Thursday, December 5, 2013

Popa Tunes Top 50 Picks Of 2013 Part Three of Five


30. Monocle Band - Self-Titled Debut Album
I fell immediately in love when I found this Boulder, Colorado based band and waited anxiously for their debut album.
Released October 15th Monocle’s eleven song debut is all I hoped for and more. Monica’s magical voice soars with sweeping fiddle and strings like fresh, crisp mile high mountain air. Backed by exceptional musicians Monica’s vocals shine and surprise with her beautiful depth and range, do I sound like I’m swooning? Well yeah I am. Hitting the mark between traditional folk/bluegrass and something new and unique destined to see them rise on the national scene.

Track List: 
1. Can't Get By
2. Dissipate
3. Far Away
4. Falling
5. As Fast As I Can
6. Heart House
7. Water Sky
8. Silly Joy
9. Slow Walk
10. Fine
11. Home


29. Megan Jean and the Klay Family Band - The Devil Herself
The deliciously deviant barefoot dervishin' devil in a dress washboard slapping conjurering traveling duo with crossroads pluckitude what more can I say!

Tracklist:
The Dead Show
2. Mr. Boneman
3. No Good Girl
4. Skeletons
5. These Bones
6. Little Miss Fortune
7. Martians
8. Hometown Hero
9. Idle Hands
10. Tobias
11. Last Days


28. Nikki Sue & the Bad News - Nothing Gold
I swoon, my knees turn to rubber and I melt into my socks listening to this sassy and spirited Gem of Jersey.

Tracklist:
1) Anchored
2) Best Of Men
3) Bridge Bt The River
4) Knockin' At My DooR
5) Leave It All Behind
6) Nothing Gold
7) Spittin' Lies
8) Who Needs Enemies



27. Shiny Ribs – Gulf Coast Museum
The aptly titled Gulf Coast Museum has the sounds of a leisurely sail along the Gulf coast from Key West to Corpus Christi, with detours into the many inlets, bays, and lagoons where influences from as far away as Motown, Chicago flow effortlessly on the stunning Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes cover, If You Don't Know Me By Now and  'Bolshevik Sugarcane' and 'Sweet Potato' and mingle perfectly with the Leon Russellesque 'Sweeter Than The Scars' and the margaritaville for the rest of us, 'Take Me Lake Charles'. Nashville wanders it's way into the journey on country crooner's 'Somebody Else' and 'Song Of Lime Juice & Despair', Not to be left out 'Teaxs Talking' hits the Honky Tonkin' twang sweet spot.

Tracklist:
 1. Sweeter Than The Scars
 2. Take Me Lake Charles
 3. Limpia Hotel (Chihuahua Desert)
 4. Somebody Else
 5. Texas Talking
 6. Bolshevik Sugarcane
 7. Sweet Potato
 8. Song Of Lime Juice & Despair
 9. If You Don't Know Me By Now


26. Todd Farrell Jr. & the Dirty Birds - All Our Heroes Live in Vans
Bucket Full of Nails sums it up: "A no-frills rock record, All Our Heroes Live in Vans looks forward in every regard, stopping only to assess the moments and people that brought us to this time. The album’s nine songs comprise a set of love letters penned to youth, human connection, baseball and rock and roll. Each being a possible savior at some point or another in one’s life.

Track List:
1 Year in Review
2 Plastic Knives
3 Bobby & Chipper
Pawnshops
5 Liner Notes
6 Better Men
7 If It's Alright By You
8 Take it Slow
9 My Currency is Doubt



25. Fistful of Beard - Until We Know Better

Ninebullets sums it up: "If you like your Americana pretty and intricate and full of thoughtful lyrics that resemble prose more than songs (think Joe Pug) then Fistful of Beard is not for you. That said, if you’re a fan of PBR, Old Crow and guitars. If you’ve always loved Two Cow Garage concerts but felt their albums needed more “oomph” then Until We Know Better is here to fill your needs. This album begs you to turn it up. It gets better with volume.

Tracklist:
1. Bedroom Dance
2. Tired
3. White Bluff
4. In The Casket
5. Leavin'
6. Daddy's Breath
7. Here For Awhile
8. 5th Ave
9. The Rain



24. Scott Low – The Stories I Shouldn’t Tell
A songwriter/storyteller at the top of his game, on his first solo album Scott Low presents us an album of intense storytelling and well-crafted songs, barebones but intrinsically woven around beautiful melody’s, the guitar spills forth with an emotion of its own carrying the listener to one’s own inner reflections. At times Scott channels Neil Young at his height, on the songs Cactusgrass, Meet Me Above, Crumble and In Sickness I Am Health to great effect and I don’t think that’s hyperbole.
While his band Efren will never die, Scott Low has a separate agenda, a dark road that must be traversed alone.


Track List:
1. 6 Strings of Pity
2. Stuck In The Country
3. Cactusgrass
4. Been Thru Crazy
5. Everynight Drugs
6. Meet Me Above
7. Crumble
8. Ain't No Pain
9. Red Pill
10. In Sickness I Am Health
11. Caviar Pillows
12. Run Away
13. Write A New Song
14. I'll Bring The Wine



23. Mean Mary – Year of the Sparrow
Nashville’s multi-instrumentalist singer/songwriter and novelist Mean Mary, is a master of eleven instruments (guitar, banjo, violin, viola, mandolin, bass, keys, saxophone, trumpet, dulcimer, castanets) with a moving, enchanting, full vocal range.  Year of the Sparrow is an original album of folk, bluegrass, blues, and Celtic that features both her fast banjo picking and her intricate story telling. Ghost pirates, a demon guitar, a horse vs. train race, and girls who can’t stay out of trouble are just a few of the subjects covered on this excellent album.

Tracklist:  
1. Wherefore Art Thou, Jane?
2. Iron Horse
3. Sierra Leone

4. Dance of the Thistledown
5. Death and the Maiden
6. The Sparrow and the Hawk
7. Memphis Moon

8. The Safebreaker's Daughter
9. Good Time Gal
10. Sweet Jezebel




22. Shonna Tucker and Eye Candy - A Tell All
Shonna Tucker takes center stage with her new band Eye Candy, writing all the songs on 'A Tell All' giving her a platform to stretch her amazing vocals, the album showcase’s that the former Drive By Truckers is a mighty force to reckon with in her own right. The talented band members she’s gathered around herself lay down some extensive, tight and well-crafted instrumentation.

Tracklist: 

1) Since Jimmy Came

2) Your Jealousy

3) Arielle
4) A Family Dinner
5) Old Fashioned
6) Linda Please

 7) Austin Side
8) I Brought A Pie
9) Lonely People
10) You Went All The Way


21. Jonathan Warren and the Billy Goats - On This Very Evening
Lugging the sound of Appalachian around like a travel worn tattered old suitcase plastered with travel stickers, containing the basic necessities a traveler needs to keep their roots close, and ample space for things collected through weary wanderings, Jonathan Warren and The Billy Goats build on those roots of mountain music with a cross section of influences for a sound they rightly call “progressive psychobilly folk grass” with a bit of Gypsy and Vaudevillian styling’s, you know my dear readers this gets right in my Boxcar for the long haul.
The songs on the new release ‘On This Very Evening’ sound timeless, and Jonathan Warren and The Billy Goats would be just as relevant at a 60’s Folk Festival as they would today. From start to end the album is a foot stomper.

Tracklist:
1. Greyhound
2. I’d Rather
3. Rules Bending
4. Angeline
5. Handshake
6. Quite Clearly
7. Living Room
8. On This Very Evening
9. She Gets The Blues
10. Coin Toss
11. On The Hill
12. Partly Cloudy
13. Honey Dear




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