Shane Sweeney - The Finding Time

Those in the know may recognize the Shane Sweeney name from his role as the bassist and co-leader of Columbus, OH roots rock powerhouse Two Cow Garage. who released their excellent fifth record Speaking In Cursive in the last year or three.


The Finding Time is Sweeney's solo debut.  I picked it up a while ago, but Shane's recent Two Cow stuff hasn't been totally up my alley and I had put off giving it a virtual spin until recently. Shane and his lady had their first child recently and I figured this was going to be heavy on the wide-eyed new father tip. Well, once again it seems like this asshole's face is red, as The Finding Time is a great record.

The lion's share of The Finding Time is solo and acoustic, with only the odd backing vocal for the most part. The vibe is Steve Earle meets Mike Cooley and heavy with the populist sentiment. It's almost folky in that way, normally a death sentence at JS-NYC, but The Finding Time songs are solid enough to carry the sentiment. The talking blues of Promised Land Blues might be accused of a misstep, as could the cover of Big Star covering Loudon Wainwright, but for the most part the eleven tracks here come highly recommended.

Get The Finding Time in virtual or actual form here from your friends at Last Chance Records.

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Glossary at PopMatters

All:

Those interested in my short take on the absolutely stellar new record from Glossary would do well to avail themselves of this link.

Thanks to Last Chance Records and Sarah at PopMatters.

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Austin Lucas - A New Home In The Old World

Austin Lucas has been a perennial at JS-NYC since he first came on the radar by way of his stellar 2009 release Somebody Loves You. Ceaseless touring has taken place since then, with a singles collection, a live record and some tour demos in its wake. Now, on the heels of the first single Austin flowed our way, we have the release of A New Home In The Old World, courtesy of your new best friends at Last Chance Records.

While some of the songs have more fleshed out arrangements ala first single Thunder Rail and The Grain with its rocked-up guitars, but long time fans can rest assured that there is still a healthy acoustic bluegrass influence. There are also healthy doses of female vocals in evidence, assumably from sister Chloe Manor.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Austin Lucas has a distinct voice, one that deserves much more notice than he is receiving currently. With songs as good as the ones on A New Home In The Old World, getting notice shouldn't be too much of an issue. Sleep Well and Feast look to be high points of future live shows and lucky for us, Austin is perpetually on tour. This spring will be on a higher than usual profile when he plays the Willie Nelson Country Throwdown Tour in May, part of a mostly-decent lineup that features Jamey Johnson. Click here for the tour dates and get A New Home In The Old World here for Last Chance in all the popular formats.

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Austin Lucas - Live at The White Water Tavern

Along with Superchunk and Jon Snodgrass, Austin Lucas is one of the JS-NYC perennial elite. I'd talk about Austin every day if it wouldn't come off a little stalkerish. Luckily, the bumper crop of new Austin Lucas material for your earholes has warranted the regular coverage.

You may remember Austin has a new record called A New Home In The Old World coming out soon, courtesy of Little Rock label Last Chance Records. In investigating, I found that Last Chance also had this little chestnut available for a pittance. Three guesses as to how we feel about it around here.

Well, you guessed it: Live At White Water Tavern is pretty damn good. Austin is in typically fine voice, backed by a drummerless duo on various things strung and resonator. Nine songs in total, including Sleep Well from the new record (and tour demo). It's out in hard copy form on 3/15, but you can snag a digital version now here.

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Austin Lucas preorder

Kids:

It's a pleasure to report that there is now a pre-order available for the new Austin Lucas record A New Home In The Old World. It's out on April 4th via your friends at Last Chance Records. Pre-order it and get it digitally on release day while you're waiting. There's a new single over there, as well as a live record I'm excited to hear, so why not step lively over to the Last Chance web presence and get yourself a big piece of A New Home In The Old World. Here's a link.

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New Austin Lucas single!

It may be freezing-ass cold in Gotham, but one can take small consolation in the fact that Spring isn't so far off. Another glimmer of hope is the impending new Austin Lucas record coming via Last Chance Records. Austin reached out and wanted to let the JS-NYC massive (i.e. David) that he was releasing a new single from A New Home In The Old World. It's called Thunder Rail and you should march your ass over to your favorite digital retailer and get it pronto. It's a little more of a big rock sound, with some harmonized Thin Lizzy-ness in the guitars that makes me smile whenever I hear it. Keep an eye out for Austin at SXSW with the Drag The River dudes and dates out East once A New Home In The Old World drops.

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