Exit Ghost is a collaborative vehicle structured around the songwriting of Evan Holmes. The group’s debut Pony Soldier EP (2010) explores a vital reverence for the imagery and culture of the American West, with fiddle and harmonies provided by tireless multi-instrumentalist Rachel Kahn. Hailed by Performer Magazine…

Conceived in early 2010 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Wheeler and drummer Jake Leger, the band’s music incorporates many elements, most notably the harmonized guitar lines of Thin Lizzy, the bombast of Mountain, and the rhythmic propulsion of Diamond Head, Motorhead, and other bands whose names include the word “head”. Christened Carousel by drummer Jake…

The Breton Sound began in earnest with Jonathan Pretus and longtime friend and collaborator, Stephen Turner (lead guitar). This fruitful early period produced an ambitious E.P., Eudaemonia, one that covered a wide range of influences, combining Pretus’s Beatlesesque pop sensibility with Turner’s Rush-infused guitar work…

It’s often remarked that we are all products of our environment. So when 3 piece One Mile An Hour began to piece together their debut album, they were only ever going to achieve the result they wanted by constructing their own studio. A space built at the top of a house, overlooking the sea on the south coast of England…

It’s no secret that roots-focused Americana music has come back onto the scene with an acute ferocity. But while others are mining the past for inspiration, trying to connect modern times with those of a slower, rustic and community-based livelihood, Duquette Johnston emerges with this balance already infused in his being and his music…

“World Party is a British pop/alternative rock band which is the vehicle for the songwriter Karl Wallinger. After a stint as musical director of a West End performance of The Rocky Horror Show, Wallinger joined a funk band called Out, before joining Mike Scott’s Waterboys in 1984 to record the album A Pagan Place. After 1985’s This Is the Sea, Wallinger departed to form World Party.”…

“Lightning Love is an Ann Arbor, Michigan-area outfit with band members Leah Diehl, Aaron Diehl and Ben Collins. Their twee-pop songs in the vein of Glo-Worm or other 7”-friendly groups from the early 1990s. A bit of woe, a bit of sweet, some keys and some drinks.”…

“Four kids from Blawnox, PA. They formed in 2012 after watching the horseradish potato chip episode of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone… and spontaneously started to create original music inspired by 50’s frat rock; 60’s psych and 70’s punk. The band immediately started cranking out the steam rollin’ high voltage transmission rock n’ roll that Blawnox is known for and melting the brains of unsuspecting hipsters everywhere!”….

“Since 2009, The Grisly Hand has been winning over audiences and critics in Kansas City. And now, with its second EP on the shelves, the band has a little more experience, and a lot more momentum. Though rooted in the Midwest, this is the kind of act that’s bound to resonate anywhere it lands. Call it country, rock, Americana, or any other moniker. What’s important is that it’s real and it sounds great. The Grisly Hand conjures visions of the familiar while remaining refreshing and original. Their appeal isn’t limited to the Midwest, but it’s undeniably part of their identity. With their latest EP, Western Ave, The Grisly Hand has shown that their unique style is a work in progress. Their sound evolves and takes on new traits, but it maintains the same backbone that has won the band fans and accolades for the last three years.”…

“Silent Party are a new band from London consisting of singer Mike Goward, guitatist Chris Douch, bassist Dan Blatchford and drummer Luke Graham. Since forming the band have been busy writing and recording, honing their signature sound that combines sonic intensity with classic pop sensibility. Jealousy, bitterness and paranoia pervade the itchy and schizophrenic ‘Taxidermist’.”…

“We Are Temporary, the wired and weird brainchild of Brooklyn’s Mark Roberts, is as much the result of a musical obsession as a philosophical one. His debut EP Afterthoughts oscillates between musical violence and frailty, lyrical defensiveness and vitriol, bursts of optimism and crushing nihilism. First conceived in a small studio in New Zealand, this recording was shaped over the course of five tumultuous years, and nearly met it’s end in a Brooklyn emergency room.”…

Drawing upon the influences of sultry singer-songwriters such as Jim Croce and Ray Lamontagne, Kevin Presbrey’s latest creation Dust Unto Dust is a marriage of the catchy hook and the rootsy americana track you might hear on a early 1970s record…

Thanks to everyone who entered last week and we continue today with the giveaways courtesy of the always awesome folks at Drusky Entertainment…

“The Soil & The Sun is corn-fed, Michigan-made, New Mexican Space Music, or Experiential Spiritual Orchestral Rock. Originating in 2008 as a two-piece band, the group has grown and matured into a seven-piece community of friends and musicians. Oboe, violin, guitars, accordion, percussion, piano, keys and vocals, cooperate to create complex harmonies, layered melodies, and driving rhythms. The careful orchestration and intentional instrumentation will speak to your soul.”…

Check out the band at Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp. The band just dropped it’s debut recording, “Well“, last week. I want to thank Max Sommerville (Piano/Vocals), Nathan Zoob (Guitar/Backing Vocals), Dave Busch (Bass/Backing Vocals) and Derek Krystek (Drums/Backing Vocals) for taking a few to participate in this edition of First/Last…

“Familiarizing oneself to The Kickback may seem like an exercise in confronting consistent sets of seemingly opposing ideas: A band that prides itself on its love of Muppet Christmas specials and youthful naiveté but has no problem admitting to a paralyzing fear of death and decline. The group seems to strive for brutal honesty, all-the-while realizing they’re a pop band playing pop music. Even the membership of the group itself may seem odd: one-half brothers from South Dakota, one-half Chicago transplants from Washington D.C. and Mexico.”…

“There are few artists that can truly encapsulate the essence and true range of Americana like Muscle Shoals artist Hannah Aldridge, whose musical pedigree precedes her and speaks for itself.Hannah Aldridge is the daughter of Alabama Music Hall of Famer Walt Aldridge, who is one of the most prolific songwriters of the modern musical era. Twice named by Billboard
magazine as one of the Top Country Songwriters of the year, ASCAP Songwriter of the Year, and countless Number One and Top Ten hits recorded by the likes of Lou Reed, Reba McEntire, Travis Tritt, Earl Thomas Conley, Ricky Van Shelton, Ronnie Milsap, and Conway Twitty. Hannah has toured all across the United States and Europe gaining a grassroots movement of fans that wait in silent adoration of the return of their Americana Heir Apparent Princess of Muscle Shoals.”..