AMERICAN SONGSTER DOM FLEMONS HEADS OUT FROM GRAMMY-WINNING CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS FOR DYNAMIC NEW SOLO ALBUM 'PROSPECT HILL,' OUT JULY 22 ON MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION

Dom Flemons – founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and American Songster – will release his third solo album 'Prospect Hill' on July 22 on Music Maker Relief Foundation. 'Prospect Hill' finds Flemons digging deeply into ragtime, Piedmont blues, spirituals, southern folk music, string band music, jug band music, fife and drum music, and ballads idioms with showmanship and humor, reinterpreting the music to suite 21st century audiences.

Following a series of tour dates with a new generation of American roots musicians like Pokey LaFarge, Flemons will perform April 18 as part of the Brooklyn Folk Festival at the Bell House. He performed and spoke on WNYC Soundcheck in March to talk about his Oxford American essay on Gus Cannon.

Flemons has mastered a variety of instruments such as banjo, guitar, harmonica, fife, bones, bass drum, snare drum and quills. After a stint in New York City, Flemons has returned to his musical home of North Carolina.

Solo and with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Flemons has played live for over one million people within the past three years. As part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, which he co-founded with Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson in 2005, he has played at a variety of festivals Newport Folk Festival, Bonnaroo, and the Grand Ole Opry.

Of his set at Sydney Festival, The Daily Telegraph (Australia) said this year, "Dom Flemons knocks 'em dead… a showstopper."

The New York Times called the Carolina Chocolate Drops "an end-to-end display of excellence," continuing, "They dip into styles of southern black music from the 1920s and ’30s—string- band music, jug-band music, fife and drum, early jazz—and beam their curiosity outward. They make short work of their instructive mission and spend their energy on things that require it: flatfoot dancing, jug playing, shouting."

Rolling Stone observed, "The Carolina Chocolate Drops are...revisiting, with a joyful vengeance, black string-band and jug-band music of the Twenties and Thirties—the dirt-floor dance electricity of the Mississippi Sheiks and Cannon’s Jug Stompers."

The Guardian said, "An appealing grab-bag of antique country, blues, jug band hits and gospel hollers, all given an agreeably downhome production. The Carolina Chocolate Drops are still the most electrifying acoustic act around."

'Dom Flemons, American Songster, Presents: Prospect Hill' Track List

1. Til' the Seas Run Dry
2. Polly Put the Kettle On
3. But They Got it Fixed Right On
4. Have I Stayed Away Too Long?
5. Georgia Drumbeat
6. I Can't Do it Anymore
7. Sonoran Church Two-Step
8. Too Long I've Been Gone
9. Marching Up to Prospect Hill
10. It's a Good Thing
11. Grotto Beat
12. Hot Chicken
13. San Francisco Baby
14. My Money Never Runs Out

WRY CLIMATE'S "DYNAMIC" (CMJ) INDIE ROCK/SHOEGAZE OUT THIS WEEK, DRAWING COMPS TO REAL ESTATE (SOUNDCHECK & BLACK BOOK), DEERHUNTER (POP MATTERS)

Brooklyn and Purchase, NY indie rock/shoegaze project Wry Climate released the EP 'Radio Tower Pulse' this week. Hear it here.

Soundcheck.org weighed in, "The music of Wry Climate feels like waking up early, bleary-eyed and trying to piece together some half-forgotten dream. With songs that blend the laconic pop of Real Estate with a slow-building wash of shoegaze-y noise, the New York-based recording project-turned-band of Dan Nelson creates a wistful tone."

Blackbook raved, "It's recommended if you like Cheatahs, Real Estate, and daydreaming."

CMJ called it "a jolt of sonic collage art."

Pop Matters opined, "New York’s Wry Climate inventively updates ‘90s shoegaze riffs with notes of dreampop and bits of noise, turning their subtly complex tunes into something much more than the sum of their parts. The group has earned comparisons from Deerhunter to Dirty Projectors to Pavement, meaning they’re in good, eclectic company."

FOLLOWING WNYC SOUNDCHECK APPEARANCE, YEAR-END BEST ACCOLADES, CORB LUND & THE HURTIN' ALBERTANS MAKE JOE'S PUB DEBUT FEB 21

Corb Lund – the Albertan cowboy songwriter who used to play punk and metal – will make his debut at Joe's Pub February 21 along with his longtime band The Hurtin' Albertans. Lund appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck on December 10.

'Cabin Fever' (New West) was named to year-end best lists by 29-95 (Houston Chronicle) and No Depression and caught the number one spot on The Oregonian's list. American Songwriter named "September" one of its top 50 songs of 2012. He just finished of a December tour with Hayes Carll, who appears on the 'Cabin Fever' song "Bible on the Dash" and spoke with the Austin American-Statesman about his inspirations and the role of humor in song.

'Cabin Fever' cemented Lund as one of the best songwriters in North America and one of its most commanding performers, hitting number four on the Americana radio chart and number one on the Canadian Top 200.

WHO: Corb Lund & The Hurtin' Albertans

WHAT: Full band concert & first Joe's Pub appearance

WHEN: 9:30pm, Thursday, February 21

WHERE: Joe's Pub, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC, 212-539-8778

TICKETS: $15 at JoesPub.com or Joe's Pub box office

MIRANDA LAMBERT IS A "TOTAL FAN" OF CORB LUND, INVITES HIM TO OPEN A SHOW

Miranda Lambert has Tweeted about Corb Lund, saying that she's a "total fan." Now, she has asked him to open a date for her and for Dierks Bentley, which will be April 12 in Springfield, MO at the JQH Arena in Springfield, MO. Here's her Tweet with a photo of Corb and Miranda together.

'Cabin Fever' (New West) was named to year-end best lists by 29-95 (Houston Chronicle) and No Depression and caught the number one spot on The Oregonian's list. American Songwriter named "September" one of its top 50 songs of 2012. He just finished of a December tour with Hayes Carll, who appears on the 'Cabin Fever' song "Bible on the Dash" and spoke with the Austin American-Statesman about his inspirations and the role of humor in song.

Lund appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck on December 10.

New tour dates

'Cabin Fever' cemented Lund as one of the best songwriters in Canada and one of its most commanding performers, hitting number four on the Americana radio chart and number one on the Canadian Top 200.

CORB LUND CONFIRMS DECEMBER TOUR DATES, SOME WITH HAYES CARLL

WNYC SOUNDCHECK TAPES SEGMENT AS CMT.COM POSTS Q&A WITH CARLL AND LUND

'CABIN FEVER' ROCKETS TO #4 ON AMERICANA RADIO CHARTS

Fresh from taping WNYC Soundcheck on New York City's NPR affiliate, which will air in late November or early December, Corb Lund has announced tours runs of the west and the south in December. The latter dates are a co-headlining bill with Hayes Carll, with whom he duets on "Bible on the Dash." The two are also the subject of a Q&A on CMT Edge.

Meanwhile, 'Cabin Fever' has climbed the Americana radio charts, hitting a new peak of #4 this month.

Hayes Carll said, "Corb's actually lived the shit we all want to sing about, and writes the stories we all wish we'd lived."

CORB LUND DECEMBER TOUR DATES

Dec 14 – Sam Bonds Garage – Eugene, OR
Dec 15 – The Treehouse – Bainbridge, WA
Dec 16 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
Dec 18 – Tractor Tavern – Seattle, WA
Dec 27 – Revolution Music Room – Little Rock, AR (w/ Hayes Carll)
Dec 28 – House of Blues – Houston, TX (w/ Hayes Carll)
Dec 29 – Antone’s – Austin, TX (w/ Hayes Carll)
Dec 30 – Antone’s – Austin, TX (w/ Hayes Carll)
Dec 31 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX (w/ Hayes Carll)