Laurel Canyon Music

24 Blackbush Avenue Chadwell Heath, Romford, England, RM6 5TU United Kingdom

For fans and musicians of Folk, Americana, Country, Blues, Singer-Songwriter, Rock, Roots & Acoustic and music from the Laurel Canyon late 60’s/early 70’s era.

LCM is a new co-operative music community, promoter, event organiser and on-line magazine to promote & support the music that we love. All the latest news, reviews and interviews

LCM is your indispensable insider guide to the wonderful world of independent music and beyond

We aim to help music fans connect and discover great new music and help indie musicians promote their music and help them build relationships with supporters and industry professionals.

Please join us now and explore our website.

We also have some special and exclusive items in our LCM store that you might like.

Filtering by Tag: May 2018

The Horizon Just Laughed - Damien Jurado (04/05/18)

December 11, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Damien Jurado - THJL.jpg

  • Artist: Damien Jurado

  • Release Date: 4th May, 2018

  • Genre: Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter

  • Record Label: Secretly Canadian

  • Tracks: 11

  • Website:

Damien Jurado presents his new album ‘The Horizon Just Laughed’. Like previous albums, The Horizon Just Laughed started with a dream - though that's where things change, as they often do. It is Damien Jurado's first self-produced album in a 20+ year career, more personal and more rooted than even his Maraqopa trilogy, as though after so much time on the road he's stumbled upon his home. The album feels like a beautiful collage - its narrative pieced together through letters and postcards, with each part contributing to its greater whole, and providing snapshots of ones journey to find a sense of place and connection to a changing world.

Comment
categories / Indie, Indie Folk, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Damien Jurado, The Horizon Just Laughed, May 2018, P Dec 2018

Electric Light - James Bay (17/05/18)

June 05, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: James Bay
  • Release Date: 17th May, 2018
  • Genre: Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Universal Records
  • Tracks: 14
  • Website:

Following on from his huge multi-platinum debut album Chaos And The Calm, James Bay returns with Electric Light. Towering, rocky and soulful songs, it sounds like he's grasped influences in electronic music for this release.

“If I had to describe my first album visually it would probably be a flame – while this new album is about a real sonic and artistic evolution for me. The feeling of a 100 watt bulb expanding and brightening is what I envisioned. ‘Electric Light’ came to my mind and I knew it was perfect.”

 

 

Comment
categories / Singer-Songwriter
tags / James Bay, Electric Light, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Shorebound - Ben Glover (04/05/18)

June 05, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: Ben Glover
  • Release Date: 4th May, 2018
  • Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Proper Records
  • Tracks: 12
  • Website:

The newfound sounds and shapes that comprise Shorebound mark a moment in Ben Glover's musical history - a moment that nods to the past decade of his artistry even while pivoting into the next era. "I'm a believer in cycles, and 2018 will mark ten years since I released my first album," Glover says, "so it feels very much that this album is a major turning point in a cycle. Shorebound is an acknowledgment of where I am and a celebration of the people who I've gotten here with."

Indeed, collaboration has long filled Glover's career including co-writing the Americana Music Association UK's 2017 International Song of the Year ("Blackbirds") with Gretchen Peters. Playing well with others is something Glover both excels at and enjoys. He joins forces with friends on both sides of the Atlantic for Shorebound, including Peters, Ricky Ross (frontman and songwriter from Scottish rockers Deacon Blue), Mary Gauthier, Kim Richey, Angel Snow, Robert Vincent, Amy Speace, Anthony Toner, and others.

Not only does Shorebound pull together Glover's favorite musical collaborators, it also culls his best life lessons. Where previous albums Atlantic and The Emigrant witnessed him searching for his place in the world, geographically and otherwise, Shorebound finds him more settled, within himself, his career, and his two hometowns of Glenarm, N.Ireland, and Nashville, Tennessee.

Comment
categories / Folk Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Ben Glover, Shorebound, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Dancing With The Beast - Gretchen Peters (18/05/18)

June 05, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Gretchen Peters - Dancing With The Beast.jpg
  • Artist: Gretchen Peters
  • Release Date: 18th May, 2018
  • Genre: Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Proper Records
  • Tracks: 11
  • Website:

Dancing with the Beast, the new album from Gretchen Peters, puts female characters at the fore, from teenage girls to old women. And intentionally so. With the 2017 Women's March and the #MeToo Movement as bookends to her writing time, Peters knew that a feminist perspective would be the critical core of the record. She admits, "You can trace the feminist DNA in my songwriting back to 'Independence Day' and probably before. The thing that 2017 did is just put it front and center." Though Peters doesn't consider herself a political writer, she is politically minded and, therefore, knew she had to address the 2016 election and all that has happened since... but in her own way.

There's a bittersweet beauty to the passing of time -- the changes it brings are just as often heartbreaking as they are heartwarming. The inevitable tension that arises from that sway is Gretchen Peters' most trusted muse. With melody supporting that melancholy, the songs on the new album combine to lift the effort over the high artistic bar set by her last outing, 2015's award-winning Blackbirds.

Whether a single sentence or a simple setting, once planted, even the tiniest seed can grow into a vision unto itself. Strung together and populated with strong and broken female heroines, those vignettes make up Dancing with the Beast and, indeed, Peters' entire discography.

Beauty tempered by dread, sorrow buoyed by hope, these are the ever-present tugs of war that make life worth living and songs worth writing. And they are the over-riding themes that make Gretchen Peters one of her generation's most compelling singer/songwriters.

Comment
categories / Folk Music, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Gretchen Peters, Dancing With The Beast, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Safe In The Arms Of Time - Rita Coolidge (04/04/18)

May 06, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Rita Coolidge - Safe In The Arms Of Time.jpg
  • Artist: Rita Coolidge
  • Release Date: 4th May, 2018
  • Genre: Folk, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Blue Élan Records LLC
  • Tracks: 12
  • Website: https://ritacoolidge.net

One of music’s most enduring voices and composers, Rita Coolidge returns to her roots with a stunning new album ‘Safe In The Arms Of Time’, released on May 4th on Blue Elan Records. Along with Rita this musical work of art features the songwriting talents of Graham Nash, Chris Stapleton, Stan Lynch, and Keb’ Mo’.

The album marks the two-time Grammy winner’s return to songwriting, drawing  inspiration for her new material as she often does, from her personal journey and what an epic journey it’s been!

“I’ve written so many songs assuming a role like an actor, but this time I got to write from experience,” says Coolidge, who co-wrote three of the album’s 12 wondrous cuts. “This is the best record I’ve ever done. I’m extremely proud of it.”

In many ways, 'Safe in the Arms of Time’ is both a reflection and a continuation of Rita's remarkable history, one that took flight during the heyday of the ‘70s L.A. music scene when she sang backup on Stephen Stills’ 'Love the One You’re With' and Eric Clapton’s 'After Midnight' (Astute music fans are also well aware of how she contributed the classic – and uncredited – piano coda to Derek & the Dominoes’ Layla) “The idea was making an album that had the same appeal of my early records, to make a roots record about my own roots,” Coolidge says.

Comment
categories / Folk Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Rita Coolidge, Safe IN The Arms Of Time, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Awake - Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage (11/05/18)

May 04, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage - Awake.jpg

  • Artist: Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage

  • Release Date: 11th May, 2018

  • Genre: Folk, Americana

  • Record Label: Sungrazing Records

  • Tracks: 11

  • Website: https://www.hannahbenmusic.com

  • Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)

Spellbinding UK folk duo release the follow up to acclaimed debut Before The Sun, included in numerous 2016 Albums of The Year lists including the fRoots Critics Poll. Joining back up with Toronto producer David Travers-Smith (Wailin Jennys, Madison Violet, Ruth Moody) the pair create exquisite transatlantic soundscapes on which to base their beguiling, intimate indie-folk duets. A duo who delve into the mysterious and often like to release music in line with the lunar calendar, their live show sees them huddled around a single microphone, drawing the audience in. And so it is with this magnetic album, where their own intensely moving songs flow seamlessly among reinvigorated traditional gems and the Guthrie/Bragg americana classic Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key. Alongside their own guitars, mountain dulcimer and dobro they are joined by an all-star cast from both sides of the big pond including double bass from Jon Thorne (Lamb, Scott Matthews), vocals from Oh Susanna, Jess Morgan and Gilmore & Roberts, percussion from Evan Carson (The Willows, Sam Kelly), pedal steel from Burke Carroll (Kathleen Edwards, Justin Rutledge) and Chris Coole on banjo.

Comment
categories / Folk Music, Contemporary Folk, Americana Music
tags / Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Awake, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Mind Of Mine EP - Lisa Wright (25/05/18)

April 17, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: Lisa Wright
  • Release Date: 25th May, 2018
  • Genre: Country, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Lisa Wright (Independent)
  • Tracks: 4
  • Website: 

One of the most exciting voices in the UK’s homegrown country/Americana scene, Lisa Wright, has announced the May 25th 2018 release of her brand new EP ‘Mind of Mine’. Produced by Matt Greaves (Ward Thomas, The Girls Musical), ‘Mind of Mine’ contains four brand new songs, and is Lisa’s most personal work to date. Lead single, ‘Tennessee’, co-written by Lisa with Kaity Rae and currently gaining airplay on country shows & stations across the UK, was inspired by her trip to the US in late 2017, reflecting the notorious ups and downs of the music industry and the search for purpose in life.

Two of the tracks were solely written by Lisa, with ‘Giving Up The Ghost’ penned in collaboration with Jake Etheridge, known for his starring role as Sean McPherson on CMT’s Nashville TV show, and having also lent his songwriting talents to the show’s soundtrack.

Combining Lisa's staple of honest and emotive lyrics with a new exploration of sound and style, it’s obvious that ‘Mind of Mine’ will showcase this young artist’s ability to continually re-create herself, while staying true to her roots. Having opened for US country star Cam earlier this month and with support dates with the likes of Ward Thomas & Phil Vassar under her belt, it’s easy to see why the Nashville Songwriters Association (NSAI) have declared Lisa Wright “one to watch”.

Comment
categories / Country Music, Americana Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Lisa Wright, Mind Of Mine EP, LCM New Releases 2018, May 2018

Copyright 2013-22 (C) Laurel Canyon Music

 

 

 

Powered by Squarespace