Sheer Mag is a rock and roll band that calls Philadelphia home. They’re a little bit punk; they’re a little bit glam. The five-piece released their first full-length studio album Need to Feel Your Love this year to critical acclaim. In 2015, Rolling Stone included the band among “10 New Artists You Need to Know,” and this weekend, you’ll have an opportunity to get to know them for free. Continue reading
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Jonathan Russell moved from Virginia to Seattle, Washington in 2009 and accidentally created The Head and The Heart. It wasn’t really the goal; he thought his musical path was going to sound much more like The Killers than the folk rock AAA mainstay. But a chance encounter with Josiah Johnson led to what would become the band that released its third studio album, Signs of Light, in 2016.
Tracks like their first single, “Lost in My Mind,” and newer tracks like “All We Ever Knew” and “Rhythm and Blues” remain in regular rotation at Birmingham Mountain Radio. And the band took licensing to a new level when they physically appeared in the pilot of Cameron Crowe’s 2016 Showtime series Roadies. Continue reading
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Mary Chapin Carpenter is the only artist that has ever won four consecutive Grammys for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. But she’s hardly “country” these days, a radio format that is more interested in tight jeans and pickup trucks than quality songwriting. The spot she best fits now is what has become known as “Americana,” but as she says, Americana isn’t a new concept. She’s a songwriter. She’s a rebel that broke through country radio two decades ago but refused to conform.
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There was a period of uncertainty for Deer Tick, sure. Lead singer John McCauley’s father went to prison for fraud; he struggled with his own addictions that resulted in a broken engagement. He had a death in the family. Life had presented daunting challenges. Continue reading
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Former Birmingham radio station 107.7 The X was responsible for breaking a lot of acts in the 90s and early 2000s; folks like John Mayer and Train. And matchbox twenty, a band that went on to arena rock success, first found its audience when Program Director Dave Rossi decided to play a cut from the debut, Yourself or Someone Like You, that was not being promoted as the single.
That album would went platinum 12 times. Though lead vocalist Rob Thomas has also gone on to a successful solo career, the band reconvenes as time permits. They’ve released three records since, the most recent, North, in 2012.
Guitarist Paul Doucette named the band. He doesn’t really have an explanation for where it came from, but it was his idea that stuck. Ahead of their return to the Magic City, Doucette chats about Rossi’s decision that propelled the band to superstardom and what to expect of the band’s future. Continue reading
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Pylon never took themselves seriously. They tried out a few lead singers before they arrived at Vanessa Briscoe Hay, but she fit best. Continue reading
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Patty Griffin grew up in Maine, but she now calls Austin, Texas home. It suits her and her sound better, though she’s never bothered to fight industry parameters. Continue reading
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Lee Ann Womack, who’ll turn 51 in August, leapt to the top of the mainstream country radio charts 17 years ago with her crossover hit “I Hope You Dance.” Raised in East Texas, she was surrounded by a much different country swing than the popular radio format that she perhaps inadvertently helped create. She was raised on George Jones and Lefty Frizzell, and she developed great admiration with George Strait, with whom she collaborated several times. Continue reading
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Birmingham-based punk band Nowhere Squares are preparing to release their latest full-length album, The Cavemen We Become, through the experimental music label Step Pepper on May 11. In advance of that album’s release, the group have unveiled a new single, “Unstoppable Unremarkable.” Continue reading
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Marty Stuart isn’t yet 60, but the Philadelphia, Mississippi native has already had four distinct phases of a 45-year career. It’s remarkable, really, to consider that some people only know him as a member of Johnny Cash’s band — but he’s also the guy who’s known for his ‘90s country radio successes and collaborations with Travis Tritt like “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’.”
But those were the second and third acts. Continue reading
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Blake Ells 