Sam Llanas "Nobody Luvs Me"

I ain’t asking, I don’t want to know why, but the BoDeans are continuing on, and so is Sam Llanas, though he recently announced he is going it solo. Of course you know he was the former lead singer and guitarist for the acclaimed Milwaukee, or should we say Waukesha, band. They recently put out their 10th studio album, Indigo Dreams, and even more recently, so did Sam, as 4 A.M. (The Way Home) just came out. Ahhh, 4 A.M....the middle of the night is my favorite time, for introspection, for solitude, for quiet time to hear one’s own voice. The intimate, acoustic based album was produced by longtime collaborator Gary Tanin. There are 10 new tunes written by Sam, and he includes one cover, Cyndi Lauper’s “All Through the Night.” This is Sam’s second solo album, and it is markedly different from his 1998 A Good Day to Die, which was a eulogy for Sam’s brother, recorded under the name of Absinthe.

Sam comments, “I wanted to do something that was lighter, as light as I can get. I wanted it to be completely different. That’s why 4 A.M. is very much an acoustic record.” He had been working on this album for almost  four years, having started it when the BoDeans were between projects. Some of the tunes on 4 A.M. were recorded by the BoDeans, like the one we are bringing you today, “Nobody Luvs Me.” Sam continues, “It’s quite a different version — you wouldn’t really know it’s the same song.” We bring you the Music Fog recording, filmed during our Fall Marathon, at Marathon Recorders in Nashville, during last month's Americana Fest. He is solo here, and it is a thing of beauty, “Nobody Luvs Me.”

-Jessie Scott

Lera Lynn "Fire & Undertow"

I have fantasies of the world being all right. I wish for world peace and prosperity, to be done with the white water rapids of turmoil that we are in now. It is so hard to think about how many people have lost their jobs, never to work at the same level, or pay grade again. To look at the rust belt and know it is shedding population as the townspeople move on to find a better life. Not even qualitatively better, but just something self-sustaining a job, benefits, a bit of security. Money to pay the bills, and a place to rest one’s head. It is unsettling looking at the future what with the erosion in our society. It is easy to be mystified by all this, to ponder what has happened, and to wonder what comes next. Music is a microcosm of it too. Back in the day, artists could reach out and touch the stars, become household names and live happily ever after. Well sort of. But things are different in today’s hard scrabble world.

The indie spirit is born of this, of trying to make sense out of this environment. In March, Houston Native Lera Lynn released her debut CD, Have You Met Lera Lynn? She is already well-known in Athens, GA where she now lives, for her stint as part of the group, Birds & Wire. She says,

“Like many songwriters, most of my songs come from turbulence in my life, be it with a lover or with family or with myself as an artist, or my job. This record is about my rebelliousness in love, hard-headedness, distrust. It’s also about being confused about where I’m going and not always getting what I want out of my creative self.” 

Confusion can lead to clarity, beauty too. Lera came to us during Americana Fest at Marathon Recorders. She brought Ben Lewis on guitar, Bain Mattox on bass, and C.K. Koch on drums. We were bewitched.

-Jessie Scott

Smoke Signals "Black Holes"

Another day, and another band to turn you on to. They are called Smoke Signals. Now I just want to say that with domain usage, it is getting harder all the time to even research a band name like this, because it is so easy to get waylaid by the common usages. In this case, the rabbit hole is the use of smoke signals through the ages; from the Great Wall Of China, to the Aboriginals and Native Americans, to the Vatican using smoke to alert the masses to the selection of the new Pope. It is all on the WIKI. Seriously, though, it’s like movies having to say the title and tag it with the word ‘movie’ for the dot com. I am finding more bands these days with names that include “music” or “band.” And don’t even get me started on the global nature of all of this. I predict more absurdist names of bands, because it is getting harder to clear band names all the time these days.

That said, I love the name Smoke Signals. Coley O’Toole and Joe Ballaro formed their first band when they were in the 7th grade in Shelton, Connecticut. Then Coley met Zac Clark over a decade later, when Zac moved into a house on the banks of the Housatonic River. The three toured as The Queen Killing Kings. In early 2011, they headed out to Silverlake, California where Simon Katz  from Youngblood Hawke and Christian Letts from Edward Sharpe welcomed them at the Effie House- a home equipped with recording consoles, a Steinway baby grand, two dozen guitars, a Hammond organ, and a ghost. Woot! Smoke Signals brought more than 30 songs. Over nine days, they recorded one song each day, live in the living room, for the band’s  self-titled debut which came out in August.  The song “Black Holes” features Rocco Deluca, who also appears in the video. Urgent, gospel infused, with an overlay of the monastery choir chain gang. Note the Papal art on the wall.

-Jessie Scott