Chase Fifty Six - Allatoona Rising

Chase Fifty Six is a Georgia band that plays Georgia rock, a perfect blend of unapologetic country lyrics, dirty rock and roll guitars, and vocal deliveries that leave no doubt that the singer has lived the words he's singing. Their latest album, Allatoona Rising, out on Dirtleg Records, is packed with eleven such examples. Stories about useless women, trailer parks, and love, sometimes all in the same song, are common themes on the album. I'll be catching Chase Fifty Six if they ever make it close enough. Until then, you can buy the album here. Check out the two tracks below to get a feel for the album.
Chase Fifty Six - Worst Thing
Chase Fifty Six - Goodbye Princess

Clark Paterson - Songs for Another America

Clark Paterson, a Nashville based singer-songwriter who was born and raised in Sandusky, MI and spend most of his college years and early 20's in Chicago, just released his first EP, "Songs for Another America". Clark draws on his experiences with love ("Rather Regret It"), rural life ("God's Country"), deciding to play hooky from work ("Good Afternoon") and paints pictures of the strange ("Abandoned Boat in the Woods"). An excellent first EP that was helped by the excellent backing musicians (including members of Lambchop and Chris Scruggs) and the production work of Mark Nevers. The songs are catchy, well-written and if this is a glimpse of work to come, Clark's best work is still yet in front of him. Definitely worth picking up and rocking out to in your truck.

For music previews, pictures and tour dates, check out Clark's website here (with links to social networking).

The Harmed Brothers - All The Lies You Wanna Hear

The Harmed Brothers come from small-town Oregon and write songs that have an Appalachian feel about them. It is very rare that I care for banjo work that isn't of the Scruggs style, but Alex Salcido gets two thumbs up from me for his style on the Harmed Brothers album All The Lies You Wanna Hear. Many times I hear "Americana" albums that sound like someone said "Hey, we need a banjo track on this song," so one was added. The songs on ATLYWH depend on the banjo and would be nowhere near as powerful without it. The banjo, along with Salcido's and Ray Vietti's vocals and lyrics make for a minimalist sound that creates an emptiness that will leave you hitting repeat, especially on the tracks below. Check them out and buy the CD here, and be sure to check their myspace for upcoming shows. No Kentucky dates yet though...
The Harmed Brothers - One in the Garden
The Harmed Brothers - Greetings from Mardi Gras

Rose's Pawn Shop - Dancing on the Gallows

I've been meaning to post about this album for a while and am just now getting around to it. Los Angeles based Rose's Pawn Shop is a band that's new to me, but they've been around for a few years. Their second album, Dancing on the Gallows, is out now. The instrumentation and vocals have a haunting quality to them, especially in tracks like "Debt Collector," featured below. RPS has a lot of shows all over the country this summer, so check them out here. Somehow, I didn't get the memo on the shows, because I missed the show at Natasha's in Lexington earlier this week. You can buy both albums at the Rose's Pawn Shop store.
Rose's Pawn Shop - Debt Collector
Rose's Pawn Shop - Pine Box