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.
Eli “Paperboy” Reed – “Come and Get It”
We featured Mr. Reed in our Jukebox back on February 8, 2010. Shortly after that, Tank and I saw Mr. Paperboy live on stage at a show in Boston. Let’s just say we have a man crush on Mr. Eli. The much anticipated album, Come and Get It, drops on August 10. The first single, self-titled, is out now and we are all coo coo for coco puffs about it. Get to know this retro soul music before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon. You can trust us. We are trained professionals.
Buy the Single
Stacy Clark – “Touch and Go”
Well, we first featured Ms. Clark in our Jukebox back on October 26, 2009. We then tracked her down for an exclusive video interview. We are back at it again highlighting “Touch and Go” from her new album, Connect the Dots. Yeah, we have a slight crush on Stacy as well. This track wonderfully showcases what you can expect on her new album. Enjoy!
Buy the Single
Sons of Sylvia – “Love Left To Lose”
Unlike our two previous features in the Jukebox this week, we have not featured Sons of Sylvia before and we don’t have a crush on the guys…yet. This band of brothers are a country act, but they don’t sound like traditional country. Peaked your interest? I knew that would. Give the boys a spin and you might discover that you have a new crush.
Buy the Single
I was talking to my dad last night about why Fresh Scouts exists, and I told him that it really wasn’t my idea—that Tank and KC were the ones who got the whole thing started. But I shared that even before FS existed, I wanted there to be a website like it, where I could have someone just go ahead and tell me where I could find good, new music without having to comb the internet for it myself.
Now, of course, I’m doing the combing and you’re reaping the fruits of my labor, but I don’t want us to pigeonhole ourselves into just covering rock and hip-hop. I know that most of our readership prefers one or both of those two genres, but there’s good country music out there, too. And no, I’m not talking about the damn Rascal Flatts, who have become this ubiquitous presence at every mall, state fair, and elevator in the country.
I’m talking about David Nail.
Not only does the guy have a badass name (Tangent—How sweet would it be if he had a Brooks & Dunn style duo with some guy named Duke Hammer?), but he’s also a very solid singer and songwriter, too. Look, I know what turns people off to a lot of country music. It’s the whiny twang, the lyrics about double wide trailers and white trash women, the near-tangible scent of cigarette smoke and black leather. It’s too blue collar and/or backwoods for some people. I get that.
But Nail isn’t any of those things. The music features good, old-fashioned guitar, keys, drums, and bass. That’s it. The lyrics are about love and life, and they’ve got creative hooks. The vocals come in hard and poignant, and there’s a richness to Nail’s voice that makes him distinguishable from the voluminous pool of cliché male country singers out there. To put it in just a few words (if it’s not already too late for that), the songs are just good. No simpler way to put it. They’re good.
“Red Light,” for example, was a huge country hit last year, which I suppose makes him ineligible as a new artist in the eyes of country fans. But for you other folks looking to branch out to new genres, David Nail is a great place to start. His ballad, “Turning Home,” plays a really nice rhythm on the piano and has an extremely memorable chorus. “Mississippi” is soulful, “Summer Job Days” is catchy, and “Clouds” is creatively melodic. In fact, Nail’s entire 2008 album, “I’m About to Come Alive,” provides limitless enjoyment. I even talked my pops into giving it a shot.
“Hey,” I said, “What is Fresh Scouts for if not great musical suggestions?” He just shrugged and sardonically told me stop pretending like FS was my idea.
My dad’s a funny guy sometimes. Funny, funny guy.
Check out “Turning Home” here:
And here’s “Red Light”:
Court Yard Hounds – “Ain’t No Son”
I wasn’t quite sure how I would feel listening to 2/3 of the Dixie Chicks. I mean, I am in love with Natalie Maines’ voice and without it I wasn’t sure how it would go. But then I reminded myself that Martie Maguire and Emily Robison were the ones that created the Chicks and they both are incredibly musically talented. Thankfully the sisters deliver with good old rockin’ country. “Ain’t No Son” is a hard driving track that will get you thumping your foot along to the beat. I am still waiting patiently for the Dixie Chicks to release a new record, but in the meantime the Court Yard Hounds satisfy my need for some good country twang.
Check out the Court Yard Hounds performing on The Late Show with David Letterman
Buy the Single
Josh Ritter – “Change of Time”
I really enjoy Josh Ritter. He has established himself as a singer-songwriter that other singer-songwriters look to for direction. His songwriting skill is advanced and his delivery is crystal clear. With his new album, So Runs the World Away, the 33 year-old Ritter serves up another solid track with “Change of Time”. The instrumentation beautifully sweeps across the track and the lyrics are like leaves caught in that breeze. Yeah, I’m deep.
Buy the Single
Gin Wigmore – “Oh My”
Oh my, I enjoy this song. Here are the reasons: 1) Gin Wigmore is a great name. It sounds like it came together in a game of Madlibs or something along those lines. Great name. 2) She is adding herself to the great list of New Zealand exports along with Flight of the Conchords and the Lord of the Rings. 3) Her bad girl image combined with her raspy tone gives me an Amy Winehouse vibe without all of the rehab and baggage.
Buy the Single
Ben Kweller is a fall-back artist. I know that sounds like a bad thing, but it is in fact the exact opposite. He is one of those tried and true musicians that, no matter what, you can always fall-back on for great music time and time again. His earlier albums had a Ben Folds-esque feeling to them with some very folky aspects closer to a Neil Young and some very alternative sounds closer to the Strokes.
We recently had the chance to catch up with Ben Kweller after a gig in Boston and, after popping a squat on the floor, got a chance to ask him about his upcoming projects and life in general. We asked him about his recent album Changing Horses and the inspiration behind this folk, country, blues album as opposed to his earlier works that were more pop and rock oriented.
He was definitely one of the more quirky artists we’ve ever had the pleasure to meet. He’s a very chill guy, but has an energy that surrounds him and his music that is hard to describe, but easy to love. Find out why we love Ben Kweller, and why you should too.
Buy the album:
