New Slang

Send us Fan Mail Episode 127 is with Ace Crayton, the lead vocalist and chief lyricist of the Ft. Worth country-rock outfit Thieving Birds. TB has long been one of my favorite bands within the Texas circuit. They've really embraced these strong core elements of rocking rhythms, sharp electric guitar, and soaring choruses. Very much the perfect kind of rock band you'd love to see in your...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 126, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Ashley Campbell. This Friday (Oct 09), she's releasing Something Lovely , the gorgeous and dreamy follow-up to her 2018 full-length debut, The Lonely One . Campbell's charming brand of lyricism and storytelling really takes the lead on the 11-track Something Lovely . The intimate ballads "Good to Let Go" and...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 125, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Caitlin Canty. Canty just released the Woody Guthrie-influenced song "Where is the Heart of My Country" earlier this week ( Listen here ). She was largely inspired on a flight from California back to her Nashville home and seeing the US from high above. Much like her excellent 2018 album, Motel Bouquet , Canty's s...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 124, I'm joined by Kyle Henderson, the lead vocalist and chief lyricist for Desert Noises. The Nashville by way of Provo, Utah trio released the excellent album Everything Always a little more than a month ago. The album, the band's first since 2014's 27 Ways , sees them working with Bill Reynolds (formally of Band of Horses) at the producing helm. Reynol...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 123 of New Slang, I'm joined by up-and-coming pop country singer-songwriter Kären McCormick. McCormick is releasing her debut EP, a five-song collection of tunes called Retro . McCormick very much is one of these new, bright voices in pop country who are directly influenced and inspired by the rise of Taylor Swift in the mid-2000s and the '90s country her moth...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 122, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Mike McClure. The Oklahoma legend is releasing Looking Up , his first album in five years, this Friday, September 25. It finds the storied storyteller in a really great mindset and place. Over the course of the 10-tracks, McClure is instrospective and reflective. In many respects, these past few years, McClure has been a been of...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 121, I'm joined by Tony Kamel of Austin band Wood & Wire. The bluegrass Americana outfit just released their fourth studio full-length, the excellent No Matter Where It Goes from Here , a few weeks back. Working out of The Zone out in Dripping Springs, Texas with co-producer/engineer Pat Manske, the quartet has been able to stretch their legs. Mainly by having...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of New Slang, I’m joined by singer-songwriter Brennen Leigh. At the end of this week (Friday, September 18), Leigh released Prairie Love Letter , a worthy ode to her roots and childhood home, the rural open plains of Western Minnesota and Eastern North Dakota. Part Will Cather and part Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska , Prairie Love Letter has an earnest pioneerin...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 119, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Jaime Wyatt, who released her excellent full-length album, Neon Cross , this past May. So much of Neon Cross is shaped by Wyatt's time living out in Los Angeles and coming to terms with addiction, relapse, & eventually, her current sobriety. There most certainly is heartache, grief, and self-loathing throughout Neon Cro...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 118, I am joined by singer-songwriter Waylon Payne. At the end of this week (Friday, September 11), Payne will be releasing Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher and Me , the long-awaited follow-up to his 2004 debut album, The Drifter . This new album is quite the opus for Payne as he details the struggles, pain, heartache, relapse, growth, beauty, and strength o...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 117, I catch up with country singer-songwriter Tennessee Jet to talk about his excellent new album, The Country , due out Friday, September 04. As the title suggests, it's a sprawling ode to American music with road-weary ramblers, lonesome highway ballads, and rewarding pit stops on the superhighway we call American Country music. The Oklahoma songwriter is no str...

Send us Fan Mail I'm joined by singer-songwriter Karen Jonas for Episode 116. Jonas just recently released The Southwest Sky and Other Dreams this past Friday (August 28). As the title alludes, 10 songs of The Southwest Sky are character-driven vignettes largely inspired by the vast landscapes, small Interstate towns, and hardened individuals who claim the land as their home. Songs such as &q...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 115, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Justin Wells, who is releasing The United State this Friday, August 28. Wells leads us through various watershed snapshot moments during life that we all experience and share. During these innate moments, Wells explores the multitude of emotions that often come hand in hand with them. He balances the carefully orchestrated detai...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 114 of New Slang, I'm joined by country singer-songwriter Zephaniah OHora. The country crooning OHora is releasing Listening To The Music , his stellar follow-up to 2017 standout This Highway, this coming Friday, August 28. With the late great Neal Casal (The Cardinals, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Hard Working Americans) at the producing helm, OHora, Casal, and com...

Send us Fan Mail Episode 113 is with Canadian singer-songwriter Colter Wall. Wall will release his third full-length album, Western Swing & Waltzes and Other Punchy Songs , this coming August 28. The 10-track self-produced effort finds Wall delivering a strong and sturdy ode to Western culture & rural ranch life of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Wall's Western Swing & Waltzes is...

Send us Fan Mail We kick off the week with Episode 111 where I'm joined by singer-songwriter Ashley Ray. Ray is releasing Pauline , a tightknit 10-song collection of vignette-styled memories, warm introspection, and dynamic charmers about small-town life, nostalgia, memories, and family roots, on Friday, August 14. Much of Pauline 's strengths stem from Ray's ability to draw from ch...

Send us Fan Mail New Slang kicks off the week with Episode 112 where I'm by singer-songwriter Jesse Dayton. Dayton right off the heels of releasing Gulf Coast Sessions , an East Texas Rust meets Louisiana Bayou porch-picking party. Dayton presses pause during The Pandemic for some good, honest fun and gives us a second away from the doldrums of 2020. It's the perfect blend of Gulf Coast...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 110, I am joined by Texas singer-songwriter Jonathan Terrell. Terrell's upcoming album, the American West-influenced Westward (out August 21) dominates the conversation as Terrell and I discuss at length the writing, inspiration, recording, etc of the excellent album. Terrell blends a richness of soft hues and delicate, vibrant pastels of the desert floor and setti...

Send us Fan Mail Singer-songwriter Ian Munsick joins me for Episode 109. I talk with the Wyoming native Munsick about his rich blend of Western & Frontier grit and clever & charming pop sense, splitting time between Wyoming & Nashville, navigating the co-writing world of country music, how he collects his songwriting ideas, coming from a family of musicians & songwriters, and what...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 108, I am joined by Bobby Duncan and Donovan Dodd, co-hosts (and co-writers) of the music podcast, The Co-Write, for a two-part episode series. During this "home and away," Duncan, Dodd, and I talk about the general Texas music scene, the progress, growth, and shifts within the scene, being an artist and journalist in 2020, stories about Pat Green, Randy Roger...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 107, I am joined by Kentucky singer-songwriter Brit Taylor. Taylor released the wistful, melancholy single "Waking Up Ain't Easy" in the early summer. With its traditional country roots with weeping pedal steel and Taylor's own restless vocals and lyrics, she captures a desolate and endless lonesomeness of post-breakup life. During this interview, we...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 106, I am joined by singer-songwriter Garrett T. Capps. Capps, who released the (inter)stellar Space Country record All Right, All Night, embraces the sonic tones and textures of yesterday and tomorrow throughout his rich and diverse catalog. At times, he turns back the pages of Tex-Mex, honky-tonk, and the sweltering heat of South Texas. Other times, he ventures off in...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 105, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Jenny Tolman. Tolman released her debut full-length album, the excellent and charming There Goes The Neighborhood just about a year ago. During this interview, we discuss the creation of Jennyville--the fictional picturesque town that's the focal point of Neighborhood --how and why she drifted towards this concept, growing...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 104, I'm joined by Canadian singer-songwriter Kalsey Kulyk. Kulyk released her impressive seven-song Kalsey Kulyk last August. Kulyk pulls from '90s Country icons like Shania Twain as well as Americana staples such as Patty Griffin to form an informative and highly emotional blend of pop smart country songs. Kulyk's crystalline vocals are versatile and st...

Send us Fan Mail On Episode 103, I'm joined by Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain. Crain is releasing A Small Death, her forthcoming album, Friday, July 17. Over the course of 11 tracks, Crain leads us on through a deeply personal collection of songs where she cries, mourns, confronts, perseveres, and presses on. For Crain, the last handful of years have been filled with setbacks and a...