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Well, I guess time has run out on "easing into the new year..."
I had promised some changes for 2018 here at E2TG and today, I am unveiling two of those changes.
I am not sure if this is going to be an every Monday thing or what, but I would like to introduce a new feature on E2TG.
Marie/Lepanto is a new inter-generational project that features Will Johnson (Centro-Matic) and Justin Peter Kinkel-Shuster (Water Liars). Their debut "Tenkiller" is due out on January 26. I will have some of the songs in my upcoming shuffles, but for today, I wanted to let you hear the first track released from that album. It's called "Iverness".
Will Johnson fronted Centro-Matic for two decades and is also frontman for South San Gabriel, a member of New Multitudes (Woody Guthrie lyrics set to new music, with Jay Farrar, Jim James), did a duo project with Jason Molina (Molina and Johnson), drummer and official member of Monsters of Folk (with James, Conor Oberst, and M. Ward), a duo with David Bazan as part of Overseas, and a member of the Undertow Orchestra (with Bazan, Mark Eitzel, and Vic Chestnutt). NPR has praised Centro-Matic's "superb rock records" and Johnson's "great images" and "superb songwriting." He lives in Austin, TX.
Meanwhile, Kinkel-Shuster co-founded Water Liars, about whom the NY Times said, "dark, lonely roots-minded indie rock is affecting, all the more for its sparseness." NPR called the band "a low-key triumph... prone to fits of stark gorgeousness" and Consequence of Sound said "Kinkel-Shuster's painted howl will stop you in your tracks." Julien Baker listed JPKS' 2016 album among her top ten albums of the year. Water Liars tooks its name from a Barry Hannah story and the band was on Misra Records and Big Legal Mess. The album is called 'Marie/Lepanto' after a sign on the freeway in Arkansas and was recorded at Sam Phillips Recordings Service, where Margo Price, Jason Isbell and more have taped albums. He lives in Arkansas and brings a deep south viewpoint to his work.
Nashville readers: Marie/Lepanto will be playing at the Exit/In on February 23 with Pedro the Lion.
Another reminder: E2TG will be hosting show at The Local (formerly known as The Country) this coming Sunday (January 14) featuring Conrad y Skordalia, Danny Henry, and Nelson Zimmerman Quinn (featuring members of Sean Quinn and the Tremblers. Music starts at 8:00pm, and it will be my birthday!
Today marks the return of "Music City Monday" to E2TG (with a bit of a twist). Today's shuffle comes not from my phone music player, but from Spotify. I have created an ever-evolving playlist of Nashville connected music - old and new, well-known and lesser-known, and crossing as many genre lines I can get away with. Here is the inaugural shuffle from that playlist....