For the past 10 years, 27-year-old, LOLO, has been working to get to this point: Heard. She released her new EP Comeback Queen this past July on DCD2 Recordsabout which HillyDilly.com said, "Comeback Queen is about to hit you right in the heart with the most gut-wrenchingly good, heart-piercing vocals you've ever heard".
 
Her story begun at the age of fifteen when after endlessly pestering her parents about pursuing a career in music, she successfully convinced her mother to move to Los Angeles. “I was writing every day non-stop,” she says. “Just to show them that I was dedicated. It was a huge risk.”

Forced to return to their hometown in the outskirts of Memphis, LOLO’s mother left the young singer in L.A. living with close friend, Riley Keough and her mother, Lisa Marie Presley. At 18, LOLO landed a role in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening, originating the rebel character of Ilse, and relocating her to New York. “I had to play this bohemian chick that ran away,” she laughs. “I was like, well, that’s pretty true to life.”

"One of the most soulful cats to ever sling an acoustic guitar." - Folk Alley

"Thanks to his incredibly soulful, highly versatile voice, Martin Sexton probably could have made a name for himself as merely a singer.  Add in his deft songwriting touch and a distintive, engaging guitar style, and Sexton becomes a true triple threat." - Acoustic Guitar Magazine

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Martin Sexton released his new album Mixtape of the Open Road earlier this year, his 8th studio album in a career spanning over two decades.  This Fall, the "blue-eyed soul man" will bring his incendiary live show on the road again for a nationwide US tour.  The trek will kick off mid-September in Montana and include stops in Austin, St. Louis, Nashville, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and Kansas City before winding down in his hometown Northampton at the end of November.
 
Inspired by the mix tapes he and his friends/family used to make for each other, Mixtape of the Open Road is a musical cross-country trip blazing through all territories of style, cruising through time and place. Since release, it's garnered great praise from Wall Street Journal, Billboard, Folk Alley, NPR Music, Diffuser, and Relix Magazine who called it "a breezy, affable sound that resides midway between the old-school charm of James Taylor and the spunk and swagger of a young John Mayer."
 
Watch him perform "You (My Mind is Woo)" featured by CMT Edge HERE.

For tour dates and more information visit his official website.

NEW YORK, NY — As described by The Daily Echo, JD & The Straight Shot’s most recent work is “steeped in the quiet fire of Americana with distinctive elements of the blues and rustic New Orleans flavoured roots music.”Led by musician, founder and frontman Jim Dolan, the band is set to release their new album Ballyhoo!, which was recorded in Nashville and New York and produced by Grammy® Award winner Chuck Ainlay (Mark Knopfler, Miranda Lambert, Randall Bramblett, Jewel).JD & The Straight Shot will celebrate the release with an official showcase performance at City Winery Nashville on September 15 during the annual Americana Music Festival and Conference. The showcase will also feature Jewel, JD Souther and Donnie Fritts & John Paul White.

The video for the first focus track from Ballyhoo! “Better Find a Church,” originally produced by esteemed songwriter/musician Rodney Crowell, was shot in a 100-plus-year-old church. A new version was later recorded for the album. As Dolan recently told The Nottingham Post about the transformative theme of the track, “It's a song of contrition.” No Depression describes, “The new song features the spare, mesmerizing voices of Jim Dolan and violinist Erin Slaver’s weaving under around each other, punctuated by guitarist’s Marc Copely’s shimmering Spanish guitar solo.” Dolan’s son Aidan also performs on the track, co-authored by all four band members along with bassist Byron House.

For Ballyhoo!, the group’s fifth full-length record, Dolan made a conscious decision to make the entire album acoustic. The songs were almost all written by the core band in various configurations with additional contributions by actor-musician Chris Carmack (ABC’s Nashville) and guitarist/singer-songwriter Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman). The lone cover is an inspired, string-laden version of the Spirit hit “Nature’s Way,” written by the late Randy California.

JD & The Straight Shot, who have played shows with the Eagles, Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban, tour consistently throughout North America and Europe. Visit jdandthestraightshot.com for their current itinerary. 
The band recently debuted “Better Find a Church” on WNYW-TV’s Good Day New Yorkwith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PszozSTwmb4  

facebook.com/jdandthestraightshot
twitter.com/jdssband 

Carnival Music is pleased to announce the release of Hailey Whitters' debut album, Black Sheep, available everywhere October 2. This 10 song collection, produced by Derek Wells, is full of honest and biting lyrics, proving her place in the future of country music. Black Sheep is a record with the potential to appeal to both the die-hard John Prine fan, as well as a person who swears that country music hasn't been the same since the Dixie Chicks left the scene. It depicts the highs and lows of love and loss from Whitters' straight-forward, tell it like it is point of view.

Whitters hails from Shueyville, Iowa, population just shy of 600. "It's such a little town. It's getting bigger, but we don't even have a post office," she says. "We have two bars, a wine cellar, and a church." 

"I took my first trip to Nashville when I was 16 and fell in love," Whitters continues. "I immediately knew I wanted to move here." A year later, she did. She also enrolled in college, and paid her proverbial dues as a nanny, waitress, and salon receptionist before signing with left-of-center publishing lighthouse Carnival Music in 2012.

There are more amazing artists than one can count all in one place at Americana Fest. If you are headed to Nashville for the annual event (September 15-20) be sure not to miss Whitney Rose the Canadian songstress who released her U.S. debut, Heartbreaker of The Year, in August.

Performance Schedule

Friday September 18th 
United Talent Agency Showcase | High Watt | 3pm 

Saturday September 19th 
Canada Blast Showcase | Soulshine Pizza | 1:15pm 
Official AMF Showcase | High Watt | 8pm

Local folks, if you cannot make it to Americana Fest, Whitney Rose will be at Rockwood Music Hall September 26th 7pm.
Read TDC interview with her here.

Paul Bergmann is set to release his new EP, Romantic Thoughts on October 2 via Fairfaix Recordings.Romantic Thoughts is the follow up to Paul Bergmann's critically acclaimed 7" featuring "Old Dream" / "Summer's End" available now digitally via iTunes. Paul Bergmann's sound has been compared to Nick Cave, early Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen. Romantic Thoughts features Nick Waterhouse’s co-production with Kevin Augunas on the lead single, and a duet with Warpaint’s Emily Kokal on “Wishing Song,” which is streaming now at Noisey. Paul Bergmann told Noisey, “Wishing Song" is one of the most earnest songs I've ever written." He adds,  "It evokes a sense of longing in me that is very plain and truthful.  It's also a clear nod at Woody Guthrie, who got me out of a really dark time a few years ago.  While I was working on my “Romantic Thoughts” EP I ran into Emily [from Warpaint] at a party. After hanging out 'til 4AM, we drunkenly made a pact to record a song together. I immediately thought of “Wishing Song" and knew it would fit her like a glove.” 

Paul Bergmann, a Los Angeles-based folk craftsman grew up in small-town seclusion, nestled in the rolling uplands of Western Massachusetts. Isolated from an active youth music scene, his sonic roots descended from his parent’s canon of Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Gordon Lightfoot. Recognized early on for his vocal potential, Bergmann’s childhood was often spent shuffled between voice lessons, choirs, musicals, and operas, polishing his vocal chords to have the sheen of facile, glassy, grace still audible today. Bergmann enjoyed singing, but consistently tired of channeling it into such formal products. 

It was not until the end of college that his fingers finally wrapped themselves around the neck of a guitar. Instantly hooked, the instrument became more like a saw-horse, for Bergmann, than anything else - a workbench upon which he spent days and nights hammering away at his first attempts at folk songs.

Country singer, songwriter and musician RAY SCOTT has garnered widespread acclaim and respect for his music since he first landed on the scene in 2005 with his major label debut album My Kind Of Music. To coincide with, and reflect upon, his successful 10-year career, RAY is paying homage to those country music legends that have deeply influenced him with the release of his new EP, ROOTS SESSIONS VOL. 1 out September 18.
 
Earlier this year, RAY partnered with Rolling Stone Country to unveil a series of performance videos, among them his take on Billy Joe Shaver's "Live Forever," Don Williams' "Good Ole Boys Like Me" and Johnny Cash's "Ghost Riders in the Sky." The response was so positive that RAY decided to head back into the studio, polish up these recordings and release them for country music fans to add to their collections. Beyond the aforementioned songs, the EP also features MerleHaggard's "That's The Way Love Goes," Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind" and Tompall Glaser's "Put Another Log on the Fire."
 
"I grew up during a magical era in country music, full of individuals who were original and uncompromising," shares RAY. "These are some songs I loved, by some artists and songwriters I loved, who shaped who I became, and who I'm still becoming as an artist. I hope you love this stuff as much as I do. These are The Roots Sessions."
 
The Semora, NC native is also gearing up for a series of tour dates, kicking off with a hometown area show with Tracy Lawrence September 25 in Mebane, NC. Scott will then join Montgomery Gentry, Darryl Worley, and Love and Theft, among others, for the Country on the Beach event inKey West, FL September 26-29 to benefit the TJ Martell Foundation. Additional tour stops include shows in Metairie, LA, Elizabeth City, NC, and support for Charlie Daniels Band in Jacksonville, FL and Coral Springs, FL, before performing at sea as part of the Country Cruising cruise in the Bahamas October 24-30, then onto Ft. Meyers, FL, Mitchell, SD, Spring Lake Park, MN and Denver, CO. A full list of tour dates and ticket info is available at www.rayscott.com.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Concord Music Group is pleased to announce the reissue of The Definitive Vince Guaraldi, available October 30, 2015 on theFantasy imprint. Previously released on CD, this deluxe, four-LP vinyl edition explores Guaraldi’s career through rare photos, ephemera and 31 tracks recorded between 1955 and 1966. This comprehensive survey proves that the San Francisco-based jazz pianist was much more than just the music behind the Peanuts animated specials — the position which gained him his widest recognition.
 
Each 180-gram vinyl LP in this collection is housed in its own unique sleeve, the design of which is inspired by Guaraldi ephemera. A collectible 12” x 24” poster of the pianist also is included, as is a whimsical reproduction of a 1960s promotional cut-out Guaraldi mustache that can be worn, as many jazz club patrons did back in the day, when they were passed out during his live performances. An accompanying 16-page booklet features a host of rarely seen images — many of which are from the extensive collection of historian Derrick Bang (author of 2012’s Vince Guaraldi at the Piano [McFarland Press]). Liner notes by award-winning jazz historian and journalist Doug Ramsey round out the package.
 
Guaraldi’s fans will be pleased to find that this compilation covers a wide range of material, including both hits and lesser-known gems: from an original tune included on the pianist’s earliest album effort as leader of his own combo (1955’s Modern Music From San Francisco) to his collaborations with Brazilian guitarist Bola Sete; selections from Peanuts specials and Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus; as well as several live performances. Also of note are two recordings from 1964, “Autumn Leaves” and “Blues for Peanuts,” which had been unreleased prior to their inclusion in the compact disc edition of this collection.

NASHVILLE, TN (Sept. 11, 2015) – Blaster Records/Big Loud Mountain’s Dallas Smith revs it up with the U.S. release of his new, five-song EP KIDS WITH CARS today (9/11). Lead single “Kids With Cars” will impact Country radio on Monday (9/14) and fans can check out the creative animated lyric video for the song here. The KIDS WITH CARS EP is now available in the U.S. on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play and across all digital retailers.

Country radio is already kicking “Kids With Cars” in gear with early airplay on stations like SiriusXM’s “The Highway,” K102 in Minneapolis and WUBL/The Bull in Atlanta. Radio trade site All Access highlights Smith’s “signature, powerful voice" and the song’s virtues as “very upbeat nostalgic, contemporary Country single that you’ll want to show some love.” 

Legendary country band Alabama will perform their first show in New York City in 27 years (!!!) on Friday, September 18th at the Beacon Theatre. Coinciding with the show is the release of their first album of all new material in fourteen years, Southern Drawl, which will be released the same day. 

Randy Owen (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Teddy Gentry (bass) and Jeff Cook (lead guitar, keyboards and fiddle), founded the group in 1969 and went on to have one of the most successful careers in music history, with over 73 million albums sold and over 40 No. 1 hits including “Mountain Music,” “If You’re Gonna Play In Texas (You Gotta Have A Fiddle In The Band)” “Tennessee River” and “The Closer You Get.” 

In 2004, the band performed a farewell tour, then regrouped in 2013 to celebrate its 40th anniversary and took part in the Alabama and Friends tribute album. Their new album promises the traditional Alabama sound fans love, accompanied by contemporary touches. Guitarist Jeff Cook has said “country music when we took our ‘vacation’ is not the same country it is today. For people who knew the original Alabama, it’s going to be a little different to their ears.”

This is a not to be missed historic show in a historic venue in a historic city.

When: Friday, September 18th
Where: Beacon Theatre NYC
Time: 8pm
Tickets: $39.50-$99.50