I don’t think I’ve ever posted this video of Erin Rae & The Meanwhiles singing Monticello and that just isn’t right. It’s my favourite song from their excellent Soon Enough album that came out last year in the states. I bought it back then, but it’s also now officially out in the UK/Europe on the great UK-based americana/country label Clubhouse Records. There’s also UK tour coming up in the fall. So don’t miss that, if you live in the area. Finnish folks like yours truly just have to settle at jealously mirroring their sad face from the bottom of the whiskey glass while listening to this beautiful song. Erin Rae & The Meanwhiles and Monticello.
I fell for Claire Cronin’s songs late last year when I heard her album Over and Through. Her new album Came Down a Storm is a collaboration with Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich. Together they’ve created a captivating collection of dark folk songs full of melancholic beauty. The spectrum is definitely wider thanks to John’s excellent production, but they aren’t trying to reinvent this. They are still relying on the same strengths that made the earlier album special and thankfully so. I really love that sort of bare, but still somehow intense mood that is crawling into my ears wrapped into her gorgeous voice. Came Down a Storm is now out on Ba Da Bing Records.
I’ve never met them, but Gibbs & Lashley family is still very dear to me. This is mostly because I’ve listened hours and hours of the greatest podcast of all times, Thanks For Giving a Damn with Otis Gibbs where Otis has also shared little snippets of his family life. Often with Frankie the cat purring on his lap. They just seem like a really kind and warmhearted family and therefore I hold Otis, Amy, Russell, Frankie, Baby… Well all of them in very high regard.
The reason I’m writing this is that Amy Lashley just released a new and magnificent album Daredevils, Strugglers and Daydreamers. It was produced by Otis Gibbs and Thomm Jutz and you can buy the download from Bandcamp or the CD from the Otis Gibbs webstore. I have to decide which route to take myself, but it’s a sure thing I need to buy this. This is so damn good. Otis better up his game, if he wants to be the songwriting champ in the family. And no it’s not a competition. It’s great to have them both making wonderful music. If you don’t take my word for it, watch this beautiful video for the song Blame The Wind. You might have to watch it a few times though, because Russell the dog steals the show and for the first few times I kind of just admired that handsome fellow and didn’t pay enough attention to the gorgeous song.
