We loves us some Amos Lee. He is one of the more soulful, powerful male singers we’ve heard in a while and he consistently puts out music that captures his style, emotion and fervor. He’s a man of many musical tastes which is exemplified in his music. You’ll hear the acoustic singer-songwriter background in just about every song, but he adds in splashes of blues, soul, R&B, country and folk to give a well-rounded signature sound that travels with him on every album he makes.
His latest release, Mission Bell, is no exception. It pulls in inspiration from all of these different styles and is absolutely Amos Lee. Admittedly I’ve always been a fan of the Philadelphian singer-songwriter, but something about the consistency in which he creates memorable albums is an accomplishment most artists can only aspire to. Many times when trying to explain his music to someone that has never heard it, I call him the male Norah Jones. He has a perfectly tuned voice that exemplifies the melody without overpowering the simple background accompaniment (which is most often just an acoustic guitar.)
If you haven’t heard of Amos Lee or simply haven’t gotten around to checking out his music, make this your New Year’s resolution. His self-titled album as well as his sophomore release Supply and Demand got me hooked and are guaranteed to get you hooked too.
Check out Mission Bell on:
I tripped and fell into listening to Buddy Guy way later than I’d like to admit. The man is a blues legend, obviously, and from Chicago no less, yet I grew up knowing the man’s name and little else. Pops raised us on James Taylor and Leonard Cohen, and musical culture in my elementary and junior high circles rarely extended beyond what was playing on the radio.
Plus, ya know, kids can’t appreciate the blues. Nothing crappy has happened to them yet, and even if it has they’re too young and naïve to truly appreciate just how crappy that crappy thing may have been.
As a twentysomething scraping his way through school, broke, and dating the most wrong girl God could’ve crafted for me, I got the blues, baby, and Buddy Guy is exactly where I ended up first. After falling in love with some of the older stuff he did with Junior Wells, I went ahead and bought every damn piece of material the man had ever made.
And now there’s “Living Proof,” the 74-year-old musician’s most recent full-length record, and I don’t love Mr. Guy any less than I did the first time I listened to “Drinkin’ TNT ‘n’ Smokin’ Dynamite.” This guy is still ripping solos like he’s 30.
A few years ago when B.B. King (who appears on the album, by the way) was touring after turning 80 years old, my brother and I went to one of the shows and couldn’t help but notice that he’d lost a few steps musically. Don’t get me wrong, the guy was entertaining as hell, playing all the classics and telling loads of great stories that only B.B. could tell. But as far as tearing off on ol’ Lucille like he used to… well, it just wasn’t the same.
Buddy, though, is still killing it. The first track on the album, “74 Years Young,” is high-energy, high-emotion blues at its finest. “Stay Around a Little Longer,” the track featuring King, is soulful and emotional and cool, while “Where the Blues Begins,” featuring Carlos Santana, is a classic example of Guy molding to the style of just about anybody he plays with.
Look, there isn’t a bad apple in the peck. It’s blues the best possible way blues can be done by the guy who helped define the modern iteration of the genre. You don’t even have to date a horrible woman or lose every dime to appreciate it.
Musical discovery is a beautiful thing, and it hardly ever happens the way you’d expect. Sometimes, the dots just start connecting until you’ve found a link between two or three songs and realized, “Whoa, I’ve liked this band for a long time and didn’t even realize it.”
That’s sort of the way I got smacked in the face by Little Big Town, who apparently has crafted an entire catalog of fantastic country blues that I knew little about until researching this column.
See, I wanted to write about their song “Bones,” a non-single track from their 2005 album “The Road to Here,” because I’d heard it at the end of a True Blood episode a couple years ago and really loved it. For some reason though, despite my love and curiosity for discovering new bands, I never really looked into the band beyond that one song. Just kept playing it over and over again without growing tired.
Little did I know that they had released other songs since then which I also loved, yet had no idea that it was the same group. Exhibit A is “Good Lord Willing,” which was my favorite country song of 2008, and “Little White Church,” which came out earlier this year. Again, all this time I’d come across these songs independently of each other, liked them all, and never figured out it was the same people.
As a scout of freshness, it wasn’t my finest moment.
Now that those dots I spoke of earlier have been connected, I feel the need to pass the greatness of Little Big Town onto the masses, even though they’ve seen pretty solid success on the country charts for going on nine years now. The thing is, I’m not a huge country fan, and based on correspondences with readers, I’m guessing most of you guys aren’t huge country fans either. In every genre, however, there exists some really good stuff, which is what this is.
Despite the fact that this is a Nashville country group, there’s a lot of deep south in them, too. It’s bluesy and deeply soulful, which is part of what made “Bones” so believable in the True Blood Vibe. What makes them so unconventional, on top of being talented, is the fact that there’s no real lead singer. All four members of the group take turns singing lead, which also means there’s a ton of four-part harmony going on in these tracks, too. All of them are so talented at everything that it almost makes you sick.
But sick in a good way. Similar to the wrench in my gut I felt when I realized I’d screwed the goose on Little Big Town for so long, but that I’d found the perfect band to feature in my next column. That kind of sick.
As I said, musical discover is a beautiful thing.
Take a look back through our FreshScouts archives and it should be fairly clear that we love blues music. Storytellers that dwell in the pain and joy of life have a way of speaking directly to us. We proudly add bluesman Sean Costello to our archives. Costello was an incredibly talented young blues artist with a passion that flowed through every single note.
Sean Costello
At the ripe young age of sixteen, Sean Costello released his first blues album, Call the Cops. He immediately impacted the industry with his masterful command over the blues guitar. Costello’s riffs can make even the toughest man shed a tear. Costello didn’t stop there, he also dominated stages with gritty vocals and brutally honest song writing. He is often referenced as a true triple-threat in the blues industry. In his short career he worked with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Susan Tedeschi, just to name a few. Costello churned out an incredible collection of music from 1996 to 2008.
Costello’s last album, We Can Get Together, was the one that introduced me to his genius. He was masterful on the album. You know, it still stings having to use the word “was” in reference to Costello. We lost a great musician in Sean Costello when he passed away do to an accidental overdose. It was after Costello’s sudden death in April 2008, that his family publicly shared that he had been suffering from Bipolar disorder. Sean’s music lives on, and thanks to his family a great organization spreads much needed awareness on the topic of Bipolar disorder. We here at FreshScouts ask that you check out The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research. An eye opening statistic from the site points out that “Bipolar disorder affects more than 2 million Americans - about 3 out of every 100 adults.” Enjoy Costello’s music and do what you can to educate yourself and those around you.
KC’s Personal Picks: “Hard Luck Woman”, “Told Me A Lie” and “Going Home”
Check out Costello’s 2007 live version of “Told Me A Lie”
We Can Get Together
Today’s music scene is saturated with auto-tune, lyrics with no meaning and airbrushed photo shoots. Andrew Dykers has been placed on this planet to save our ears. Dykers embodies fresh music. His lyrics come from the heart, not a thesaurus. Prepare to feel his music and let it wash over you. Yeah, it’s that good.
Andrew never signed with a major label. He hasn’t had his songs featured in CW television shows. You most likely have never even heard of him. Yet, he has toured all over the United States playing venues large and small. He has shared the stage with music industry heavyweights. Mainstream music would make us question his success as an artist. For me Dykers’ album Zoot is one of my personal top ten favorite albums.
Andrew Dykers
For me this album was less about mainstream popularity and more about meaning. Listening to Zoot always reminds me of the fall. While listening to the tracks this morning I can almost smell the leaves on the ground. Well, it helped that there are leaves on the ground. More importantly though is the fact that I got a chance to see Dykers perform live nine years ago right in the middle of the fall season.
And that is why Zoot is so amazing to me. One listen transports me. Dykers’ music is so real and so raw that it dares you not to be taken in. It was always clear to me that when on stage he became his music. He channeled the emotion of soulful performers that have come before him. Every movement and every word is intended to provoke an emotional response.
My reactions to this album are why I love music so much. Maybe you won’t have the same response from Andrew Dykers. And that is ok. To each their own, right? I would be shocked though if at least one track didn’t speak to you. I dare you to listen. I double-dog-dare you.
I would highly recommend that you give “Saturday”, “Do What You Gotta Do” and “In Spite Of You” a listen. Oh, and don’t forget my personal favorite “Shine”. The video below showcases Dykers on this track when he recently stepped back into the studio after a temporary vacation from performing.
Buy the album
