"True Maverick" (eMusic) Ironing Board Sam, Jazz Fest & Night Train TV Alum To Release Hard-Hitting New Soul & Funk Album Featuring Special Guests The Memphis Horns

Double Bang, the new album from Ironing Board Sam, emphasizes that this artist has not only come back, but he’ll be around for a long time. The new two-CD album will be released July 9 by Music Maker Relief Foundation in partnership with Dixiefrog Records. Double Bang features 12 new tracks written/recorded by Ironing Board Sam during the past two years, recorded by Ardie Dean in Alabama and featuring backup by the Memphis Horns. The album also includes Sam’s first album on the Music Maker label, Going Up, and singles Sam released on various labels in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sam’s most recent album, Ninth Wonder of the World of Music, was released in 2012, also on the Music Maker label. eMusic said, "'Ninth Wonder' is a superb album for anyone interested in hearing a true maverick at work.... Here’s the most entertaining eight tracks and nearly 22 minutes of blues-based music likely to be released this year, and it should leave you longing for more."

Offbeat Magazine described Ironing Board Sam's 'The Ninth Wonder of the World of Music' as "a gem" in a profile last year.

Read the New Orleans Times-Picayune’s account of Sam’s illustrious career here.

In 2012 Sam was named “Comeback Artist of the Year” by Living Blues Magazine, made a triumphant return to a packed tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. In 2013 Sam performed at the Byron Bay Bluesfest in Byron Bay, Australia, and will be traveling for gigs all over the USA. At age 72, Sam feels like his career is finally where he wants it to be. “This album is the culmination of my lifelong quest. Fifty years of work towards my artistic vision has finally been achieved,” he said.

Tim Duffy, founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation, says, “Sam has had a truly remarkable journey through life. I have been a personal fan of his since seeing his tour bus on the streets of Asheville in 1981, but Sam has been amazing audiences throughout the South since the 1950s. He was featured on the first African-American televised music revue, The Night Train. Jimi Hendrix backed him up on the Chitlin’ Circuit in the 1960s. He has a place as an important figure in the history of Blues, largely unrecognized until now. With this album he is cementing his place as one of the most talented and hard working R&B artists out there. This album is truly a masterpiece that Sam has created and needs to share with the world.”

Ironing Board Sam has also been the focus this year of a documentary film, Tenth, by filmmaker Tom Ciaburri. Ciaburri used the crowd-funding site Kickstarter to fund finishing the film and releasing it at festivals nationwide. Tom describes Sam’s music as, “Sam beams positivity that comes out in his music – he is an amazingly talented musician who is only getting better with time. “ Tenth is now funded and will be completed in the coming year.

The Sydney Morning Herald said of Sam’s recent tour in Australia with the Music Maker Blues Revue, “Ironing Board Sam, 73 years young, sang like his pants were on fire and attacked his keyboard as if it had sinned.”

Double Bang will be officially released on July 9th, and can be purchased at the Music Maker Store.

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About Music Maker Relief Foundation:

Music Maker Relief Foundation, Inc. is a tax exempt, public charity under IRS code 501(c)3. Music Maker aims to keep our Southern culture vital by directly supporting senior (over 55) American roots musicians in need, expanding their professional careers, and providing with basic life needs so they can focus on their art. Music Maker also assists Next Generation (under 55) artists in the development of their professional careers. Since the organization’s founding in 1994, Music Maker has assisted hundreds of musicians who represent the traditions of Blues, Gospel, Old-Time String Band, Jazz and more. Music Maker’s programs ensure the talents of these cultural treasures are accessible so that our rich musical heritage can be shared with the world and preserved for future generations.

Camper Van Beethoven Clips

NY Times (October 1, 2013) profile of David Lowery

LA Magazine Online (December 12, 2012)

American Songwriter Online (December 6, 2012)

Billboard.com (November 8, 2012)

NPR World Café (February 21, 2013)

NPR California Report (Jan 25-27, 2013)

USA Today.com (Jan 18, 2013)

SPIN.com (Jan. 14, 2013)

MTV Hive (Jan 25, 2013)

eMusic (Jan. 8, 2013)

Stereogum (Jan 20, 2013)

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN MAKES BEST SHOWING ON BILLBOARD TOP 200 CHART SINCE 1989

'LA COSTA PERDIDA' (429 RECORDS) DEBUTS AT #3 ON HEATSEEKERS CHART, #1 ALTERNATIVE NEW ARTIST ALBUM

WEST COAST TOUR LEG SET FOR FEB.

Camper Van Beethoven's 'La Costa Perdida' (429 Records) debuted at #174 on the Billboard Top 200, #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, and #1 on the Alternative New Artist Album chart this week, the band's highest showing since 1989. MTV Hive did a Q&A with David Lowery.

Great reviews have come in since last week:

"'La Costa Perdida?' Maybe we are all lost here. But David Lowery and his Camper cohorts, after all these years, find it a very rich place in which to be lost, or be one of the lost."
– Steve Hochman, NPR California Report, January 25-27, 2013

"Lowery and company still know their way around a smart pop song or two."
– Mark Lore, Paste Magazine, January 22, 2013

"Focused and strikingly sincere California pop."
-- Annie Zaleski, eMusic, January 8, 2013

"'La Costa Perdida'… has all the complexity and amusing bafflement that the band has been known for… it skillfully puts together all the elements that make CVB so indescribably great."
– Ted Chase, QRO Mag, January 21, 2013

"When the Campers get cranking, they're a wonder to behold."
– Lee Zimmerman, Blurt, Jan. 22, 2013

Other journalists focused on the band's legacy, on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary this year. Paste said, "Those first five studio albums—released in the four-year span prior to CVB’s decade-long hiatus—are damn-near spotless." Philadelphia Inquirer said, "Even if 1989's tune 'Sweethearts' sounds like something out of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, remember that CVB made it in 1989, before Jeff Tweedy was even in Uncle Tupelo, much less Wilco."

CVB Tour dates:

Thu Feb 14 - Burnsville PAC - Minneapolis MN (w/ Cracker)
Sat Feb 16 - Rickshaw Stop - San Francisco CA
Sun Feb 17 - Hopmonk - Novato, Novato, CA
Mon Feb 18 - Odd Fellows Hall - Davis CA
Thurs Feb 21 – Hollywood, CA – House of Blues (w/ Leftover Salmon)
Fri Feb 22 - Tractor Tavern - Seattle WA
Sat Feb 23 - Mississippi Studios - Portland OR

"ALT-ROCKERS [WHO MAKE] BARB-WIRE HOOKS WITH GREAT HARMONY WORK" (BAEBLE MUSIC) SONS OF FATHERS COMPLETE MASTERPIECE SECOND ALBUM 'BIG DIAMOND WALTZ,' MIXED BY VANCE POWELL (JACK WHITE), OUT AUGUST 15 ON BLANCO RIVER MUSIC

OPENING DATES PLANNED WITH ALISON KRAUSS AND DWIGHT YOAKAM

"ONE OF 12 TO WATCH IN 2012… TERRIFIC… BARN-BURNING" – EMUSIC

"HOT TRACKS… IMPRESSIVE" - RELIX

Following heavy touring and intensive songwriting sessions, "breakout" (Austin Chronicle) "alt-rockers" (Baeble Music) Sons of Fathers fulfills the promise of last year's self-titled debut with a profound, terse masterpiece of a second album 'Big Diamond Waltz' (August 15 / Blanco River Music). Vance Powell, who mixed Jack White's 'Blunderbuss' and albums by Dead Weather and The Raconteurs, approached the band at an in-store at Grimey's in Nashville, TN and offered to mix 'Big Diamond Waltz.' Baeble Music raved about the "barb wire hooks" of the new material, which was self-produced by band principles David Beck and Paul Cauthen, continuing, "Sons of Fathers make their case for why they should be included in your current crush on southern rock leaning bands."

Powell said, "The Sons are blazing a trail out of Austin with great songs and a cool sound unique unto themselves. I loved working on the album."

Embeddable MP3 of"Burning Days."

Downloadable, postable MP3 of"Burning Days"

Behind-the-scenes footage of Sonsof Fathers producing and recording 'Big Diamond Waltz'

Sons of Fathers were named one of "12 to watch in 2012" by eMusic, which called the self-titled debut album "terrific" and "barn-burning," continuing, "nothing can take away the songwriting duo's brotherly harmonies [and] their band's ruckus-raising live shows." Relix Magazine called the self-titled debut album "hot tracks," continuing, "Sons of Fathers puts on an impressive live show but the album is even better." Dates are planned opening for Alison Krauss and Dwight Yoakam.

While 'Sons of Fathers' earned comparisons to The Avett Brothers (by CMT.com and AOL Music), Dawes (Baeble Music), and Ray LaMontagne, the new album adds new elements to their sound on 'Big Diamond Waltz' and in their ferocious live shows: circus-inspired waltzes and reprises with swirling horns and slide guitar, dark blues, and spine-tingling folk, all with Sons of Fathers' harmonies which are "nothing short of moving" (WXPN). Much like the Byrds redefined the boundaries of Country and The Band did so with rock, Sons of Fathers merge the two seamlessly and bridge the generations with a new original sound like no other.

Highlights include "Big Diamond Waltz," a searching song with an unmatched intensity; the unrequited lovelorn "To Whom Do You Belong?," the ballad "Lay Me Down"; the scorching "Burning Days"; and the dark character study of "You're Gonna Hurt Someone."

The vocal and songwriting chemistry between Cauthen, grandson of a Texas preacher who taught him to sing and play, and Beck, son of a prominent Texas upright bassist, has deepened. They are rooted in Texas music but steeped in the indie-folk scene.

The band has also completed a Daytrotter session.

Sons of Fathers are Beck (bass and vocals), Cauthen (acoustic guitar and vocals), Dees Stribling (drums), Regan Schmidt (guitar, slide guitar), Bryan Mammel (keyboards), and Tony Browne (guitar).

SONS OF FATHERS CEMENT "BREAKOUT" (AUSTIN CHRONICLE) STATUS WITH WORLD CAFÉ NEXT AIRING, DAYTROTTER TAPING, & EMUSIC ONE OF "12 TO WATCH IN 2012"

Sons of Fathers – the band whose harmonies have earned them comparisons to Mumford & Sons and Crosby, Still & Nash with an infusion of Texas grease – are cementing their "breakout" (Austin Chronicle) status with a Next segment on the January 30 airing of NPR's World Café and a February 6 Daytrotter session taping.

They were also named one of "12 to watch in 2012" by eMusic, which called the self-titled debut album "terrific" and "barn-burning," continuing, "nothing can take away the songwriting duo's brotherly harmonies, their band's ruckus-raising live shows, and finely-honed, geographically-inspired tunes."

Aspen, CO's KSPN radio said, "You guys are like Mumford & Sons but with half the members and twice the sound."

The band has been barnstorming radio. KPFT (Houston, TX) has spun seven songs while their hometown KUT has played six. Here are clips live from KPFT and KSPN: