News, reviews and more
Tom Waits has remastered his Anti- catalogue and the reissue of the albums will commence on November 10th. Waits has referred to the process as “Necessary but cursedly laborious” but I'm sure fans will be keen to check out the new remasters which will include a completely new mix for the 'Real Gone' album. More details about the upcoming albums including release dates follows:
Read MoreThe Country to Country festival today (October 16th) announced additional acts and day splits so you'll know who's playing when on the weekend of March 9 - 11th, 2018 at The O2 in London. The additional names include Old Dominion, Morgan Evans and Ashley Campbell who will present a tribute to her late father Glen Campbell, a true country legend. The C2C festival is now the essential weekend for country fans in the UK and beyond. More about C2C including ticket details follow:
Read MoreGlen Hansard has announced the release of his third solo album 'Between Two Shores' due January 19th, 2018 via the ANTI- label. His 2015 'Didn't He Ramble' release was superb, as were the live shows in support of the album, so the RGM team are expecting great things. That appetite has been further whetted by the first new music released from the record 'Time Will Be The Healer'. Hansard will be hard at work touring all over in the wake of the album (he never stops it seems) with European dates set for February 2018. More about Glen Hansard, the new record and the first batch of tour dates follows:
Read MoreSouth Carolina's Susto released their second album '& I'm Fine Today' earlier this year to rave reviews in the USA. Fresh from touring with Band Of Horses they have now turned their attention to Europe and the record will get a very welcome UK release on November 10th. More about the history of Susto and the new album follows:
Read MoreLegendary American rock act Cheap Trick are looking forward to the holiday season with the release of 'Christmas Christmas' due October 20th via Big Machine Records. The album features new Cheap Trick penned material, traditional Yuletide songs and renditions of classics from Wizzard and Slade amongst others. A full track listing and more about Cheap Trick including their PledgeMusic site which offers Cheap Trick Christmas Sweaters etc follows:
Read MoreOctober 2017 is looking like an amazing month for fans of country music as some of the biggest names in the genre will be playing shows in the UK. Little Big Town and Lady Antebellum have announced headline tours and the Little Big Town show at the Royal Albert Hall is part of Country Music Week which sees a host of established acts and newcomers performing around London including Drake White, Kip Moore, Jace Everett and Sarah Darling. Please read on for more about the acts and those tour dates:
Read MoreThe much travelled, New Zealand born, singer-songwriter Bruno Merz will release 'Whisper Turn' on October 4th. The single is a highly impressive teaser, and the title track, from his new album due in early 2018. When your press release includes comparisons to Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Iron and Wine etc you need to be able to hold your own but fans of his 2014 'Highways' release will need no convincing that Bruno Merz is a talent on the rise. This view is cemented by the achingly beautiful 'Whisper Turn'. More about Bruno Merz including a stream of 'Whisper Turn' follows:
Read MoreSian Chandler and Ray Hughes aka The Black Feathers have released a video for 'Holy Water' the first single from their upcoming second album due in the spring of 2018. 'Holy Water' will be released on October 13th and is a stunning track which will be familiar to those of us who've been lucky enough to catch the duo live. If 'Holy Water' is anything to go by then the new album can't come soon enough. In the meantime the duo are setting out on a UK tour which starts on September 13th in Nottingham. More about The Black Feathers, those tour dates and the new video for 'Holy Water' follows:
Read MoreFresh from huge success at the C2C 2017 Drake White & The Big Fire will return to the UK as special guests of Kip Moore. The London show with Moore and a further headline show at The Borderline form part of Country Music Week which finds some of the biggest artists of the genre performing live in London. To coincide with the UK visit a new single 'Livin' The Dream' from the 'Spark' album is due October 13th. More about Drake and those dates follow:
Read MoreCanadian duo The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer will return to the UK in September for a run of shows in support of their 'Apocalipstick' release due October 13th via Tonic Records. Earlier this year the boys opened for St Paul & The Broken Bones in London and are now returning for headline shows. So with a Harpoonist and an Axe Murderer visiting the UK it might be time to run and hide but a better idea would be to check out the live shows (and how do you hide a Whale anyway?). More about the duo, their upcoming album and those tour dates follow:
Read MoreRicky Ross has announced a new solo album 'Short Stories Vol.1' due September 15th via earMUSIC. Fresh from the success of the most recent Deacon Blue album 'Believers' and an extensive tour to support the album, which was immortalised on the 'Live at the Glasgow Barrowlands' DVD (The London show from the tour RGM reviewed here). Ricky will again be hitting the road for a string of European dates. More about the album and those tour dates follow:
Read MoreSeth Lakeman has been very busy indeed in the last year or so. His album 'Ballads of the Broken Few' received some of the best reviews of his career including one from RGM that can be found Here. Since the album release Lakeman has toured extensively and continues to do so. On September 15th the album will be reissued with five bonus tracks including the new single 'Everything' once again featuring Wildwood Kin. In further news Lakeman will be joining rock legend Robert Plant pulling double duty as opening act and as a member of Robert's band. A win-win situation for Lakeman fans. Further details about the album and the tour follow:
Read MoreThomas Rhett will release his new album 'Life Changes' on September 8th via Big Machine Records and the title seems a perfect fit as Thomas and his wife Lauren Akins welcomed the arrival of their second daughter Ada over the weekend. Rhett has developed a sound that perfectly embraces his country routes but adds an appreciation for pop and R & B that has seen his music embraced far beyond country music devotees. More details about the album, upcoming UK tour dates, a video or two (and maybe even a pic of the new arrival) follows:
Read MoreRussell Dickerson will release his debut album via Sony Music on October 13th, 2017. The singer is fresh from a headline set at the Nashville Meets London Festival and arena tours with Thomas Rhett and Kelsea Ballerini. The title track from the album has had 4.5 million views on youtube and over 40 million audio streams. Pretty staggering numbers. More details about the album, future touring plans, and Russell in general follow:
Read MoreJD McPherson has released a video for 'Lucky Penny' the first taste of his upcoming album 'Undivided Heart & Soul' due October 6th, 2017. The video was shot where the album was recorded, the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville. So McPherson is following in the footsteps of Roy Orbison, Dolly Parton, Jim Reeves and Elvis (pretty impressive company). The album includes collaborations with artists from a range of genres including Parker Millsap and Butch Walker. An extensive press release and the video for 'Lucky Penny' follows:
Read MoreTexas country singer-songwriter Casey Donahue will be visiting the UK for the first time in October to play at the Texas Music Takeover festival which takes place from Oct 9th-16th in London. Much more about Casey including a video for 'Kiss Me' from his acclaimed 'All Night Party' album follows:
Read MoreRegular readers of Red Guitar Music will be no strangers to Denny Strickland. The Arkansas born, Nashville based, singer-songwriter featured in our country showcase slot earlier this year. I'm very pleased to report the promise of the single 'We Don't Sleep' hasn't proved to be a false dawn. The debut album 'California Dreamin' was recorded in Nashville with Sean Giovanni (Big & Rich, Randy Houser, Tyler Farr) at the helm. The album is now available and contains an excellent range of modern country music with definite chart potential.
Read MoreThese days there seems to be a new festival turning up every five minutes, but if you want to do things properly, then you can't go wrong with two festivals that effectively wrote the book on the festival experience. The Newport Folk Festival dates back to 1959 and would claim a place in musical/cultural history when Bob Dylan plugged in and switched on in 1965. Coincidentally 1965 would see the launch of the Cambridge Folk Festival so that was a pretty good year. The two festivals have announced plans for a historic twinning of the two festivals to form a unique transatlantic alliance. Please read on for more about Newport, Cambridge and their plans going forward:
Read MoreLukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real will release their self-titled album on August 25th via Fantasy Records. Three tracks that capture a beguiling mix of country, rock and soul from the record are now available to share. When your dad is country legend Willie Nelson and you've been working with Neil Young in recent years then expectations are going to be set pretty high. Well, the good news is the three tracks are all excellent and showcase an album which sounds like it'll be very fine indeed. Please read on for more about Lukas, those tracks and even news of upcoming European tour dates.
Read MoreThe Cadillac Three have a new album 'Legacy' set for release August 25th via Big Machine Records. As a taster for the upcoming album the band today (07.07.2017) released a video for the impressive title cut, which finds the boys in a more reflective mood than we've been accustomed to in recent times. The band will return to the UK in November for a headline tour with support from Broken Witt Rebels and Brothers Osborne. This tour will. I'm sure, be one of the hottest tickets of the year. Much more about The Cadillac Three follows including tour dates and the video for 'Legacy'.
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