Archive for December, 2011
American Songwriter’s Top 50 Songs Of 2011
Listen to all of the songs on our Top 50 list on Spotify (with a few exceptions) by clicking the button below. View our Albums Of The Year list here. 50. Smith Westerns: “All Die Young” These Chicago art-rockers smirk at the intensity of young love, but only out of fear and maybe even awe. [...]
Video Premiere: Lightyear, “It Beats”
Check out this brilliant video from Lightyear, the latest project from Brooklyn musician Lauren Zettler. The song comes from Lightyear’s 2011 debut EP, All Of The Miles (listen
American Songwriter’s Top 50 Songs: Staff Favorites
Caine O’Rear: 1.The Felice Brothers, “River Jordan” 2. The Drive-By Truckers, “Pulaski” 3. Hayes Carll, “KMAG YOYO” 4. Tom Waits, “Chicago” 5. Jason Isbell, “We’ve Met” 6. Middle Brother, “Middle Brother” 7. Gillian Welch, “The Way It Goes” 8. The Alabama Shakes, “I Found You” 9. Mariachi El Bronx, “Poverty’s King” 10. Arctic Monkeys, “Love [...]
Enter The Music City Songwriting Contest – Trailer
Craig Morgan on The Music City Songwriting Competition
Spin Lists The Top 50 Albums Of 2011
Spin magazine has announced their picks for this year’s best albums — and their tastes are nothing if not eclectic. Taking top honors are Canadian hardcore band Fucked Up. The list also makes room for Britney Spears (Femme Fatale, #50),the new Roots album (Undun, #44) and Kurt Vile (#4, Smoke Ring For My Halo), while [...]
Richard McGraw, “Leonard Cohen R.I.P. (The Song)”
“A thought occurred to me that Leonard will not always be around, says New York singer-songwriter Richard McGraw, whose new song,”Leonard Cohen R.I.P. (The Song)” is a preemptive eulogy. “This was sad and disturbing. The song came quickly after that.” “I’m not sure why I wrote it,” McGraw continues. “It’s strange to feel deeply for [...]
Taylor Swift: Journey To Fearless DVD
Taylor Swift Journey to Fearless DVD Shout! Factory Rating: As a convert to Taylor Swift after she’d already become the youngest person in history to win the Grammy for Album of the Year, I loved the biting, expansive Speak Now, which was mostly maligned by Kanye fans, and found said Grammy winner Fearless too crowd-pleasing. [...]
Bon Iver Kick Out The Jams At UIC Pavillion
“This is our first basketball arena,” Justin Vernon announced early in Bon Iver’s set on Friday at UIC Pavilion, which hosts more hoops than jams. He seemed bemused by the setting, introducing “Towers” as “a song about college basketball” and toasting the guys selling beer in the aisles. At times the show had the feel [...]
The Smiths, “Half A Person”
The Smiths recorded “Half A Person” in January 1987 and released it as the b-side to the single “Shoplifters Of The World Unite” the following month. But the band would not see the year through. When their final album Strangeways, Here We Come was released in September, guitarist Johnny Marr had already left the group. [...]
Bonnie McKee
(Photo: Ben Clark) Bonnie McKee seemed to have it all when she was still in her teens: An artist deal recording original material with Reprise (the album Trouble), which led to a song in a major movie soundtrack (Win a Date With Tad Hamilton) and a gig portraying the young Janis Joplin on NBC’s American [...]
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