New Music 2014 - Part 10 - Roots and Americana

I have been listening to all kinds of music lately and as you might have guessed that has included much that goes under the heading Roots and Americana. I'll start with three forthcoming albums that have come to my attention but perhaps I should add that I already have all the previous albums by these artists; to some extent I am therefore a convert already.

Jessica Lea Mayfield - 'Make My Head Sing', released on 2 June 2014 in the UK.

   

This is the third album by the Ohio native who first came to my attention at End Of The Road Festival 2010, playing the Tipi stage and previously quite unknown to me. Her albums thus far are 'With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt' (2008) and 'Tell Me' (2011), both released by Nonesuch Records, and were produced by Dan Auerbach. I'm not sure about the details of this one yet, as I have only recently found about it, except to say that it is released by ATO Records. This label is snapping up many artists in this broad music space including Caitlin Rose and Hurray For The Riff Raff who have peppered this blog over the last few years.
It is certainly a dramatic and very deliberate departure from the aforementioned albums. An interview in which she explains how it came about, and the history behind it, is here:
http://noisey.vice.com/blog/jessica-lea-mayfield-i-want-to-love-you-video-premiere

The appearance here is true of this next artist Amy LaVere too, but she is the only one of the three that I have never seen play live.

'Runaway's Dream' is released by Archer Records on 26 May 2014 in the UK.

    

It is a concept album but, before you click elsewhere in fear and loathing, be aware that this has been done before to some acclaim: In my book Anaïs Mitchell's 'Hadestown' (2010) is a case in point.
This one is however loosely based on the story of Seasick Steve, with whom she toured extensively as support, and also her own few days as a teenage runaway. To that list I shall add another bridge - Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff and in particular the song Ramblin' Gal from the album 'Watch Out Mama' (2012). Their new LP 'Small Town Heroes' was released in the UK, again on ATO Records, on 31 March 2014. It isn't one of the three included in this post because I have mentioned it already.
    
The last of the three is this and the only one by non-American artists but like its predecessor, The Lion's Roar (2012), it was made with Mike Mogis at his studio in Omaha, NE. It is all a far cry from the time I first saw First Aid Kit live in the old-style Tipi stage at End Of The Road Festival. That is no bad thing because the potential was clear for all to hear.
   

'Stay Gold' is released by Columbia on 9 June in the UK.

It remains to be seen if First Aid Kit can sustain the momentum that was generated by 'The Lion's Roar'. One thing that I can say with certainty, having seen them play again on the Garden Stage at EOTR 2012, is that First Aid Kit certainly does not disappoint live.
Maybe I need to buy a ticket to Green Man Festival in August - I've never been before, so that would tick another box.

2008 and all that ...

The global credit crunch, Jay-Z at Glastonbury and economic catastrophe all started as minor issues. The almost total lack of a summer in the UK, and the usual music industry machinations, surely made this, overall, the worst festival summer in living memory?
It had its flaws of course, like every other, but I just think that it was what made it matter. I'm more inlined to think that, after a decade of almost uninhibited growth, 2008 was the year that started a change of direction. Leeds/Reading remain fairly unreconstructed but even they are, increasingly, becoming less appealing. This does not apply merely to those who have been regulars since their teenage days but are now getting older. [I am older than all those that I am referring to!]
Music is changing and of course it always does; now it is changing in surprising ways. As I was wandering though ASDA today I was struck by this headline on the cover of 'Guitar Magazine'...

Seasick Steve - hobo to hero.
I'll fully admit that a year ago, had I had even noticed it in the first place, I would not have taken a second glance and that it would have been a huge mistake. As luck would have it I got another chance...

Seasick Steve live at Latitude 2008.
He was just jaw-dropping good: I almost forgot to take any photos and it shows!


I Started Out With Nothin' and I Still Got Most of It Left

This is his latest album. If you like blistering acoustic blues performed by an inspired and inventive, yet very much livin' and original, traditional artist this is for you. This was for me, and clearly very many others, one of the defining revelations of Latitude 2008.