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 Category: Contemporary Folk

Songs For The Living And Otherwise - The Mulligan Brothers (01/06/18)

July 07, 2018  /  Gary Smith

LCM ALBUM OF THE WEEK

  • Artist: The Mulligan Brothers

  • Release Date: 1st June, 2018

  • Genre: Americana, Alt Country, Folk-Rock, Southern Rock

  • Record Label: Southern Routes Records

  • Tracks: 11

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

  • Review By: Gary Smith (LCM)

Some bands spend their whole careers trying to find their signature sound or create material that define them as a band. The Alabama based Mulligan Brothers have done just that on their third full-length album in five years, the fantastic self produced, ‘Songs For The Living and Otherwise‘. Following on from their excellent self-titled debut and sophomore record, ‘Via Portland‘, The Mulligan Brothers have built on the formula that has worked so well for them in the past and then supercharged it. If like me you love The Eagles, CSNY, Van Morrison, The Lumineers and Colter Wall, this album could be right up your street.

Since ‘Via Portland’ the group has parted ways with one of their original members, Gram Rea. They have very wisely added the first ‘Mulligan Sister’, Melody Duncan on fiddle, who also contributes some lead and backing vocals and brilliant vocal harmonies. The result is an excellent highly crafted and rich collection of great music.

The album opener the wonderful ‘The Deal’ is a perfect start, acoustic guitar led with the soothing tone and reflective lyrics of lead vocalist and songwriter Ross Newell. The song builds slowly adding pedal steel, gentle tambourine and percussion then heads for the upbeat bridge with it’s sing-a-long section. ‘Roseanne’ follows immediately with Ross becoming a little more soulful and the band joining in on harmony vocals. Blues harmonica accents complement the overall feel of the song. One of my favourite songs on the album is the Deep South bluesy ‘Possession in Gm’. It’s a great character based song which also sees Melody Duncan take her first lead vocal, dueting with Ross as the verses go back and forth. Throughout the album there are countless moments of real high quality and excellence. The chilled and catchy ‘Ghost Town’ is a classic ‘Mulligan Brothers’ song. Watch out for the super guitar solo.

The centrepiece and one of the album’s highlights is ‘Great Grandaddy’s War’, which is arguably the group’s best and most personal. A beautifully written introspective ballad with beautiful string arrangements and rich harmonies, which all contribute to something quite special. ‘I Know That Man’ a fast country narrative song featuring an extended fiddle solo, foot stomps and a gravelly vocal delivery. ‘Loving You Is Easy’ is another real earworm which will be stuck in your head for days. It reminded me of a cross between The Eagles and CSNY.

‘Divine Design’ is a harmony-filled, mid-paced track and would serve as a great introduction to the band. The pace slows for the personal and reflective ‘Not That Way’ a tale of lost love and regret. Blues harmonica once again setting the mournful tone. The beautifully written piano led ‘The Basement’ sees Melody take the lead vocals. It reminded me a little of Missy Higgins at her most reflective. ‘I Need To Get Out’ is the album’s closing song and it experiments with an electronic drum sound and other instrumental effects. It is quite simply a super culmination to a brilliant album.

‘Songs For The Living and Otherwise‘ is a precious gem and one to really savor and enjoy. From start to finish it is a real joy to listen to and hopefully one which will cement the band’s rising status as one of the biggest names in Americana, Alt Country and Folk-Rock.

Please let us know what you think?

Comment
categories / Americana Music, Folk Music, Contemporary Folk
tags / The Mulligan Brothers, Songs For The Living And Otherwise, LCM New Releases 2018, June 2018

Topspin - Cardboard Fox (08/06/18)

June 06, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Topspin, the new album from Cardboard Fox, leads the band in a subtly different direction. Drawing on a rich variety of influences, including jazz, folk and pop, but always rooted in bluegrass, the album uses a wide sonic palate with many layers of instrumentation and harmony. In addition to the core instruments of fiddle, mandolin, guitar and double bass, the band adds a selection of other instruments, with trumpet, banjo, lap steel, electric guitar and octave violin played by members of the band, and percussion provided by engineer and producer Josh Clark (Kate Rusby, Damien O'Kane, Ron Block, Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys).

Lead vocals are evenly split between twin sisters Charlotte and Laura Carrivick, with backing vocals from the other two band members, Joe Tozer and John Breese. Of the eleven tracks on the album, there are eight original songs, two covers and one original instrumental. The covers reflect the wide spectrum of the band's influences, ranging from legendary American roots songwriter, Gillian Welch's ‘Tear My Stillhouse Down’ to Owl City's synth-pop hit, ‘Fireflies’.

Topspin is the band's third release, preceded by their self-titled EP which won the 2015 Spiral Earth award for Best Debut, which was then followed by the band's first full length album, Out of Mind, in 2016 ("crisp and light, the arrangements delightfully layered" Country Music People). In the five years since their formation, Cardboard Fox have established themselves as a unique force on the UK roots scene and have successfully toured internationally, having performed across mainland Europe as well as Canada and the USA, building a reputation for explosive live performances.

Comment
categories / Americana Music, Contemporary Folk, Folk Music, Jazz Music, Pop Music, Bluegrass Music
tags / Cardboard Fox, Topspin, LCM New Releases 2018, June 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

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

No. 79 - Gareth Dunlop (11/08/17)

April 18, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: Gareth Dunlop
  • Release Date: 11th August, 2017
  • Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Folk
  • Record Label: Priory Records
  • Tracks: 10
  • Website: https://www.garethdunlop.com/

Gareth Dunlop's new album 'No.79' was recorded at his home in East Belfast, Northern Ireland.

“We moved into our house in Belfast about 3 years ago. Spending months at a time away from the house, it just felt right to make this record in my own home. As well as it being somewhere I’m most comfortable, it just has a cool vibe and sound to it, and I wanted to capture that. Something different happens when the studio comes to the musicians… it forces you to approach things differently and think outside of the box. The songs we recorded were all written in the months leading up to the session and I think the emotions of the songs were very much still on the forefront of my mind.”

There are limitations to recording in a house and I wanted to use those restraints as an opportunity to be more creative. It made us all use our instruments in a different way… because we didn’t have a string quartet, we taped up the strings on my old piano to emulate a string part on ‘What It Wants’. That was the story for most days... If we didn’t have it, we had to make it. I spent a couple of weeks driving my family crazy getting the house ready and sound treating the rooms. It wasn’t until we recorded the first take of the first song that I knew it would work. Having great musicians and great friends in my home made the process of recording these songs so much more enjoyable.”          

No. 79
Priory Records
Buy on Amazon
Comment
categories / Singer-Songwriter, Contemporary Folk
tags / Gareth Dunlop, No.79, LCM New Releases 2017, August 2017

Utopia & Wasteland - Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar (13/04/18)

April 13, 2018  /  Gary Smith

It could be their pull-no-punches songwriting. It could be Russell's remarkable voice and Algar's distinctive, fluid fiddle. It could be their inventive takes on traditional songs, their unseen empathy, infectious tune sets or the way they tackle topical issues. Whatever it is, Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar have got it, making a huge impact from the first moment they emerged on the UK folk scene.

Still only 24 and 22, Greg and Ciaran released their first album The Queen's Lover in 2012 and enjoyed a remarkable rise, landing the Young Folk Award at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2014, they found themselves at the Royal Albert Hall clinching the Horizon Award and in 2015 they were nominated for Best Duo.

Drawing on a range of influences, Russell and Algar released their second album The Call in 2014 and, in 2016, the acclaimed The Silent Majority. Now with solo albums under their belts and performances in other line-ups (Algar with Sam Kelly's The Lost Boys and Russell in The Transports and his own multi-artist protest song project Shake the Chains) they are back. Utopia and Wasteland marks another milestone in their short but exceptional career. Recorded at The Green Room Studio, Devon, producer Mark Tucker adds percussion, bass and backing vocals to Greg's unmistakable voice and acoustic guitar and Ciaran's fiddle, tenor banjo, electric tenor guitar, bodhran and vocals. 9 of the 11 tracks are originals, marking a bold departure from their largely traditional back catalog

Utopia And Wasteland
By Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar
Buy on Amazon
Comment
categories / Folk Music, Contemporary Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic Music
tags / Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, Utopia & Wasterland, LCM New Releases 2018, April 2018

Inverse Alchemy - Rob Corcoran (01/12/17)

March 06, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Rob Corcoran - Inverse Alchemy.jpg
  • Artist: Rob Corcoran & The Necessary Evils
  • Release Date: 1st December, 2017
  • Genre: Contemporary Folk, Americana, Singer-Songwriter
  • Record Label: Independent
  • Tracks: 12
  • Website: https://www.robcorcoranmusic.com/

"Heart-on-sleeve, alt-folk Americana with a Dublin accent" - the debut studio album by Dublin-born troubadour Rob Corcoran in the company of his alt-folk super-group 'The Necessary Evils' 

Comment
categories / Contemporary Folk, Americana Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Rob Corcoran, Rob Corcoran & The Necessary Evils, Inverse Alchemy, LCM New Releases 2017, December 2017

Accomplice One - Tommy Emmanuel (19/01/18)

January 22, 2018  /  Gary Smith

  • Artist: Tommy Emmanuel
  • Release date: 19th January, 2018
  • Genre: Acoustic, Blues, Americana
  • Record Label: Mascot Records
  • Tracks: 16
  • Website: http://tommyemmanuel.com

 

 

A wonderful duet album two years in the making from Tommy Emmanuel, one of the best guitar players in the world. Accomplice One sees Tommy join a host of special guests for one of the most innovative and interesting albums so far in 2018.

 

  •   1. Deep River Blues (feat. Jason Isbell)
  •   2. Song And Dance Man (feat. Ricky Skaggs)
  •   3. Saturday Night Shuffle (feat. Jorma Kaukonen & Pat Bergeson)
  •   4. Wheelin' & Dealin (feat. J.D. Simo & Charlie Cushman)
  •   5. C-Jam Blues (feat. David Grisman & Bryan Sutton)
  •   6. (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay (feat. J.D. Simo)
  •   7. Borderline (feat. Amanda Shires)
  •   8. You Don't Want To Get You One Of Those (feat. Mark Knopfler)
  •   9. Keepin' It Reel (feat. Clive Carroll)
  •   10. Looking Forward To The Past (feat. Rodney Crowell)
  •   11. Purple Haze (feat. Jerry Douglas)
  •   12. Rachel's Lullaby (feat. Jake Shimabukuro)
  •   13. Djangology (feat. Frank Vignola & Vinny Raniolo)
  •   14. Watson Blues (feat. David Grisman & Bryan Sutton)
  •   15. Tittle Tattle (feat. Jack Pearson)
  •   16. The Duke's Message (feat. Suzy Bogguss)

Comment
categories / Acoustic Music, Americana Music, Blues Music, Contemporary Folk, Folk Music, Roots Music, Singer-Songwriter
tags / Tommy Emmanuel, Accomplice One, LCM New Releases 2018, January 2018

Cold Rooms EP - Ben Morgan Brown (04/12/17)

January 08, 2018  /  Gary Smith

Ben Morgan Brown - Cold Rooms EP.jpg
  • Release Date: 4th December, 2017
  • Artist: Ben Morgan-Brown
  • Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Acoustic, Contemporary Folk
  • Record Label: Ben Morgan-Brown
  • Tracks: 5
  • Website:

Exeter based singer-songwriter & guitarist Ben Morgan-Brown writes intimate & reflective songs heavily informed by the folk-baroque guitarists & singer-songwriters of the late ‘60s & early ‘70s. As a taster of Ben's music we have chosen as our LCM #SongOfTheDay 'No More Fooling' taken from his recently released 'Cold Rooms EP'.

Inspired to pick up the acoustic guitar ten years ago when he first heard Bert Jansch’s seminal debut album, his open-tuned guitar, ethereal vocals & highly personal lyrics tip the hat to Nick Drake, John Martyn, Michael Chapman et al whilst still maintaining a unique musical style & identity.

Having self-recorded his previous two releases (both of which received airplay on BBC Introducing) his new E.P. ‘Cold Rooms’ was recorded by Josh Clark (Kate Rusby, Mike Dawes, Miranda Sykes) and features five songs (with a bonus sixth track only available through Bandcamp) written in the last 18 months, a time during which Ben has reflected upon the past few years of his life, turbulent years that have seen him lose both his grandparents, get married & divorced within two years, spend a month in hospital after catching salmonella in Morocco & which culminated with the death of his father in November 2016.

These events led Ben to reevaluate many aspects of his life & in October 2017 he left his job managing a guitar shop deciding it was time to dedicate himself to music. After five years of life-changing events beyond his control, the release of ‘Cold Rooms’ marks yet another significant moment in his life - the moment at which he begins to give his music & talent the attention it deserves.

Comment
categories / Singer-Songwriter, Folk Music, Contemporary Folk, Acoustic Music
tags / Ben Morgan-Brown, Cold Rooms EP, LCM New Releases 2017, December 2017

Copyright 2013-22 (C) Laurel Canyon Music

 

 

 

Powered by Squarespace