dog contains nine original, authentic and timeless tracks about “the usual stuff: You know, solitude and loss, death and departure, finding solace in the compassion of strangers, big cities, living too fast, haunting memories of past heartbreaks…”

Smith, responsible for vocals, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, mellotron, harmonica, shaker, piano, organ, banjo and tambourine, surpasses himself with truly beautiful Americana/alt-country songs – appealing stories, heartfelt vocals,  guitars that alternately jangle or rock, and a harmonica that goes straight into your heart. For example, listen to the closing lines and notes of Frank’s Song: “And I hold dear these memories, like a candle to the damn night // Cause a life it don’t seem like it’s worth much, with nobody to light // And the nights (they) get lonely, and the days sometimes too // But I’ll hold you my friend like a brother, if you need me to.” Goosebumps.



Into The Night, self-produced, is out digitally and on vinyl LP (self-released). Also featuring Nick Milnes (electric guitar, backing vocals), David Manchip (bass guitar), Dan Benson (drums), Paul Hiscuitt (drums), Beau Thomas (drums), Randal Muir (Hammond organ), Scott Targett (Hammond organ), Matthew Olivier (piano), Al Campbell (bass, organ), and Maggie Edwards (backing vocals).

Add to want list: Bandcamp

New EP: Boy Golden || For Jimmy

Two years after Boy Golden’s amazing debut LP debut album Church of Better Daze, which you could see as a kind of concept album, Liam Duncan and his friends have now released new EP For Jimmy. Although their golden rules to live by don’t seem to have changed (“Follow your heart // Make good art // Call your momma // Work real hard”), the six fresh tracks are literally and figuratively about a different journey: “I left who I was in them Blue Hills // Found myself heading out East” (from Mountain Road). Musically they have moved much more towards alt-country and psych-folk, lyrically it’s a bit more mature and vulnerable, although they nuance that themselves (“Every day it gets a little bit more clear // In the rearview, closer than it appears // I tried to write a song that feels sincere but oh // It gets so hard to make a point when you just don’t care” – from Hard Headed), but this makes you realize all the more how well it is put together.



For Jimmy, produced by Liam Duncan, Fontine Beavis, Austin Parachoniak, Roman Clarke, Kris Ulrich and Corey Hykawy, is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP through Six Shooter Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Six Shooter Records

New album: Cut Worms || Cut Worms

Five years ago I was standing in a small concert venue in Utrecht (Netherlands) watching in awe how Max Clarke (Cut Worms) played song after song of flawless pop. I don’t recall many people attending, but the Add To Wantlist crew was present, and this website was still something we might do someday “if time would allow it.” I had no idea that five years later I’d be writing about the new Cut Worms LP as recommended new music. Using the term recommended takes self-constraint, because I’m seriously loving this LP. You see, the past week I was away with the family, spending most time offline, and if I heard any music it was on the radio or from the kids’ playlists – pretty terrible on all accounts. But then, on Friday morning I found some time to check out the new releases – I guess this becomes habitual when you run a website like this. Before I knew it, I had played the self-titled Cut Worms album front-to-back, remembering what I love about discovering new music. Being blown away by a new song never gets old, even when that song sounds familiar. And in case of the new Cut Worms, you get song after song like that. Let’s not overcomplicate the descriptions: few present day songwriters have mastered the timeless pop classic as well as Max Clarke. It may not be your thing, but it’s hard to find fault with this record.

Cut Worms is out now through Jagjaguwar.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Discogs

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