13 April 2015

Celebrated British blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter, Joanne Shaw Taylor, embarks on a nationwide UK tour presented by Planet Rock this autumn. Joanne will perform songs from her critically acclaimed album The Dirty Truth. A 48-hour ticket presale goes live on Planet Rock Wednesday 15 April from this http://bit.ly/1IFuEGH. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday 17 April from the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898, or online from The Gig Cartel. All tickets priced at £20. Joanne is also pleased to announce in celebration of Record Store Day that her boutique record label Axehouse Music will release a very special limited edition transparent red 12” vinyl record on April 18. The record features three recordings made with the BBC in 2014. Track 1, Feels LikeHome was recorded for A SWINGING CHRISTMAS WITH CLAIRE TEAL for Radio 2 with the BBC Band. Track 2, The Dirty Truth, and Track 3, Jealousy, are solo versions recorded for the Paul Jones Blues Show on BBC Radio 2.

With their May date at London’s Scala sold out, Norwegian alt-folk-country-rock mavericks Katzenjammer will return to the capital in November for their largest UK headline show to date. One of the most accomplished, instinctive, charismatic and nonconformist bands around, Katzenjammer are all impressive singers and multi-instrumentalists, sharing lead vocals, instruments, song-writing duties and, as The Guardian observed at a recent London gig, an enormous sense of fun. Prior to the Shepherds Bush Empire gig Katzenjammer will bring their genre-mixing, full-on riotous show to Britain for a headline May tour and summer festival dates Nothing if not utterly distinctive, four smart and super-talented Norwegian musicians – Anne Marit Bergheim, Turid Jørgensen, Solveig Heilo and Marianne Sveen – met at music college in Oslo and have mastered a thrillingly diverse blend of country, folk, blues, pop and rock. Katzenjammer released their third studio album ROCKLAND in March to great acclaim and, as well as notching up sales throughout Europe, received long-overdue nods of approval from the British press. Produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Beth Orton) the album is a joyous and uplifting record, refreshingly lacking in pretention, nigh-impossible to define and, as Songlines wrote, “a peppy life-enhancing joy from start to finish”.

All’s Fair In Love & War is the follow up to Ken Will Morton’s highly acclaimed 2012 release, Slow Burn. The new recording compiles 19 new songs (plus a hidden track) written in the wake of the dissolution of a long term relationship and with Morton finding himself living alone in a mobile home.  Soon after, he’d written more than enough material for a double album (hence, initial title was A Double From A Single Wide).  Morton converted his home to facilitate writing and recording music at anytime day or night, with wires and cables, guitars, amps and lyric sheets everywhere. Determined to hold on to the essence of this new work, and with the help and encouragement of engineer J.P Pruett, the entire album was made in the comfort of his home.  Morton played all instruments—guitars, bass, harmonica, $20 garage sale keyboard, child’s xylophone—and vocals himself, over a bed of prerecorded drum track loops from the internet, adapting each song to fit a corresponding drum track.  No Pro Tools were used on this record so every take had to work all the way through.  From the country rocker “Blindsided,” the power pop of “Straight From Your Lips” and the whimsical “Down The Drain” to the anthemic “Reach Forward,” this is Morton’s most diverse and confident recording to date.  Heralded as a clever lyricist, Morton even takes a subject such as the Great Hartford Circus Fire of 1944 and turns it into a gem of a song and a history lesson with “Little Miss 1565.”  All’s Fair In Love & War will surely resonate with fans of intelligent songwriting.   Morton’s music placement in film/TV includes: “Oh Lord” on “The Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel), “Devil In Me” on “True Blood” (HBO) and “On My Feet Again” in the indie film “Flight Of The Cardinal.” Morton is an extremely engaging performer and has toured most parts of the U.S., opening for Todd Snider, Billy Joe Shaver, Tommy Stinson, Sugarland, & more.  He has toured Ireland, performed at South-by-Southwest, the Americana Music Festival and more.  He will tour regionally in support of the new release.  The CD release show will be at Little King’s Shuffle Club in Athens on Saturday, June 6th.