New West

Earle Steve & The Dukes: Guy (Red/Orange) [Gatefold / 2 Vinyl LP]

Blue vinyl.

Som titeln antyder är nya plattan en hyllning till läromästaren och vännen Jerry Jeff Walker, som dog hösten 2020, 78 år gammal. <br/><br/>Med "Jerry Jeff" kompletterar Steve Earle den serie hyllningsplattor som inleddes med 2009 års "Townes" (Townes van Zandt), fortsatte med 2029 års "Guy" (Guy Clark) och som nu avslutas med "Jerry Jeff".<br/><br/>2021 gav Steve Earle dessutom ut "J.T.", en fin men smärtsam hyllningen till sonen Justin Townes Earle, som dog 2020, endast 38 år.<br/><br/>"The records were recorded and released in the order in which they left this world. But make no mistake - it was Jerry Jeff Walker who came first," says Earle.<br/> <br/>Earle was 14 when he first heard Walker. His high school drama teacher gave him a copy of "Mr. Bojangles," Walker's classic ballad about an unforgettable character he met in a New Orleans jail. After Earle moved to Nashville in the 1970s, he had the opportunity to get to know Walker, who enlisted him as his designated driver.<br/>"There's a tendency to think of Jerry Jeff around a relationship to one song," Earle says, referring to "Mr. Bojangles," which was covered by everyone from Bob Dylan to Sammy Davis Jr. "He was also such a great interpreter of other people's songs. But my main purpose in recording this album was to remind people that he wrote a lot of fucking great songs."

Earle Steve & The Dukes: Terraplane (Gold) [Vinyl LP]

Featuring Allison Moore and John Medeski. Issued with printed lyric insert.

Live Forever / A Tribute To Billy Joe Shaver [Vinyl LP]

I can do whatever I wanna all by my lonesome<br/>If that's a problem well you can't say shit<br/>Cause I'm going my way<br/>Livin' and dyin' - NIKKI LANE<br/><br/>From the first bass note within the driving drum beat you can tell something is different about the new record from Nikki Lane. The backbeat feels like a gutsy strut while the lead guitar feels like a revved up engine shifting gears. Denim & Diamonds comes out firing, spit shining the cowboy boots and tossing on a jean jacket.<br/>Produced by Joshua Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Denim & Diamonds has the Highway Queen embracing a more rock-oriented sound while still maintaining the heartfelt outlaw country sound she has developed across her previous three releases. Denim & Diamonds still has the fuck-off flare of which Nikki has come to be known. Her stylized, story-telling lyrics are all there as well as her catchy country hooks. The outlaw country sound is now balanced out with a gritty guitar and a machine gun snare that echoes the sound of 70's rock.<br/>Nikki Lane has made a record that sounds new and old. Familiar and surprising. She embraces where she has come from, ("First High", "Born Tough") the lessons learned along the way, ("Good Enough", "Try Harder") all while doing things her way, ("Denim & Diamonds", "Black Widow").