#andrija tokic

[nofatclips]

Who Are You by Breanna Barbara from the album Mirage Dreams

[sinceileftyoublog]

Sunny War Album Review: Anarchist Gospel

(New West)

BY JORDAN MAINZER

A breakup. The death of her father. A decaying Earth. Uprooting and moving to her childhood city. On Anarchist Gospel, Sunny War looks change in the face--some unexpected, some sudden, some gradual--and transforms chaos into her best album yet. The singer-songwriter and blues guitar fingerpicker has long channeled struggles, from personal bouts with substance abuse and addiction, to the overall fight against institutional racism and police brutality, into genre-averse songs of pain and triumph. The all-encompassing Anarchist Gospel expounds on this ethos, along with a cast of collaborators including producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff), Americana wunderkind Allison Russell, Gillian Welch creative partner David Rawlings, and My Morning Jacket's Jim James. Still, Sunny shines above all.

Take opener "Love's Death Bed", featuring backing vocals from Russell and Chris Pierce's shimmering harmonica, atop clacking drums and banjo. Sunny, who leads a chorus in a call and response, centers the song's dead-eyed stare into the soul of an ex. "Your mouth is a gun / Got bodies dropping every time you speak," she sings, making our jaws drop from the get-go. On "No Reason", a song built around Sunny's incredible desert blues riff and Jack Lawrence's steady bass, she clarifies that even though her ex might not mean to hurt her, it doesn't matter: "Good intentions that you keep / Don't change the fact that you're a beast." Sunny explores intentionality of destruction throughout the album, both in interpersonal relationships and via the environment, asking us to empathize and reflect on the space we take up. On "Shelter And Storm", she sings from the point of view of Earth itself, albeit one that has managed to survive apocalypse, repeatedly and jubilantly declaring, "The humans are away!" Yet, on "Earth", her tone is mournful and more realistic. A stunning combination of blues and jazz, bolstered by the vocal support of James, Maureen Murphy, Nickie Conley, and Kyshona Armstrong, as well as past collaborator Micah Nelson's slinky 12-string, the song reminds us that the end of the world is closer than we think, tangible if you bother to look around.

At the same time, Sunny battles self-destruction throughout Anarchist Gospel; in the lead-up to its release, she spoke about her music representing a battle between that side of herself and the one trying to make things better. On "New Day", she uses the language of addiction to wax on love, hurt, and obsession: "Believing in magic can be tragic / I'm love's junkie, I'm love's addict." One of the record's true standouts is "I Got No Fight", where pained guitars and screaming organs exemplify Sunny's desire for the days to end, depression that buzzes like a fly in her ear. On the gorgeous country tune "His Love", she sings of an unhealthy relationship, "His love fades, my love grows," and the timbres of her voice and the instruments similarly diverge, her lurking deep vocal register contrasting the spryness of the backing vocals, guitars, and pattering drums.

If Anarchist Gospel is anything, it's honest, an album that both bares its teeth and cowers, that sometimes turns inward in the face of trouble but eventually overcomes with boisterous community. On the Crass-quoting, blues stomp clap jaunt of a closer "Whole", Sunny War sings, "Today could be the last, you know / Happy's how you ought to go." Fully knowing it's easier said than done, and for some folks, impossible, Sunny nonetheless dares to dream to everyone.

[americanahighways]

Interview: The Bomb Shelter’s Andrija Tokic on Resilience and Increased Access To Music

Interview: The Bomb Shelter’s Andrija Tokic on Resilience and Increased Access To Music @bombshelterstudio @americanahighways @Hannah_meansshannon #andrijatokic #musicproducers #americanamusic #americanahighways @drewcarroll @jackthestryper #thebombshelter #americanamusic #music

The Bomb Shelter’s Andrija Tokic on Resilience and Increased Access To Music Nashville-based recording studio The Bomb Shelter is an “analog studio wonderland” founded by producer Andrija Tokic, reaching its current incarnation in 2012. With two separate recording rooms and accommodation nearby, The Bomb Shelter weathered the ups and downs of the pandemic period through embracing flexibility and…

[robmoro]

RobMoro TV | Breanna Barbara - ‘Nothin' But Time’

RobMoro TV | Breanna Barbara – ‘Nothin’ But Time’

NYC’s Breanna Barbara shares the video for ‘Nothin’ But Time’, which is taken from her recently released second album. For the recording of the album,, Barbara and her band returned to Nashville’s Bomb Shelter studio with Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray For The Riff Raff) – with whom she recorded “Mirage Dreams.” On the accompanying video for the title track, director Laura-Lynn Petrick…

[americansongwriter]

Song Premiere: Coco Hames, “I Do Love You”

Coco Hames first made a name for herself fronting Nashville garage band the Ettes, but now the songwriter and musician is striking out on her own for her first solo album. Recorded at Nashville’s Bomb Shelter studio and co-produced with the studio’s Andrija Tokic, Coco Hames is a stirring collection of personal songs, showcasing a side of Hames that Ettes fans likely haven’t seen.

Hames has shared a track from the album, the affecting ballad “I Do Love You.” She wrote the powerful song about the early days she spent with her husband.

Coco Hames will release via Merge Records on March 31.

[shemakesmusic-uk]

TRACK BY TRACK BREAKDOWN: Daddy's Country Gold LP by Melissa Carper

Singer-songwriter and upright bassist Melissa Carper has released her new album Daddy's Country Gold today.

Carper’s refreshingly unique style calls to mind greats like Kitty Wells, Billie Holiday, and Loretta Lynn, beautifully conveyed in the grooves of the album’s 12 sparkling gems. Carper enlisted fellow bassist Dennis Crouch (The Time Jumpers) and producer/engineer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Margo Price) to co-produce the album and bring her dream to life. Recorded live to tape at Tokic’s analog studio wonderland The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, the album features Crouch (bass), Chris Scruggs (guitar, steel guitar), Jeff Taylor (piano, organ, accordion), Matty Meyer (drums, percussion), Billy Contreras (fiddle), with guest appearances from Brennen Leigh, Sierra Ferrell, and legendary pedal steel maestro Lloyd Green.

Daddy’s Country Gold is a collection of glittering Carper originals of the country, western swing, and jazz variety. From the first notes of album opener 'Makin’Memories,' to the whimsical 'Would You Like To Get Some Goats,' and the heart-wrenching tenderness of album closer 'The Stars Are Aligned,' this lifetime of work, experience, and wanderlust culminates in a beautiful portrait of heartfelt music, written by a road-lovin’ gal who has lived these songs and spent her life playing music for folks that still love the real thing.

We asked Melissa to breakdown Daddy's Country Gold track-by-track to give us more insight into what the songs on the LP are about. Read it below.

Makin' Memories

Most of my songs' inspirations will come just from a beginning phrase or idea and then they will take off from that.  With 'Makin' Memories,' the inspiration came from a conversation I was having with a friend, they were joking about 'Makin' memories and keepin' your memories.'  I thought it was funny and a good song idea. The first line came to me, 'I'm makin' memories I'd like to remember.'  I always have a hard time remembering people's names, especially getting introduced to so many folks at shows and traveling all around, so thus 'Larry and Steve.'  Then, of course, there is the whole idea of not remembering what happened when you have had too much to drink, something I may have done a time or two. This is just a fun, lighthearted song that hopefully makes people chuckle.  I love Frank Sinatra and this song happened to take on a bit of that Sinatra flair.  

I Almost Forgot About You

The idea for 'I Almost Forgot About You' came from a weekend in which I had a very good time and had managed to forget about a love interest that I had been obsessing about. When I got back home that phrase came to me, 'I Almost Forgot About You,' and I realized I had a song there.  I just kind of tied in the various lost loves of my life to come up with the rest. The bridge for this song came later and sort of magically. I primarily write without an instrument in hand and develop the words and melody first and then I sit down and figure out the chords after.  This bridge I am particularly happy with the spaces and the way the phrasing waits. It came to me that way, and in fact, this entire song had a nice easy flow with the way it all came. I like it when that happens, feels like you are getting help from the universe.  

Back When

A lot of my songs are based on my real-life experiences, and with 'Back When,' every single word of that was lived and true. I started writing it a bit after a break up while longing for the relationship I once had with someone, that is--the beginning of the relationship when we were in love and everything was wonderful. It was written with a hopeful desire that things could be as they once were, and though that never happened, I feel like this song does have that hopeful air that maybe 'back when' could happen again, for any relationship that has lost that spark.  

Old Fashioned Gal

'Old Fashioned Gal' was inspired by spending some time in the beautiful country of West Virginia.  I did receive help from a West Virginian on the names of flowers and such.  Before writing it, I had been listening on Sirius radio to a station with old jazz tunes--if I remember correctly--while driving back from a long tour with the Carper Family.   Usually, if I listen to a certain style over and over, the next thing I write will have that influence.  Like I do with most of my songs, I developed the melody and lyrics first in my head and then sat down to find the chords on guitar.  It ended up having a surprising amount of chord changes in the chorus and changing in odd spots rhythmically, but that's what the melody dictated and I like the way it twists and turns and throws you a bit off-balance there in the chorus.  

You're Still My Love

'You're Still My Love' is just a sad love song and written from real-life experience. I had been listening to Jolie Holland before I wrote this one and I think it affected the embellishments in the melody.  Also, I think Patsy Cline came out, probably from listening so much to Patsy in my childhood.  This one wrote itself real quick and I remember camping and sleeping in the back of my van while writing it. 

Would You Like to Get Some Goats?

When I wrote 'Would You Like to Get Some Goats' I had a girlfriend at the time whose dream was to have a goat farm. I had fun with double-entendre and metaphors in this one.  And it kind of likens the commitment of getting goats with the commitment of marriage. I have heard goats are quite a commitment but they sure are cute when they are little babies.  

My Old Chevy Van

'My Old Chevy Van' is an emotional song for me.  I inherited my family's 1991 Chevy Van and had been driving it for six years or so when I moved from Arkansas to Austin, Texas in 2009.  I drove it around Texas for a year or two and then felt like it was time to sell it as maintenance was getting expensive and it got terrible gas mileage. I had lived in the van at various times, having a traveling lifestyle, and then there were all the memories it held from childhood. At the time of writing the song, both my mom and dad had already passed on. I had no idea when I sold this van how sad I would be because it had such a connection to them. I still wish I had not sold it and just kept it around as a guest house. The seats in back folded out to be a bed and it was quite comfortable to ride in with the luxury bucket seats. I named her 'Barbie' because the pink and purple paint job reminded me of my Barbie van I had growing up. I had been listening to Hazel Dickens a bunch when I wrote 'My Old Chevy Van' and I feel that was influential. This song needed a bridge and my old bandmate, Jan Bell (who knew Barbie), helped me find some lyrical ideas that fit just perfectly for the bridge.  

Arkansas Hills

I wrote 'Arkansas Hills' when I was driving back from a Christmas trip to Wisconsin. I started writing it around St. Louis and I did not have a smartphone to give me directions. I had probably scribbled some directions down or was looking at a map and I remember telling myself out loud a few times, so I would remember the highways, '44 West out of St. Louis to 65 South,' and then I thought to myself well that's a nice start to a traveling song. So I started writing it while I was driving down the road, and had it pretty much finished by the time I was pulling into 'my little log cabin' in Arkansas--except I didn't really live in a log cabin, but it sounds good in the song.  Donna Farar of Mountain View, Arkansas helped me write a fourth verse, which I felt the song needed.  Donna wrote all the lyrics to Willie's big hit 'The Last Thing I Needed the First Thing This Morning' and she actually lives in the middle of the woods in Arkansas in a cabin, so I felt that enlisting her help was a perfect choice.  

It's Better if You Never Know

'It's Better if You Never Know' is one of my more recent songs and it was inspired simply by a conversation with songwriters in Nashville at a table in a bar. Once I had moved to Nashville and began co-writing with some folks, I realized you can get a song idea at almost anytime if you are paying attention, just listening to a good phrase someone might say. In this instance, someone said 'It's Better if You Never Know' and someone else said that sounds like a good song. I started trying to write it the next day. I'm getting better at writing songs that don't necessarily have a link to me personally, however, I do believe when a song has that personal link it can have an extra emotional feeling that is conveyed to the listener.  

I'm Musing You

'I'm Musing You' came about while I was driving down the road on a road trip. I hadn't written a song in a while and was thinking about how I have often used the same muse or muses to create a song, by thinking back on old times. I thought to myself 'I need a new muse, I need to stop delving back into these old times.' And there was the song.  

Many Moons Ago

With 'Many Moons Ago,' a musician friend of mine used that phrase, many moons ago, and I thought wow I like that, people don't use that phrase much anymore, so I decided to write a song with the phrase. I had been listening to a Delmore Brothers tape over and over in my truck and, though I don't even remember the specific song, I know that something from that tape inspired the melody to 'Many Moons Ago.' Often times I will not know what I am copying or if I am copying something, but there is just something present in my consciousness that brings about a certain style or melody. This song doesn't have many lyrics, but I like the simple message it conveys that time does heal and growth occurs and you move on even when you feel you are dealing with something you can never get over.

The Stars Are Aligned

'The Stars Are Aligned' just came from the romantic feeling of a new relationship with a soulmate you have been waiting for. It flowed out just naturally from that first phrase, the 'Stars Are Aligned.' I love the way this one lends itself to a string section in the background, almost Disney princess-like, and I am so pleased with the lovely string parts on this recording. The string parts were written by my girlfriend and first-class fiddler, Rebecca Patek.

Photo credit: Aisha Golliher

[ineffibleohfuck]

y’all want an artist reccomendation?

(excuse any spelling mistakes i Do Not posess a braincell today)

welcome to avimie’s artist recommendations!!

This weeks singer/songwriter/band; Alabama Shakes!

Alabama Shakes is an American blues rock band formed in Athens, Alabama in 2009. The band currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson. The group rose to prominence in the early 2010s and have sold over 1.5 million albums in the US.

The band began its career touring and performing at bars and clubs around the Southeast for two years while honing their sound and writing music. They recorded their debut album Boys & Girls with producer Andrija Tokic in Nashville while still unsigned. Online acclaim led ATO Records to sign the band, which released Boys & Girls in 2012 to critical success. The album’s hit single "Hold On" was nominated for three Grammy Awards. After a long touring cycle, the band recorded its second record Sound & Color, which was released in 2015 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and won four Grammy Awards. (Source; Wikipedia)

songs that i reccomend of theirs;

Alabama Shakes - Future People

Alabama Shakes - Hold On

Alabama Shakes - Don’t Wanna Fight

Alabama Shakes - Gimme All Your Love (Live on SNL)

Alabama Shakes - Over My Head

i hope y’all find this useful if you want!!

[talknerdywithus]

Exclusive Interview with Americana Duo My One and Only

Exclusive Interview with Americana Duo My One and Only

Nashville-based duo My One And Only is emerging on the Americana scene with their debut album, The Past Year. Husband and wife, Ben and Kassie Wilson, give listeners a glimpse of their personal lives over the past year since they decided to make music together instead of pursuing separate solo careers. I got the chance to talk with this lovely couple about how they met, the meaning of their duo…

[flygoldeneagle-blog]

History of Fly Golden Eagle

___________A brief timeline of the project: Fly Golden Eagle

-------all release now available on bandcamp

https://flygoldeneagle.bandcamp.com/

2008- release of ‘State of the Industry’. An electro/ pop m-box bop banger recorded, engineer, and composed by 22 year old Ben Trimble in his living room at 550 Harding Place. Mixed by Jared Fox . Printed and shrink wrapped 100 CD and left them all around the city (Printed by Luke Howard).  Would only perform at house party in full Eagleman attire accompanied by a cassette boombox. 

2010- release of ‘BoreUs’. The first BlackTooth Records happening at Open Lot art gallery (1307 Jewell St (Leroy St)) complete with BoreUs flower wall and 20′ x 20′ Hank Jr. And Dolly Shark pieces by Ricardo Alessio. Recorded, engineered, and composed by Ben Trimble and mixed by Jared Fox. Started to perform live with Bennett Biispanen, Mitch Jones, and Richard Harper. Printed and shrink wrapped 200 cd’s. Recorded at 925 Thomas Ave.

2010- release of ‘Island Galaxy’. The soundtrack for going out west for the first time with. Release only digital. Art work by Ricardo Alessio. Performed, engineered, composed, and mixed by Ben Trimble. 

2011- release of the ‘No Shot; Swoosh’ 7inch via Memetic Society out of Chattanooga. 200 printed. Sold Out.

2011- release of ‘Swagger’ cassette and cologne via BlackTooth records. Drums by Richard Harper. Most everything else by Ben. Mastered by Andrija Tokic. Recorded at 440 Whites Creek Pike by Interstate 65 and in the top of a barn somewhere. 

2014- Release of ‘Quartz’ and ‘Quartz bijou’ LP via ATO records. A 27 songs album that syncs with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ‘The Holy Mountain’. Recorded by Matt Shaw, Richard Harper, Mitch Jones, and Ben Trimble in Tehuacana, TX and Nashville, TN.  Mastered by John Baldwin. 

[concerthopperblog]

Review Roundup: Secret Emchy Society and Laney Jones

As happens regularly this time of year, the flood of new album releases, and specifically outstanding releases I don't want you to miss out on, is coming on faster than my one man and two ears show can keep up with individually. So, this week, I'm doing another Review Roundup, this time with two albums that released May 20: Laney Jones' Stories Up High and Secret Emchy Society's Gold Country/Country Gold.

Laney Jones- Stories Up High Like many of the artists you see featured here, my first exposure to Laney Jones came via Americanafest, as an opener for Dom Flemons and Willie Watson. At that show, I was impressed by her high energy performance and intelligent lyrics, which shone through on her 2016 self-titled album. In the years since, Jones has grown significantly as an artist and, like most of us, been affected by the state of the world these past few years. The result of those years of growth and trial is Stories Up High, an album more personal, more introspective, but no less dynamic than its predecessor.

For Stories Up High Jones worked with producer Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff), teaming up for an album that shimmers, smokes, and flat out rocks to fit the mood of the song. On the album's title track, she wrestles with where infatuation ends and true feelings begin. “Are you too good to be true? Is it my twisted point of view? That shapes the twinkle of your smile, are you a friendly crocodile?” Later in the song, she finds contentment in her decision to let the unknown be. “I fell from stories up high. I died a little inside. But if I had a crystal ball, I would never have lived at all.”

Contrasting that is the album's true highlight and first single, “Not Alone.” Backed by a fuzzed guitar and a swelling chorus, Jones provides a musical vaccine for the loneliness, despair, and detachment felt during COVID-19 restrictions. “All of the books I've read, the music that fills my head, I carry them with me wherever I go, I'm not alone.”

It's been six years since Laney Jones graced us with an album and, while seeing the maturity those years have brought is satisfying for fans of that first album, here's hoping she doesn't wait another six years for the next. This is an artist with too many ideas, and too many interesting ways to interpret those ideas, to deprive us of them for too long.

Secret Emchy Society- Gold Country/Country Gold If Laney Jones brought us subtlety and introspection, Secret Emchy Society brought us bombast and outlaw country shenanigans, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The band led by Cindy Emch is at the vanguard of the modern queer country movement, not so much a genre as an insistence on inclusion in a genre that's never been known for its willingness to change (hence the birth of Americana, the place where people too black or gay or liberal to fit into country music's tiny box gather to throw better parties).

Musically, Secret Emchy Society is as outlaw as the most strident Johnny Cash song. They might not shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die, but they will damn sure drink him under the table. But there's a playfulness in that interpretation of boozy barroom country that acknowledges the cartoonishness of gallons of whiskey and bars with more fights than a UFC card while never crossing over into self-parody.

The album starts with a bang, presenting a cover of Willie Nelson's (by way of songwriter Ned Sublette) groundbreaking “Cowboys are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.” Emch gives it an Ennio Morricone makeover and it's pretty hard not to hear lyrics like “inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out” and not imagine it playing over a Clint Eastwood face off in 'A Fistful of Dollars.' My guess is Eastwood wouldn't be a fan (nor, if recent news is an indicator, would it make Sam Elliott's Spotify playlist), but it sure is a lot of fun for those of us willing to explore.

Another pure Secret Emchy Society song is “I Murdered Your Bourbon.” Again, if you have to ask what it's about, you aren't paying attention. “It's said that ole Jesus turned water to wine. If he'd worked a bit harder, could have turned it to rye” leaves no doubt.

If you're looking for a tender exploration of the human condition, you're going to want to find another album (may I recommend Amy Speace's Tuscon). But if you like your country hard wearing, hard drinking, hard driving, and hard livin', Secret Emchy Society's got just what you bellied up to the bar for.

[nofatclips]

Sailin’ Sailin’ by Breanna Barbara from the album Mirage Dreams - Video by Joel W. Henderson

[independentartistbuzz]

Indie 5-0 with Elliah Heifetz

A first-generation American born to political refugees from the Soviet Union, Elliah Heifetz comes from a centuries-long lineage of Jewish folk musicians in Eastern Europe. Unlike his ancestors, he was raised on food stamps in the Little Russia neighborhood of Philadelphia and grew up on the sounds of this strange, new land. After graduating from Yale with a degree in English Lit and a focus in Medieval poetry, Heifetz moved to New York City and became a composer/lyricist; he is now represented by CAA and has multiple country/folk musicals in Broadway development.

In late 2020, Heifetz connected with GRAMMY-nominated producer and fellow first-generation American Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff.) Together at Nashville’s all-analog studio the Bomb Shelter, they created First Generation American which finds Heifetz telling his most personal truths and confronting a life-long identity crisis.

We got the chance to speak with Elliah in this edition of Indie 5-0. Let’s dive in:

At what age did you realize that music was the career you wanted to pursue? What was your ‘ah-ha’ moment?

I actually avoided pursuing music in earnest for a long time, probably until age 21 or 22. I'm the latest in a centuries-long line of Jewish musicians (klezmers) on my dad's side, but also the first to be born in America, so my parents always encouraged me to explore other options and choose my own path. For most of my life, I wanted to be a writer (journalism, fiction, etc.)... then I realized I loved music so much, I wanted to write about music... until it got under my skin that I wasn't involved in the music itself, so I tried my hand at songwriting on a whim... and then things avalanched pretty quickly. I joined a band in college and agreed to write a Dustbowl-era, Woody Guthrie-inspired folk musical with my friend (I hadn't even written a whole song by myself yet at the time). Within a couple years, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. As lame as it is, if there was one "ah-ha" moment, it was playing with my college band at a house party and realizing I felt more fulfilled making a room of drunk people dance than I was doing just about anything else.

Who are your musical inspirations? What artists inspired you to start your career and find your musical passion?

In terms of sparking my initial interest in writing music, I'd include Paul Simon, Cole Porter (especially sung by Ella), and John Prine. In terms of performing as a singer-songwriter, it's a bit of a stereotype at this point, but hearing Townes Van Zandt's live recordings opened my eyes not only to new depths of songwriting but also to how one person, alone on a stage, can create whole worlds with their songs; that probably was the main inspiration for my first EP, 'New Folk Songs,' because it gave me this driving sense that I wouldn't be ready to record and tour with a full band until I could hold my own with a mic and a guitar. With this new album, it finally felt right to do that, so I drew from a lot of Emmylou and her Hot Band, Rodney Crowell, Don Williams, James McMurtry, Margo Price, and Sturgill Simpson.

What inspired you to write & record First Generation American?

A lot of people find it strange that I, as the Philadelphia-born child of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, make folk and country music. And even though I've known for a while that folk and country are built from the sounds of immigrant musical cultures, I still internalized the feeling of being "less than American'' and shied away from addressing my roots (and most personal truths) in my music. But as the pandemic began and I found myself with more time to reflect, I realized that as a first-generation American, I’ve been hearing traditionally-"country" stories of hard travellin’ my whole life, of being dirt poor, told you’re nothing, forced to start over again and again. So I finally took the proverbial shot of whiskey (a few real ones, too) and tried writing a song about one of them. Quickly, one page of lyrics turned into five turned into ten... and I realized I had far more stories than could fit in one song. I'd need to write an album.

What was the process like bringing the album to life, and who did you work with to create it?

Recording this album was probably the most fun musically I've ever had. I flew to Nashville for two weeks to work with Andrija Tokic, another first generation American, at his studio The Bomb Shelter. Andrija brought in an all-star team of legendary instrumentalists (members of the Time Jumpers, Jack White's bands, Los Straitjackets, the Deslondes, and more).The studio is basically 100% analog and I literally felt like I was in the 1970's country music recording session of my wildest dreams, surrounded by world-class musicians playing on instruments much older than I am.

What do you have in store for the rest of 2021?

Along with this album release, I'll be embarking on a few tours (the first will be in the Midwest in early Spring, announcements coming soon), traveling to LA and Nashville for some co-writing, and well as developing a few of my theatrical musicals across the country (DC, Iowa, NYC, etc.).

You can find Elliah Heifetz via: Website // Instagram // Facebook // Twitter // Spotify

[americanahighways]

Song Premiere: Marques Morel “Gas Station Girl”

Song Premiere: Marques Morel “Gas Station Girl” @marques.morel @americanahighways #gasstationgirl #americanamusic #newmusic2024 #talesandtellings @melissalclarke

Marques Morel – “Gas Station Girl” Americana Highways is hosting this premiere of Marques Morel’s new song “Gas Station Girl”  from his forthcoming album Tales and Tellings.  The album was produced by Andrija Tokic, and recorded at the Bomb Shelter studio. “Gas Station Girl” is Morel on acoustic guitar, vocals, and harmonica; Jack Lawrence on bass; Ellen Angelico on lap steel, pedal steel,…

[dukech]

Saturday, April 18th @ 3pm Loamlands // Saariselka (Chuck Johnson & Marielle V Jakobsons) //  Josephine Foster

Link to Facebook Live

In place of an admission fee, we're highlighting three local organizations that we encourage viewers to donate to (suggested donation $15):

~ NorthStar Church of the Arts' Durham Artist Relief Fund: https://www.gofundme.com/f/durham-artist-relief-fund ~ Durham Arts Council's Arts Recovery Fund: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=pqYAAw ~ The Pinhook on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thepinhook

About the artists:

Josephine Foster https://josephinefostermusic.bandcamp.com/ Josephine Foster is a North American singer-songwriter from Colorado.  She is known to breathe new life into archaic forms, embodying the cultural archaeology of Harry Smith’s old weird America. Her songs are rooted in early American folk-blues as well as classical art song and Tin Pan Alley. 2018 saw the release of a solo record titled Faithful Fairy Harmony (Fire records), a double LP of eighteen new songs thematically uniting transcendental threads she explored in her work over the previous decades. Accompanying herself Foster layered vocal harmonies above her guitar, piano, autoharp, pedal harp, and organ. Several collaborators joined her in Andrija Tokic’s Nashville studio once more to flesh out further orchestrations: Victor Herrero (guitars), Gyða Valtýsdóttir (cello), Chris Scruggs (pedal steel), Jon Estes (bass), and musical cameos by Shahzad Ismaily, as well as Chris Davis, Peggy Snow and John Allingham of the band The Cherry Blossoms.

Saariselka https://saariselka.bandcamp.com/ This sonic collaboration between composers Marielle Jakobsons (Fender Rhodes, organ, voice, synthesizers) and Chuck Johnson (pedal steel guitar and treatments) is as expressive as it is enigmatic. On their debut album, The Ground Our Sky, a kind of new ambient Americana is unearthed and explored. The respectively singular artistry of Jakobsons (who previously cofounded the beguiling Date Palms) and Johnson collectively craft a universe of remarkable resonance. It is a vibrant, seemingly infinite sway of sounds that exists unmoored in time and space.

Loamlands https://loamlands.bandcamp.com/ Loamlands is a distorted country music outfit that places queer storytelling at the forefront of their music. they intimately grapple with identity by playing with genre and history, twisting tales by tweaking pronouns and falling in love with records, not people. their sophomore release, Lez Dance, is just out this summer on Cruisin Records.

[boring-desert-blog]

Pioneer Town • 6/10 • 9pm • The Deslondes • Pappy & Harriet's 53688 Pioneertown Rd, Pioneertown, California 92268 • The Deslondes are a five-piece band from New Orleans. In the time between the release of their self-titled debut and sophomore album, Hurry Home, The Deslondes have toured the world and drawn critical acclaim for their studied and inventive take on New Orleans country and R&B. Hurry Home represents a sonic shift from the country-folk of their debut to a psychedelic, electrified soul sound, with a stronger emphasis on organ and electric guitar. The band split up songwriting and lead vocal duties among its five members, Sam Doores, Riley Downing, Dan Cutler, John James Tourville and Cameron Snyder, continuing its democratic ethos and musical versatility. The Deslondes met up last winter at their record label’s studio and rehearsal space in Athens, GA, and recorded everything for five days, working out new songs and arrangements. With a batch of 20 new songs, they invited their longtime producer/engineer Andrija Tokic to New Orleans to begin tracking that summer, creating a makeshift recording studio at The Tigermen Den in the Bywater neighborhood. The album that emerged is Hurry Home. “It’s a fitting title for this album because our lives and our songwriting revolve around leaving and returning, or searching for, home,” says the band. “And home can be a physical place, a relationship, or a state of mind.” Recordings from the early sessions, including “Just In Love,” “Muddy Water” and “Better Be Lonely,” bear the mark of a hot New Orleans summer: a lack of air-conditioning, and creaky wood floors, which yield a languid, dreamy sound. Elsewhere on the New Orleans sessions is the feel of the city’s classic R&B, music made for dancing like “Sad Song” and “Hurricane Shakedown.”

[thejoyofviolentmovement]

New Audio: Country Westerns Release a Shimmering and Anthemic New Single

New Audio: Country Westerns Release a Shimmering and Anthemic New Single @bighasslemedia @fatpossum

  Founded by The Weight’s and Gentleman Jesse’s Joseph Plunket (guitar, vocals) and Silver Jews‘ Brian Kotzur (drums), who also started in Harmony Korine’s critically applauded film Trash Humpers with State Champion‘s Sabrina Rush (bass), the rising Nashville-based trio Country Westerns can trace their origins to when the then Brooklyn-based Plunket relocated to Nashville, where he founded Duke’s