rescuing musical virtue in distress.
Another great week for underground, grassroots and off the radar music. Here is just the tip of the sonic iceberg. As always check the artists out, explore the back catalogue and buy a track, an album perhaps even a t-shirt and help keep these lovely people making the world a brighter place. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/75mFDoHpIZoYZ5V8oZ7xy6?si=PhfdxTNCQhSfEn80x5NuuQ
Just when you think that you have got the measure of an artist, they can still often throw you a curveball. The goods ones can anyway. And I thought I had the musical measure of Billy Roberts and his roots-rock posse. They are all about country-tinged rock and roll, raw edged, low-slung, foot on the... Continue Reading →
And so another week has passed, more music has flowed under the pen, into the site and, hopefully new sets of ears. And if you want a quick snapshot of the fab and groovy waxing which have graced us with their audio presence, plus a few old favourites, then give this a wizz whilst you... Continue Reading →
Billy Roberts and his cohorts have always made music which wanders around within some pretty iconic parameters - country and rock ’n’ roll for sure, the occasional punky kick, plenty of singer-songwriter vibes and some slinky blues infusions. All fairly standard stuff but also broad enough sonic territories that there is still plenty of room... Continue Reading →
Four albums in and still sounding like the bastard sons of Steve Earl and Ryan Adams and like those two purveyors of alt-country, The Southern Sessions is brimming with songs that straddle the country/rock divide. Someone once told me that the difference between country music and Americana is the boots. The former sports shinny, Crome... Continue Reading →
The title may suggest some sort of raggle-taggle, clattering country infused bluegrass, but Billy Roberts and his musical posse are in much slicker territory that it might first suggest. Well, I say slicker, all things are relative, and he has always come from a rough and tumble, bar band sort of place rather than the... Continue Reading →
Genres are tricky things, full of implication and assumption. Pop music isn’t always popular, soul bands don’t always connect deep down and not all blues is melancholic. Similarly the term Americana might imply that it is a sound taken from the American music psyche or that references past glories from that country. But maybe some... Continue Reading →
Sitting here slightly fragile after a night watching a Dallas rocker with a country swagger tear a hole where the stage in an English venue used to be, the latest release from Billy and the boys feels like the perfect after party music. Not that I have the energy to party. But that same blend... Continue Reading →
Blurring lines and subverting expectation is the job of every musician worth his salt and the fact that Billy Roberts both obscures the distinction between alt-country and garage rock and does so from a whole different cultural heartland, shows that he is all too aware of that. By rights this should be an East Nashville... Continue Reading →
With the popular resurgence of alternative takes on the classic American country rock sound, I find myself dealing with terms such as Anglicana or British-Americana, which seek to describe that odd hybrid of the formers take on the latters traditional sound. If Billy Roberts and the Rough Riders are the Antipodean equivalent of such a... Continue Reading →