Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit

Jason Isbell, late of the Drive-by Truckers comes up with his first album in his new incarnation, the 400 Unit. It's a fine set of country-soul tinged rock, helped by Isbell's sweet southern tones. Try this:

mp3 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit: Cigarettes & Wine

Or, from his first solo outing, Sirens in the Ditch:

mp3 Jason Isbell: Dress Blues

The band, doing an old Truckers' great live:

mp3 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit: Danko/Manuel

An acoustic version of another:

mp3 Drive-by Truckers: Decoration Day

Buy here, download Sirens drm-free here.

The Damnwells One Last Century

That fine rock band The Damnwells are back with a new album. Amazingly, you can download the entire thing for free courtesy of Paste magazine here or from their own site here. Or, you can try:

mp3 The Damnwells: 55 Pictures

Here's an old KEXP show:

Sleepsinging
Electric Harmony
I Will Keep the Bad Things from You
Sleepsinging 2
Texas

Buy here

Back with Vetiver's Tight Knit

Been away again, back now. Looking to Vetiver, whose newie has a lovely '70s feel and some damn fine tunes. Try this:

mp3 Vetiver: Rolling Sea

And here's a rarer old one:

mp3 Vetiver: Angel's Shame

Buy here, download drm-free here.

Phosphorescent & Willie Nelson

Back!!! Phosphorescent, the moniker of the always interesting Matthew Houck, has produced an album of Willie Nelson songs. Damn fine too; try this:

mp3 Phosphorescent: Can I Sleep in Your Arms?

Of course, here's an excuse to roll out a couple of old numbers:

mp3 Willie Nelson: Can I Sleep in Your Arms?
mp3 Willie Nelson: Always on My Mind
mp3 Willie Nelson: Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground

And Nelson with Dylan doing the Townes van Zandt classic Pancho and Lefty:



Buy here, download drm-free here.

Russia

Off to Moscow and St Petersburg, so won't be posting for a week. Hear these:

mp3 Emily Harris: Living in Moscow
mp3 Uncut: St Petersburg
mp3 The National: Cold Girl Fever

Buy here

Cat Power's Dark End of the Street ep

Cat Power does great covers. Her ep from late last year was an addendum to Jukebox; a great set of covers. I thought it might be fun to offer up the originals:

mp3 James Carr: The Dark End of the Street
mp3 Credence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son
mp3 The Pogues: The Auld Triangle
mp3 Otis Redding: I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)
mp3 Fairport Convention: Who Knows Where the Time Goes
mp3 Aretha Franklin: It Ain't Fair

Can't seem to find the Cat Power for sale, thougfh I'm sure it is (it was, for sure).

John Martyn RIP

John Martyn died this week, after health problems that dogged his later years. His key records, especially Solid Air, were melodic innovative masterpieces that, rather like Van Morrison's best work, transcended genre and type. I was lucky enough to see him play at the cambridge Folk Festival, many years ago, in one of the marquee tents, with bassist Danny Thompson; they were sensational. These two seem somehow fitting:

mp3 John Martyn: May You Never
mp3 John Martyn: Over the Hill

And, from another:

mp3 John Martyn: Stormbringer

There's a great live performance of Solid Air with Danny Thompson from 1987 here and again below.

Buy here.