Indie Music Reviews

Big Tribe - In This Together

published on December 16, 2016

Big Tribe - In This Together

Based around the cities of Baltimore and the nation’s capital, Big Tribe has a base trio lineup of Peter Paynon, Bonnie Eyler, and Joe Heutte, but their creative brain trust recruits a lot of added imaginative help to see the trio’s creative vision through. Their second studio album, In This Together, features a dozen songs that are the obvious product of a refined songwriting sensibility, but they wouldn’t reach their full potential without the additional aid of Big Tribe’s supporting cast. Paynon, the group’s main songwriter, has an abundant imagination that rarely settles for the expected – it is the mark of a great songwriter that you’d mistake these songs for no one else’s work. He establishes an identity from the first track on and it never wavers. His songwriting enormously benefits from the presence of a vocalist like Bonnie Eyler, but Paynon’s own singing is every bit as unusual as his artistic imagination.

The Cavalry - Build Your Own Empire

published on December 16, 2016

The Cavalry - Build Your Own Empire

URL: https://www.thecavalry.fm/

The debut EP from The Cavalry, an one man act featuring the mutli-talented Tristan Jackson, is one of the most well-rounded efforts yet to emerge from the Nashville Rock genre. This commercially aimed combination of southern rock, pop music, and traditional country naturally favors the pop side of the spectrum in its hope of reaching the widest possible audience, but it gains much authenticity from its use of the southern rock and traditional country genres to add some needed gravitas to its smooth presentation. The more raucous tracks on Build Your Own Empire are staged in a very dramatic, almost anthemic fashion while still heavily relying on each composition’s melodic strengths for ultimate success. Jackson has also garnered considerable acclaim as a capable actor who has appeared in a number of top flight A-movies, but Build Your Own Empire proves that his talents are much greater than what many might have initially assumed.

Holly Norman - Taking Care of Bluegrass

published on December 13, 2016

Holly Norman - Taking Care of Bluegrass

https://www.hollynorman.com/

Holly Norman has established herself as one of the most promising new talents on the bluegrass scene today. Her debut album attracted enough positive attention that she was able, for her second album, to recruit some heavy hitting special guests. Her second studio release Taking Care of Bluegrass is a thirteen song collection celebrating the life and music of Elvis Presley performed in Norman’s first rate bluegrass style. Norman works with a cadre of top notch players in the classic country and bluegrass tradition to help pull these songs off, but she isn’t happy with just following the arrangements and not twisting things up a little. Some of the songs take a decidedly different approach to their originals. Much of the song selection favors the second half of Presley’s career and Norman shows a little too much reliance on ballads for her recording, but there’s no question that she tackles all of the material with the enthusiasm of a true devotee.

Michael and Jennifer McLain - Hit the Road and Go

published on December 13, 2016

Michael and Jennifer McLain - Hit the Road and Go

URL: https://www.banjocats.com/

The long tradition of bluegrass, one of the most popular sub-genres of an overarching Americana musical school, remains alive and well on albums like this. This and classic country formed one of the earliest bonds between the husband and wife duo of Michael and Jennifer McLain, but they came by the bond honestly. Both of them were raised in musical families and Michael has been playing for public audiences since his youth as a member of The McLain Family Band. Jennifer, on the other hands, has shared stages and recording time with some of the biggest names in country and bluegrass music. She’s garnered reams of praise as one of the most affecting vocalists working today and her voice dominates the twelve songs on the husband and wife’s first full length release under their own banner, Hit The Road and Go. The song selection incorporates fine tracks from lesser known songwriters, a couple of classical spirituals in the bluegrass world, an original composition from Jennifer McLain, and a surprising cover song.

The Savage Hearts - Playing It Forward

published on December 13, 2016

The Savage Hearts - Playing It Forward

URL: https://www.thesavagehearts.com/

String pedagogue and performer Annie Savage has teamed with a second fiddle player, Nancy Steinberger, songwriter and teacher Kevin Slick, multi-instrumentalist Kit Simon, and bassist Keith Summers to form The Savage Hearts, a Colorado based five piece Americana band primarily specializing in bluegrass and western swing, but possessing the artistic wherewithal to cast their net wide and capture a wide range of styles in their grasp. Their debut album Playing it Forward features some original compositions and standards that the band performs with a number of guests, including respected players in the bluegrass community and, most important, a number of music students under Savage’s instruction. This decision forms the conceptual basis behind the album – these chances afford Savage and her collaborators a chance to share the experience of recording and refining these performances with a younger generation just experiencing their first flush of love for the genre.

Brielle Von Hugel – Naked

published on December 7, 2016

Brielle Von Hugel – Naked

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/briellevonhugel/

The opening single from Brielle Von Hugel’s second EP, “Naked”, is closer to the work of singer/songwriters and soul music giants of yore than modern pop songstress. People talked a great deal about her Season 11 performance of the Otis Redding classic “Sittin’ on the Dock of a Bay” on Fox’s American Idol and her performances with outfits like Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox have marked her as one of the potentially monumental talents in her generation. The New York City born native appeared on American Idol at the tender age of sixteen an already prodigious talent. She’s now twenty two years old and better than the singer with the audacity to cover an Otis Redding song in every measurable way. It’s quite an achievement and “Naked” clearly points the way to more to come.

James Patrick Morgan – Expected

published on December 6, 2016

James Patrick Morgan – Expected

URL: https://www.jamespatrickmorgan.com/

This isn’t what, unfortunately, what we’ve come to expect from the modern pop landscape. James Patrick Morgan’s “Expected” musically and lyrically challenges listeners without ever sacrificing its accessibly. Morgan’s musical design focus much more on tempo, embellishment, and vocal phrasing over any outright melodic displays, but there’s an abundance of ear catching moments scattered throughout the track and it certainly picks listeners up at the outset and swoops them quite dramatically through the track. Running a hair under three minutes is the optimal length for this rhythmic and vocal cavalcade and Morgan doesn’t waste a single second with any indulgences that might otherwise divert him from his intent.

The Gothard Sisters - Falling Snow

published on December 6, 2016

The Gothard Sisters - Falling Snow

URL: https://www.gothardsisters.com/

The latest release from The Gothard Sisters, Falling Snow, is a ten song music collection centered on a Christmas theme that, thankfully, avoids the sweet sentimentality of the season in favor of a much more musically minded approach. There is a great deal of feeling and emotion in each of these ten performances, some of them instrumentals, but the predominant aim seems to be to touch listeners not so much with familiar invocations of holiday spirit through the lyrics but, instead, to move listeners with the thoughtful and tasteful beauty of their musical abilities. Despite how deliberate and careful these performances sound, they flow naturally from the group and leave the listener feeling lighter than before. Since their 2006 debut, the group has released five superb albums flush with traditional music and songs and their talents continue to blossom with each new release.