If you like the folk style music of the Appalachians with a bit of gospel thrown in then this new E. C. Ball tribute album, “Face A Frowning World” is a must.  Nathan Salsburg devoted a good chuck of time to arrange this beauty.  It features Bonnie Prince Billy, The Handsome Family, Michael Hurley, Jollie Holland and others.

Royalties from the sale of this album will be donated to the Blue Ridge Institute, which documents, preserves, and promotes the folkways of the people living in and around the Blue Ridge Mountains.

More info on the album can be found on Nathan’s blog, Root Hog or Die.

If you are not signed up with VBS.TV you are missing out on some great free streaming media.  Not only do they bring you interesting, well rounded content such as worldly stories, culture, art, and sports but they also have a cool segment called, “Practice Space. “   This series gives you an intimate view into a musicians/bands world and lets you see them behind the scenes and hear what makes them tick.

This streaming format is the future of media and with guys like Spike Jonze at the helm you know it has huge potential.

White Rabbit

The Weight

The Walkmen

Be sure to pick up a FREE copy of Vice Magazine, yet another division of this gowing impire.  I have been picking this up for some time and have never been disappointed.  I usually get my free copy at Other Music on 4th in NYC but you can subscribe too.    The 2009 Photo Issue is worth a look.

I found Townes Van Zandt later in life and have enjoyed his soulful, introspective sounds for a number of years but his 2003 posthumous album, “In the beginning” is very special.  These recordings had disappeared for 35 years until his late wife, Jeanene Van Zandt , found them and put it all together.   It comprises Van Zandt’s first professional studio recordings and shows a bittersweet glimpse into the heart and soul of the young artist.  These 1966 demos, recorded two years before his official debut album, are filled with folk, country, and blues influences and find Van Zandt style already laced with tales of losers, gamblers, ne’er-do-wells, and a certain fatalistic restlessness that would embody his life’s work.   If you are a new listener to Van Zandt this album will send you out searching for more.

A nice review of the album by Kathy Coleman HERE

You can listen to all the songs off this album on Rhapsody

This would have been fun to see…….

Via Rolling Stone

P

Photo: Molly Looze

The Band, Chief from New York, has been in heavy rotation at the studio since we saw them at the Bowery Hotel for the after party of the new Restaurant/General Store, The Smile a few months ago. More on the The Smile later. Chief has an EP called, The Castle is Gone, out right now and their debut album will be available this summer. Give them a listen.

This is good….no….this is perfect.

Stand By Me | Song Around The World

Mark Johnson, the film maker and producers web-site HERE

Bill Moyers interview with Mark Johnson

If you happen to find yourself in NYC tonight at 8PM be sure to check out Scotland’s own Frightened Rabbit at Le Poisson Rouge located 58 Bleeker St. (Between Thompson and Sullivan.)

Tickets here $15!

Frightened Rabbits October 2008 album, “Liver! Lung! FR!” is a must.

Backwards Walk

Be Less Rude

I really can’t say enough about Jenny Lewis.  Her 2008 album, Acid Tongue, gets a lot of play around the studio.  Enjoy her sweet sounds…..

Acid Tongue

Bad Mans World

MGMT, a Brooklyn based music group, may not be what I typically listen to but when their song, “Kids,” off of their first full-length album, Oracle Spectacular, pops up on the Ipod at work I can’t help but move a bit.  The album has been described as, “an enigmatic and prophetic collection of hallucinatory sounds and hook-riddled pop.”  I couldn’t agree more.  Itunes has the full album for $7.99.

Myspace – MGMT

One of my top albums of 2008, Bon Iver’s, “For Emma, Forever Ago.”

December – US Dates. See you at Town Hall!