Just a few years removed from high school, Joel Parks, Lucas Gillette and Tremaine Wade — the guys behind Oklahoma alternative trio Ripple Green — have already devoted ten years of time into what started as a childhood diversion, now turned a full-fledged obsession. “It was a youthful drive to start playing music,” guitarist Parks […]
Joshua Boydston
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Skin-deep
As John Lennon so perfectly put it, life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. Oklahoma singer-songwriter Sherree Chamberlain knows this all too well. Back in late 2011, she successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund what would be her second full-length album, released in the first half of 2012. Two […]
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Green Corn Revival — Bound for Glory
It has all shaken out as it should have, though, and the current lineup — led by husband and wife Jared and Jacy Deck — has created the band’s best work to date. Bound for Glory is an undeniably Southern-sounding record, laying tracks across dusty plain romances (“Pyre in the Blood”), swampy pop ballads (“Hall […]
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Bitchin’
“Bitch” might have started out as a negative term, but the women (and man) behind Norman punk act John Wayne’s Bitches are hell-bent on making it a positive one. “Women are called bitches all the time because they don’t do what society wants them to do,” guitarist Katie Hawkins said. “If a girl has an […]
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New hue
Photo: Zayra Alvarez Justin Furstenfeld — frontman for alternative rock band Blue October — has lived in the darkness long enough that his eyes have adjusted. Even the bright spots, like the platinum-selling Foiled, sold-out tours and performances on late-night talk shows were channeled from the torment of his most hopeless moments. But with this […]
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Colourmusic — A Very Special Colourmusic Christmas: Vol. 1
The band calls A Very Special Colourmusic Christmas: Vol. 1 “the indie reponse to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s ‘Wizards in Winter.’” And while that’s most certainly an apt description, it feels even more like the soundtrack to a lost How The Grinch Stole Christmas! sequel — a whimsical, colorful collection of songs whose quirks are only matched […]
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Christmas in November
Naturally, a Black Friday Record Store Day spun off in 2010, standing in direct opposition to the chaotic scenes at big box stores, and this third installment offers dozens of sought-after titles from artists of all sorts. Here’s a roundup of some of the most notable releases: Modern darlings Many of the biggest bands of […]
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Batteries plus
If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. That’s the belief punk rock band Alkaline Trio has held steadfast in since forming in the mid-1990s, and nearly two decades later, it’s one that has paid dividends. While most of the outfit’s contemporaries have long since burnt out, Alkaline Trio is playing to the same devout fans […]
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Hear him roar
Photo: Cary Anne Tyson Meade has shied away from the spotlight for some time. It has been over a decade since his beloved alternative outfit Chainsaw Kittens went on hiatus, and Meade has mostly been living in Shanghai since, devoting his time to teaching English, guiding children and mentoring young musicians, with only the occasional […]
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Green with envy
It has been a long, winding road for country singer Pat Green, which might explain his recent departure off the beaten path. Green got his start playing in the honky-tonks across the Lone Star State while a student at Texas Tech University, eventually receiving the attention of Willie Nelson and, soon after, the figureheads of […]