mercredi 26 Mar 2008, 17h16m

Been trolling thru the freebies from SXSW '08. Mostly pop-laden tripe, but a few jewels. One day come March I'll get myself down to the Lone Star State. Of course, then, I'd spend most of my time at 3rd Coast Music's NOTsxsw counter-concerts, but anyway…

Tom Brosseau did a blog-ish bit for the LA Times on his visit to Austin. Tom writes like he walks and talks and sings. He takes life very much as life takes him. You can find the links on his website.

My fav track from the official SXSW website selection has to be The Tennessee Boltsmokers' "Smoking Gun" smokin bluegrass-ish cut. These boys must really cut a rug.

I also like the cuts from The Barker Band, Caroline Herring, Daniel Lanois, Jen Lane, Jill Barber, The Mother Truckers, Oh Susanna, The Quebe Sisters Band, and Ruby Jane. I'm a fan of Ms. Herring, have heard of Oh Susanna, and Lanois is legendary, but the rest are mostly new to me.

Some video at Crackle of it-girls Martha Wainright, Tift Merritt, Deanna Carter. Definamente NOT faces made for radio. Skip thru the first couple for each and there's some interesting performances down the bill. Acoustic track Crying may have Roy Orbison smiling a bit. There's also vid of Lanois and X.

One warning on Crackle, the hip-hop ads between videos volume up, so be prepared to hit mute if you're at work or the library :o

Tift owns the top of the Americana radio chart these days. I'm expecting a first hand report on the album, as all my money has gone to little frills like heating oil this winter. Oh, the promise of spring to come.

-jc