APPLEWOOD ROAD – TRIO OF AMY SPEACE, EMILY BARKER, & AMBER RUBARTH – EARNING ACCLAIM FOR AMERICAN RELEASE OF SELF-TITLED DEBUT

Applewood Road – the trio of songwriters Amy Speace, Emily Barker, and Amber Rubarth – are earning raves for their self-titled debut album, out this month on Gearbox Records. The trio’s “My Love Grows” was featured on Spotify’s Folksy Love playlist. Here’s what we’re reading:

“Impressed me with their close harmonies.”
- Paste Magazine

“Lovely… near perfect folk album… I was mesmerized.”
- No Depression

“The harmonies of the three women… shine.”
- Glide Magazine

“Serendipity.”
- Mother Church Pew

“Musical magic.”
- The Alternate Root

Radio add date: August 21

“Losing My Religion” live: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8-4ayvZQ0

UK praise:

“****… a stunning country showcase of three gorgeous but markedly different voices.”
– Q

“Flawless set that has to be the most haunting release of the past year... Unfailingly seductive and wistful.”
– Sunday Times

“*****… There’s a moreish magic to the harmonies of this country-folk trio that recalls the vintage appeal of the Everlys and the Andrews”
– Telegraph

“Truly gorgeous…”
– Maverick Magazine

“*****… full of style, allure and artistry… likely to be in my top five albums this year.”
– R2

“****… Sometimes things just seem meant to be… honey-harmonied wonder… magic.”
– Record Collector

“GENIUS” (NOISEY) LELAND SUNDRIES SIGNS PUBLISHING AGREEMENT WITH MOTHER WEST MUSIC

Indie/Americana/garage band Leland Sundries, which made a splash this year with its full-length debut ‘music for outcasts,’ has signed a publishing deal with fellow Brooklynites Mother West Music. Leland Sundries’ ‘music for outcasts’ (L'Echiquier/Decor/Weiner Records) earned numerous spotlights as well as airplay from KEXP, WFUV, WFMU, and beyond:

“A-… genius.”
- Robert Christgau, NOISEY, July 22, 2016. Full review: https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/robert-christgau-expert-witness-leland-sundries

“Heaps of wit and melody… Beautiful rambling storytelling that flirts with pop and sounds a little like Silver Jews.”
- Peter Watts, UNCUT, April, 2016

“Scrappy yet ingenuous rock poetry.”
- MOJO, March, 2016

“Loss-Eaton and company avoid predictability… upturned middle finger that resides at the center of their sound. Ultimately ‘Music for Outcasts’ finds truth in its title… Those prone to coloring outside the lines will have cause to give a decided nod of approval.”
- Lee Zimmerman, Relix, October/November issue

"One of the more exciting roots-based bands to be unleashed in quite a while... This fellow knows his geography now. Both out in the rolling hills and inside his own heart and soul... One minute Leland Sundries has you weeping in your beer over the cowboy lament, 'Keys in The Boot,' the next they’re rocking as righteously as The New York Dolls-inspired 'Bad Hair Day.' Throw in the radiant Power Pop of 'Apocalypse Love Song,' and you’ll see there isn’t a genre they haven’t mastered. These guys have only one rule about the music they play: it has to sound authentic and cool. Which, a good damn portion of the time, it does."
- Peter Gerstenzang, American Songwriter, May 6, 2016

“Awesomeness.”
- Justin Cober-Lake, Pop Matters, June 2, 2016

“Fine character-building.”
- Eric Davidson, CMJ, April 18, 2016

"A killer record... The record has devoured my subconscious... creative wordplay... Witty and left of center, juxtapose from the norm, some fresh and fun genre-bending rock-n-roll...Loss-Eaton is a songwriter’s songwriter, languid stories and never short on style... A tried and true summer soundtrack for yours truly, simply a record you can’t grow not fond of. Each track a small ride to a cool destination."
-Scott Zuppardo, No Depression, August 9, 2016

“Superb.”
- Sjimon Gompers, Impose, March 11, 2016

“We were instantly hooked. In fact, we're so impressed by the Brooklyn-natives to the point where we can't begin to effusively begin to heap enough praise.”
- Pure Volume, June 1, 2016

“Life affirming… Leland Sundries’ debut album and first European release shows a ton of promise and is a very enjoyable listen.  It will certainly appeal to fans of bands like Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman as well as fans of bands like Whiskeytown and Starsailor.”
- Alan Ewart, Louder Than War (UK), February 16, 2016

“Leland Sundries match crackling garage rock with a near bubblegum love of melody. The band's sound sits somewhere between Pavement and The Archies, with a dose of Jonathan Richman's off kilter wit thrown in for good measure.”
- Robin Murray, Clash Music (UK), January 19, 2016

Brooklyn-based Mother West has grown from a small indie label and recording studio to a full-service boutique music catalog, offering music licensing for film and television, publicity and promotions, customized distribution, online sales, music production and artist management. With an impressive roster under it's belt, Mother West continues to work with an array of artists in various capacities, including Motopony, Mother Feather, The Magnetic Fields, Aloud, The Bones of J.R Jones, Peppina, Kris Gruen, Cold Blood Club and many others.

Originally founded by musicians Charles Newman and Paul Casanova, Mother West was named after the sign on the deli downstairs from their studio and was created to release their debut record Noreally Thanks from their band PLEASE in 1994. This led to a cut on the platinum selling Empire Records Soundtrack on A&M Records and the company's first foray into placing music into films.  Since then, and under the helm of Newman, the company continues to grow it's catalog and develop it's community of artists.

2016 marks a new partnership with Los Angeles-based publisher Defend Music, who will be representing the publishing interest of the Mother West catalog in North America, with Kobalt Publishing representing the catalog globally.

EARLY UK PRAISE BUOYS LELAND SUNDRIES’ DEBUT ALBUM ‘MUSIC FOR OUTCASTS’ (JUNE 3 / L’ECHIQUIER/WEINER RECORDS)

BROOKLYN BAND ADDED TO GREEN RIVER FESTIVAL JULY 10

Leland Sundries’ debut full-length album ‘music for outcasts,’ out June 3 on L’Echiquier Records/Weiner Records, has earned raves in the UK, where it is already out. The Brooklyn band has also been added to the Green River Festival playing July 10, the same day as Tedeschi Trucks Band, North Mississippi All Stars, and Margo Price. Here’s what the UK press has said:

“Heaps of wit and melody… Beautiful rambling storytelling that flirts with pop and sounds a little like Silver Jews.”
- Peter Watts, UNCUT, April, 2016

“Scrappy yet ingenuous rock poetry.”
- MOJO, March, 2016

“Life affirming… Leland Sundries’ debut album and first European release shows a ton of promise and is a very enjoyable listen.  It will certainly appeal to fans of bands like Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman as well as fans of bands like Whiskeytown and Starsailor.”
- Alan Ewart, Louder Than War, February 16, 2016

“All eleven tracks show glimpses of a future master musical storyteller just starting out. It’ll be exciting to see where Loss-Eaton – and Leland Sundries – go next.”
- Paul Heatley, Rock N Reel, April, 2016

“Leland Sundries match crackling garage rock with a near bubblegum love of melody. The band's sound sits somewhere between Pavement and The Archies, with a dose of Jonathan Richman's off kilter wit thrown in for good measure.”
- Robin Murray, Clash Music, January 19, 2016

“Cool… Notes of Lou Reed and the Modern Lovers.”
- Metro London, December 12, 2015

“Oddball storytelling.”
- The Beat Juice, November, 23, 2015

“Excellent.”
- Mad Mackeral, November 25, 2015

LELAND SUNDRIES TOUR DATES

Wed, May 18 - Brooklyn, NY - Gateway
Fri, June 17 - Norfolk, VA - 80/20 Burger Bar
Sat, June 18 - Charlottesville, VA - Ante Room
Wed, June 29 - Nashville, TN - The Family Wash
Thu, July 7 - Providence, RI - Dusk
Sun, July 10 - Greenfield, MA - Green River Fest

Leland Sundries clips

Paste Magazine session (March 2, 2018)

Magnet profile, issue 133



American Songwriter feature (May 6, 2016)


Louder Than War video premiere (May 2, 2016)

CMJ track premiere (April 18, 2016)

Impose Mag track premiere (March 11, 2016)

Paste Magazine track premiere (December 28, 2015)

Clash Music video premiere (January 19, 2016)

Mix Magazine feature (February 12, 2016)

UNCUT review (March, 2016 issue):

The Beat Juice track premiere (UK) (November 23, 2015)

MOJO album review (March, 2016 issue):

Metro (London) December 12, 2015 track review:

Blurt single review (December 16, 2015)

Flavorpill live pick (October 5, 2015)

Baeble track premiere (March 5, 2012)

Daytrotter session (October 24, 2012)

NY Times live pick (November 4, 2010)

Piney Gir - Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride

"Sweet 60's pop from Kansas Chameleon"
- UNCUT ****

"Undeniably charming"
- THE SUN ***

"Varying emotions and mutations are part of her unexpected strength"
- MOJO ***

"Exuberant, bursts with joy, divine and sometimes mournful"
Q Magazine Top Pick

Piney Gir - Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride

We present “Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride” – twelve top pop stories about a young woman coming to terms
with the hope and regret that accompanies love and loss. Piney's easy way with melody belies an
album of new and different shades to albums past. Change is in the air, and the characters that
populate these songs seem ready to tell it like it is, like Dorothy Parker’s snappy comebacks, as
surprising to them as to us.

Being Piney Gir, she can't resist the perkiness of a finely-honed, heavenly tune on opener Gold
Rules, even as the song celebrates unreachable riches and glibly states the fact, “you can’t take it
with you anyway.” First single, Keep It Together deftly channels 60s beat pop and Stereolab all at
the same time, a lover's lament laced with urgency and optimism, piped-in directly from her spaceage,
bachelorette pad.

Other stand-out earworms include Tilt A Whirl, a piece of fairground philosophy that dates back to
childhood years when Piney would accompany her grandmother on something akin to the Waltzer.
As the song spins, with Farfisas swirling round life's ups and downs "like a shooting star or a hope
combustible..." become metaphors among the lights and sounds. Mouse Of A Ghost fuzzes up like
Pineys-in-Toyland channelling her inner riot grrl, with boxy guitar blasts that remind us all that you
can rock just as hard, if not harder, in a gingham dress.

As ever Piney's pulled together a stellar band, with members of Gaz Coombes and Emiliana Torrini's
touring band jumping in on guitar, bass and drums alongside The Smith Brothers & regular
collaborator Garo Nahoulakian takes a seat in the producer’s chair. Andy Ramsay of Stereolab
makes an appearance on drums; the bulk of the album was recorded in his South London studio.
The rest was whipped-up in Piney’s little Hackney Studio, small and perfectly formed like a musical
toy box, chock-full of space echo, marimba, omnichord and pocket piano, which combine to create
a euphoric indie-starshine. Think Yoshimi-era Flaming Lips alongside sparkling tableaux of Mercury
Rev., the tunefulness of Grandaddy and riff-led counter-melodies like The Pixies.

After a decade spent in the UK it feels like Piney's finally made England hers by rediscovering
America, re-imagined from London's rainy streets, channelling her inner Jekyll and Mister Hyde,
“because there’s two sides to everything, right?” These tunes beautifully stitch together English
folk, American pop, mariachi moments, trail songs and baroque beats. Sometimes it's like an alternative
musical history of a storybook amusement park ride. And need we mention, it's a wild ride
you're gonna love...

LEYLA MCCALLA CELEBRATES LANGSTON HUGHES' BIRTHDAY WITH SHOWS FEB 11 AT BRIC HOUSE AND FEBRUARY 13 AT ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL, STAGE 3

THREE SYNDICATED RADIO SHOW TAPINGS OVER NEXT MONTH FOR FAST-RISER AS PASTE STREAMS ALBUM THIS WEEK

Leyla McCalla – cellist and tenor banjo player, Jazz Fest alum, and member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops family – will celebrate Langston Hughes' February 1 birthday with concerts February 11 at BRIC House (647 Fulton St., Brooklyn) and February 13 at Rockwood Music Hall, Stage 3 (196 Allen St.). Leyla McCalla will be taping three syndicated radio segments over the next month--NPR Tell Me More; NPR eTown; and Nat Geo Radio—talking about her stellar debut album 'Vari-Colored Songs: A Tribute to Langston Hughes,' which is influenced by sounds from New York, New Orleans, and Haiti. Paste Magazine will stream the album this week before its February 4 release.

Performance videos from the streets of New Orleans.

Early buzz came from the UK. The Sunday Times called it an "unforgettable... triumph." The UK's R2 gave it four stars, calling it "a labour of love, beautifully consummated." UNCUT gave it an 8/10, heralding its "magic." The Guardian said that McCalla casts "a charming, resonant spell."

In the US, New Orleans' Offbeat Magazine tabbed it "ambitious, deep and gorgeous." Sing Out Magazine has raved, "What a voice, more Billie Holiday than anything, flourishing in such bare surroundings and bringing the words, whether joyous or dark, to life... As arranger, musician and vocalist she’s a remarkable talent, and this debut is assured and a harbinger of a towering career."

More info on Leyla's tour.

LEYLA MCCALLA ANNOUNCES NORTHEAST TOUR, ETOWN TAPING AS PRE-RELEASE UK, US PLAUDITS ADD UP

"UNFORGETTABLE… TRIUMPH" (THE SUNDAY TIMES, UK) 'VARI-COLORED SONGS: A TRIBUTE TO LANGSTON HUGHES' OUT FEB 4 ON MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION

Leyla McCalla – whose solo tribute to Langston Hughes comes out February 4, three days after his birthday – will tour the northeast United States in January and February. The announcement, which includes three stops in NYC, the first during APAP, comes on the heels of incredible reviews in the UK and US and an opening slot for Mavis Staples. In February, she will tape syndicated national radio show eTown, located in Boulder, CO.

The Sunday Times called it an "unforgettable… triumph."

The UK's R2 gave it four stars, calling it "a labour of love, beautifully consummated."

UNCUT gave it an 8/10, heralding its "magic."

New Orleans' Offbeat Magazine tabbed it "ambitious, deep and gorgeous."

The Wall Street Journal premiered a track as well.

Leyla McCalla Northeast 2014 Tour Dates:

January 10 – New York, NY – City Winery
February 4 – Durham, NC – The Pinhook
February 5 – Washington, D.C. – The Hamilton
February 7 – Bayport, NY – Grey Horse Tavern
February 8 – Philadelphia, PA – Tin Angel
February 9 – Lewiston, ME - Bates College
February 11 – Brooklyn, NY – BRIC House
February 13 – New York, NY – Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3
February 14 – Cambridge, MA – Club Passim
February 15 – New Haven, CT – Café Nine
February 17 – Providence, RI – Fete Lounge
February 19 – Northampton, MA – Iron Horse
February 20 – Brownfield, MA – Stone Mountain Arts Center
February 25 – Boulder, CO – eTown
July 11 – Courtenay, BC – Vancouver Island MusicFest

Leyla McCalla clips

The Guardian (UK) feature, Sept 26, 2013

8/10 UNCUT review, December, 2013

Offbeat Magazine review, January, 2014 

"REVELATION" (WASHINGTON POST) CORB LUND SETS SXSW SCHEDULE

Corb Lund – the descendent of four generations of Albertan ranchers, former punk/metal player, and whipsmart songwriter of – has been added to the lineups of the Lonestar Music official showcase, Lonestar Music day party, and New West Records day party.

9pm Wednesday March 13 - Corb Lund, Lonestar Music Official Showcase, Black Heart, 86 Rainey Street, open to badge and wristband holders only

2:30pm Thursday, March 14 – Corb Lund, New West Records Day Party, Threadgills, 301 West Riverside Drive, private but please contact me to RSVP.

4:15pm Thursday, March 14 – Corb Lund, Lonestar Music Day Party, St. Vincent De Paul parking lot, 1327 South Congress Ave., open to the public

Amid raves from NPR, NY Times, UNCUT and others, Corb Lund scored a personal best with a #13 debut on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and a #60 debut on the Billboard Indie Chart for his "breakthrough" (Washington Post) album 'Cabin Fever' (New West Records). The album also debuted at #1 on Billboard's Canadian Top 200 albums chart. In the Nashville Scene's 13th Annual Country Music Critics' Poll, Corb Lund is the #10 male vocalist and 'Cabin Fever' is the #20 best album of 2012. He will open a show in April for country royalty Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley. Here's what the press have said:

"Impressive… great songs… Lund finds glory in tough work, spotting characters most people would overlook, and celebrating them with colorful sketches… Corb Lund's ironic humor and keen sense of American culture is similar to Hayes Carll." – NPR

"An album of pithy mischief and roguish charm." – NY Times

"This is another terrific chapter in what's become a rich catalouge of orthodox country" - Uncut 9/10

"A breakthrough [and] a doozy… Lund is a revelation, laconic and scary smart, with a devil’s eye for details." – Washington Post

"As if strolling out of the American West itself, caked with layers dusty guitar riffs and rugged vocals, comes Corb Lund’s latest work… The album’s 12 tracks drip with cowboy speak." – Paste Magazine

"Corb Lund has one up on the alt-country competition in that he’s been an actual cowboy, and his songs sometimes seem like the soundtrack to a Western directed by Quentin Tarantino." – MTV Hive

"Corb Lund's 'Cabin Fever' is the best country record this year." – The Oregonian

FOR JOHN MURRY, DUELING BASSES, A BOWED GUITAR, BELLS, VIBES, ORGAN, AND GUILT CONJURE "CALIFORNIA"

"California," the intense, guilt-ridden John Murry song for which buzzy British blog The Line of Best Fit premiered the music video, started taking its final shape only when two scratch bass parts meant as an either/or proposition fit together as one.

Here's the embeddable music video.

The song appears on 'The Graceless Age,' out April 2 on Evangeline Recording Co. in the US. The album was among the best of 2012 in the UK from UNCUT Magazine, the BBC, and elsewhere.

The master built on basslines from an old Jerry Jones longhorn semi-hollowbody bass (of which Murry cryptically says "has a hell of a story of it's own, involving bank robberies and exploding dye packs and prison time"). Murry says, "I think that, of all the songs on The Graceless Age, it exemplifies what Tim [Mooney, co-producer] and I did together best. We'd built an entire song off of an out-of-tune bass, which accidentally helps give it that kinda drone-y, hypnotic quality. When we went to play everything else we did, like bells, vibes, and organ, Tim and I would have to pitch shift everything. It became a method, almost, limiting us to certain instruments and forcing us to experiment with messing with various organic instruments' sounds to create the sounds we'd normally get from specific instruments."

Murry says, "We stole the handclaps from another session we'd been working on for another band and then built the drum loop. Then we overdubbed the percussion. I played a bunch of weird guitar using an actual bow, an ebow, and a brass slide and wah to imitate the sustain of an ebow, and we reversed it on tape and made it warble by varying the speed, then recorded it again as it was being varied. We got the vocals done. It happened so quickly." Later, Sean Coleman overdubbed a piano part, which had to pitch-shifted from a piano that was slightly flat.

The writing came to Murry all at once. He recalls, "I was becoming addicted to narcotics – I'd begun abusing Percocet and Percodan and Vicodin and the like – and wrote it in a 30 minute wave of time; the kind of time I think Tom Waits is describing when he talks about songs 'coming through the window if you leave it open.'"

Contrary to the song's refrain ("I swear it ain't you; It's California I can't stand)," Murry confesses, "It's a bit of self-deception. California, as a State, isn't to blame for what happened. I am."

JOHN MURRY'S SOUTHERN LITERATURE INSPIRATION COMES FROM ANCESTRY, SPECIFICALLY AS SECOND COUSIN TO WILLIAM FAULKNER

MURRY NAMED FOR FAULKNER'S GRANDFATHER, A CIVIL WAR SURGEON WHOSE MEDICAL KIT MURRY KEEPS

John Murry – who made the indie-noir album 'The Graceless Age,' one of the UK's best-reviewed albums of 2012 and out in the US April 2 on Evangeline Recording Co. – has described himself as more absorbed in the worlds of literature than in the day-to-day concerns of the modern world, and for good reason: he's second cousin to William Faulkner and has spent much time with his second cousin's works.

Murry says, "I am, in truth, named for his grandfather, my great-great-grandfather. My granddaddy, Charles 'Bo' Murry, is buried about ten feet from him in Oxford, MS, and was his pallbearer. My plot is paid for and is adjacent to it."

His namesake's story – and its relation to his novels - is enthralling and entertaining in itself. Murry explained to the blog Echoes& Dust, " John Young Murry and Col. W.C. Falkner appear as the amalgam that is Col. Sartoris in William Faulkner's writings. John Young Murry didn't use his Confederate title after the War. He was opposed to both slavery and secession until Yankee soldiers raided his home, took his family's Christmas meal, and did as they pleased with his land and family. He joined the fight to protect his home. He was a surgeon, though, and at Shiloh performed amputations on both Yankees and Rebels. Likely, in his mind, as Christ would've done. I've got the amputation kit he used under my bed and treasure it, nonetheless. I've been allowed the distance necessary to see The South as I needed to, I suppose."

After a firestorm of UK raves, John Murry's 'The Graceless Age' has been confirmed for a March 5 release on Evangeline Recording Co. It's the last album produced and recorded by Tim Mooney of American Music Club and Sun Kil Moon before his death June 13, produced – as all their records were - in collaboration with Murry. 'The Graceless age' is one of eight albums nominated for The UNCUT Music Award and praise has been effusive on the other side of the pond, where Murry is launching a winter tour that begins January 21. MOJO is planning an upcoming feature and Murry will perform on Ralph MacLean's BBC show as one of his "Best of 2012" artists and Ricky Ross' BBC Scotland show in front of a live audience at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall during the tour. The Sun gave it 5 stars out of 5, saying, "Occasionally, an album comes out of nowhere that completely blows your mind. Like this one… A genuine tour de force." In another 5 star (out of 5) review, R2 called it "a genuine American masterpiece." In a 9 star (out of 10) review, UNCUT's Senior Editor, Allan Jones, described the "deeply textured… ruined grandeur," continuing, "This is what 'The Graceless Age' as a whole does so unforgettably, bearing honest witness to a burning world." and went on to later call it "second only to Bob Dylan's Tempest" among best records of 2012.

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

AFTER FIRESTORM OF U.K. RAVES AND UNCUT MUSIC AWARD NOMINATION, U.S. RELEASE CONFIRMED MARCH 5 FOR JOHN MURRY'S 'THE GRACELESS AGE' ON EVANGELINE RECORDING CO.

LAST ALBUM PRODUCED BY TIM MOONEY (SUN KIL MOON, AMERICAN MUSIC CLUB)

"LIKE FATHER JOHN MISTY, MARK LANEGAN, AND JOSH T PEARSON ROLLED INTO ONE REALLY BROKEN DREAM." – Q MAGAZINE

After a firestorm of U.K. raves, John Murry's 'The Graceless Age' has been confirmed for April 2 on Evangeline Recording Co. It's the last album co-produced by Tim Mooney of American Music Club and Sun Kil Moon before his death June 13, in collaboration with Murry.

Check out the embeddable "California" music video, dedicated to Mooney.

'The Graceless age' is one of eight albums nominated for an UNCUT Music Award and praise has been effusive on the other side of the pond, where Murry is launching a winter tour shortly. MOJO is planning a feature. The Sun gave it 5 stars out of 5, saying, "Occasionally, an album comes out of nowhere that completely blows your mind. Like this one… A genuine tour de force." In another 5 star (out of 5) review, R2 called it "a genuine American masterpiece." In a 9 star (out of 10) review, UNCUT  described the "deeply textured… ruined grandeur," continuing, "This is what 'The Graceless Age' as a whole does so unforgettably, beating honest witness to a burning world."

The album brings together organic and synthetic elements to create its own despairing, lush soundscape from female vocals cradling the ashes of John's cigarette-stained drawl to loops of electric guitar feedback over his howl; from an answering machine message to insistent, creeping synthesizer; from CB radio samples to a violin; and from an alarm's swells to a warm acoustic guitar. Moments on 'The Graceless Age' can be compared to eels, Sparklehorse, and Beck's 'Sea Change' but these stories burn true in Murry's own writing and singing.

Now based in Oakland, CA, John Murry has lived many lives. He grew up in Elvis' hometown of Tupelo, MS and there's a photo of Elvis in concert that shows his mother reaching out to touch his hand. He was a junkie after he left Memphis to go to that den of iniquity, California. He wrote for the Village Voice for a time. He is William Faulkner's second cousin and friends have described him as lost in the worlds of southern literature. He has seen death in an alley and managed to stumble back from it. These identities come together in 'The Graceless Age.'

John Murry 'The Graceless Age' bio

The way to beat fundamentalism is to find yourself interred at a fundamentalist drug rehabilitation facility for eighteen months as a teenager. “I was only on pills for half as long,” says John Murry about the pharmaceutical speed he was given as a “slow” student at his Mississippi high school. “They gave me the pills and then they locked me up when I took them. I trafficked in righteous indignation when they let me out, but god damn it, it turned out they were right.” Years later, dead from heroin, San Francisco’s first responders showed him how Lazarus felt. A few times. Not born again, but not dead either.

The way to Catholicism if you’re John Murry is through Graham Greene and Walker Percy. Literature goes a long way for some people – the people who read it without prejudice and don’t parade their reading list around in place of personal substance. It’s in John Murry’s blood. He’s William Faulkner’s grandson. Or nephew. “I got all the way to being his son, once.” It depends whom you ask or who’s doing the talking. But John Murry can tell you which of his cousins or uncles came to find himself transmogrified into fictional characters in Faulkner’s novels. There’s no separation of fiction and reality in John Murry’s lineage. It’s all reality, just like Graham Greene’s Monsignor Quixote. When asked what he liked to read, Faulkner always answered, “I read Don Quixote and The Bible every year.” The quote is different if you read it in the biographies. But that’s how it’s told in the Murry family and that’s how John Murry remembers it and John Murry doesn’t ever forget anything.

Tupelo, Mississippi is John Murry’s hometown. He immigrated to Oakland, California seven years ago for the Mexican Coca-Cola. “If you eat the rust off the bottleneck, it keeps you healthy. I learned that in England.” England because that’s where he goes to perform the death ballads he writes and records with Bob Frank. Rolling Stone’s Senior Editor David Fricke wrote of their World Without End “all bullets, blades and guilt without end…. With his low, hanging-judge drawl, Murry sounds as severe and modern as Leonard Cohen.... production here [Tim Mooney and John Murry] is as antique as a sepia print — but also as immediate as the anguish made elsewhere by the two.” Allan Jones of UNCUT Magazine called it a “dazzling collection of blasted country folk and grimly haunting murder ballads, shot through with harrowing images of death, damnation and eternal suffering...” People like to talk about what Jim Dickinson said. About John Murry’s records with Bob Frank, Jim Dickinson said, “The lost cry out in song. Cold as an assassin's blade. Burning with the heat of a pistol's breath. Dark and deep as the grave. This recording is timeless as death. It will haunt your dreams and follow you down the shadow-filled street just out of sight."

John Murry began recording The Graceless Age (produced by Murry, Tim Mooney, and Kevin Cubbins) four years ago in San Francisco. From there, he brought the tapes to Memphis and back again, adding layers of sound as thick as, what? San Francisco fog? Mississippi mud? No. That’s fucking ridiculous. As John Murry says, “No matter how many fuzz pedals I use, no matter how many synths, they’re always going to say ‘Mississippi’ and ‘southern rock.’” Of course territory figures into the songs of The Graceless Age, but good luck pigeonholing.

It’s a big sound at times – backup singers, panoramic guitar noise, sweet piano melodies, an orchestra of strings, bells, horns… – but no matter how ethereal or expansive, at the heart of each song is something simple maybe written on an acoustic guitar or upright piano about loss and solitude and bad fucking-up, not always with a guilty conscience. Listen to “California” with its mechanical loops over a constant, hypnotic guitar line. It’s pretty. It’s also easy to imagine riding alone over the Bay Bridge from San Francisco to Oakland, generally disgusted with the scenery, as though it’s the scenery’s fault. Listen to “Little Colored Balloons” – sparse with piano, cello, mournful backup singing, and John Murry’s hoarse voice protesting too much. Drugs, bad choices, melody and countermelody.

John Murry knows what it sounds like to be Elvis, alone in Memphis, bloated with pills and mistakes, about to hit the floor. There’s a gospel choir and backwards guitar.

--Creston Lea, Author of "Wild Punch"
Burlington, Vermont, October 2010

DESCENDED FROM FOUR GENERATIONS OF ALBERTAN RANCHERS AND HAILED BY NPR, CORB LUND TO PERFORM AT HILL COUNTRY LIVE IN NYC NOV 14

LUND RISES TO #7 ON AMERICANA RADIO CHART

Corb Lund – the songwriter descended from four generations of Albertan ranchers who used to play metal and punk music – will play NYC's Hilly Country Live November 14. For his new album 'Cabin Fever,' Lund traveled to NYC, along with Austin, Las Vegas, and Alberta, to pen the sharp and often wry songs.

Amid raves from NPR, NY Times, UNCUT and others, Corb scored a personal best with a #13 debut on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and a #60 debut on the Billboard Indie Chart for his "breakthrough" (Washington Post) album 'Cabin Fever.' The album also debuted at #1 on Billboard's Canadian Top 200 albums chart. NPR said, "Impressive... great songs... Lund finds glory in tough work, spotting characters most people would overlook, and celebrating them with colorful sketches... Corb Lund's ironic humor and keen sense of American culture is similar to Hayes Carll."

Meanwhile, Lund has risen to #7 on the Americana radio charts.

Goth girls to survivalists, bovines to bibles, antique pistols to vintage motorcycles: Lund’s songcraft covers it all. Most recently, CMT.com just posted his new music video to the heartbreaking "September."

WHO: New West artist Corb Lund

WHAT: NYC full band performance

WHEN: 9:30pm, November 14, 2012

WHERE: Hill Country Live, 30 West 26th Street, (212) 255-4544

TICKETS: $15 in advance or at the door via Hill Country Live box office

DESCENDED FROM FOUR GENERATIONS OF ALBERTAN RANCHERS AND HAILED BY NPR, CORB LUND TO PERFORM AT THE MINT OCT. 11

Corb Lund – the songwriter descended from four generations of Albertan ranchers who used to play metal and punk music – will play Los Angeles' The Mint October 11. Goth girls to survivalists, bovines to bibles, antique pistols to vintage motorcycles: Lund’s songcraft covers it all.

Amid raves from NPR, NY Times, UNCUT and others, Corb scored a personal best with a #13 debut on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and a #60 debut on the Billboard Indie Chart for his "breakthrough" (Washington Post) album 'Cabin Fever.' The album also debuted at #1 on Billboard's Canadian Top 200 albums chart. NPR said, "Impressive... great songs... Lund finds glory in tough work, spotting characters most people would overlook, and celebrating them with colorful sketches... Corb Lund's ironic humor and keen sense of American culture is similar to Hayes Carll."

Most recently, CMT.comhttp://www.cmt.com/videos/corb-lund/835168/september.jhtml just posted his new music video.

WHO: New West artist Corb Lund
WHAT: LA performance
WHEN: 9pm, October 11, 2012
WHERE: The Mint, 6010 West Pico Blvd, LA, 323.954.9400
TICKETS: $8 in advance; $10 at the door via The Mint box office

RAISED IN PENTACOSTAL HOUSEHOLD WITHOUT POP MUSIC, KANSAS-BORN, LONDON-BASED PINEY GIR BECOMES UK INDIE POP STARLET

US ALBUM RELEASE OF 'GERONIMO!' IS SET FOR OCT. 16 ON HIGHLINE RECORDS

**** - UNCUT

Raised in Kansas and not allowed to listen to secular music during her childhood, Piney Gir kicked off her church shoes to sing rock 'n' roll music, and has since drawn comparisons to Jenny Lewis and Nellie McKay. The release of Geronimo! in the UK has firmly established her as an "indie pop scenester" (All Music Guide), and the album is slated for a US release October 16 on Highline Records. UNCUT gave the album four stars while The Sun called it "undeniably charming." Q Magazine called it "exuberant, bursts with joy, divine."

Check out the video for "Outta Sight" here, made using 8mm film and featuring puppets:

With an upbringing rooted in the Pentecostal Church, Piney grew up singing in choirs and playing the piano and drums. At the age of 14, when her father moved to start a prison ministry in Seattle, she was transferred to public school and suddenly exposed to popular culture; she soaked it up like a sponge.

Produced by Brian Jonestown Massacre's Rob Campanella, Geronimo! was recorded in Los Angeles, CA. Nelson Bragg (who plays percussion with Brian Wilson) and one of the Beatles' 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' brass section contribute parts. The result is big-eared pop that references the Byrds, The Beach Boys, and Phil Spector while sounding entirely current.

Piney has opened for the likes of Brian Jonestown Massacre, Wanda Jackson, Erasure, and Martha Wainwright. Her music has been featured in the TV shows Misfits (E4), Made In Chelsea (E4), Hit & Miss (Sky TV) and Private Practice (ABC) and has been featured in the New Singles & EPs section of the iTunes Store in the UK. She has performed at numerous festivals, including Glastonbury, Bestival, Big Chill, Larmer Tree, Wychwood, Cornbury, Camden Crawl and SXSW. Piney Gir is also a former member of the all-girl, art-rock, cult-classic group The Schla La Las and the synth-pop duo Vic Twenty.