Wednesday, September 30, 2015

NASHVILLE (ABC) TO AIR EILEN JEWELL SONG “WORRIED MIND” TONIGHT

Nashville (ABC) will feature Eilen Jewell’s song “Worried Mind,” from her new album ‘Sundown Over Ghost Town,’ tonight. This year, she debuted on the Heatseekers chart, fueled by a profile on NPR Morning Edition, an interview by NBC Nightly News, and spotlights from Entertainment Weekly, Mother Jones, American Songwriter, CMT Edge, The Boot. Hear “Worried Mind” here.

Jewell has previously had two songs in True Blood (HBO) and one in Sons of Anarchy (FX).

Thursday, September 24, 2015

SOUL MAN IRONING BOARD SAM’S OTHER GIG: FAULTLESS STARCH SPOKESMAN ON NAT’L TV AD CAMPAIGN

DANGEROUS MINDS PREVIEWS NEW ALBUM ‘SUPER SPIRIT’ (OCT 2 / BIG LEGAL MESS)

TOUR KICKS OFF OCT 3 AND INCLUDES COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME, KING BISCUIT FEST

Among Ironing Board Sam’s many triumphs of the past few years – returning several times to New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, playing Newport Folk Festival, performing at Lincoln Center, appearing on the PBS News Hour, signing with Big Legal Mess for his new album ‘Super Spirit’ – is a return to national TV as the spokesman for Faultless Starch. It’s quite a climb for a musician who was homeless after Hurricane Katrina. Check out the TV spot here.

Dangerous Minds premiered the Gories cover “I Can’t Take It” from the album ‘Super Spirit,’ saying, “Ironing Board Sam’s version absolutely cooks, melding rock, soul, and blues to fine effect. Sam possesses the kind of weathered, soul-drenched voice that only a seasoned R&B veteran has these days."

Music Maker Relief Foundation’s Aaron Greenhood sets the scene of Sam’s taping the national TV commercials as well as his own thoughts on style:

It’s 6am and Ironing Board Sam is standing in his house clothes putting some finishing touches on his pants when I come in to check on him in his hotel room in Kansas City.

“Aaron, I always ironed my own clothes. Everywhere I go, the first thing I look for is the ironing board.” Sam is getting prepared for his last day shooting commercials for Faultless Starch in Kansas City. He’ll do a photo shoot, record the jingles he wrote and perform in two commercials touting Faultless’ newest line of starch called “Premium.” For Sam, this is the realization of a life’s work.

A few nights prior, during his interview with Chuck Haddix, host of the Fish Fry on KCUR , Kansas City’s favorite blues radio show, Sam recounted the story of how he got his name, and how it led to one of his proudest moments as the celebrity icon for Faultless Premium Spray Starch:

“The starch campaign is an extension of my career (as Ironing Board Sam), a name I hated when I was starting out has now connected me to a great company that started in 1887, a company that’s about clothes. My name is about clothes and my career has been about clothes because I’ve always been about looking good, from 25-75, it took that long. But, it took that time to make my career come to life.”

A few months ago, I got a call from Faultless’ marketing team asking if Ironing Board Sam was real. As Music Maker’s Artist Services Coordinator, these are the calls I dream of because I spend most of my days looking for gigs and paychecks for Sam and our many other partner artists. When they told me a Google image search for “ironing board” had turned up the photos of Sam, I realized that four years of shooting and posting were totally worthwhile.

Sam was blown away by the complete experience of doing the starch campaign. He loved Kansas City calling it a “city with a groove, like when you’re playing music and you feel the groove, that’s what Kansas City feels like to me. The food is groovy, too.“

Sam’s career has had many ups and downs and he is famous for following an outrageous idea to its glorious realization. Sam sees his relationship with Faultless Starch as something more than just a work opportunity – it’s fate. “The spirit told me about the starch, I had a vision. This can is going to take me to where I want to go. It’s all for a reason.“

Ironing Board Sam ‘Super Spirit’ Tour Dates

10/3 - Doubletree Hotel | Asheville, NC
10/7 - Music City Roots | Nashville, TN
10/8 - Thacker Mountain Radio | Off Square Books | Oxford, MS
10/8 - Proud Larry's | Oxford, MS
10/9 - Blue Canoe | Tupelo, MS
10/10 - King Biscuit Blues Festival | Helena, AR
10/11 - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | Nashville, TN

Monday, September 21, 2015

“GARAGE ROCK GOLD” (PANDORA) OF THE STONE FOXES HITTING THE ROAD, PLAYING HARDLY STRICTLY BLUEGRASS AMID 21-DATE NATIONAL TOUR

The Stone Foxes – the all-out rock & roll band that’s opened for the Black Keys and surpassed five million track streams on Spotify – will play a 21-date national tour that includes hometown festival Hardly Strictly Bluegrass as well as stops in NYC, Chicago, DC, and Atlanta. American Songwriter is streaming the entire new album ‘Twelve Spells,’ calling it the band’s “next step”: http://www.americansongwriter.com/2015/09/stream-stone-foxes-new-album-twelve-spells/

SF Weekly wrote about frontman Shannon Koehler’s 11 open heart surgeries and how it affects him as a musician: http://www.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-stone-foxes-great-american-music-hall-gamh/Content?oid=3680413

Here’s what we’re reading elsewhere:

“Perfect back-to-basics rock”
- Eric Renner Brown, Entertainment Weekly, April 2, 2015

"Garage rock gold... the sound of a band hitting their stride.”
- Eric Shea, Pandora, September 15, 2015

“A distinct joy.”
- Ben Kaye, Consequence of Sound, May 1, 2015

“The San Francisco sextet dishes out the manic, expertly calibrated and disciplined orchestral guitar landscape you might associate with Television or Sleater-Kinney.”
- Paul de Barros, Seattle Times, July 2, 2015

“Darker, moodier sound borrowing from Ennio Morricone spaghetti western soundtracks [from a band] known for rousing live performances wherein instruments get swapped, stages serve as diving platforms, and general troublemaking is had.”
- Matt Saincome, SF Weekly, June 3, 2015

“It’s a pure shot of energy — nothing fancy – just rock… We could not love it more.”
- Hannah Angst, The Wild Honey Pie, July 2, 2015

“Loose, spontaneous and all about the moment. Most importantly, the group is hellbent on keeping their music and performances as soulful as possible… the Stone Foxes are on their way to big things.”
- Neil Ferguson, Glide Mag, May 6, 2015

“An explosion of pounding drums, powerful rhythms, and psychedelic hooks.”
- Elmore Magazine, June 11, 2015

The Stone Foxes ‘Twelve Spells’ Tour Dates

9/26 Reno, NV/Cargo
10/4 San Francisco, CA/Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
10/23 Chico, CA/Lost on Main
10/26 Aspen, CO/Belly Up
10/27 Ft. Collins, CO/Downtown Artery
10/29 Chicago, IL/Schubas
10/31 Ferndale, MI/Magic Bag
11/1 Cleveland, OH/Beachland Tavern
11/3 Rochester, NY/Flower City Station
11/4 Syracuse, NY/Westcott Theater
11/5 Somerville, MA/Thunder Road
11/6 New York, NY/Mercury Lounge
11/7 Rehoboth Beach, DE/Dogfish
11/8 Vienna, VA/Jammin Java
11/10 Philadelphia, PA/Milkboy
11/13 Charlotte, NC/Visulite Theater
11/14 Asheville, NC/New Mountain Theatre
11/15 Atlanta, GA/Smith's Olde Bar
11/19 Conroe, TX/Dosey Doe Music Café
11/20 Austin, TX/Lamberts
12/4 Sebastopol, CA/755 After Dark

Monday, September 14, 2015

“WONDERFUL” (NPR) KEVIN GORDON’S ‘LONG GONE TIME’ OUT LAST FRIDAY ON CROWVILLE MEDIA AS NPR TAPED SESSION LAST WEEK

Kevin Gordon’s ‘Long Gone Time,’ the Americana rock & roller’s first album in three years, came out last week on Crowville Media to rave reviews as Gordon started a full-band tour. The Iowa Poetry Workshop alum tapes a session on NPR’s World Café this week and headlines his hometown Nashville’s City Winery September 14. Check out Folk Alley’s full album stream and Q&A here: http://www.folkalley.com/archives/001426.php

Wonderful… I love your songwriting. I love the storytelling in it.” – David Dye, NPR World Café, Air Date TBA

“Kevin Gordon is a Nashville treasure, worth mentioning in the same breath as the Ryman Auditorium and Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack.” – Stephen Trageser, Nashville Scene, June 24, 2015

“8 stars… one of the best country blues records of the year… I haven’t heard a lyric in the ten years since Katrina that better encapsulates the loss of American optimism.” – Ed Whitelock, Pop Matters, September 1, 2015

“Swampy, soulful music.” – Christina Vinson, The Boot, August 24, 2015

“Transfixes and transports.” –Joe Wolfe-Mazeres, No Depression, September 3, 2015

“The audio equivalent of a Terrence Malick movie, luxuriating in vivid details and subtle, vibrant imagery… Tender and meticulous sonic films for the mind, miles away from commercial considerations, yet creating art that lasts lifetimes." –Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter, September, 2015

“Deeply lyrical and swampy.” –Christian Williams, UTNE Reader, September 1, 2015

“We love Gordon’s songs.” –Sloane Spencer, Country Fried Rock, September 1, 2015

Kevin Gordon Tour Dates

September 14 - City Winery, Main Stage - Nashville, TN
September 18 - The Family Wash - Nashville, TN
October 2 - WDVX Blue Plate Special - Knoxville, TN
October 4 - Roots Music House Concert - Peace Dale, RI
October 6 - Atwood's - Cambridge, MA
October 7 - Norey's - Newport, RI
October 10 - Nelson Odeon - Cazenovia, NY
October 24 - Landhaven - Barto, PA

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

STEREOGUM PREVIEWS BRIAN CARPENTER & THE CONFESSIONS’ DEBUT ALBUM ‘THE FAR END OF THE WORLD’ (OCT 2 / ACCURATE)


ALBUM MIXED BY CALEXICO AND NEKO CASE COLLABORATOR CRAIG SCHUMACHER

STEREOGUM: CARPENTER “BOUND TO BECOME A BIG NAME”

Stereogum has premiered the first track from Brian Carpenter & The Confessions’ debut album ‘The Far End of the World’ (October 2 / Accurate Records). Stereogum says, “He seems bound to become a big name himself,” praising the music as “dignified darkness."

Calexico and Neko Case collaborator Craig Schumacher mixed the album, remarking, "Working with Brian was a real pleasure. I enjoyed putting together the well-crafted arrangements and every track yielded a pleasant surprise."

Brian Carpenter & The Confessions Tour Dates

September 25 – Cuisine En Locale – Somerville, MA
October 30 – Rockwood Music Hall – New York, NY
November 12 – Mayo Street Arts – Portland, ME
November 14 – Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA