The quality keeps coming thick and fast in this third week of January, the week the music world kicks back into gear. Just added another seven quality tracks to our New Folk Country & Singer-Songwriter Playlist on Spotify over the past day or so. They come courtesy of (with related release details in brackets) Melbourne singer-songwriter Anna Cordell (Nobody Knows Us – Self Released – February 14), Malmò artist Alice Boman (Dream On – Play It Again Sam), Boston’s Ella O’Connor Williams aka Squirrel Flower (I Was Born Swimming – Polyvinyl – January 31), Nashville artist Aubrie Sellars (Far From Home – Carnival – February 7), Chicago veterans Califone (Echo Mine, Thrill Jockey – February 21), the collaboration between Australian based duo, Canadian expat Garrett Kato and Sydney artist Julia Stone (Garrett Kato -Breathe It In – Single – Nettwerk) and the London duo Charlotte Spiral (Ideal Life EP – Chapped Lips – February 7).
They add to the 22 (now 20*) we loaded it up with from last Friday’s release day with fine folk infused tracks from Dunedin’s imperious Nadia Reid, (Not In My Province, Slow Time/Spacebomb – March 6), Wichita based Choctaw-American singer-songwriter Samantha Crain (A Small Death – Real Kind Records – May 1), Eastern Ontario artist Sarah Harmer (Are You Gone, Arts & Crafts – February 21) , a telling track from the indomitable Will Oldham aka Bonnie “Prince” Billy (This is Far From Over, Single, Drag City – 7″ vinyl March 6) and an introspective pop injected number from Toronto based folk artist Ken Yates (Quiet Talkers – Tone Tree Music – May 22). Some damn fine country too from Ottawa’s Lynne Hanson (Just Words, Self Released – February 7), Margo Price (Stone Me – Single – Loma Vista), Greenville’s Marcus King Band (El Dorado – Fantasy), Portland’s Fruition (Broken At The Break of Day – Self Released) Athens quartet Futurebirds, (Teamwork – VLFL Records) and Nashville via Mobile outfit Muscadine Bloodline.(Boys EP – Grape Juice).
The remaining new tracks come from Maria Doyle Kennedy, The Innocence Mission, Ila Auto & Signe Marie Rustad, Della Mae, Thunder & Rain, Bill Fay, John Anderson, Dustin Lynch, Scott Sturgeon plus releases from the previous week from Greg Klyma, Sarah Mary Chadwick and Meg Toohey,
Check out and follow the playlist below. It’s regularly updated to reflect and highlight the very latest in quality folk, country and singer-songwriter related music.
*Editors Note: Not being particularly familiar with Pinegrove as a band or their music despite their popularity, I did not learn of Evan Stephens Hall’s sexual coercion of a woman until yesterday and upon finding out have removed Pinegrove from this playlist. Indie30 is a strong supporter of the vitally important #metoo movement and does not want to be associated in any way with promoting music from entitled men who use their power, position and privilege and create or take advantage of contextual situations to predate upon or sexually coerce women. I acknowledge Hall’s public attempts at contrition and the band’s hiatus in response but the appallingly deflective, almost aloof article written by a friend and published by Pitchfork in support of Hall and obviously endorsed by him suggests that the penny does not really seem to have dropped.
With that importantly said, while acknowledging the artistic worth of Marigold as an album, on reflection in a music sense the band is not really country or folk enough for this playlist. There’s often a fine line here in general. And given our New Music Playlists are restricted to original tracks only, Jamestown Revival’s cover of the Crosby, Stills & Nash track ‘Helplessly Hoping’ was mistakenly added and has also been removed.
Apologies.
James Stocker.