A late night blog entry. It’s 3 am here in Finland, I’m on vacation and I poured a little bit of whiskey into a glass and I’m introducing my heart to the new Patrick Sweany album Ancient Noise that is finally out here in Europe as well. Life is good, the record is too. Patrick Sweany is a master of soulful blues from Nashville, Tennessee and I’ve been fan since his 2011 album That Old Southern Drag. This new one was recorded at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis and it’s got both the beauty and the howl. Here’s one early favourite that might not actually be the best selection for introductory purposes, but a bit of Country Loving just fits perfectly to this late night. Ancient Noise is now out on Nine Mile Records and you can stream/buy the whole thing by hitting the links on that Bandcamp player below.
A jump across the ocean to New Zealand. Emily Fairlight is a folk songwriter from Wellington and her new album Mother Of Gloom came out in May. I bought a download of it a week or so ago and find it rather special. The songwriting is really good and her voice is powerful and captivating. Occasionally the voice reminds me of Hurray For the Riff Raff’s Alynda Segarra, but that’s obviously not a bad thing. Here’s a couple of personal favorites from the new Emily Fairlight album.
Back to the US and this time West Virginia to finish this little round up blog entry. You might have seen this new William Matheny EP on the mid-year list thing I did a week or so ago. It certainly would deserve a bigger blog post, but there’s so much great music out there for one dude who has a day job too. Anyway, Moon Over Kenova EP is sort of a companion piece to William Matheny’s excellent 2017 album Strange Constellations, but it sure has enough quality to live on its own merits even if you have never heard of that record. There’s some completely new songs, alternate takes, live versions and covers and it’s out now on Misra Records. This is the title track Moon Over Kenova.