Robyn Ludwick blew me away a few weeks ago, when I saw some of her concert footage  on Youtube.  To say that I dig her is a massive understatement.

Today I received a pre-release copy of her forthcoming record, Out of These Blues, which will make the world a better place on April 19, 2011.

The short answer is that this is the first must-buy record I’ve heard this year.  My biggest gripe about most records in these digital days is the uneven quality of the songs.  You generally get a couple of great ones, some decent ones and some filler.  That’s not a problem on this record – there’s not an average song on it.  They run from excellent to very, very good.

Listen to Hollywood, and you’ll see what I mean.

“She left me for Hollywood.  Oh, don’t you know it feels so good.  In Hollywood.”  Awesome.

The title track has a timeless vibe, that would’ve been at home in the glory days of MP3.Com, when I discovered many of the alt. country bands I still listen to, or during the Gram Parsons-nurtured infancy of country rock.  The best music, of any genre, has rural roots, but a harder, darker edge- like someone who came to country music via Macon, Georgia as opposed to Nashville.  This record sounds like that.

New Orleans is a great song, with some excellent country noir lyrics.  Cajun country, Springsteen’s Rosalita, Austin style.

Steady has a bluesy organ vibe that just boils with an early Lucinda-like passion.  I’d love to hear Robyn cover Lucinda’s Side of the Road.  Actually, she can sing whatever she wants.  As long as I get a copy.

Fight Song may be the best alt. country torch song ever recorded.  I Am may be the second best one.   Can’t Go Back channels Guitar Town era Steve Earle. A fiddle led, danceable number that needs to be heard at Gruene Hall, after a day on the river.

Let’s recap.  We have alt. country, rock, blues and country torch.  I love the way this record so easily and effectively moves from country to blues to rock.  The arrangements are excellent.

This one will clearly be a contender for my 2011 record of the year.  Count the days, friends.  April 19 will be here before you know it.  Wake up early that morning and buy this record.

In the meantime, Robyn has two records you can buy at Amazon right now.  For So Long and Too Much Desire.  I bought them both, and they are also great records.

I’m gonna have to do a two-fer tonight.

I’ve discovered more great music via the must-read music blog, A Truer Sound (RSS feed), than just about any other place on Earth.

Tonight, this.

Wow.  That’s about as good as music gets.

More info and tour dates at Robyn’s website and Facebook page.

It’s sad and amazing how much really great music has faded out of print and into oblivion, as compared to all the crap that passes for new music these days.  Crap that will never fade into oblivion because it is born in digital format.

Need an example?

Johnny Thunder replaced Ben E. King as the lead singer for the Drifters, before he began his solo career.  This hard to find gem, a Tommy James cover,  is from a single (B-Side-Verbal Expressions of T.V.).

I can’t find any of Johnny’s early solo records anywhere (other than occasionally on eBay).  If you find them for sale at anything close to a reasonable price, let me know.

Some of Johnny’s later music can be purchased via his website, linked above.

Johnny Thunder – I’m Alive.

This is one awesome performance of a rocking song.

There’s an interesting interview with Johnny here.

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.

Now that Mojo Nixon has made XM-12 completely unlistenable, I’ve been spending more time on some other XM stations while I wait for the glorious day that Pandora comes to my truck’s audio system.  Doing so has led me to some great music discoveries.

My latest is Sharon Van Etten.  The song that first blew me away is Save Yourself, from her new record Epic (Purchase @ Amazon).  Whatever my musical genome is, this song fits it perfectly.  It’s like a delightful combination of vintage Lucinda, Hockey Skates and Mazzy Star, with a beautiful alt. country arrangement.

Four of the other six songs on Epic are equally as strong.  A Crime is not as country-ish, but it has a strong acoustic guitar track behind some good lyrics.  Very Kathleen Edwards (which is high praise in these parts).  Don’t Do It is probably my favorite song on the record.  It has that perfectly wistful Gulf Shores vibe.  I’d love to hear some duets between Sharon and Bonnie Prince Billy.  One Day is also excellent and would be right at home on a good Ryan Adams record.  Love More is a fine end (hampered only by a distracting accordianish track)  to a short, but very good, record.

I just read that Sharon played here in Houston last month.  Sorry I missed that.  I’ll be there next time.

Good stuff.  Highly recommended.

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, some great music was made in the 80’s.  I remember sitting in my apartment in Nashville and listening to WRVU for hours on end.  It was the decade of REM, Guadalcanal Diary, the Beat Farmers, the Replacements, Lone Justice.  And Scruffy the Cat.

I dug Scruffy because they had a bit of a country sound.  One of my favorite records of the decade was Scruffy’s Tiny Days, from 1987.  I was out of grad school, had a real job, and the alt. rock, roots rock, good time vibe of the mid-80s was fading.  Tiny Days was like a last hurrah.

Sadly, I can’t find Tiny Days for sale anywhere for under $40.  I guess it has achieved collector’s status.  If you can find it, buy it.

If you can’t, lead singer Charlie Chesterman’s first two solo records, From the Book of Flames (which I just bought on eBay) and Studabakersfield (which I’ve had forever), while also sadly out of print (at least as far as Amazon is concerned), can be found for a reasonable sum on Charlie’s web site, as well as on eBay and the like.

Here’s the Scruffy version of Time Never Forgets, which Charlie also covered on Studabakersfield.

Good stuff!

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.

I’ve said about nineteen times that A Truer Sound is the best music blog on the planet.  Once again Matt shows why by uncovering some excellent music that had somehow escaped my attention.

I wonder about a lot of things.  I wonder if I’m right that Lane is secretly Brittany’s fiance (if so he is a lucky dude, because she is smoking and hilarious).  I wonder if Spotify is just some big inside joke being played on U.S. music fans.  I wonder about all the (supposedly) grownups who seem to spend all day and night trying to convince us that internet science projects are actually billion dollar companies.  I wonder how a web site in 2010 can be as ugly as Myspace.

But more than that, I wonder how it took me eight years to hear about the excellent alternative country band The Dark Horses (see what I mean about Myspace).  I wonder why in the world a band that good split up, back in 2007.

I’m thankful that I read A Truer Sound, so I didn’t completely miss this excellent band.  Here’s the song that caused me to immediately search for, find and buy the only two records I can find by The Dark Horses.

The Dark Horses – (I Pity) The Poor Bastard.

From the excellent 2005 self-titled record (Purchase @ Amazon).  Awesome, excellent sound.

This record is consistently great.  No fillers, and no weak songs.  It reminds me a little of one of my favorite records of all time, Drag the River’s Live at the Starlight.  I bet The Dark Horses rocked live.  Hopefully one of the band members will find this post and hook me up with some live stuff (hint, hint).

While I like the other record a little better, Come Along is also a great record.

The Dark Horses – The Fine Line.

From the excellent above mentioned 2002 record (Purchase @ Amazon).

According to their visually horrifying but musically wonderful Myspace page, The Dark Horses consisted of J.D Hughes (vocals, drums), Sam Park (vocals, guitar), Erik Kristiansen (guitar) and Kevin Keller (bass).

There’s not much information out there about The Dark Horses.  Here’s a short interview with Sam Park.  Looks like they came out of New York City, just like another of my favorite alt. country bands.

If you like good music, and particularly if you dig great alt. country, go buy these records.  I did, and I’ve been playing them non-stop.

OK, get ready for some classic vinyl that I bet you’ve never heard.  Here’s another installment of our hand-picked music recommendations.

Purchase links (for those that can be purchased) are at Amazon unless otherwise noted.

Fraternity of Man – Don’t Bogart Me, from their 1968 self-titled LP .  My favorite version of a song done by many others, including The Byrds and Little Feat.

Wet Willie – Country Side of Life, from their 1974 record, Keep on Smilin’.  One of many gems by this vastly under-appreciated, Jimmy Hall led band.

Quinaimes Band – Try Me One More Time, from their 1971 self-titled LP.  I am writing songs again, and I intend to write one like this.  This songs rocks.

The Wildweeds – John King’s Fair, from their excellent 1970 self-titled LP.  This record, from Al Anderson’s other band, is one of my favorites from our classic vinyl vault.  I can’t find a place to buy this record, other than eBay and collector’s shops, but The Wildweeds do have a web page, so check there from time to time.  This is truly a fantastic record.

Les Dudek – I Remember, from his 1977 record, Say No More.  I’ve featured this one before, but I can’t talk about classic vinyl without mentioning it again.  I wore the grooves out of this LP, and particularly this wistful gem, back in the day.

Cowboy – Everything Here, from the excellent 1970 LP, Reach for the Sky.  It would be impossible for me to over-state how much I love this song.  It may just be my current theme song.  The entire record is excellent.

Scarlett Ribbon – Four in the Morning.  A friend sent me this song, because she knows it is my all-time favorite Jesse Colin Young song (you can buy his version here).  I have not be able to find any records by this band (even on eBay), much less a way to buy them.  But I’ll buy the record this song is on if I ever get a chance.

White Witch – Class of 2000, from their excellent 1974 LP, A Spiritual Greeting.  Man, do I love a sci-fi song.  How much you ask?  Well, so much that I actually wrote a song (Lindy Blue Star) about one of the characters in this song.

These are great records, by some fantastic bands.  Go buy these records and support people who make this great music.

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.

Every now and then people do something so amazing, but so obvious in hindsight that you can’t believe you didn’t think of it first.  The excellent Post Secret and Will Ferrell’s hilarious takes on drunk history being two examples.

When I watched the first episode of Justified, probably the second-best show on television (behind only True Blood), I was blown away by Long Hard Times to Come, the bluegrass/hip-hop mashup of a theme song.  It was revolutionary, it was obvious, and it rocked.

Yesterday, I got an email from Gangstagrass, the group that does the Justified song, asking if I’d be interested in reviewing their record and/or adding some songs to our radio station playlists, and including a couple more awesome bluegrass/hip-hop songs.  The Justified song was not a fluke- these are mighty fine songs.  In fact, they are genre-creating songs, at least for me.

I’ve always loved bluegrass.  I thought my hip-hop era started with De La Soul and ended when Flavor Flav took to reality-TV, but maybe not.  Gangstagrass is a musical Reece’s Cup, that makes both elements sound better.

Here’s the bottom line.  I get a lot of requests to review records, but none of them so far have been as musically paradigm-shifting as Gangstagrass’s aptly titled debut, Lightning on the Stings, Thunder on the Mic (purchase @ Amazon).  This is some ear-bending, genre-changing goodness.

Gangstagrass is a collaboration between Rench, a singer, songwriter and producer who has previously combined elements of honky-tonk, hip-hop, and trip-hop music (I am going to explore his other stuff via Amazon), rapper T.O.N.E.-z, who is featured on the Justified song, and some smoking bluegrass players.

So sit back on this Sunday afternoon and dig this little bluegrass, hip-hop, gospel gem.

I’m completely serious when I say that this record has single-handedly changed my musical genome.  This is really good stuff.  As a matter of fact, I bought the entire record from Amazon, burned it to a CD and put in in my truck, where it will reign supreme for the foreseeable future.  Hell, it’s 98 degrees out there and I’m going to have to roll with the windows down, just so I can scare a few soccer moms.

Go buy this record.  Roll the window down.  Play it loud.

I am.

OK, it’s been a while.  Busy at work, working out, hanging out with the kids, arguing with people over WFU’s new basketball coach.  That sort of thing.

But tonight I have a treat for you.  Two excellent soul songs that, sadly, you’ve probably never heard.  A classic and a newer number.

First a little Swamp Dogg from 1970’s Total Destruction to Your Mind.  The dogg can write a song with the best of them.  I love the lyrics to this one, and I dig that classic soul vibe.

(Purchase @ Amazon)

Next a newer number by Pittsburgh’s Bobby Wayne, from his 2008 record, Soul Station.  Great stuff.

Bobby Wayne – Right About the Rain

(Purchase @ Amazon)

Enjoy.  Buy these records.

As a part of my online simplification and consolidation project (more on this later), I am moving our music recommendation blog, GoodSongs.Com, to the Music category here at Newsome.Org.  We’ll post a GoodSongs music recommendation list no more than once a week, where we’ll feature a wide variety of off-the-beaten path music.

Here’s the second installment of our hand-picked music recommendations.

Purchase links are at Amazon unless otherwise noted.

Drag the River – Indianapolis.  Superb cover of the Bottle Rockets gem, off of Live at the Starlight.

Drive-By Truckers – Women Without Whiskey, off the excellent 2001 album Southern Rock Opera.  When someone gives me shit about being Southern, I pour a pint of Maker’s Mark down their throat and make them listen to this record.  Loud.

6 String Drag – Gasoline Maybelline, from their 1997 record High Hat.

Deadstring Brothers – 27 Hours.  This is the song that first turned me on to this excellent band.  From 2003’s self titled album.

Southern Culture on the Skids – Funnel of Love.  SCOTS channel Wanda Jackson, from their mandatory 2007 album Countrypolitan Favorites.  An awesome collection of country covers, done in kick-ass SCOTS style.

J.J. Schultz Band – Speedtrain, from their 2005 record Something to Me.  This is a perfect alt. country song.

Baker Maultsby – Pee Dee Man, from his 1998 record Bingo = Sin.  This fantastic song by a buddy of mine mentions my hometown, Cheraw, SC.  More Baker Maultsby at his MySpace page.

Seigel-Schwall Band – Corrina.  Excellent version by this excellent blues band, from their The Wooden Nickel Years (1971-1974) compilation.  If you look for this excellent record, be sure to buy the one with Corrina as the first track, and not the other, lesser version that has the same cover and title.

JT and the Clouds – Scattered Leaves.  Jeremy Lindsay’s band does his excellent song, from the album Delilah.  The best version, of course, being by the Be Good Tanyas.

These are great records, by some fantastic bands.  Go buy these records and support people who make this great music.

Artist Notice: I am a musician and songwriter.  I do these posts to draw attention to great music in the hopes that our readers will buy these records and allow these artists to continue making great music.  If you don’t want us to feature your music, let us know and we’ll take the song file down immediately.  On the other hand, if you are an artist who does the sort of music we feature, let us know.  We’re always looking for new artists to feature.