Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit To Release “The Nashville Sound” On June 16

Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, guitarist Jason Isbell and his mighty band, the 400 Unit, have announced the June 16th release of the highly anticipated new album, The Nashville Sound (Southeastern Records/Thirty Tigers). The Nashville Sound is the follow up to 2015’s critically acclaimed Something More Than Free, which won two Grammy Awards (Best Americana Album & Best American Roots Song, “24 Frames”) and two Americana Music Association Awards (Album of the Year & Song of The Year, “24 Frames”).

Without exaggeration, Jason Isbell has become one the most respected and celebrated songwriters of his generation. He possesses an incredible penchant for identifying and articulating some of the deepest, yet simplest, human emotions, and turning them into beautiful poetry through song. “There’s no better songwriter on the planet at this moment, no one operating with the same depth, eloquence or feeling,” says American Songwriter Magazine. Isbell sings of the every day human condition with thoughtful, heartfelt, and sometimes brutal honesty, and the new album is no exception.
The Nashville Sound features 10 new songs that address a range of real life subject matters that include politics and cultural privilege (“White Man’s World”), longing nostalgia (“The Last Of My Kind”), love and mortality (“If We Were Vampires”), the toxic effect of today’s pressures (“Anxiety”), the remnants of a break up (“Chaos and Clothes”) and finding hope (“Something To Love”). Songs such as “Cumberland Gap” and “Hope The Highroad” find Isbell and his bandmates going back to their rock roots full force.

The Mavericks return with "Brand New Day"

Celebrated, Grammy Award-winning band The Mavericks, have announced a March 31 release for their new album, Brand New Day, their first independent studio album on their own label Mono Mundo Recordings/Thirty Tigers. After years on major labels, The Mavericks chose to set a new course with the founding of Mono Mundo and the release of their first live album, 2016’s captivating All Night Live, Volume 1. On the spectacular Brand New Day, the beloved band convincingly proves that they may have not even reached their apex yet.
 
The 10 songs that make up Brand New Day feature The Mavericks genre-defying style. For example, the album opens with the tejano/bluegrass-inspired “Rolling Along”, which sets a tone before the wall-of-sound power of the title track thrusts the listener deep into the musical journey. From the ‘60’s flavored “Easy As It Seems” to the accordion-fueled shuffle of “I Will Be Yours” to the heart-melting beauty of “Goodnight Waltz”, Brand New Day finds the eclectic unit as inspired, passionate and commanding as ever.

RENOWNED RACONTEUR KINKY FRIEDMAN TO RELEASE FIRST ALBUM OF NEW MUSIC IN 39 YEARS

Nobody could invent a character quite like Kinky Friedman, the stogie-waving, black-hat-wearing Texas Jewboy singer, storyteller, tequila purveyor, animal rescuer and full-time iconoclast. Though renowned for penning some of outlaw country’s most outrageous songs, authoring bestsellers and running for governor of Texas, his 45-year career includes touring with Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue; recording with Clapton, most of the Band and Ringo Starr; appearing on Saturday Night Live and at the Grand Ole Opry; and writing one of Nelson Mandela’s favorite songs. He also became the protagonist of his own crime novels, because even he couldn’t invent a character that could out-kink Kinky Friedman.

But what he hasn’t done in 39 years is record a new studio album. Friedman’s The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, releasing October 2 on Avenue A Records/Thirty Tigers, might be one of the longest-awaited follow-ups in recent memory. Not that fans have complained; the continued popularity of tunes such as “Sold American,” “Nashville Casualty and Life” and “Ride ’Em Jewboy” (the Holocaust-referencing song that soothed Mandela in prison) prove Kinky is that rare talent whose work withstands the test of time. Friedman still delivers those songs — interspersed with his inimitable blend of politically incorrect quips, jokes and tales Still, there were more sentiments he needed to express — his own and those of colleagues such as Tom Waits, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard and his pal Willie Nelson, who produced and performs on his own “Bloody Mary Morning.” The album’s opening song, which also features Willie’s sister, Bobbie, on piano and Kevin Smith on standup bass, is rendered as a spare duet, their traded lines punctuated with Nelson’s Spanish guitar-picking. Conveying both immediacy and intimacy, it sets the tone for the other 11 tracks, all produced by Brian Molnar and featuring guitarist Joe Cirotti, with harmonica by Willie’s Family Band mate Mickey Raphael and piano contributions by Little Jewford, Kinky’s sidekick since his first post-Peace Corps job — bandleader of the Texas Jewboys.