Category: Americana

Stubbys House of Christmas

JAKE DUDA - CORN DOGS FOR CHRISTMAS

12/11/2018

1. Corndogs for Christmas
2. Spanish Midnight Mass
3. God Willin'
4. The Kid and the Judge part 1
5. The Kid and the Judge part 2
6. Talkin' Christmas morning Blues
7. Corndogs for Christmas (demo)

JAKE DUDA BAND ON FACEBOOK
DOWNLOAD FROM BANDCAMP

Jake Duda and his band are based in Minneapolis and they play Country, Bluegrass, Folk and Blues. And they clearly have an ear for a catchy tune and cheeky lyrics. "Corn Dogs For Christmas" was originally recorded as a Christmas card for family and friends last year. But it would not be contained. The title track has become something of a seasonal trucking anthem in the Mid-West. "Spanish Midnight Mass" is a banjo driven piece that speaks to getting drunk at Christmas and waking up in the midst of Spanish Midnight Mass with no clue how you got there. "The Kid And The Judge" are instrumental mood pieces...slices of Americana in their own right. And we're back to the bottle in "Talkin' Christmas Morning Blues" (or, more accurately, the morning after). I've always enjoyed this kind of music. It may not mean much to many of you, but Jake Duda and his band remind me a bit of Cincinnati's Jake Speed & The Freddies. And that's high praise from me. Good stuff...and free at Bandcamp.

OLD 97's - LOVE THE HOLIDAYS (SAINT NICK'S PICKS)

12/7/2018

More Christmas gifts from Noisetrade! Today it's, not one, not two, not three...but FIVE songs from "Love The Holidays"...the Old 97's new Christmas album. The Alt Country outfit, led by singer-songwriter Rhett Miller, has been together since the early 90s and have previously released a Christmas song or two, but "Love The Holidays" is their first full-length Christmas album. "Love The Holidays" is considered complete at 10 songs--9 originals and "Auld Lang Syne". But the group also tacked on a few Christmas covers, just for fun.

The Noisetrade "Saint Nick's Picks" collection includes 4 of the originals, including the title track, and the Old 97's take on "Up On The Housetop". Noisetrade also did an interview with the Rhett Miller that you'll find here.

1. Love The Holidays
2. Snow Angels
3. Rudolph Was Blue
4. Here It Is Christmastime
5. Up On The Housetop

DOWNLOAD FROM NOISETRADE
INTERVIEW WITH NOISETRADE

DAVID DEARNLEY - DYSTOPIAN CHRISTMAS

12/7/2018

"It's a special kind of lonely in a strip club Christmas night." Yes, sir, if you're feeling bad this Christmas, we've got an EP, here, to make you sit up and say, "Hey, I got it better than THAT guy." And it's even worse; it's a strip club where a Stuckey's used to be. Dear Lord, that's depressing.

I've never encountered David Dearnley before, but now the Alt Folk singer-songwriter has me fascinated. David is from Hartsburg, Missouri. He describes himself and his music perfectly, with more than a little sarcasm, too. He says he's a "survivor of a good upbringing" and a successful career and marriage who now makes "pre-apocalyptic folk, and dystopian love songs". SIGN ME UP!

All four of the songs on "Dystopian Christmas" are wonderfully dreary. But I think "Christmas In A Strip Club" is the most wonderfully depressing of the lot. It might be because I know people who DJ at strip clubs. And it's pretty depressing to begin with, but, yeah, a strip club on Christmas night? That's gotta be the worst. For everybody. Imagine having no place better to be on Christmas. And the twist of the song is he's there trying to recapture childhood memories because his family used to stop there...when it was Stuckey's. Man, that's too twisted. I love it.

"Christmas On The Nod", naturally enough, is about a junkie's holiday. "Hell of A Holiday" is about using Christmas as a distraction to deal with life while using life as a distraction to get through Christmas. And "Hiding Places" is about hiding what you're truly feeling behind a smile.

Technically, "Dystopian Christmas" is a collection of holiday songs from the past few years. "Hiding Places" would appear to be this year's addition. So long as depressing music doesn't depress you then, absolutely, you should download "Dystopian Christmas" from Bandcamp. It's name-your-price. This David Dearnley fellow is pretty darn good.

VARIOUS - THE 2018 PASTE HOLIDAY SAMPLER

12/5/2018

1. JD McPherson - Bad Kid
2. Lucious - Christmas Time Is Here
3. Rodney Crowell - Christmas Everywhere
4. The Gregory Brothers - I Don't Want Anything For Christmas
5. Aloe Blacc - The Mrs. Saved Christmas
6. Lola Kirke - Cross You Off My List
7. The Mavericks - I Have Wanted You For Christmas
8. Say Sue Me - Christmas It's Not A Biggie
9. The Squirrel Nut Zippers - Mardi Gras For Christmas
10. P.J. Morton - This Christmas
11. Caroline Jones - The First Noel
12. Old 97's - Love The Holidays
13. Taken By Trees - Holiday

DOWNLOAD FROM PASTE

The first of, hopefully, many holiday samplers has arrived--this one from Paste Magazine. As Lie In The Sound correctly notes, the Paste Holiday Samplers had lost a little luster in recent years, but they've put together a solid package for 2018. Yes, I fully expected to see selections from the excellent albums from JD McPherson and Rodney Crowell as they've been everywhere this year (and the great thing for them is that, even if they gave away every track for free, you'd STILL want to buy the CDs...they're that good). Other major acts pitching in include The Mavericks and Old 97's. But we also get selections from the Soulful dishes being served up this year by P.J. Morton and Aloe Blacc. And, for Indie fans, there's great music here from Say Sue Me, Lola Kirke and Taken By Trees. And let's not minimize the selections from Lucious, The Gregory Brothers, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Caroline Jones. Gee, I think that's everybody. Not a throwaway in the bunch, though some tracks will appeal more to one audience and others to another. But very nice balance on that score. Well done, Paste! Keep up the good work.

TAMANIE - MY CHRISTMAS IS YOU

11/29/2018

I was determined to find something free on Soundcloud tonight. Let me tell you, unless you know exactly what you're looking for, it's a complete wasteland. Most of what I have to dig through is people singing badly to other people's records. Ugh.

But this I like. And it's Country and I was actually hoping for something Country, tonight.

Tamanie Dove was born in Tennessee and lives in or around Atlanta, now. She's only been pursuing the music thing for a couple of years. You'll find a couple of split albums (with Jenny Trindall) on CD Baby as Tamanie Dove, but she's been a lot more prolific since she dropped the "Dove" and just went with "Tamanie" (see iTunes and CD Baby). She's got a nice voice and sounds good when she's fully produced. "My Christmas Is You" is a little more raw, production wise (or maybe that's just Soundcloud), but she's still got a good voice. And I think what I like about this one, in fact, is that she's keeping it simple. The downfall of many an independent record is trying to do too much. Honestly, some times that works but, sometimes, not so much. "My Christmas Is You" is also old school Prairie Country, which alone makes it fun (it's the loping tumbleweed beat that makes it Prairie Country). There's plenty enough Big City Country out there. You should know that Tamanie says she does Rock, Funk and Jazz, too. But, to my ears, that voice sounds like a Country and Americana voice.

Anyway, I wish Tamanie Dove all the best and thank her for the cool Christmas song, "My Christmas Is You". You can grab the song from Soundcloud (as it's her "song of the month", I wouldn't expect it to be up past Christmas) and pay the little lady a visit on Facebook. Come on in and sit a spell.

KING CARDINAL - CHRISTMAS LIST

11/28/2018

No sooner do we catch up to King Cardinal's 2017 Christmas single than their 2018 single appears. The previous holiday efforts from the Colorado Americana band have been soft and beautiful or fascinating slice of life watercolors. "Christmas List", though, is a very radio-friendly Pop Country song with an infectious mid-tempo beat and a worthy message to convey. "This Christmas will be the best/Cause this year I'm asking for less." Forget about buying expensive gifts, skip the mall; the simple pleasures of life together are all that's necessary for a Merry Christmas. Top of the list? "Number one, you and me/sitting beside the tree/Just lovin' it out". As usual, another great song from King Cardinal featuring the great voices of Brennan Mackey and Texanna Dennie (Brennan's in the lead, but it's amazing how great Texanna sounds, even in a supporting role). Pick up "Christmas List" from Noisetrade.

VARIOUS - THIRTY TIGERS CHRISTMAS SAMPLER

11/28/2018

1. I Have Wanted You (For Christmas) - The Mavericks
2. You And Me And Christmas - LeAnn Rimes
3. It's Christmas - CeCe Winans
4. O Holy Night - Krystal Keith
5. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Lance Carpenter

DOWNLOAD FROM NOISETRADE

More major artist freebies from Noisetrade, this time a 5-song mostly Americana sampler from Thirty Tigers. Included are tracks from 2018 holiday albums from The Mavericks, LeAnn Rimes, and CeCe Winans. Krystal Keith's Christmas single "O Holy Night" is included as is Lance Carpenter's rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" taken from his new EP "Christmas White" (the title track is the one you want from that one, although his version of "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" isn't bad, if you like that sort of thing).

KING CARDINAL - WINTER WALTZ

11/24/2018

While I was in the hospital last December, our favorite Denver Americana group King Cardinal released their annual holiday single, "Winter Waltz". Lucky for me (and you), "Winter Waltz" has just been posted to Noisetrade. So you can download it for the price of your email. I did mention it in passing on Christmas Day, last year, but it wasn't a free download then and it is now. Catch up on the earlier King Cardinal Christmas singles, and their non-holiday releases, at Bandcamp. They really do beautiful work.

JIM NELSON - CHRISTMAS CARD BLUES

11/23/2018

You may not know this about me, but I'm basically a shy guy. I don't like bothering people. I don't like asking for favors. I assume everybody has got more important things to do than talk to me. Yeah, I'm sure you could find a bunch of people who would tell you I don't seem to have any problems asking them for favors (my brother, for one). But I tend to do this Christmas music thing on my own. I don't ask labels and artists for free music or anything. Or, at least, I try not to (to be fair, I have been known to get on my knees and downright grovel once in a while). I just want you to understand how much I love this song.

During one of my trips to Soundcloud, recently, I came across a stream for this song--"Christmas Card Blues" by Jim Nelson. And I just fell in love with it. It's a Swampy Blues Americana thing--the sort of song you might imagine the late Tony Joe White could have written and sung. I searched the Internets high and low, looking for someplace I could buy it, but came up empty. After more deliberation and self-flagellation than you'll ever know, I swallowed my embarrassment and sent Jim Nelson a message asking where I could buy "Christmas Card Blues". Message came back: Nope. Can't buy it. Not for sale anywhere and may never be. But, if you want, you can download it free of charge. And I believe he said he was "honored" that I liked his music (I may have imagined that part).

"Christmas Card Blues" has since been posted to ReverbNation and is free to download for all, along with what I believe is the rest of Jim Nelson's latest, "Fool On A Stool".

Jim Nelson is a retired math teacher from Wisconsin, believe it or not, who "finally" decided what he wants to be when he grows up...a musician. Music has been a hobby of his for the last 25 years or so, as he taught middle school kids about math in the daytime and played solo and in bands in his free time. "I want to spend my retirement traveling around and making music full-time for people who want nothing more than to be together and have a good time!" Jim's music is a mix of Americana and Classic Rock. Check out the music of Jim Nelson on Soundcloud, pay the man a visit at his web site, and download "Christmas Card Blues" (and some other real nice stuff) at ReverbNation.

JD McPHERSON - HEY SKINNY SANTA!

10/26/2018

Today, it's JD McPherson offering up a pair of tracks free on Noisetrade in advance of the November 2 release of his highly anticipated Christmas album, "Socks". McPherson is mighty proud of this album and, judging by these two advance songs--"Hey Skinny Santa" and "Socks"--he should be. It's not just that he's completely captured the sound of an earlier era, but this is (to validate JD's own impressions) some of the finest lyrical work we've heard on a Christmas album in many a year. Just consider this one line from "Socks" as example:
It doesn't beep or buzz or bop or rattle in the box
Why'd you waste the paper on a lousy pair of socks
Hear the whole song and download "Socks" and "Hey Skinny Santa" by JD McPherson free at Noisetrade now and for a limited time (same goes for Rodney Crowell's Noisetrade tracks...limited time only). And read JD's thoughts on his Christmas record in an exclusive interview.