Monday, March 31: We’ll close out our March features on Beck and of Montreal and hear from our April featured acts Little Feat and Drive-By Truckers with a sampling from Little Feat’s 1973 release Dixie Chicken and Southern Rock Opera, the 2001 album from Drive-By Truckers. The record, true to its title, examines life in the south through the prism of legendary southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. The album, which was financed by friends, fans, and family became the Georgia-based group’s breakthrough record and is considered by many one of the best Americana albums of the last decade.
Tuesday, April 1: The Jones Family Singers, consisting in part of five sisters, two brothers and their father, have been tearing up churches and festivals alike for over two decades. But they’ve never before made a studio album that displays the depth of their pure musical gifts quite like The Spirit Speaks. We’ll hear selections from that album on this evening’s Strange Currency as well as music from Education, Education, Education and War, the highly anticipated release from the Kaiser Chiefs. This record has been called “Anthemic and immediately catchy.” by The Onion’s A.V. Club.
Wednesday, April 2: We’ll hear selections from Unplug, the upcoming live release by the Minneapolis, MN collective Cloud Cult. Formed in 1995 the band has long been engaged in “Green” activities, including using recycled materials in the manufacture of merchandise items and use of alternative energy sources. Ecological themes find their way into the group’s music, though Cloud Cult’s breakthrough moment came with 2002’s They Live On The Sun, main songwriter Craig Minowa’s meditation on the loss of his two-year-old sun. The band relies on its back catalogue for this new live recording, although the versions that appear on the album stand in stark contrast to the versions on past albums.
Plus music from Homo Erraticus (wandering man), the upcoming album by Ian Anderson. Anderson is perhaps best known as the frontman for British progressive rock band Jethro Tull. The new album explores issues of human evolution and identity and is very much in the spirit of Jethro Tull with tongue-in-cheek humor and biting social commentary.
Thursday, April 3: We’ll hear selections from Zonian Girls…And The Echoes That Surround Us All, the latest release by King of Prussia. The album is concept piece about the light and dark experiences of the human psyche. Plus music from acclaimed singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell’s new release, Tarpaper Sky, which is his follow up to his 2013 collaboration with longtime friend Emmylou Harris, the Grammy-winning Old Yellow Moon.
Friday, April 4: It’s our New Month, New Music feature with selections from Rodrigo y Gabriela, Old 97’s, The Hold Steady, Tokyo Police Club, and others.
Saturday, April 5: Looking Into You: A Tribute To Jackson Browne offers a diverse look at the California-based singer-songwriter’s 40-plus-year recording career with artists such as Lyle Lovett, Keb Mo, Bonnie Raitt, and Lucinda Williams offering their takes on classics such as “The Pretender,” “Rosie,” and “Rock Me On The Water.” We’ll hear from that release as well as from A Dotted Line, the first album in nine years from the acclaimed bluegrass trio Nickel Creek.
