NASHVILLE, TN – Country supertrio PISTOL ANNIES have released “Stop Drop and Roll One” off their anxiously-awaited third album INTERSTATE GOSPEL, releasing Nov. 2 on RCA Records Nashville. Stream it now via Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and all other streaming servies. Album pre-order is available HERE.
 
Penned by the group’s Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley, “Stop Drop and Roll One” came after a particularly fruitful night of songwriting. “We’d just finished a song out at the farm, and Miranda said, ‘Girls, we’re on fire I think...,” and then she said, ‘So stop, drop and roll one!’” explained Monroe.

Debuting earlier this year, the movie BUCKSHOT tells the story of a struggling, young pop country singer who is tasked with driving an aging, outlaw country legend (Buckshot Thomas) cross-country to what could be the last concert of his life. The movie garnered awards at the Culver City, Marina Del Ray, and Rockport Film Festivals and here, in his own words, the film's creator, Josh Smith tells the story of how the movie came to fruition and why it is special to him.

​Guest post by Joshua J. Smith

Having grown up in a small farming town in Kansas, country music made up the soundtrack of our community, and many people still believed in the teachings of Willie Nelson, “My heroes have always been cowboys and they still are it seems.” I remember my father’s excitement when in 1984 he had scored tickets to the Kansas State Fair closing concert of none other than the Redheaded Stranger himself, Willie Nelson.  This was at the pinnacle of his career, and I could not wait to hear, ‘On the Road Again’ live and in person! We arrived to our seats on the fairgrounds and the golden tickets my father had got such a “good deal” on; put us right behind a giant pole. That night I wasn’t able to see Willie but… I heard him. It was a night I will never forget and it forever embedded that outlaw country sound into my soul.
 
As the years progressed I stayed true to the Outlaw experience – moving to Austin, Texas where cosmic cowboys roam and my musical appetite was served a huge helping of Texas honky tonking. In my early days of film work in Austin I was lucky enough to cross paths with some of my heroes; Robert Earl Keen, Lyle Lovett and even ended up talking football with the legend, Willie Nelson on his famed bus. The highlight of my early directing career was when I cast Freddy Fender, lead singer of The Texas Tornadoes in my second short film, Under the South Texas Skies. He played the lead character performing a heartfelt a capella song in the climatic ending. Freddy even talked Augie Myers into coming out to the filming to be an extra in the film. We miraculously landed the amazing accordion player Flaco Jimenez to play on the soundtrack and it was the first time that my love of film and outlaw country music crossed paths and the results left me wanting more.  For my feature film directorial debut I wanted a story that could blend those two worlds together again. The movie would be the story of Buckshot Thomas, a down and out Outlaw Country legend touring the back roads of America looking to slay old demons that haunt his waking life.
 
While researching Nashville’s music scene of today I was inundated with discourse from outlaw country fans over the pop country takeover of the billboard charts. This new wave was given a nickname “Bro-Country” by Jody Rosen of New York Magazine who wrote, “music by and of the tatted, gym-toned, party-hearty young American white dude.” This phrase wasn’t intended to start a revolution but as almost any country music fan can tell you, that’s exactly what happened.

Singer. Songwriter. Actor. Author. Now, Korby Lenker ventures to explore further creative territory, helming a brand new web series entitled Morse Code. Having made its debut on August 3rd, Morse Code follows Lenker as he portrays Simon Pinkerton, a single dad and a "smart-but-dumb folksinger trying to make good in the modern music business without alienating everyone around him."

Having earned praise for the first two charming and heartfelt episodes, Lenker has plans for an additional eight installments of the dramedy, each accompanied by a new song. For the first episode, he and Liz Longley wrote and performed the folk-pop tune "If You Love Somebody."​

Episode 2, which premiered in September at AmericanaFest, found Lenker teaming with Holly Mathis to pen the sober and sincere "I Feel What I Feel." And today, TDC is thrilled and honored to debut the Cody Duncam directed video for the track which captures Simon as a man who is lonely, pensive, and seemingly resigned to sadness and dwelling on the negative. Via Lenker's emotional delivery, sincere lyrics, and a despondent yet somehow comforting piano-led melody, "I Feel What I Feel" acknowledges emotions are neither right or wrong, they just are, and sometimes we have to work through them at our own pace....even if it means staying in that dark place for a short while.

"Here we are it's me against me
Hello to the adversary
Don't move slow, keep your hands up
I punch low, can you handle it?
Where'd it go all that hope sparkling f
For now I see through glass darkly
We make it up as we go along that brought us right or wrong
here, here, here"

Lenker offers insight into the song and video,
"Part of the challenge of "Morse Code" is that I need write songs about the characters in the show, instead of drawing them directly from my life. It’s a small distance but it's created a kind of vulnerable way of writing I didn’t expect. “I Feel What I Feel” (out on Soundly Music October 12) is an example of that.

When I wrote the script for episode two, I knew the main charter, Simon, was going to be in a dark place at the end of it — having just suffered a public humiliation and then been abandoned by one of his closest friends. 

But at this moment in the story, Simon is stuck in a sort of willful loneliness — wanting to be left alone more than he wants to be saved. It’s a feeling I’ve known personally at points in my life, so the theme of “I Feel What I Feel" came easily. 

I came up with something I liked on piano, but was having a hard time making the verse really sing so I reached out to my friend Holly Mathis. Holly is weirdly gifted with what seems like endless clever ideas, so we spent about a month while I was on tour and she was at home texting back and forth and singing into our phones until we finally came up with something that felt right.

I recorded it on my little home piano (pictured in the video) and brought it in to the studio to finish. Tim Lauer, who created the score for Morse Code (and who just came from his last job as executive music producer on the “Nashville” TV show), produced the song.

For the video, I was lucky to include the talents of "Morse Code" co-star Maggie Schneider. She is so good in the show and here she was in the video wearing that same compelling tension between innocence and an early-onset wisdom. 

This is a music video that kind of blurs the lines between the script and the music, something I hope to continue to explore in future episodes."

"I Feel What I Feel" will be available everywhere October 12th.

Enjoy and share the video above. For more information on Lenker visit:
Official website, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
​
Watch Morse Code Episode 1 HERE and Episode 2 HERE 
Other cast members include Maggie Schneider, Olivia Evans and Sara Antonio

NEWLY DISCOVERED RECORDINGS 
FROM PETER HOLSAPPLE AND ALEX CHILTON, 
CUT IN MEMPHIS, WILL BE RELEASED 40 YEARS LATE VIA OMNIVORE RECORDINGS ON OCTOBER 12

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — It was 1978 at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis. North Carolinian Peter Holsapple had rolled into town chasing the essence of Big Star. He hooked up with musician/engineer/friend-of-Big-Star, Richard Rosebrough after approaching, and being turned down by, Chris Bell, who Holsapple had hoped might be interested in producing him. Together Richard and Peter started laying down tracks during the off hours at the studio.
 
Chilton, meanwhile, was knee-deep in the making of Like Flies on Sherbert, also being tracked at Phillips. He told Peter, “I heard some of that stuff you’re working on with Richard ... and it really sucks.” Alex promised to come by and show Peter “how it’s done.”

Iconic band World Party has made a video for their 1986 hit single “Ship Of Fools,” premiered by Billboard today. The video features Karl Wallinger’s poignant lyrics alongside current political figures including President Trump and Korea’s Kim Jong-un. Wallinger says, “I can’t believe that things today are worse than they were when I wrote this.  In a way it’s ridiculous that this song is still relevant.” Watch “Ship Of Fools” here.
 
The new clip was directed by celebrated director Nigel Dick (Guns N' Roses, Oasis, Brittney Spears).  He notes: "I was always a big fan of Ship Of Fools and bought the record when it was originally released.  Hearing it again reminded me that the lyrics are now more relevant than ever before. Rock the Vote!"
 
The video anticipates that PRIVATE REVOLUTION, the first World Party album, will be reissued on vinyl for the first time in 2019. The entire World Party catalog will follow, with vinyl reissues throughout the year. In addition, the band is planning a new release for next year; details to be announced shortly.
 
World Party formed in 1986. Their albums include PRIVATE REVOLUTION, GOODBYE JUMBO, BANG!, EGYPTOLOGY and DUMBING UP in 2000.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – At the dawn of the ’80s, The Bangles (then just known as The Bangs),The Dream Syndicate, The Three O’Clock (originally called the Salvation Army), and Rain Parade were all new bands in Los Angeles who formed the core of the small yet influentialPaisley Underground scene. In 2013, the four ensembles got back together to share the bill at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre for a charity concert that benefited the non-profit Education Through Music organization. The show went so well and everybody had so much fun that Danny Benair(The Three O’Clock), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), and Vicki Peterson (The Bangles) started talking about doing some type of album to celebrate their Paisley Underground beginnings. 
 
The idea quickly formed that each band would cover one song of the three’s. Plans were discussed but lingered. The project didn’t take off until Benair mentioned it to Yep Roc Recordsco-owner Glenn Dicker, who loved the idea. The four groups then got to work, resulting in the terrific twelve-song collection succinctly entitled 3 x 4: The Bangles, The Three O'Clock, The Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, which Yep Roc will issue on purple swirl vinyl double LP and CD for Black Friday Record Store Day (November 23, 2018) with a wider release (including digital formats) coming on January 11, 2019. ​

The new acoustic-based project from "The Voice" contestant Jordy Searcy, Into the Ivy, came to be after a chance meeting with now producer and co-writer Whitney Dean while teaming up for a show in Florence, AL. Dean was playing a show that night with his duo The Sweeplings (Dean and Cami Bradley of Americas Got Talent), and heard something special in Searcy. The connected immediately, and that chance meeting lead to a new friendship.  

Searcy and Dean decided to find a way to collaborate that spoke to both of their shared passions. Released in September, their debut project is a five-song gem of a collection replete with acoustic guitar, intricate organic instrumentation, and honest, heartfelt music. 

Today, TDC is honored to premiere the video for the emotional and captivating track, "Do You Love Me, I Need To Know," an elegant ballad led by Searcy's honeyed vocals - conveying both an urgency and a tenderness - that gently yearn for the love of another.

Jordy and Whitney share the concept behind the video, "Into The Ivy has an organic and cinematic feel and that's what we wanted to achieve with the video for "Do You Love Me, I Need To Know". Having the characters of the video feel emotional and even a bit whimsical really helps tell the story of the song as well. We wanted to focus on the question the song is asking, by visually showing moments of  remembering the way being in love feels and being reminded of it..." 

Enjoy, and share, the video above. For more information visit:

Website/Facebook/Instagram
https://www.marrowmprecords.com/into-the-ivy

​Born and raised in South Texas Jim Wyly has spent the last 40 years living and playing in the Austin area. While the obvious label for his music is “Texas Songwriter”, Wyly’s sound and songs are influenced from a multitude of directions, ranging from folk to R&B and rock and roll. Having spent time as a member of several bands, including Movin Target and The Lunar Rollers, Jim has been widely regarded by his peers as a master of the songwriting craft. At the young age of 72, Wyly is stepping away from the sound and life of being in a band and releasing his solo debut, The Artisan.

Stripped down to allow the lyrical content and Wyly's vocals to take center stage, The Artisan includes newer compositions such as “You Took Me” and “Nobody Lights My Heart Like You” as well as long time fan favorites, like “Mr. Snowman” and “Suddenly I’m Single."

Today, TDC is pleased to premiere the reflective "Mr Snowman," a harmonica and acoustic guitar-led ballad about a man coming to terms with the passage of time that is highlighted by Wyly's wisdom-filled vocals, rich harmonies (courtesy of Libby Koch) and inspired lyricism.
​
Wyly relays the story behind the tune, "Mr Snowman is a song I’ve recorded before, but a song most of my fans know well, and therefore had to be on my first solo album. It’s about a guy that’s get’s what he wants thru his charm and good looks. But time is catching up with him."

Enjoy, and share the song below. For more information visit:
Website/Facebook/Twitter