Music from Steve Earle, Matthew Mayfield, Lost Leaders, Tony Lucca, Kelly Augustine, Jonathan Stevens

Let's start with some big news. When Steve Earle moved to Nashville in 1974, he was an unknown 19-year-old writing songs and working a series of dead-end jobs to make ends meet. Who knows where he would have ended up had he not met outlaw country legend Guy Clark. I've only heard two tracks from Guy, Earle's take on some of Clark's classic songs. Let's just say that this project is long overdue and that I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the record. Guy Clark must be smiling down from Heaven.

Sample: "LA Freeway "

I've also heard just two songs from Gun Shy, the just-released new album from gravely voiced veteran rocker Matthew Mayfield. If "Broken Clocks" and "Our Winds" are any indication, he's turned down the volume a bit. To me, it suits him well. We hear the lyrics better but more importantly we feel them. These two have a Richard Shindell vibe.

Lost Leaders, Extra-Ordinary, The Collection

Lost Leaders have recently dropped a new recording, the band's third. You can hear their single "I'm Gonna Win" on YouTube and sample older material on Extra-Ordinary. If you don't know of this New York band, you might have heard the name of bass player Byron Issacs, who was a member of the Levon Helm Band and now sometimes plays with The Lumineers. In Lost Leaders Issacs also plays guitar and shares vocal duties with guitarist Peter Cole. The best way to describe their music is to think of what you'd get if you crossed a retro pop/rock outfit with the post-punk sounds of The Lemonheads. "Horizontal Man" certainly evokes Bob Dylan's lyrical approach to vocals, though Lost Leaders rock out more cleanly than Dylan. What they do best, though, is wry-but-pointed commentary on modern neuroses. "Probably Why We're Here" is at once edgy and poppy, with Issacs laying down some bouncy thick bass lines. It's about a relationship on the rocks that's possibly terminal: We talk and talk but never speak/I never though we'd need a referee. I really like the collection's title track, a 21^st century musical take of Riesman's The Lonely Crowd: But I can't complain/It's good to be like everybody/I'm hiding just the same/It's good to be like everybody. No worries about these guys becoming extra-ordinary. ★★★★

Tony Lucca, Ain't No Storm

Americana artist Tony Lucca surprises. At first his tenor seems light, almost pretty. Don't be deceived; his is a mighty voice that ranges widely. Listen to him on "Frame By Frame" and you can really hear him stretch it. Or "Restless Heart," where you'll hear just a splash of Dylan here and there before his natural smoothness takes over. Lucca also has interesting takes on things, as befits a guy who came to Nashville by way of Detroit and (seriously) The Mickey Mouse Club. I guess this combo taught him something about picking up the pieces and knowing when it's time to move on. In "One Less You," Lucca copes with absence by noting: one less road I have to travel/one less burden to bear/two fewer hearts/tangled up and torn apart/one less you is just one less me to repair. "Everything is Changing" is a song that is likely to turn some heads. It showcases Lucca on piano and it opens soft and wistful, as if it's going to be some wholesome country folk song. Nope! It's a mix of soft and hard, as Lucca mixes it up with a band and rocks out. It's also a poignant reminder of how individuals and couples must both grapple with ancient wisdom from the philosopher Heraclitus: "Change is the only constant in life." Or, as Lucca puts it: …dreams/weren't meant to remain dreams/merely a road map/to where you're 'sposed to be… This is one helluva record and Lucca is a talent you should discover if you've not done so already. ★★★★

Kelly Augustine, Light in the Lowlands

Kelly Augustine grew up in Oklahoma. Although she now lives in Denver, she knows that happy endings are not a given. Her country/folk debut is a good one that highlights her fine writing, a seriously powerful voice, and an outlook that evokes that of Lucinda Williams. "Debbie" is a honky-tonk styled song about a down market woman who cooks meth because she likes it. It's also a good way to feed her kids while her old man is in jail. "Can't Get Enough" is about loving an alcoholic, though you know you shouldn't. One of the album's more powerful songs is "Hurt Too Big," a needed corrective to the way we have glamorized the military. Her take is of a soldier whose idealism is shattered on he battlefield, where he learns that killing others is a sin: On his knees he cries out for forgiveness/God used to talk, but He's gone silent these days… and the solider is left with a Hurt too big for a heart too small. Augustine switches from folk and country to an Appalachian vibe for "Thunder on the Mountain," which takes the nonsense out of "clean coal" and probes the effects of mining, job loss, poverty, and grime. A few love songs take the edge off the gloom, the most affecting of which is "Second Chances," with its hope that act two will surpass act one: I think I'm looking at my best second chance/When I'm looking at you. ★★★ ½ 

Jonathan Stevens, Bread & Butter Songs

 

People in Western Massachusetts know Jonathan Stevens as a baker (Hungry Ghost), a poet, and an advocate for sustainability. If you've lived there long enough, you also know he's singer/songwriter. Bread & Butter Songs is a throwback to the 1970s when musicians made concept albums without a lot of studio gadgetry. The theme of this one is mostly related to what he does most days: bake bread. There are songs about bubbling dough, biscuits, pouring batter, and grain–sometimes as metaphors, sometimes straight up. Stevens wears his values on his sleeve and strums them out on his guitar: "Root for Soup," "Vidalia," Taste of Love." His "Every Kitchen" is an indirect look at food waste. There's even a song for black bears. This record is like his bread: homemade. Alas, there are no full-length YouTube videos currently available for this record, but there is a snippet of "Sweetness" on the Hungry Ghost Bakery Facebook page, and you can hear "Ballad of the Hungry Ghost" on YouTube to get a flavor of his music. If you like what you hear, make queries through Facebook. ★★★

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