NO DEPRESSION 12/22/09:
The noughties were the decade when the music community liberated itself. Suddenly any ‘musician’ with half a voice could record an album at home, create a website and sell it on-line. The downside was that there were suddenly thousands more ‘recording artists’ competing for our attention and some of the finest songwriters of the decade really didn’t get the attention they deserved. One of those is Will Johnson.
Let me tell you a little about Will. He’s a workaholic; this year alone, he has toured with his own bands, Centro- matic and South San Gabriel, performed a few solo gigs and played guitar and provided backing vocals for Drive By Trucker Patterson Hood’s solo venture ( including a fine set at No Depression’s first festival at Marymoor Park in July). More recently, he could be found on the road playing drums for indie ‘supergroup’, the Monsters Of Folk and has just released a duo album with Jason Molina ( of Magnolia Electric Co ). Did I mention that he had exhibition of his baseball art in Dallas, Texas back in August ? [ READ MORE ]
I just heard about the passing of Greg Slay. Very sad news. I met Greg in 1992 when I was working at Hewgley’s Music in Nashville and he was the drummer in Loppybogymi. Greg and I hit it off immediately. He spent a lot of time hanging out at the drum shop and eventually started giving lessons there when he was not touring. My first touring experience was a hot, sweaty trip to the deep south in a light blue Chevy van with Greg, Tim and James. It was one of the best times I had on tour. I would not be doing what I do now if it was not for the time I spent with them. They changed the way I thought about music, art and life. I was not in touch with Greg for many years but I thought about him often and always with great fondness. My deepest sympathies go to his friends and family. – Bob
Two years after the release of their critically-acclaimed album Say Something, Brooklyn-based indie pop quartet Via Audio (Jessica Martins, Tom Deis, David Lizmi, and Adam Sturtevant) have unveiled the plans for their sophomore album, Animalore, a collection of eccentric sounds infused with fairy tales, folklore, science fiction, romance, seduction, and adventure.
Curse Your Branches is available for pre-order! You’ll get access to a free stream of the record if you order before Sept 1. CDs will be shipped to arrive by the Sept 1 release date. LPs will ship a few days later. The LP will ship with a code to download the mp3s. 
