New releases: frontman edition

Craig Finn of The Hold Steady and John Sampson of the Weakerthans both have albums dropping tomorrow.

Affinity

Put away that copy of the Hair soundtrack, you're wearing that thing out. Try some of this instead.

Shovels & Rope

A friend turned me onto this band and lo and behold I found they'd done a Daytrotter session recently, too. Take a listen.

Go listen at Daytrotter.

Ryan Adams

I've been listening to Love is Hell pt. 1 & 2 lately. They're no Heartbreaker but there are still really nice moments. I'm always sort of shocked at how much of these have a kind of Morrissey/Smiths influence.

David Childers and the Avett Brothers

Two of my North Carolina favorites: David Childers and The Avett Brothers.

Rumor has it The Avett Brothers, from Concord NC used to have a hard rock band and occasionally did "back porch" concerts where they picked bluegrass. The bluegrass shows ended up being more popular so they just ran with it.

David Childers is a lawyer outside of Charlotte who wins local songwriting awards year after year and truly makes you believe he's seen it all.

His latest project appears to be the Over Mountain Men

Operation Appreciate Wilco, part I

I have a bunch of friends that love Wilco. I've always thought they were ok but never really spent much time on them. I'm embarking on a journey this year to try and appreciate them the way my friends do.

This is a fine beginning:

Allo Darlin

One of my favorite tracks from 3 years ago, The Polaroid Song from Allo Darlin

They're most recent single has a B side called Wu Tang Clan, how cool is that?

You can pick up these and other wonders at their bandcamp page.

The Tallest Man on Earth

I'm listening to this guy again today. This is a fine, fine Dylan cover:

He also had a nice EP that came out in 2010 featuring this song.