Saturday 18 May
 
 

Various artists — Never Give Up: Celebrating 10 Years of The Postal Service

Few indie bands have had the impact on current music that The Postal Service has. Even fewer have done so with only one album.
05/15/2013 | Comments 0

Big Worm — Bench All-Stars

Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!

The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Eureeka — Polysynthetic Fields

It’s always refreshing to hear music that embraces its own eccentricity, yet presents it in an accessible and meek fashion. Eureeka — the Norman-based duo of Jordan Vargas and Devin Wahl — has tapped into this rarified air on its self-released EP, Polysynthetic Fields.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Tom Skinner — Tom Skinner

Sincerity is nearly dead in songwriting. The image of the earnest singer with eyes tightly shut and a crack in his voice as he plunges to emotional depths has become a joke.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0
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Music

Black Canyon


Looking for some locally grown alt-country?

Matt Carney August 3rd, 2011  

The subject of budding Okie videographer Nathan Poppe’s debut documentary, the foot-stomping Enid alt-country dudes in Black Canyon released their debut record “Battlefield Darlins” on Bandcamp.com last month, and — happy surprise! — they recruited Sherree Chamberlain to guest as the gal in this musical romance.

Chamberlain appears on three of the seven tracks which combine to tell a Civil War coming-of-age and love story written by Black Canyon front man Jake Morisse.

Rich with his guttural twang, elegiac piano arrangements and former Mayola singer Riley Jantzen’s gazillion different instrumental contributions, “Battlefield Darlins” is one of the strongest country-rock offerings this state’s seen in a while, fraught with bloody war drama, plaintive rural imagery and plenty of lyrics about moonshine and dancing. Just wait ’til Jantzen’s trumpet fills the air with sorrow on “Letters of Blood, Banjos of Hope” — you’ll get the chills.

And there just isn’t enough praise for Chamberlain’s work on this album.

Somewhere between doleful and stoic, she sings the heart of a woman fearful and hopeful for her beau’s safe return from war into her arms.

Mark your calendar for the disc’s official release show on Aug. 19 at VZD’s.

Choctaw folker Ryan Lawson and Blue Valley Farmer are billed to open. —Matt Carney

 
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