A partnership between The Jones Assembly and The Auditorium at The Douglass is set to bring Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy to the former high school auditorium in March. “I’m personally just an enormous Wilco fan, and we’re, of course, always begging for a Wilco show to come to Oklahoma City,” said Graham Colton, a partner at […]
Wilco
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Son also rises
Music just isn’t as political as it used to be, but don’t tell Jay Farrar. The Son Volt front man is a revivalist in many senses, writing songs from a different time and place than most other acts operating at the moment. There’s one figure, in particular, who has had a profound effect on Farrar’s […]
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Wanda Jackson — Unfinished Business
Here she builds on the success of last year’s The Party Ain’t Over, her collaboration with Jack White, but unlike that effort, this album is raw, spare and constructed to showcase the Oklahoma-born-and-bred Jackson’s prodigious gifts. Ample credit goes to Justin Townes Earle, who produced this 10-song collection of blues, country, gospel and soul covers. […]
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Bastards!
Ohio garage rockers Heartless Bastards were a little road-weary after two years touring with Wilco and Wolfmother, and on their own, both here and abroad. They finally wound down to record what would later become Arrow when their producer, Spoon drummer Jim Eno, suggested the band head right back out there. “He recommended we go […]
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Home sweet ’homa
Nora Guthrie believes the spirit of her father, Woody Guthrie, sometimes lets his presence be known. Her proof is in the multiple times electricity has failed or lights have flickered when she’s attending events honoring him. A few years ago, she attended a Bruce Springsteen show in Germany. Just as The Boss was set to […]
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Westerns’ union
It’s been a busy year for Smith Westerns. Luckily, with their respective ages barely reaching into the 20s, they group’s members had plenty of energy to meet all the opportunities that have presented themselves since the release of their critically acclaimed sophomore effort, “Dye It Blonde.” The Chicago-based, indie-rock band has made the most of […]
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Wilco – The Whole Love
The latter eschews much of that melody for a grittier rock and prog sound, and a wider thematic range, lyrically. Linking the two is the band’s universally beloved and critically lauded 2002 opus, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot,” but, save for Jeff Tweedy’s most devout, wide-eyed followers, few find themselves with an equal appreciation for both albums. […]
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Brine Webb, The Nghiems to release CDs at same show
The Norman acts bring folk-inspired indie tunes to the table. Webb’s disc (brinewebb.bandcamp.com) showcases his weary voice; intricate, acoustic-based songwriting; and powerful control of mood over 14 tracks. The emotional center of the album is the excellent trio of the delicate “Rrose Hips,” the slow-building “The Red Queen (and All Her Men)” and the triumphant-through-sadness […]
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Wellfleet — The District
A recently popularized trend in folk is to go to a location with no songs but the intent of writing an album, and The District has taken that approach in crafting its debut. The results of that approach are deeply ingrained in the feel of the album, as the whole things hangs together like a […]
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Jon Hardy and the Public — A Hard Year
I acquired their recent EP, “A Hard Year,” on the strength of this first impression, and it does not disappoint. The four tunes sound like Wilco, The Jayhawks and Bruce Springsteen got thrown in a blender, then went and jammed with the Old 97’s. It’s loud, twang-less country or it’s pensive, evocative rock, depending on […]