News, reviews and more
The first country edition of the RGM Inbox was really well received so we’re back with another collection of country artists to check out. This edition features a range of music from acts that are more than happy to embrace the past and keep things old school to artists firmly in the modern Nashville mainstream. Which style do you prefer?
Read MoreWith the resurgence in vinyl sales in recent years, the humble record is back and seemingly here to stay. With this in mind, RGM takes a look at some recent and upcoming releases for those who love the sound or possibly just need the images to be bigger as we’re getting older and a CD sized booklet presents a problem. Please read on for releases by Downes Braide Association, Ali Maas & Micky Moody and League Of Lights.
Read MoreSpring is springing and the birds are singing. As, indeed, are the singers and songwriters of Canada. In this, the latest edition of the Maple Leaf, we take you on a short walk across this blossoming landscape, and invite you to enjoy some of the bright new shoots that have been emerging along the way.
Read MoreEver since big-haired hard rock was criminalised in the spring of 1993, those with a medical dependency on the genre have found it increasingly difficult to know where to turn. Thankfully, for these broken and desperate souls there is finally a sanctuary. No longer must they endlessly search for misfiled contraband in the planet’s fourteen remaining record shops. No longer do they need to be sat in front of eBay, fruitlessly entering euphemistic search terms like “perm noise” in the hope that they might score a forbidden fix. No longer. These unfortunate creatures – perhaps you are one of them – now have a refuge and that refuge is The Hard Place. Welcome, friend. Here, finally, you are understood. Everything you are about to sample is pure rock of the highest quality. And, best of all, it’s all legal.
Read MoreDo you like country music? It’s a simple question but very hard to answer as, probably more than any other genre, country music absorbs whatever is happening musically on the pop charts. With this in mind, pop-country has ruled the roost in recent times with mixed results. Thankfully those annoying finger snaps and hip-hop influenced beats are slowly disappearing and a grittier more traditional approach to storytelling can always be found. My taste is more geared towards songs delivered via Southern/Country Rock/Americana acts, while I’ll always have a soft spot for the records my parents played when I was growing up by Johnny Cash, Don Williams, Crystal Gayle etc. I guess I’m lucky as my tastes are quite wide. What about you? It’s possible as RGM covers a host of musical genres that you don’t listen to country and stumbled upon this post accidentally in which case here are four recent/upcoming releases that might be of interest to get you started.
Read MoreThe RGM Inbox returns with another selection of new music for those of you looking to expand your musical horizons. As usual, we’ll be mixing up our genres with ambient classical guitar rubbing shoulders with alternative rock, electronica and a little something for those of a more pop persuasion.
Read MoreJoni Mitchell, Daniel Lanois, Alanis Morissette… Justin Bieber. Canada’s rich and varied musical heritage clearly has a trickle-down effect, as music of a consistently high calibre pours in abundance from its shores. Here at RGM, we shine a light on the best new Canadian music we can find, not just in the hope we’ll unearth the next Sarah McLachlan but also because we believe there’s something in the water over there that makes the music extra special. We hope you find something here, in the latest Maple Leaf roundup, to love as much as we do.
Read MoreThere are very few positives that can be gleaned from the Covid-19 pandemic but one small ray of light has been how artists have embraced technology and worked together to spread a little positivity. A case in point is The Wild West and their ‘Better Way’ single which is out now via the Blackbird Record Label The Wild West features a host of Los Angeles based singer-songwriters who will be familiar to many via their solo work namely Manda Mosher, Tawny Ellis, Heather Anne Lomax, Amilia K. Spicer, Pi Jacobs and Deb Morrison. A pretty impressive collective I’m sure you’ll agree and needless to say the harmonies are suitably glorious. Please read on to check out the video for ‘Better Way’ and learn much more about how The Wild West came to be:
Read MoreWelcome again to the RGM Inbox, an occasional feature where we shine a light on an eclectic selection of music that turned up in the RGM office by way of that interweb thingy. We’re open to a little bit of everything here at RGM so you’ll never be absolutely sure what might turn up but this time around the cool sounds include a folky singer-songwriter duo branching out on their own, dream-pop from California and a reminder that to be able to travel is amazing.
Read MoreJesse Brewster is a man on a mission. The San Francisco based singer/songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist has spent two decades sharpening his skills and will release his fifth solo album ‘The Lonely Pines’ on March 5th, 2021. 'The Lonely Pines' perfectly captures a sound that mixes elements of Americana, country and folk. Never one to let the grass grow under his feet Brewster balances his solo career with multiple side projects including an R&B-influenced record, a hard rock trio, and a rock opera that is being developed for Broadway. He also teaches music, tours regularly and occasionally, I believe, finds time to sleep. RGM is pleased to premiere ‘Southern’ a track from ‘The Lonely Pines’ that finds Brewster at his most mournful employing a deep, rich vocal to reflect on the state of things over a bed of acoustic guitars and plaintive harmonica. Please read on to check out ‘Southern’ and to learn more about Jesse Brewster and ‘The Lonely Pines’.
Read MoreFans of the late Elliott Smith will find much to enjoy via a new compilation released today 15th February 2021. It's called Everybody Cares: An Elliott Smith Compilation which has been put together by Francis Lung (ex-WU LYF), La Blogotheque and My Favorite Elliott Smith Song (a fan podcast). The compilation of Smith covers is available via Bandcamp with 100% of the proceeds going towards LGBTQ+ right charities (AKT, The Audre Lorde Project and GIRES). More info about the compilation follows:
Read MoreWith February 14th upon us, it seemed like the ideal time for RGM to shine a light on Valentine’s Day. The modern Valentine’s Day originated in 1797 but didn’t really catch on as gifts and cards were generally handmade and very expensive to post. Valentine’s Day gained a huge boost in popularity in the UK in 1840 with the advent of the Penny Black stamp allowing cheaper postage and Valentine’s Day as we know it today was truly born. This RGM feature shines a melancholy light on a day that isn’t always all hearts and flowers.
Read MoreVirginia native Morgan Wade has been making waves recently via a string of excellent sessions on youtube with OurVinyl and SomerSessions that highlight a fantastic voice singing hard-hitting songs of failed relationships, addiction, mental health and just all-around finding your way in the world. Wade has hooked up with Sadler Vaden, long-time guitarist for Jason Isbell as well as an acclaimed solo artist, to produce and Paul Ebersold to engineer ‘Reckless’ her debut album set for release via Thirty Tigers on March 19th. Capturing the essence of an artist like Wade, who works so well in an acoustic setting belting out tunes with emotion and conviction, can be a difficult job but the initial signs are good as evidenced by ‘Wilder Days’ and Don’t Cry’. Please read on to learn a little more about Morgan Wade and hear tracks from the album.
Read MoreOkay Canada, go easy on me. I somehow find myself in February 2021 trying to pick five chunks of hot new music for this feature, having amassed a ruthlessly edited shortlist of around 35. How did this happen, Canada? I can only account for the disappearance of an entire January by weeping before a hand-drawn graph of an alarming home-learning curve. You’ve made me choose, Canada, and it’s been hard. Nevertheless, here I am again, your most loyal of servants, educating the RGM readership on the subject of your latest and loveliest musical works of wonder.
Read MoreDavid Gray has been a very busy man of late. The singer released the ‘Gold In A Brass Age’ album in 2019 and a 20th-anniversary reissue of his seminal ‘White Ladder album followed in 2020. Now on February 19th 2021, he’ll release his latest album ‘Skellig’ recorded at Edwyn Collins' Helmsdale Studios in Scotland. The album will be available digitally initially with physical CD/LP to follow in May. ‘Skellig’ was Inspired by a small group of islands off the coast of Ireland. The islands were a place of pilgrimage and home to a group of monks in 600AD who were seeking to be closer to God through exile from the world. Whatever your religious leanings the theme of isolation should be familiar to many of us in these difficult times. Please read on for more about David Gray and the videos for latest single ‘Heart and Soul’ and the title track which highlights the vocal interplay between David and his band.
Read MoreIf you like to hibernate over the winter then it’s likely that these words are reaching you as you continue to languish in an eiderdown-enrobed soft place. You’re cosy, you’re warm and you may well be under the impression that there is precious little to get out of bed for anyway. The Hard Place is here to tell you the f**k otherwise. The Hard place is a bucket of cold water hurled over your snoozings. The Hard Place is here, now, to drag you out of that pathetic torpor into a world where leaping from drum risers is de rigeur and staying up all night to a soundtrack of deafening guitars is a raison d’être. So, stop snivelling and get yourself dressed, preferably in something black and butt-squeezingly tight. Good. Now, ready yourself to rock.
Read MoreWelcome to another year at Red Guitar Music. In so many ways 2020 was a year we’d all like to forget while 2021 has, unfortunately, delivered more of the same thus far, but we remain hopeful for better things later this year. Luckily, there’s always good music to take our minds off the day to day drudgery of living with a pandemic and January has already unearthed a few small gems.
Read MoreAs it’s the season for giving, we’ve put together a special bumper edition of The Maple Leaf Roundup, bringing you not five but ten - yes, ten! - new tracks from our copaines Canadiens. Think of it as an early Christmas gift - a mellifluous mixtape of must-hears you might not have otherwise met.
Read MoreAfter our first collection of Christmas tunes were so well received we’re back with more. This time up we’ve got a lovely slice of festive fun from Olivia Lane and Shannon Labrie is back after impressing all at RGM with her ‘Building’ album earlier this year. We also have a contribution from newcomer Wallis who wasn’t even born when Eric Brace and Last Train Home originally sang about the characters featured in their seasonal offering. It’s enough to make you feel really old…
Read MoreOn February 18th, 2021 Extradition / Cadiz Publishing will issue two classic rock biographies in paperback. The titles are a new revised edition of Pegasus Epitaph - The Story of the legendary rock group Love’ by Michael Stuart Ware and ‘Hickory Wind’ by Ben Fong-Torres, which is considered to be the definitive Gram Parsons biography and will include a new epilogue by the author. I’m sure Love and Gram Parsons won’t need any introduction to RGM readers but full details of both books follow:
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