Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson M. WardHold TimeMerge Records Between producing, sideman duties and assorted side projects, Matt Ward (a.k.a. M. Ward) has been a busy dude the last few years. It explains the three year gap between solo platters. Hold Time is all about noodling on […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson Heartless BastardsThe MountainFat Possum It’s all over her voice, the letdown, the yearning. You can’t fake it. Listen to Erika Wennerstrom sing the songs embodying Heartless Bastards’ potential breakthrough The Mountain and it feels like it’s coming from a place way deep. […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson It’s a Ben thing this week, Kweller, who you may be aware of for his pop-centricities, and Nichols who if you dig the band Lucero he’s the scruffy-voiced, packs-a-day lead singer. Let’s go! Ben KwellerChanging HorsesATO Records AT00069 Growing up outside Dallas […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson Guy DavisSweetheart Like YouRed House Records RHR-CD-211 Since debuting in 1995, bluesman Guy Davis has been all about consistency, consistently good records, that is. A highly personal affair, Sweetheart Like You is no exception, but at the same time a bit of […]
Compact Capsules for February 2009by Dan Ferguson Andy Friedman & the Other FailuresWeary ThingsCity Salvage Records CSR17 Dubbed by one writer as the “Hillbilly Leonard Cohen,” RISD grad and sometimes New Yorker cartoonist Andy Friedman plays country music, Brooklyn-style. Friedman himself labels his anti-commercial, but spot-hitting […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson Jamey JohnsonThat Lonesome SongMercury Nashville Records The curiosity was piqued when Jamey Johnson’s That Lonesome Song appeared on multiple Best-of-2008 lists from New York Times pop music scribes. “Somewhere between Jennings and Jones” he sings on the album’s closing number and aside […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson Miss Lauren MarieI’m No Good Without YouTexas Jamboree Records TexJam 0060 Two things are a given when it comes to Fort Horton Studios in Austin, Texas. Run by Billy Horton, a once upon a time member of Hot Club of Cowtown, he […]
Boudin Barndance Faves of 2008by Dan Ferguson Alejandro Escovedo – Real Animal (Back Porch)His most accessible album yet, Escovedo’s in his glory on this mostly autobiographical affair that draws from all phases of his career spanning full throttle rockers to elegant country folk to chamber pop. […]
Compact Capsulesby Dan Ferguson Holly Golightly & the BrokeoffsDirt Don’t HurtTransdreamer Records TR-1259 Garage rocker (Recall all-girl garage band Thee Headcoatees?), punk and neo-pop chanteuse, and as of her last couplet, junkyard Delta blues sweetheart, Holly Golightly has worn a variety of hats over her 17 […]
 Various ArtistsMad Mike Monsters, Volumes 1 – 3Norton Records CED 338, 339, & 340 If you grew up in Pittsburgh in the 1960s and hugged your radio to sleep at night with the ear tuned to WZUM, no doubt the on-air mayhem created by disc […]
