Tag: Americana

Thanks to No Depression for taking the time to interview Fluff and Gravy Records Co-Founder, John Shepski. Dig in right here and read up on the history of the label, new and exciting upcoming projects, and find out how John feels about FnG being pegged as an Americana label.

Way back around 2009, when The Harmed Brothers were still in their infancy, Eugene-based percussionist Adan Morehouse received a phone call from North Carolina. It was Ray Vietti on the phone, saying that they’d like him to join the band, and that they needed him immediately to hit the road with them. He had played in a band that had opened for them a few times, and had struck up a friendship with Ray and Alex Salcido. Problem was, Adam had a job that he didn’t feel comfortable leaving, and was planning on going to barbering school, so he turned them down.  2 weeks later Ray and Alex were knocking on his door, and they weren’t going away without a “yes’. Reluctantly, Adam quit his job, sold his stuff, and hit the road. In the end, the touring life proved to be too stressful for Adam, and his fear of tornadoes (made problematci by the band constantly touring the Midwest) proved to be too much for him. He ended up leaving the band and following up on his original plan. He was going to barbering school.

Fast forward to 2017… After working for other people for years, Adam and his friend Kurt Foster decide to open their own place, Morehouse Barbers, in the North Portland neighborhood of St. Johns. On March 3, the shop opened it’s doors, and of course, The Harmed Brothers were there for the grand opening to record a video. 

Check it out here!

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wTsAuOvzW8&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Stream and purchase up the new album here

We are pleased to announce that Anna Tivel has won the Telluride Troubadour contest at the 43rd annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival! It is an incredible honor to be acknowledged among all of the other amazing musicians that made up this year’s finalists.

Congratulations to Anna, and a huge thank you to all of you who have supported Anna and continue to inspire her.

You can stream her latest record, Heroes Waking Up, here.

One listen to her world-weary yet somehow bouyant songs and it’s clear – Anna Tivel has spent her share of quality hours behind the wheel of a Dodge Caravan, repeating lines over and over until the words fall in time with the windshield wipers, or until the gas light comes on.

Heroes Waking Up, Anna Tivel’s third full-length album, was be released on May 20, 2016. It is the result of a year spent living and writing in a friend’s garage and on the road. The eleven song recording winds through a dusky darkness of hopeful strangers, shadowed struggle, quiet love, and flying dreams. Produced by guitar magician Austin Nevins (Josh Ritter, Anais Mitchell, The Mountain Goats), Tivel’s faded-photographic songwriting swells above a soundscape meticulously crafted by Nevins on guitar, lap steel, banjo, and pump organ. He is joined by Sam Howard (Ruth Moody) on bass, Ian Krist (Blind Pilot) on vibraphone, Robin Macmillan on percussion, and Jeffrey Martin and Moorea Masa singing harmonies. Throw in some violin and octave violin from Anna herself and the final effect is a sweeping, dream-like exploration of Tivel’s raw imagery and powerful storytelling.

Give a listen to the record here, and then buy it.

Here’s what some folks are saying about it:

“There is not a single song on here that is easily forgettable, much less filler”. – No Depression

“Anna Tivel writes songs that demand the full attention of the listener, and it isn’t hard to give her that because her singing and writing seem to take power over you” – Glide Magazine

“Heroes Waking Up” is a kind of consecration of artistic identity – Music Won’t Save You

“Each song on this album seems to simultaneously sing of sorrow and celebration. That even in the direst of circumstances, life is a still a beautiful thing. The most accurate connection that I could draw to this album is the writing of John Steinbeck.” – Northwest Music Scene

 

 

 

Along with our partners Decor Records in Europe, Fluff and Gravy Records is excited to announce that a new record from Richmond Fontaine, titled You Can’t Go Back If There’s Nothing To Go Back To, is available today.  This Richmond Fontaine’s tenth full-length studio record, and it will be the seminal alt-country band’s swan song.

As songwriter Willy Vlautin puts it, “We all wanted to make one more record after The High Country. Dave moving with his family to Denmark stopped us for a long while, but we were dead set on one more. I wrote You Can’t Go Back… to give an end piece for all the characters who inhabited the world of RF over the years. Throughout the new record are hints of past RF albums and nods to past locations that the characters had found themselves in, and always they’re drifting and searching, hoping for a decent place to land. In the end they try to go back home where they were when RF first began. It’s where the characters started and now where they’ll end.”

“RF has had a great 20+ year run and these guys are my best pals so it’s a tough decision but the right one. We’ll tour this record for as long as we can and then we’ll a have a knock down drag-out party, wake up with a hangover, and move on.”

Here is what the media is saying:

“Every song is like a mini Coen Brothers movie… Dramatic and poetic, you’ll sorely miss Richmond Fontaine when they’re gone” –Q Magazine

“9/10” “as good as anything he’s ever written” – UNCUT
“the band’s final reading approaches perfection; an Americana capstone” – Pop Matters

 

 
The record is available in digital/cd/lp formats atiTunes, Amazon, Fluff and Gravy Records, or at your favorite record store.