JOHN MURRY'S 'THE GRACELESS AGE' ONE OF 2012'S BEST-REVIEWED ALBUMS IN THE UK, OUT APRIL 2 IN THE U.S. ON EVANGLINE RECORDING CO.

ONE OF EIGHT FINALISTS FOR UNCUT MUSIC AWARD ALONGSIDE FATHER JOHN MISTY, BOB DYLAN, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

British press has unequivocally raved about John Murry's 'The Graceless Age,' which made UNCUT's final eight list for 2012 UNCUT Music Award album of the year alongside names like Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and Father John Misty. In fact, UNCUT's Allan Jones ranked it second only to Dylan in his personal list of the top twenty albums of the year. A full interview with Uncut can be read here: http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/uncut-editors-diary/interview-john-murry

Murry's debut album, coproduced by Tim Mooney of Sun Kil Moon, will see US release April 2 on Evangeline Recording Co. Here's what's being said across the pond:

"A dark, festering masterpiece....guitars crackle throughout like static, dissonant transmissions from the rim of things, sonic squall and ruptures.  The effect is often always symphonic..."
9/10 'Album Of Month' UNCUT

"Like Father John Misty, Mark Lanegan and Josh T Pearson rolled into one really broken dream..."
4**** Q Magazine

"Occasionally an album comes out of nowhere that completely blows your mind. Like this one...
5***** THE SUN

"This dark, brooding second album delivers some gently mesmerising meditations...."
THE MIRROR

"As brown as the Mississippi and as fraught with undercurrents..."
INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

"A genuine American masterpiece...."
R2 MAGAZINE

"This is an album that fearlessly exposes his dark past through songs that are powerful and healing. A remarkable album..."
ELECTRIC GHOST

""A dark cousin to Brian Wilsons' California dreaming perhaps, with the dense and elaborate Southern Sky a contender for song of the year as it pounds and insinuates its way into the listener's brain."
BLABBER & SMOKE

""Astonishingly complex sounds woven together here that will take a long time to reveal all the secrets of their making."
FLYING SHOES

"A true classic in every way and one that is destined to be heard through the ages. Album of the year, without a doubt."
ECHOES & DUST

SOUTHERN MUSIC'S POET LAUREATE KEVIN GORDON PLANS FIRST NEW ALBUM IN 7 YEARS 'GLORYLAND' FOR FEB 14 RELEASE ON CROWVILLE MEDIA

Bug Music artist Kevin Gordon – the southern rock and roll songwriter who has been covered by Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Irma Thomas, and others and who has recorded a duet with Lucinda Williams – will release 'Gloryland' (February 14 / Crowville Media), his first new album in 7 years. It's a new high water mark for Gordon, representing his most powerful, fully realized writing to date. Early buzz on the album from Peter Cooper in the hometown Tennessean has focused on the song "Colfax":

"We'll empty your spit-valve for life if you find us anything more stunning than 'Colfax,' [Kevin Gordon's] undeniably superb song that could only have come from one mind, and from one person's experience. It's ostensibly about a kid in the marching band but winds up being about the heart of American darkness and the steel that it takes to move beyond."

Drawing comparisons to a southern Bruce Springsteen, 'Gloryland' depicts heroic and anti-heroic characters tackling choices of faith, individual responsibility, and the positive force of art.

Other highlights from the album include "Pecolia's Star," a duet with Sarah Siskind written in tribute to African-American folk artist and quilter Pecolia Warner; the bracing rocker "One I Love," reminiscent of The Hold Steady; the coming-of-age blues "Bus To Shreveport"; and the steady grooving, Dylanesque "Gloryland."

'Gloryland' was produced by multi-instrumentalist and Dove Award winner Joe McMahan (Freedy Johnston, Allison Moorer) and mastered by Gavin Lurssen (T Bone Burnett).

Gordon has earned the respect of press and his peers. Of Gordon's music, Buddy Miller said, "It reminds me of why I love music. I get transported to a beautiful, strange, familiar place. It's where the best music comes from. Deep and soulful."

HBO's "True Blood" licensed his song "Watching the Sun Go Down" and his duet with Lucinda Williams "Down To The Well" has appeared on an Oxford American Music Issue compilation album.

No Depression has called Gordon's music “dirty and beautiful." All Music Guide said, "Kevin Gordon has earned the reputation as a storytelling leader." Entertainment Weekly said, "He evokes the scorching guitar intensity of Springsteen."

Born in Louisiana, Gordon has a master's degree in poetry from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop and he now runs a gallery of contemporary self-taught/folk/outsider/vernacular art in Nashville, TN: http://gordongallery.net/

KEVIN GORDON – GLORYLAND

1. Gloryland
2. Don't Stop Me This Time
3. Colfax/Step in Time
4. Pecolia's Star
5. Black Dog
6. Trying to Get to Memphis
7. Bus to Shreveport
8. Nine Bells
9. Side of the Road
10. Tearing It Down
11. One I Love

'RED COATS' IS COMING: BROOKLYNITE CAITHLIN DE MARRAIS DRAWS INSPIRATION FROM FILM HISTORY, FASHION, FOOD AND FAMILY ON STELLAR NEW ALBUM

The inspiration behind Caithlin De Marrais' new album reaches deep into the distant and not-so-distant past. (De Marrais is the former vocalist/bassist for Rainer Maria.) Here’s a rundown of the fuel for her creative fire on ‘Red Coats,’ out November 8 on End Up Records, which has been compared to Mirah and Beth Orton:

* Album opener “Lovers Light” is dedicated to the memory of Don Hill and one of the bright spots in the club scene, Don Hill’s nightclub. De Marrais says, "I'm drawn to places where people gather to dance. I hear this song as a dance song, slowed way down. The opening hits that super soft spot I have for analog fuzz-scapes. I composed this song on Garage Band and was sonically inspired as much by The National’s ‘High Violet’ as the soundtrack to the John Hughes’ film, ‘Pretty in Pink.’”

* Caithlin first heard the xx around the time that she wrote “Rose Wallpaper.” “I was really inspired by their brilliant vocals and arrangements." Lyrics recall an overnight stay as a youth in a 19th century abandoned house.

* “Hot Day” is an homage to Patti Smith’s ‘Horses’ album and also includes Ray Saperstein’s cornet a la Caithlin's favorite film genre, 1970s-era American crime films.

* The instrumental “Fizzy Wawa,” a term Caithlin’s son uses for carbonated water, includes his work on the Juno.

* “City Girl” is dedicated to her mother. Caithlin says, “My mom grew up in Jersey, a stone's throw from New York City. We're a Bruce Springsteen family and I was haunted by the lonely silhouette of Asbury Park when I wrote this song on the piano. I remember hearing the album ‘Tunnel of Love’ for the first time as a young girl and I was very moved by the sadness in those songs.”

* She dedicates “Sorry” to the memory of the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who possessed a tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his designs. Says Caithlin, "I had to catch my breath when I saw his work. It was mind-blowing. I am humbled by his legacy."

* The title track and album closer finds her comparing the Revolutionary War, of which a battle was fought in her childhood town of Fairfield, CT, to her modern day romance with British-born photographer, Spencer Heyfron. “This song is not exactly a metaphor for falling in love, but more the willingness to surrender to any of love’s invasions,” she says.

Check out her music video for “Birds” posted on Brooklyn Vegan.