Live events

What were you doing when you were 18? Some of you may have been adapting to university life and turning up hungover in lectures, others would be getting used to the grind of work life, and some of you would be still have been deciding what step next to take in life. Then there are the exceptions to the rule – and American singer-songwriter Dylan Schneider is very much an exception to the rule, as at 8:45PM on the Saturday of Nashville Meets London, the 18-year-old took to the stage as headliner of a country music festival, on his first visit to the English capital. Strutting on stage with a beer in his hand – which he can legally drink in the UK, of course – and a guitar in the other, it was clear that Schneider had come to have a good time – and so it proved, with the teen sensation delivering a blockbuster of a set on what is his UK festival debut. Launching straight into ‘No Problem’ – his most recent single – it was clear that Schneider meant business, and with a live band backing him, the song had a rockier punch to it, alongside the crisp vocals from the 18-year-old. Having just three EPs, it speaks volumes of Schneider’s quality that he’s being chosen to headline festivals already – though one potential drawback is that there is a lack of material. To coin his recent single as a phrase, that’s very much no problem for Schneider, who threw in some delightful covers that showcased his range as an artist – fans were treated to a meatier version of Florida Georgia Line’s ‘Cruise’, before slowing down Jason Aldean’s ‘My Kinda Party’, while the stand out cover was Schneider’s take on ‘Body Like a Back Road’ by Sam Hunt, which was performed acoustically to sublime effect. Schneider’s own songs though are the ones that steal the show, and the sheer quality of them is breathtaking for someone so young. Set closer ‘Two Black X’s’ was the perfect way to end a set, while songs like ‘Gimme a Red Light’ and ‘How Bad Can One Kiss Hurt’ really do showcase the potential Schneider has. Just before leaving the stage, Schneider turned to the crowd and said “I’ll never forget this” – those in attendance won’t be forgetting this performance in a hurry either, as the 18-year-old is set for huge things within the genre. What were you doing when you were 18?   Dylan Schneider played: No Problem You Heard Wrong Cruise – Florida Georgia Line cover How Bad Can One Kiss Hurt Gimme a Red Light My Kinda Party – Jason Aldean cover Wannabe Rockstar Body Like a Back Road – Sam Hunt cover How Does It Sound Friends in Low Places – Garth Brooks cover Two Black X’s Review by Christian Brown All pictures were taken by Paul Clampin

Alabama will be headlining the next edition of the Carolina Country Music Fest, which will take place between the 6th to the 9th of June 2019. The legendary country music band have sold over 80 million albums since forming in 1969, as well as clocking up a staggering 43 Number One singles, and will be celebrating their 50th anniversary next year at The Bowery in Myrtle Beach. Alabama are currently in the middle of their tour schedule, which is running all the way through to November. Tickets are available now at CCMF.com, and there are also a number of payment plans on offer. The 2018 edition of the Carolina Country Music Fest had a host of big names play, including Luke Bryan, Toby Keith, Brett Young, Old Dominion, the Zac Brown Band, and Cole Swindell.  

The Mulligan Brothers are releasing their third studio album, Songs for the Living and Otherwise this summer. The album brings joy and pleasure from dark songs about life, loneliness, death and spirituality. Lead singer/songwriter Ross Newell’s warm, sincere voice brings out every emotion between pleasure and pain and makes you want to feel them over and over again. The band’s name means second chances, but they took the biggest chance of their career and produced this album on their own, creating songs that are truest to them, so far. Converting the upstairs of Newell’s home in the heart of Mobile, Alabama into a recording studio allowed them the freedom to get to the honesty of who they are. “Recording and producing this album ourselves gave us the luxury of seeing the vision all the way through to the end without outside influences making us second guess ourselves,” says Newell. “There is a new confidence in this album and we are thankful for the great people who support us and gave us the courage to try something new. It is freeing to let go and create an album that we will enjoy playing on the road every night.” The broader arrangements are driven by the band’s signature harmonies and dramatic transitions from drummer Greg DeLuca with Ben Leininger adding electric and upright bass and Melody Duncan on fiddle and piano. The band is evolving but the songs are still built around Newell’s tight lyrics that stab you in the heart or define life in new ways. Songs of abuse and knowing a man like “the back of his hand” or coming home to a woman who makes him feel that “If you told me that heaven was just like tonight, then maybe I would start acting right.” Newell, one of the South’s best songwriters, speaks up about the South in “Great Granddaddy’s War.” “We were born here crying with our egos bruised, below the Mason Dixon with the red state blues. We’ve got a lot of heroes here screaming southern pride, but a hero is just a villain to the other side. There’s a hundred years of bitterness in our blood and it flows with the conviction of a forty-day flood. Until we are out of ammunition and the rivers run red over what Jesus meant but what he never said.” “Some of the beliefs in the South are challenging for me,” says Newell. “Just because someone in my family believes something doesn’t mean I have to believe it, too. This is a song about what I think is wrong and if you feel that way too, then you aren’t alone.” “Possession in G Minor” is the band’s first character song, Newell plays the devil searching for souls. “I like the subtleties of telling the story without telling the story and maybe not everyone will get them,” he says. “I am the devil you almost feel sorry for, Melody is the innocent girl who lets it slip that she is left alone and for a friend she would sell her soul. That was the knock on the door my character needed.” Recording this album was the best time they have had in the studio, but getting started writing the songs was tough on Newell. Life on the road leaves little time for writing songs and they stopped touring for several months to give Newell the time and space he needed. “There is a lot of pressure on the songwriter in a band,” says Newell. “It was a relief when the songs started coming and a bigger relief when I knew we had enough songs.” Duncan has grown from the new member playing fiddle and adding haunting harmonies to a voice who needs to be heard. There are duets with Newell and her own song “The Basement,” about returning one more time to the memories of a lost one. “It’s not the wick I smell, it’s memory burning with the question how the power of the dead can make the world stop still.” The Mulligan Brothers started playing together five years ago in bars on Dauphin Street in Mobile and now play around the world. They have played on the Cayamo music cruise and 30A Music Festival and will soon play on NPR’s Mountain Stage and make their fourth appearance at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Songs for the Living and Otherwise was mixed by Grammy-winning producer Trina Shoemaker at Dauphin Street Sound in Mobile and is the follow up to Via Portland and their debut album, The Mulligan Brothers.

Thirty years ago Chicago-born RJ Comer abruptly withdrew from music school and gave up on his dream to be a musician.  Dark years of violence, addiction, poverty, fractured relationships, and suicide attempts followed, culminating in a come-to-Jesus weekend in a Mississippi jail.  RJ straightened himself out (mostly), worked his way through college, earned a full scholarship to law school, and became an attorney. He thought he was done with music, but music wasn’t done with him.  Eight years ago, while a partner in a Los Angeles law firm, a band RJ started for kicks got signed. RJ stormed back into music, fusing his love of roots and blues in two band LPs, two solo EP’s, and several songs for film.  Now a full-time musician living in the Tennessee woods, RJ’s toured from Canada to Florida and throughout the U.S., earning official showcases at SXSW, Canadian Music Week, and various songwriter’s festivals—steadily garnering critical acclaim and building a fanbase. One Last Kiss is RJ’s first solo LP—a collection of songs from a man who transcended hardships few people escape.  RJ’s songs are both conversational and poetic, deftly straddling traditional and contemporary Americana and Blues.  With a baritone voice that can be powerful, ragged, or soothing, RJ shows the emotional and experiential range of a man who once only knew how to fight or flee, but slowly learned to live and prosper, and eventually learned to love. Some Nashville notables contributed to One Last Kiss, creating a primarily acoustic sound that is classic but never stock, and is always distinctly RJ.  Grammy-winner Randy Kohrs—renowned for his work with talents as diverse as Jim Lauderdale, Dolly Parton and Dierks Bentley—shows the full range of his abilities on One Last Kiss, from the insane resonator solo on the hallucinogenic “Desert Mama” to his swaggering riffs on “Bad Day in Paradise.”  Fiddler Daniel Foulks from the Parker Millsap band adds his signature freight train fiddle to joyful tracks like “Under a Lover’s Moon” and quietly mourns with RJ on the bluesy ballad “One Last Kiss.”   Foulks also leads the fiddle & cello duo fluidly accompanying RJ’s longing and regret on “If I Could be Water”—achieving a sound that is at once profoundly intimate and yet also cinematic. One Last Kiss was produced by Shawn Byrne in his Nashville studio. One of Nashville’s most sought out multi-instrumentalists and a SESAC Writer’s Award winner, Shawn is also gaining a reputation as a producer—having trained under the guidance of Grammy winning producer Nathan Chapman. Byrne’s challenge was to create a musically coherent sound for an album that includes joyful love songs to a song about the kiss of death and for a singer that belts, growls, and whispers.  Around an acoustic backbone of percussion, fiddles, guitars, and harmonica, Byrne fleshed out the sound for each song by selectively incorporating cello, keyboards, mandolin, electric guitar, or accordion.  The result is a sound that preserves the timeless qualities of acoustic Americana & Blues, invokes the open space of rural life, but is updated for the increasingly urban 21st Century audience. “Every day people may find a lot to relate to in this record and will hopefully be entertained and inspired.” RJ says.  “I’m a guy who loves my wife of 22 years, drives a truck, and lives in the forest.  But I once abandoned my dreams and was on my way to being a young corpse or an old inmate.  Instead I made a success of my life and was given a second chance to make music.  All that is in this record.”

Amy Lawton has released the video for her new single ‘Hurts Like Paradise’. The new single is an upbeat country-pop love song reminiscent of the likes of Suzanne Vega, Alanis Morrisette and country-era Taylor Swift. The video finds Amy acting out the story of the song as she explains, “‘Hurts Like Paradise’ is a song I wrote when I was at school. It’s kind of a story about a relationship from start to finish, only it’s told from the perspective of someone who feels like they’re an outsider. I like that there are details in the song which show this character as they talk about their experiences. Even though it’s a sad song, I like to juxtapose sad lyrics with upbeat sounds.” About recording the video she continues, “The filming of the video was a fun day as we tried to visualise the song and acting out a story for a video was a new experience for me. We shot the video down the same road where the track was recorded and where I write most of my songs in London. I really enjoyed shooting at the locations – great spaces and it was nice to be in familiar places!” ‘Hurts Like Paradise’ has been created alongside the multi-platinum selling hit songwriter Matty Benbrook (Paolo Nutini, Jack Savoretti, Dido) who discovered the fresh-faced singer on the London live scene. She has announced two London shows to celebrate the release of ‘Hurts Like Paradise’ and will to play Ronnie Scott’s on June 5th and The Lock Tavern, Camden on June 12th.

Texas’ genre-bending rock ‘n’ roller Israel Nash announces his fifth studio album ‘Lifted’,a modern day hippie-spiritual, which finds Nash continuing his tradition of creating a sonic landscape that is at once both vast and intimate – soaring and untamed at times, placid and sincerely personal at others. Accompanied by his longtime band, with arrangements by Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake), horns by members of Austin’s cumbia/funk compadre’s Grupo Fantasma, and strings from Kelsey Wilson and Sadie Wolf (Wild Child), Nash, alongside co-producer and engineer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones), presents an album that soars with meticulously crafted, multi-hued rock and psychedelia. ‘Lifted’ opens with an extended instrumental introduction before blossoming into lead single ‘Rolling On’. The track acts as the album’s manifesto, an anthem of urgency, encouraging the listener to let go of yesterday’s troubles and move forward with positivity. The album was recorded at Israel Nash’s own studio, a Quonset hut structure called Plum Creek Sound at his home in Dripping Springs, Texas. During the process the studio became a sanctuary for Nash, a creative environment where he often reached a meditative state of escapism, creating a space where he could leave behind his downhearted feelings about the current political landscape and the bigger, existential questions those concerns raise. Being able to finally use Plum Creek Sound to its full potential, Nash set about recording found sounds and field recordings from his Texas ranch, with the aim of creating a listening experience that was almost an immersive representation of his environment. Drums played in rain collection tanks, water rushing against the limestone, frogs, crickets, and even a rattlesnake all appear throughout the record. Taking inspiration from methods pioneered by John Cage, Nash then randomized the sounds and music before rearranging them according to the I Ching (The Book of Changes). This process of experimenting, as Nash explains, was key to the making of ‘Lifted’ “It’s all about finding, searching for little sparks of inspiration. It may be a sound, a groove, a colour, or even an object. Old things are inspiring. Whatever it is, when you find it, it spreads like a conflagration that is out of your control. It doesn’t matter if you’re making a record or living your life, find these inspirations with a vigil eye and watch them change both you and your world.” ‘Lifted’ is Israel Nash’s opus, a fully realised, psychedelic, experimental, Americana rooted epic. From the familial harmonies of ‘Sweet Springs,’ recalling the Beach Boys at their most joyous (almost all performed by Nash himself), to the country rock of ‘Lucky Ones’ and ‘SpiritFalls’ to the sunshine laden album closer ‘Golden Fleeces’, it is a startlingly accomplished work from beginning to end. In support of the release, Israel Nash and his full band will tour across Europe in November 2018. This will be preceded with two special solo shows in Oxford and Guildford this June. Pre-order ‘Lifted’ HERE.

Life’s tough when you’re raised by wolves, but you learn about life. Raised By Wolves is Zack Logan’s debut album: a 10-track collection of songs inspired by the singer-songwriter’s own travels and experiences of people and places in the towns and states of the American South. Born in the small town of Newton, Mississippi, Zack Logan grew up listening to John Prine, Townes Van Zandt & Robert Earl Keen. As he’s lived his life, Zack has gone on to soak up the best of the Southern sound, travelling thru Mississippi (via Tennessee & Texas) and is now releasing his own debut album. “Raised by Wolves is a collection of songs that were written over a few years’ span between Mississippi, Lousiana & Tennessee,” Zack explains, “I was moving around a lot.  The songs are about the people and places around that time, along with the feelings of being lost and found”. Zack recorded Raised by Wolves at Welcome To 1979 Studios: an internationally-respected and highly distinctive Nashville studio, specialising in vintage vibe and gear, where the likes of Alison Krauss, Steve Earle and Pete Townshend have all recorded (as has Zack’s own hero John Prine). The 10-track album showcases Zack’s vocals, guitar and perceptive songwriting skills, and will be released in the U.K. in August 3rd 2018. The songs cover a range of tones and emotions, from the fun of ‘Dogs Chase Cars’, with its jaunty fiddle solo, to the honest if downbeat portrayal of a small town in ‘Home I Call a Place’, and the lively confessions of ‘Trouble Doing the Right Thing’. To herald the album, Zack is releasing his favourite song from it, ‘Annalee’, as a single, along with an accompanying video. “Annalee has always been my favourite song to play,” admits Zack, “I feel like it’s a good representation of my writing and playing style, mixed with the music that I grew up on. I had just moved to town and really hadn’t met many people yet.  I was just staying up late and writing by myself in my apartment.  Annalee was one of the songs that came out of that.  It was written with more of a lonesome feeling than a heartache.” Annalee is a song of moving on from a failed love, seeing the flaws and being freed by a sense of closure. It’s moving, even subtly witty. Zack’s lyrics deftly capture a snapshot: a man looking back as he leaves behind a striking former love and one-time muse, who’d only love on her own terms, if at all. “’… I’m so sick and tired of writing songs about you,” sings Zack, “Well I used to find a needle in a haystack for you. And you could call on me when you had no-one to call, but Darling, I’m down to the last straw.” Annalee makes a great introduction to Zack Logan and will be released on all digital platforms on 11th May. Later this year, Zack will also make his U.K. debut at  the very first HRH C.R.O.W.S. festival at O2 Academy  in Sheffield, (headlined by Devon Allman, son of the legendary Greg Allman), between the 8th & 9th September 2018. For further information on Zack Logan, please check out his website at www.zacklogan.net.