The band coalesced
around 2019 as a collaboration between Trevor
Crist
(vocals, guitar, piano, organ) and Nicole Valcour (vocals, drums).
Along with bassist John "Spence" Spencer, they started performing
together to showcase Crist's songwriting, with a sonic signature
defined by Crist and Valcour's braided harmonies. Bill Mullins
(Barbacoa, Blowtorch), joined shortly after, bringing his unique and
expressive electric guitar stylings to the mix.
"Recording at home,
and producing everything ourselves, is
perfect for us because we have all the time in the world and a ton of
freedom," says Crist. "...most of the songwriters that influence
me typically aren't confessional, so as a result, I'm almost never the
protagonist of my writing. I always try to find the voice of the
character and let them speak in the song. Our last album had a number
of storytelling songs but that were based on actual experiences or
places that I'd been, but for this one I wanted to push it to be pure
fiction."
"Used to be the Next
Big Thing"
Well, I used to be the
next big thing
Had the whole wide
world on a string
The marquee lights
burned so bright
And the people had to
hear me sing
I was the talk and
the toast of the town
People knew me when
they saw me around
Everyone was my friend
Said they'd say they
knew me when
I used to be the next
big thing
Crist says he was reaching
for a mid seventies
soft rock album with a retro-vintage country sound.
"Damned Old Song"
I hear that screen door slamming again
And just like that you're gone
I roll myself out of the bed
And I turn the radio on
And there"s that damned old song again
The one we used to sing
The one we danced to cheek to cheek
When you still wore my ring
"Over the lockdown portion of the pandemic, I really spent a lot of time playing the Rhodes piano and the Hammond organ. Our first album was very acoustic guitar driven, but this one was really built on keyboards. We wanted to really tap into that retro-vintage country sound, but produce it almost like a 70s soft-rock album."
"When You're Around"
When you"re around my heart is a flutter
Since the first time I saw your sweet face
When you're around my brain turns to butter
Girl, I long for your embrace
Been such a long time since I"ve been lonely
Don't wanna feel that no more
Been such a long time you"ve been my one and only
You're still the only one I adore
"Nowadays it feels like you have to either be super earnest, or be a novelty act," says Crist. "But guys like Roger Miller and Buck Owens, and John Prine nailed that middle ground. I wanted to really explore that middle ground with these stories."
"Tumbleweeds"
There's not a story in this place
I haven't heard before
Just waiting for my wounds to heal
Since I got caught beneath your wheels
This town could use a little less of me
I could surely use a drink to get you off my mind
I'm usually better after I've had two or three
By the time it's time for closing time
I'm usually doing fine
Maple Run Band is from Vermont and has been described as Americana, roots rock, alt-country, 70s rock, twang, jam-band, indie, retro, country-folk, folk-rock, "hint of the Allmans", and paisley underground, among other things. "
The New Orleans
quintet"Dan Cutler (vocals/bass), Sam Doores (vocals/guitar), Riley
Downing (vocals/guitar), Cameron Snyder (vocals/percussion), and John
James Tourville (fiddle/pedal steel)"have weathered ups, downs, and
everything in between only to strengthen the bond between them.
Ways & Means
is their third album, and they are upfront and philosophical about the
changes the group has gone through.
"The title reminds me
of being young, getting into the music business, going through
everything, and coming out of it," Downing observes. "We're taking a
look right, left, and back at ourselves."
"Ways & Means"
You bought into the
hype
You were the guileless
type
You had hopes and
dreams
You had hopes and
dreams
You're right you're
never wrong
That's how they string
you along
They got ways and means
"We were letting go of
a bunch of old dynamics that left us burnt out," adds John James
Tourville. "However, we're focused on being productive and on the other
side."
"South Dakota Wild One"
She was a South Dakota
wild one
Grew up on the hippie
farm
Just outside of a
small town
Where life can grab
you by the arm
I never knew about her
daddy
But her momma had two
strong arms
And a nice guitar
pickin' man
Who tried to keep her
warm
"I was in Lawrence, KS
visiting my folks at the height of the Pandemic," Sam Doores remembers.
"I was walking down Massachusetts Avenue on a Sunday morning and
wondering what I had left to give the world. Perhaps, I was
experiencing a mild existential crisis from living off unemployment and
facing the cancellation of my album release tours. Luckily, my phone
rang. John James asked how I'd feel about making another Deslondes
record with so much genuine enthusiasm it was contagious. We all owe it
to him. Instinctually, a resounding "Hell Yes' came out of my mouth."
"Howl at the Moon"
I look in a stranger's
eyes
Don't know what's
going on
Sometimes I'm imagining
You've done somebody
wrong
These days I feel so
strange
I've got to make a
change
Go out on the open
range
And howl at the moon
Howl at the moon
"We came to some
personal agreements about how everything was going to go down in
advance," Cutler says. "From experience, we realized what we
liked and who was good at what. In terms of the studio, it was probably
the easiest album we've ever made. Usually, we're too busy touring to
put a lot of thought into pre-production and ideas. This was definitely
the most prepared we've ever been beforehand."
"Bound by Love"
I'll do my little part
To create a work of art
I'll get up in the
morning every day
I'll chisel little
bits of you away
I'll trace you in my
mind
It's gonna take a bit
of time
And someday we're
gonna finally see
It's the life that'll
set you free
"To us,
this is family. It's a part of our lives. When you hear our
music, I hope you feel like you're hanging out with us. The band's back
together now, and it just feels good," Tourville adds.
"Riley,
JJ, Dan, and Cam are my brothers," Doores concurs. "We've all been
through so much together. I don't think any of us will have that
experience with another group of people again in our lives. Sometimes,
we drive each other crazy of course, but we're family. I'd take a
bullet for any of those geezers."
Anywhere off Hatteras
Island, Chicamacomico sounds made up, like some wine-drunk incantation
or maybe a tongue twister"try to say it ten times fast. But as a former
life-saving station built in 1874 on the Outer Banks of North Carolina,
the name is perhaps the perfect metaphor and title for American
Aquarium's ninth studio album -- what better to represent an
album about loss than a place built to save the lives of shipwrecked
mariners and passengers?
"Every day, I'd take a break at lunch to go on a run, and there was
this giant water tower that said Chicamacomico. I looked it up, and
that's what North Hatteras Island used to be called by the Algonquin
tribe that settled it. It means "sinking sand.' "
"Chicamacomico"
This winter just won't end
Lord, knows what we've
been through
It's been the kind of
year that damn near broke us clean in two
Let's head down to the
shoreline and wash off all this blame
Swim out past the
breakers just to curse the maker's name
Try to find that piece
of us we lost all those years ago
Out on the sinking
sands of Chicamacomico
Barham has never been
one to back
away from the darkness or the more difficult subject matter. the loss
of his mother and grandmother, the loss of a child, the loss of youth
and time and the creative spark that drives him.
"The darkest corners
of my writing is where I think folks find the most light and that is a
really powerful feeling as a writer. It's what allows me to operate in
that world and not get bogged down," he explained. "Knowing that I'm
going into the dark place not just for me, but for anyone else that is
willing to listen, makes it far easier to face those dark emotions head
on."
"First Year"
It's finally here that
time of year when your favourite flowers start to bloom
And the showers of
April cascade into the summer we call June
Yesterday was my
birthday, first one since you been gone
All my friends say it
gets easier, all my friends have been known to be wrong
"When
these massive life changes happen, we feel like we are the only ones
facing these problems. Talking about them openly, giving them a name
and dragging them into the light makes them seem a little less
daunting, a little more conquerable," Barham said. "I hope this album
serves as a salve to anyone who has experienced this sort of loss over
the last few years. I hope it makes them feel a little less isolated
and disconnected. I want them to know that someone out there is going
through the exact same shit and that they are not alone."
"Little Things"
I was standin' in the
kitchen doin' the dishes we left from the night before
Then she walked in
with a gap-toothed grin roarin' like a dinosaur
I've spent my whole
life with one foot out of the door
And it finally took
puttin' down what I was workin' on to see what I was workin' for
[Chorus]
'Cause it's the little
things that get me through to tomorrow
Oh it's the little
things that keep me in the fight
It's coffee in the
mornin', it's singin' her to sleep each night
Yeah it's the little
things that let me know
That everything's
gonna be alright
Few songwriters write
with such authority and direction as Barham, and it is a
testament to the humility and trust of his bandmates"Shane Boeker,
guitar; Neil Jones, pedal steel; Rhett Huffman, keys; Ryan Van Fleet,
drums, and Alden Hedges on bass that they follow him into such dark
places.
"All I Needed"
I turn the radio on
And out come a song I
didn't recognize
The way the singer was
singing
My heart was
connected, I was hypnotized
How can something that
I've never heard in my life
Pull me back into the
light?
[Chorus]
It's a time, it's a
place
A lyrical sucker-punch
to the face
I was runnin' on empty
and life was really gettin' me down
It was a hook, it was
a line
It was a savior in
three quarter time
I was out there losing
my mind
When all I needed was
a song
"I don't think anybody
has made it through the last two years without losing someone, whether
to suicide or overdose or Covid or just getting old, just the myriad
things plaguing us right now."Barham says.
When the
life-altering pandemic hit hard, a homebound
Sarah Borges did the one thing she knew how to do better than almost
anything else. She picked up her guitar and started writing songs.
"Together Alone"
It"s the little
things, I'm missing now
Now that they"re gone
Lines across faces and
photos from places
Our shadows growing long
Remember me at the
summer's end
The leaves are falling now
Even though we might now
meet again
I"ll love you anyhow
"I
think my self-editing tool is always fierce, and it's what prevents me
from being more prolific," Sarah says. "I feel like I'm always writing
in blood, like I have to stick to what I wrote the first time. But when
you're home alone, and it's a pandemic, and you don't know if anyone
will ever even hear the songs, all bets
are off. You can write what you want and feel free to cross it out as
many times as you want."
"Wasting My Time"
Been a while now, since I've seen my friends
Don"t know when I'm gonna see "em again
Without them around, it's harder to pretend
That I know where I'm going
But it"s all love and roses in spring
Then the winter snow kills everything, you know
Is it raining?
Borges would record her guitar and vocal demos on her iPhone using her clothes closet as a vocal isolation booth, then send them along to longtime mentor Eric "Roscoe" Ambel's home recording setup. He's a venerable producer and guitarist who's played with
everyone from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts to Steve Earle and The Dukes. He'd listen carefully to the rudimentary tracks, and then sort out who in his musical Rolodex might play what, where, when, and how. The tricky part, Ambel says, was that "I had to think of not only great
players, but great players that could do a very good job recording themselves at home."
"I got songs to them in a very specific building order. Basically, we all went back to the "70s in recording style, working on one song at a time until it was complete. Time and geography didn't really matter," says Ambel. "It was exciting to be on the virtual receiving end of all
these great songs and performances."
"Rock and Roll Hour"
I got money in the bank, but I got to get it spent
Gonna spend on hotel rooms
Forget to pay the rent
And as for the telephone and electric power
Gonna put it all in the gas tank
Take us to the rock and roll hour
"All I know is that
when I was a kid in Taunton, MA, and the Boston Music Awards would
happen, they would run the winners in the paper the next day. And
they've run the winners in the paper the times that I've won, and the
feeling of having your grandma be proud of you because your name's in
the paper because you won a gosh-darn Boston Music Award is priceless!
Of course, it's an honor to be nominated, but when you win it, you feel
great."
"13th Floor"
I"m gonna take the
elevator
Right up to the 13th floor
Gotta tempt fate sooner or later
Otherwise, what you doin' it for?
"The record feels
really comfortable, like a second skin already. It's a good
representation of who I am, both musically and personally," says Borges.
Nightmares
by Gasoline Lollipops
This
album is not altogether new. It was a new release in 2022,
but it features three new songs and seven GasPops favorites, rearranged
to showcase the acoustic-based, intimate yet
spacious extraordinary sound quality of Octave's Pure DSD
high-resolution recording process. I am fine with this mix as I'm not
fully versed in everything the band has done in the past.
Frontman and
singer/guitarist Clay Rose was raised by an outlaw truck-driving father
and a country songwriting mom in rural Nashville, Tennessee, and he's
complemented by a simpatico band " Gasoline Lollipops ("we're sweet,
yet explosive," notes Rose) are two-time winners of a Best Colorado
Band award and have toured throughout the US and internationally.
"My dad was a truck driver and
an avid music lover. From the time I was four years old, I'd ride coast
to coast with him. He taught me how to listen to music, with your whole
self, your heart, your body, mind, and spirit."
"Pop's Song"
Hey Son, how ya been?
I hear Los Angeles can
turn boys to men"
"Yeah well, hey, Pop,
you know, it's not quite like that.
It's more like they
turn dreams into cold, hard facts.
And I feel like going
home. I feel all alone."
"I've
definitely pounded enough nails now to remember what that life is like;
it's hard to be an aging rockstar, but it's way harder to be an aging
construction worker," Clay said. "If I go two weeks without playing a
show, I'm losing my mind, it's more than just a job or a hobby for me,
it's therapy. It's really necessary for my sanity to continue playing
music, so in the face of all that, we've become motivated again to get
back on the career path. We're getting strategic about it and mapping
out tours for the summer. We're going to give it another push because
what the fuck, we're still here, we're still sucking air, might as
well."
"Midnight
Dance"
But
it's a seed that grows the garden, baby
It's
the thought that makes the mind
So,
content yourself with dirty weeds and roses
Tangled
up with mine
And
have a midnight dance
while
the children sleep
Lay
your head against my chest
We
can't save 'em, they're in too deep
But
we'll do our best, yes
We'll
do our best
Clay Rose is joined by
Don Ambory (electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin), Scott Coulter
(keyboards, harmonica), "Bad" Brad Morse (bass), and Kevin Matthews
(drums, percussion) in Gasoline Lollipops, with guest backup singers
Carly Ricks Smith, Giselle Collazo, and Kate Farmer. As well as being
inventive, this group is made up with exceptionally fine musicians.
They impress by how much they do not call attention to themselves, but
rather what they can add to the composition.
"Devil's in the Ace"
My heart is like a ghost town
my veins are empty streets
I'm a wedding gown
after the great divorce
I try to keep my head down
and my mind off of defeat
but the nightmares just come with greater force
But despite the extra
work and expense, including months booking two separate tours for their
previous album All That
Money Can Buy,
Rose says "relief" was the first emotion he experienced upon learning
of the impending shutdown.
"I felt relief that I
didn't have to go out for four months and miss vital steps in my baby
daughter's life," Rose said. "And I felt so relieved that for a moment
I thought, maybe I shouldn't be playing music anymore, that I got so
caught up in the career path that I didn't see the signs telling me I
was done. And I even told the guys in the band that I thought maybe I
was done."
"Fast Train"
I have not been well
I've been drinkin' too much whiskey
and thinkin' too much hell
I just wanna be free
but I can't deny the weight of these chains
bearing down on me
(Chorus)
Just give me a fast train
the fuck outa here
Give me a hard rain
make it all disappear
I just wanna lay my head down
and sleep while I ride
wake up when it's over
over on the other side
"My feeling is that
shows will kinda be in two parts. We'll do the ethereal, new, intimate,
exposed, raw album " and then we're just gonna have a cathartic,
shit-kicking barn burner," he said. "For me, that's where the exorcism
really takes place. I have a lot of baggage to unpack."
"Jesus Aint Dead"
But them wafers ain't meat
they're just made of wheat
no one ever got drunk off of blood
So pass that wine around, my friends,
redemption will just have to wait.
We'll be drunk by the time this world comes to an end,
and I'll see you at the old pearly gates.
Born in Italy to a
Sicilian-American father and a Guatemalan mother, Cristina Vane has
always had a tenuous relationship with identity and place. She grew up
between England, France and Italy, and was fluent in four languages by
the time she moved to her fathers' native United States for university
at 18.
"I've been trying to
peel back the layers, to understand who I am, and I think that process
has translated to this record," she explains, "The production is
straightforward, more minimal, and a bit of a return to my rock roots
but still paying homage to the music I've explored since then".
"Make Myself Me Again"
Sometimes I lose,
sometimes I win
I'm gonna make myself
me again
I'm giving up on
givin' in
I"m gonna make myself
me again
After graduating from
Princeton with a degree in Comparative Literature, Vane moved to Los
Angeles where she worked at McCabe's Guitar Shop, and spent every free
moment working on her music, studying fingerstyle guitar with mentor
Pete Steinberg. Those years pushed her into deeper exploration of
country blues picking and old folk guitar styles. In the last few years
she's taken a deep dive into old-time and bluegrass music, adding
clawhammer banjo to her arsenal of instruments.
"Sometimes Baby"
Hard times, oh they
will come and go
Your intentions will
someday show
Sure as rainfall the
winter's blow
You can't get away
from yourself
"I'm essentially a rock kid
who
is obsessed with old music. I am an Americana musician and songwriter "
I play slide guitar, fingerstyle guitar, clawhammer banjo, and I sing,
write and perform all my songs. I tour for much of the year, and in my
spare time I write, record and release new music. I also sometimes do
some commercial acting on the side. I am most proud of trying to stay
true to myself and following my passions for this very niche music that
has lead me to beautiful communities of people. I am also very proud of
my tenacity and not losing sight of my vision!"
"Colorado Sky"
Let me tell you about the Colorado Sky
About the soft pink clouds, about the wood piled high
Lord, once you get under that Colorado Sky
You can't help but feel like a lifetime passed you by
"I have learned that
the cliches are mostly true. I think that while common sense
may not be common, people have this sort of instinctual ability to
sniff out bullshit, and that ultimately you are doing yourself a
disservice by trying to cater to other people! The truer you are to
what's inside, it seems to me, the more magic the music."
"A Little
Bit of Me"
There's a little bit
of me in all that you do
We may never speak
again but I know that it's true
I used to think I'd
rather die that forget you
God bless this mess,
god bless you too
Seek a straight and
narrow way
My patience might just
slip today
You pass me up, you
leave love cold
but that story, babe,
is the worst you've told
After being exposed to all of this music that I love, I'm slowly
figuring out how to find my own voice," she says, "It is the sound of
growing up".
"Writing helps me sort
out confusion, untangle powerful emotions, and ward off desperation. It
helps me navigate the powerful emotional weather systems of life."
As she has
so eloquently accomplished over the past 25 years, acclaimed singer-
songwriter Mary Gauthier has used her art once again to traverse the
uncharted waters of the past few years. "I'm the kind of songwriter who
writes what I see in the world right now," she says.
"Dark Enough to See
the Stars"
At the bottom of my
tears, on the backside of my fears
At the center of the
pain, I hear my voice call out your name
Days go by, nothing
works, I can't believe how much this hurts
I don't know where you
are, it's dark enough to see the stars
On Dark Enough to See the Stars, she mourns recent
devastating losses: the deaths of John Prine, David Olney, Nanci
Griffith, and her beloved friend Betsy.
"How Could You Be Gone"
I
keep
starin' at the clock
Stumblin' 'round the house in shock
I don't know what I feel
I can't believe that this is real
I
don't
know what to wear
I don't know who will be there
I wanna call you, I wanna cry
I don't wanna say goodbye
"It's complicated "
because all around the edges was the pandemic. But you've got to
express your joy " a joy that's not free from pain. There's grief all
around us, but there's this ability to still love and still be aware
that the sky is beautiful and the hand that I'm holding is filled with
love..." Her love Jaime Harris sings harmony on many of the
cuts.
"Amsterdam"
It's
been
a heartbreak year
I'm so glad to be back here
Walking these old streets with you
Wide awake, a dream come true
Alright,
feeling alright
In Amsterdam tonight
Alright, feeling alright
In Amsterdam, Amsterdam tonight
"That's always been
the point. To write the best possible songs, and to elevate the art
form, and to travel down the trail that my heroes blazed"Dylan,
Springsteen, my friend Steve Earle, plus Rodney Crowell and Lucinda
Williams. There's a whole lot of people on that road, and that's the
road I want to be on."
"Truckers and
Troubadours"
Truckers
and troubadours
Black coffee and metaphors
Steering wheels late nights and songs
Wake up in the morning, we're gone
On the stage, on the road, pack it
up, pull the load
Thousands of miles left to do,
always just passing through
Truckers
and troubadours
Our other half walking the floors
Can't wait to make it back home
Counting the days 'til we're gone
Gear jammers rhymers not made for
these timers
In love with the strange and the
new, always just passing through
"This is the kind of
songwriting I've always been drawn to," says
Jeremy Ivey. "The perpetual motion, the intricate melodies, the
sprawling arrangements. This album is the real me."
"Downhill (Upside Down
Optomist)"
The upside-down
optimist says as he climbs
"Don't you worry about
me. This happens all the time."
He's got a bright
disposition but he knows how it ends
'Cause it's all
downhill, my friends
Yeah, it's all
downhill from here
"When you sing a
melody in your head, you can either put three chords
around it or nine," says Ivey. "This time, I aimed
for nine."
Born in San
Antonio, he suffered a stroke and was
diagnosed with cerebral palsy during infancy as a result of his birth
mother's battles with drug addiction. Doctors at the time said he would
likely never learn to walk or talk, but Ivey proved them wrong,
managing to become not only a gifted multi-instrumentalist, but a
profoundly poetic writer, to boot.
"Orphan Child"
I'm an orphan, honey
I'm a no-name nomad
livin' in this great unknown
This place is good as
any and I've been to so many
I'm an orphan child
Yes, I'm an orphan but
I'm better on my own
For years he traveled
the country, picking up work in kitchens and
playing guitar to make ends meet. In Colorado, he lived in a tent; in
Boston, he struggled with homelessness. Eventually, the road led to
Nashville, where he began collaborating with (and
eventually married) another searcher named Margo
Price.
"When I met Margo, she
was working as a waitress in a bar," recalls
Ivey. "We were both stuck with these dead-end jobs and shared the same
dream of getting out and traveling the world making music."
"Grey Machine"
He walks in a raven's
shadow
Blinded in the first
new snow
Counting footsteps to
the door
Where no one says hello
[Chorus]
He gets a beer and he
watches her work
She's the best thing
he's ever seen
They're gonna run
away, so far away from the grey machine
In just the past few
years alone, he'd welcomed a daughter into the
world, survived a particularly brutal bout of COVID, and watched the
entire music industry slip into freefall. With touring off the table
for more than a year, he decided stretch himself
compositionally, returning to the complex, harmonically
sophisticated music that had fascinated him in his younger years
but had taken a backseat since his move to
Nashville.
"A whole lot of
different people with a whole lot
of different musical backgrounds came in and out of the studio
while we were recording," says Ivey. "When Andrija Tokic, the
producer, heard a sound in his head,
he'd just go find the player who could make it
happen."
"Black Mood"
I'm in a black mood
I've got rusted gears
inside
Live-wire sparks
strike like snakes
But I don't show it
What good would it do
for you
To see a man trapped
in his mistakes?
[Chorus]
He's just a child with
a face that's melted down
Goin' gray and faded
out
Between the cracks of
his smile, there's a death
Between every breath
"I try to put a little
bit of hope into everything I
do," Ivey reflects. "No matter how heavy, no matter how dark
things may get, there's always a little bit of light shining
through."
Special
Mention:
This
is just an amazing piece of work. Not bluegrass or even Appalachian
music, more just old-time songs passed down through generations that
Harris learned for his own amusement and added his own take on them so
that he could pass them down to the next generation in the form he knew
them. I am grateful. I would recommend giving them a listen
so you might be grateful, too.
Honorable
Mentions:
Palomino
by First Aid Kit
