BLOODSHOT RECORDS SAMPLER 2019
15 scorching tracks from our rootsy friends at bloodshot Records bring much-needed warmth to these getting-colder days. Expect countrified tones, punk, blues and rock’n’roll all the way.
1 Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis Wild Wild Wild
it’s wild alright, in a lovably 50s-inspired sort of way. grammy nominee Fulks and his partner in crime lewis have cooked up a hearty gumbo of rockabilly tones, honky-tonk piano and the kind of vocal harmonies that would make Johnny Cash and his missus smile approvingly. From Wild! Wild! Wild! https://robbiefulks.bandcamp.com
2 Ha Ha Tonka Race To The Bottom
a soaring indie roots-rock ballad, from a missouri group described as sitting “at the crossroads of americana and indie, where alabama meets arcade Fire”. lead singer brian Roberts is a cancer survivor who’s criticised the american healthcare system, and for all its prettiness this track feels quietly urgent in sentiment. From Heart-Shaped Mountain www.hahatonkamusic.com
3 Ruby Boots Believe In Heaven
aussie singer bex Chilcott, aka Ruby boots, is now a music City resident, and this track was recorded in dallas with hotshot collective the texas gentlemen. swirling together a cool mix of outlaw sensibilities (twangy americana, gutsy rock’n’roll, garage grit) this is the renegade side of roots music. and we like it. From Don’t Talk About It www.rubybootsmusic.com
4 Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers Apocalypse Now (& Later)
a slice of troubadour goodness from against me!’s laura Jane grace and her rootsy, tom Pettynodding new band. at just over two minutes, maybe this is what americana sounds like on a punk schedule?
From Bought To Rot https://laurajanegracethedevouring mothers.bandcamp.com/
5 Sarah Shook & The Disarmers New Ways To Fail
’If you had your way I’d be some kind of proper laydee...’ quoth north Carolina country-punk troubadour sarah shook, in the kind of drawl that suggests she’d sooner tell her subject to go do one. dulcet noises that pack an emotionally raw punch.
From Years www.disarmers.com
6 William Elliott Whitmore Busted
Your ‘bills are all due and the baby needs shoes’. What are you gonna do? if you’re William Elliott Whitmore, you write a song about it. inspired lyrically by family life on a farm in iowa, his music paints alt.country/ folk pictures of very human strife.
From Kilonova www.williamelliottwhitmore.com
7 Luke WinslowKing Chicken Dinner
there’s a Paul simonesque lightness of touch to Winslow-King’s mesh of blues, stax soul and rock’n’roll. born in michigan but heavily informed by 15 years in new orleans, he cuts a smooth musical figure.
From Blue Mesa www.lukewinslowking.com
8 Vandoliers Troublemaker
galloping, rattling guitars, blasts of brass and fiddle, pleasingly shouty vocals… We imagine this being a hoot at a house party, at that sweaty point in the early hours when everyone’s having a good knees-up and long-since given up trying to be cool.
From Forever http://vandoliers.com/
9 Barrence Whitfield & The Savages Tall Black & Bitter
ahh, the sweet, swinging sound of classic oldschool 12-bar blues getting driven – in a stolen Chevy – down to some hoppin’ dive bar in the south. god bless you, barrence Whitfield and your savages.
From Soul Flowers Of Titan http://barrencewhitfieldsavages.com
10 Jon Langford’s Four Lost Souls Natchez Trace
Welshman and bloodshot staple langford cut his teeth in punk bands, but swiftly made his name as one of the first people to really combine punk and country in single delicious musical dishes, like this one.
From Four Lost Souls https://jonlangford.bandcamp.com/
11 Murder By Death Bloom
stylish, atmospheric indie rock from indiana, mixing synths and other subtle electronic touches into driving, roots-laced guitars and drums. the sort of ambitious but underdog-ish tones that u2 would have killed for.
From The Other Shore https://murderbydeath.com/
12 Cory Branan Imogene
a nostalgic reflection on young love that didn’t work out. in the tradition of ‘american blokes with beards and/or tattoos and acoustic guitars’ (Ryan adams, Chuck Ragan) one should never overlook Cory branan. Especially not on the strength of such stirring cocktails of indie-pop rock, roots and americana as this one.
From Adios www.corybranan.com
13 Banditos Healin’ Slow
as we approach the end of this sampler, a proper slowie for you. and what a gorgeous one this is at the hands of southern six-piece banditos. singer mary beth Richardson is the star turn here, mixing old and new soul into a refleshingly unclichéd country ballad, which climaxes in beautifully chest-swelling fashion. From Visionland www.banditosband.com
14 The Yawpers Mon Dieu
From noisiest denver, a tantalisingly unhinged hybrid of dark country, Cramps/mC5/stooges-y garage blues and punked-up aggression. thought countrified music was all plaid and Jesus? think again. From Boy In A Well www.theyawpers.com
15 Scott H Biram Long Old Time
We complete our bloodshot tour with blues harmonica and mournful country sentiments, all bound up in a velvety southern gothic package. think the White buffalomeets-an old Western soundtrack. From The Bad Testament http://scottbiram.com/