past articles

29 June 07

Willy Mason: That Faraway Contentment Sure Looks Good On Paper

Free Daytrotter Session Songs (Don’t miss this page!) We love the art that is created by the have-nots. We’re lucky that the list is so long, though that’s a double-edged statement that shouldn’t be (thank you music thievery). Willy Mason, the Martha’s Vineyard wonderboy who was befriended by Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst as a teenager and given a floor to squat on for a period of time by the same, is one of those have-nots, still worrying about making ends meet and living a life to its fullest. He, like the famous Hermann Hesse character Siddhartha, is on an epic journey to find himself, not feeling any need to careen into the answer. The dawning will come, give it fucking time, he says. Life is captious and garrulous. It’s a mindbender, plain and simple and smartly, Mason is of the stripe that peels back the covers, asks a lot of whys – of himself and of the great conundrum. He’s flannel wearing and red wine drinking. He’s of the earth, the dust and is of the sipping straight from the bottle set. He is young enough to be carefree, but is such an old soul that his heart may be a grandfather clock, ticking majestically inside the bone and flesh.more...

28 June 07

The Lovely Sparrows: A Convincing Argument That There Is Real Magic Out There

Free Daytrotter Session Songs (Don’t miss this page!) There’s a picture involved with the music of The Lovely Sparrows — a framed photograph with wooden borders of rich, brown design. It’s in high-definition. Look at it headlong and you’ll swear to the heavens that diving straight into its center is entirely possible. The paint of the tanning or greening leaves depicted, depending upon the season in question at the time of the composition, will splash over the patterned wood frame and onto the wall beside and the carpeting below. With binoculars, one can see through the painting and into a house five blocks over. The picture and the way it’s viewed are contingent on the way you – the listener – behave in moving vehicles on lengthy trips, we’ll say of more than five hours at a time. Do you look outside at the screaming scenery? Do you stop to think about all of the action, all of the life that doesn’t miss you a stitch when you’re not near? Do you think of the towns that get buzzed by four lanes of traffic as beehives that stand alone – with their one convenience store and municipal park with a ball field that acts as the social epicenter for four months out of the year, where children run around happily cleaving into wrappers filled with candies and then begging their parents for four more quarters to do it again?more...

27 June 07

Sondre Lerche: A Formidable Songwriter To Turn The Bevies Aspen

Free Daytrotter Session Songs (Don’t miss this page!) Sondre Lerche is one of those extremely rare artists whose work is accessible by the multitudes without containing any of the nasty preservatives or aftertastes that much of what passes for pop music or has the determination to do so does. It breathes on your neck these sticky words, in close and swishing some of your hairs around, but you choose not to back away, not even the slightest bit repulsed by it being in your kitchen, your grill and your wheelhouse. Lerche, with twinkles in his eyes and sparkly charm in his faint-to-spanning smile, is not a one size fits all sort of guy, though through the miracle of his likeability and the intelligent (not clichéd) wisdom he imparts with his words, he’s stretchy and capable of being winsome all over there place, over expensive wine or cheap beer.more...

26 June 07

June 11, 2006: Sunset Rubdown

Free Daytrotter Session Songsmore...