James Vincent McMurrow – This Old Dark Machine

I’ve recently been tempted to think that perhaps the glory has departed from Bon Iver. And then along comes an email about James Vincent McMurrow and I think maybe the torch has been passed to James Vincent McMurrow? What do you think?

And by “torch” I mean – soulful, scratchy-throated tunes that make you long for the old days.

And by “glory has departed from Bon Iver” – I’m talking about what appears to me to be an over-infatuation w/Phil Collins and Kenny G. And maybe Kanye’s swagger has rubbed off a little too?

Well – either way, JVM’s doing some cool stuff and I like his music. Check him out:
On NPR
At Daytrotter
On his website

Emerging from the small Willamette Valley town of Silverton in 2001 with the low-key Sudden Oak, Dolorean first drew attention in 2003 when the New York Times reviewed their second album, Not Exotic, mentioning songwriter Al James in the same breath as Elliott Smith. Not Exotic featured short stories and character studies accompanied by pensive acoustic guitars, piano, and shuffling waltz-time drums. The record is a quiet, insistent grower built on a solid foundation of beautiful tunes.

2004′s Violence in the Snowy Fields was centered on the band’s confident, outgoing adoption of some classic country-rock sounds. Electric guitars pushed themselves into the front of the mix; comparisons with Neil Young and The Band abounded, not unjustly. With looseness and ease Dolorean fully inhabited themselves as a band, and James’ songwriting ranged from rollicking, Byrdsy rave-ups (“The Search”) to quiet empathetic character songs (“Put You to Sleep”) to bitter, acrid kiss-offs (“My Grey Life”). The record was an inspired, assured turn from James and his band.

Gus Van Sant took the cover photo for Dolorean’s 2007 record, You Can’t Win. Al James stares at the camera, most of his face wiped out by a fuzzy band, the dejected words “You Can’t Win” eclipsing the man. The record came after a strange, demoralizing three years in the band’s life, and it lacks the conciseness and sideways uplift found in Violence. The band tried out a looser, more improvisational sound; assured jam sessions  (“Beachcomber Blues”) and yearning instrumentals (“33-53.9 N/118-38.8 W”) shared the platter with some really bummed-out lyrics. The title track sums up the record: several brooding minutes of distorted drums, organ, and piano build to James’ repeated insistence that “You caaaan’t win, you caaaan’t win!”

Things have picked up for the band since then; The Unfazed is confident like Violence, and much more comfortable with the roughscrabble of life than You Can’t Win. Breakups, debt, aimlessness—and the broad backdrop of lean times and an uncertain future for today’s thirty-somethings—such topics can make for resigned, weary songwriting. But James defies that temptation; and it’s a lot more interesting to listen to someone fight against the things that got him down than just get tread upon. In the title track, James encapsulates the joie de vivre of today’s downwardly mobile, singing:

Take you out again tonight,
when you get off I’ll be outside…
We’ll take a handful of quarters from the dresser drawer,
there’s a bar ’round the corner and there’s no cover charge,
they can’t kick us out until half past two,
we can dance all night if we fill up the juke…
…fill up the juke…

Meanwhile, the band backs him up with music fully at ease with the country-rock sound they first adopted on Violence, finding room for lovely details like the violin at the end of “If I Find Love” and the wide-open pedal steel adorning “Black Hills Gold”. Fundamentally, this music is meant to be played and heard live; The Unfazed sounds, more than any other Dolorean record, as the effort of a band, of five guys buoying each other up and simply in the same pocket. It’s a fine album, one we hope will bring this deserving band a wider and more faithful audience.

Buy it all right here, and sample some tunes below…

Hannibal, MO from 2003′s Not Exotic

The Search from 2004′s Violence in the Snowy Fields

You Can’t Win from 2007′s You Can’t Win

The Unfazed from 2011′s The Unfazed

The California natives have often heard their folk-rock tunes compared to the likes of Neil Young, A.A. Bondy, and Delta Spirit, and will be making their Pullman debut at the BellTower on Thursday, January 27th at 8 p.m.

Take a look below as they perform a version of “If You Let Me Be Your Anchor” while accompanied by The Morning Benders:

Dawes & The Morning Benders “If You Let Me Be Your Anchor”

Dawes – When My Time Comes

Dawes will be accompanied by Nashville alt-country artist Jonny Corndawg.

You can purchase tickets online in advance for $7, or at the door for $10.

You can get a sense of how well this band does at the Bell Tower from this Green Room Session, caught last March after their BOAW set. Horse Feathers performs Thistled Spring, the beautiful title track from their most recent record.

Horse Feathers – Thistled Spring from Stereopathic on Vimeo.

As you may have heard, Horse Feathers returns to the Bell Tower on December 7th.

Needless to say, we’re beyond pleased to have them back in Pullman. The band has three records’ worth of material to draw from, to say nothing of their various singles and minor releases—such as their new 7-inch cover of Nirvana’s “Drain You” backed with a new song called “Bonnet of Briars”. One Lesley Graves caught them performing the song at Portland’s Doug Fir Lounge; that’s it, right below.

Horse Feathers / Drain You cover from Lesley Graves on Vimeo.

Roadside Graves – Where the Water Flows from Stereopathic on Vimeo.

If you can, see these guys live. They love doing what they do, they care about their music, and most shows end with them getting in the middle of the audience, banging on drums, starting singalongs, and working for their money.

“Harlem River Blues” is a weary road song at its heart, with Earle traveling up Manhattan to go jump in the Harlem River and finish himself off. But the gospel choir and the upbeat arrangement give the song some push-and-pull. Earle may be heading up north to disappear beneath the dirty waters, but he’s gonna make damn sure that he goes out leaving a great, timeless-sounding tune in everyone’s ears.

Justin Townes Earle: Harlem River Blues from the forthcoming Harlem River Blues, due out September 14th from Bloodshot Records…

Friday to Sunday, August 6th, 7th, and 8th, Pendarvis Farm, just outside of Portland, Oregon. If you’re at all in or near the Portland area, we aren’t aware of anything else you oughtta be doing that weekend. Discounted advance tickets remain on sale until Thursday the 5th. That’s tomorrow, people.

Pickathon, dammit.

A locally-owned, family-friendly, sustainably-run indie roots music festival with a killer lineup, great food, and on-site camping. Not only that, but Stereopathic mastermind Larson Hicks will be volunteering there, so if you see a relatively sober, 6’1″ Texan concierg-ing Bonnie Prince Billy from the Beer Garden to the stage, say hello to the man. Our dear friend Nate Wolff will be there, too.

We can’t say enough nice things about Pickathon, and those of us who aren’t making it down this year (some of us so we can run the Roadside Graves’ show this Friday) deeply resent those who are.

Greetings!

We are pleased to announce the details of the next Justin Townes Earle record. Harlem River Blues will hit stores on September 14th.

Compared to the much-lauded Midnight at the Movies,  Harlem River Blues is more mature and increasingly nuanced, while still embracing the raw voice and clean sound of previous standout tracks like “Mama’s Eyes.” Featuring guest appearances from Jason Isbell, Bryn Davies, Ketch Secor from Old Crow Medicine Show and Calexico’s Paul Niehaus, it’s rockin’ and reelin’ at times, sweet and slow at others – and it’s great….and it was produced by JTE and his old friend Skylar Wilson.

We’re counting the days till September 14th.

Justin Townes Earle: I Don’t Care (from the Yuma EP)

“Even when I’m here in New York, the city is compressed down into a little village, a Moscow-sized place with the places I go and the people I know,” Ritter says. “Maybe there is something in the water there. It’s probably better than whatever’s in the water here.”

Read the entire article…