Tag Archives: Country and Western music

country, Pop

Artist Showcase with Maja Francis

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Maja Francis is that rare beast of an artist, a unicorn amongst those special beings called musicians.

‘This Womans Work’ by Maja Francis

The life of a pop star beckoned with the release of Cry Baby Pt 1 and Pt 2 but this life wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. So as quickly as Maja’s star rose in the incandescent world of pop Maja withdrew from it all under a cloud of depression and panic attacks. From the ashes Maja poured everything into her diary, her constant companion through those dark times, her confidante and saviour.

We also talk about what it means to be an artist in this day and age and what it means for your mental health to have all this celebrity status thrust upon you, the on and off stage persona and what it means to live your life where everything is scrutinised in the court of social media.

‘Anxious Angel‘ by Maja Francis

Maja’s new album ‘A Pink Soft Mess‘ is the product of those days and diary entries brought to life. It’s an extraordinary expression of Maja’s inner life, a passport if you will to her life dreams hopes and desires. The album featured an amazing collaboration with mega superstar sisters Johanna Söderberg @jksoderberg and Klara Söderberg @klaramsoderberg from First Aid Band @firstaidkitband on the single ‘Mama’.

In the podcast CloudwatcherUno sits down with Maja Francis @wherearetheunicorns a truly special singer songwriter from Sweden. We talk about guilty pleasures such as True Crime TV, growing up with Cartoon Network, the joy of reading and the legend that will forever be Kate Bush. Her 2020 cover of @katebushmusic ‘This Womans Work‘ has over 2 million streams on @spotify

Photos by Emelie Erikkson and Milkdrop

Then there’s her track ‘Kids in Love‘ with over 7 million streams on Spotify alone and was featured on the Netflix @netflix show ‘Anarchy‘. Maja is a special soul who’s come to make your world shine. Make sure you follow her on a journey that will take you into different worlds far apart from this pedestrian universe.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Elles Bailey. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts

americana, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 7 ~ Gary Hector

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Photo: Abilgail Hadeed

Gary Hector should be on your music radar. He’s up for consideration for first round GRAMMY voting for his ‘National Trash‘ album under the category of Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Performance for his single ‘Today I Ride Alone‘. It’s an album that forges it’s own path between the worlds of Americana, country and western and calypso music.

‘Today I Ride Alone‘ by Gary Hector

The album was crowdfunded by Gary through support from the internet and worked with Martin ‘Mice ‘ Raymond in Trinidad then off to Kansas to producer Sean Bartholomew a long time friend and someone Gary trusts with his music . For that unmissable pedal steel sound Gary was introduced to John Heinrich with truly stunning vocals from Nikki Nelson.

‘Baby, This One’s For You‘ by Gary Hector

The end result is a truly unique album that showcases the best of Gary’s song writing and love for the underground rock scene. Gary’s trying something new for a country that music fans associate with reggae rather than bluegrass. Once Gary had written the songs for the album he took a leap of faith and trusted other musicians to bring his vision to life.

In this podcast we chat about how it’s a struggle for independent artists to bring their voices and unique takes on music and make it fresh for audiences. Over the past year Gary found himself listening to Gram Parsons and Emmy Lou Harris and soaked in all the vibes and became inspired to add his voice to the world of country music.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Gary Hector. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

blues, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 EP 6 ~ Elles Bailey

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CloudwatcherUno sits down with Elles Bailey to talk about ‘Cheats and Liars’, from Elles new album ‘Shining in the Half Light‘ due in 2022, her musical career so far from touring and promoting her album ‘Road I Call Home‘ which is where I first saw Elles live in concert. Elles recently won The UK Blues Awards — where she was awarded UK Blues Artist of the Year 2021 for the second year running.

‘Medicine Man‘ by Elles Bailey

‘Medicine Man‘ is one of my favourite songs of Elles but the story behind it acts now as a warning sign about the dark side of the music business. Having invested all her money in travelling to Los Angeles for four meetings with record labels with an American producer it turned out that he was a con artist.

The situation became the inspiration for another song ‘Wild Wild West‘

‘You guaranteed I’d feel a blazing fire
Sold me a dream so I showed you every scar
Planted a seed and I let you take me higher
Now here I am on Sunset Boulevard’

Elles managed to use that negative experience and turn it into some of her most popular songs.

‘Wildfire‘ by Elles Bailey

We talk about the story for the fan favourite song ‘Howlin Wolf‘ which Elles wrote in 2013. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand in tribute to the bluesy delta rock and roll music that was the soundtrack for backpack adventures with her father. The love for this song is so much that there is a facebook page from her fans called the Wolfpack.

‘Howlin Wolf‘ by Elles Bailey

Recently Elles played at the Empress Ballroom at The British Country Music Festival 2021 in Blackpool. The festival promotes the best home-grown, contemporary country and Americana artists from across the UK. This was the highlight of the fledgling return of live music to the British Isles. The experience of reconnecting with a live audience was amazing and showed Elles how much she had missed playing live.

‘Cheats and Liars‘ by Elles Bailey

Elles never set out to be a country artist or a blues artist what she is and wants to be first and foremost is a musician who makes killer music. ‘Cheats and Liars’ when it first came out enjoyed a world exclusive on ‘The Blues Show with Cerys Matthews’, on BBC Radio Two and was added to Planet Rock’s A List and was the most played track on Planet Rock in September 2021. The success of this single has meant the second single ‘Sunset City‘ got pushed back to make way for this huge first single.

Elles is the very first artist to be signed to peermusic (the largest independent music publisher in the world) via Under The Apple Tree (UTAT) (the label co-founded by music and broadcasting legend ‘Whispering’ Bob Harris), spearheading a brand-new, music publishing, joint venture.

  • The Lexington – March 2019
  • Photo: Alan Dunkley
  • Photo: Alex Berger
  • With Elles Bailey at The Lexington – March 2019
  • Photo: Adam Kennedy

Out of all of these achievements one of the closest to Elles heart has been the birth of her baby which has brought her closer to her family and with their support Elles will be able to go back to what she loves doing most in the world which is going back on tour in October and November 2021.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Elles Bailey. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 5 ~ The Ransom Brothers

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Sean and Sal talk about how they came up with the name of ‘The Ransom Brothers‘ . They changed the name from Good Springs to a name inspired from the Jimmy Stewart’s character Ransom Stoddard in the movie The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance. Their new song ‘Talk Of The Town‘ is a very honest roots rock kinda sounding song and needs to be played in your kitchen at the loudest volume you can!

‘Talk of the Town‘ by The Ransom Brothers.

Sean is the main songwriter of the band with input from the rest of the musicians for various verses and riffs. For a change fiddle and peddle steel were added to bring an extra dimension to their sound. Opening up for the ‘The South Austin Moonlighters‘ led to an opportunity to meet producer Chris Beale and then come up with a game plan of choosing 4 songs from 20 tracks and release these to radio stations.

Brothers together in the world of music ~ The Ransom Brothers

Harmoni Kelly did the bass tracks on the records and the band are grateful for what she brought to the mix. Sean and Sal talk about growing up in the North Austin and the country lifestyle of barn dancing, bull riding and the allure of cowboy movies and country music. They explain that ‘Texas Country’ is a stripped down country music rather than the Nashville country pop music. Whiskey Myers, Turnpike Troubadours and Jason Isbell are definite influences on the band.

Sean and Sal have very different approaches to writing song, adding harmonies and making sure they don’t use country music clichés. Their next release will be coming out in November 2021 followed by live recordings of songs recorded at 512 Studios in North Austin. Then booking shows in central Texas with a view to more live performances out of the Lonestar State.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring The Ransom Brothers. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 4 ~ Tony Hannah

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Tony Hannah hails from Northern California via Knoxville Tennessee where she was influenced by rich Appalachian music. You can hear the echoes of that sound within her EP ‘Premonitions‘ . We talk about what it means to be an independent artist and how best to show the world what you as an artist stand for.

One thing that has changed for independent artists is the fan base as they become more aware of what is out there beyond just the mainstream Nashville sound.

‘Premonitions‘ by Tony Hannah
The many faces of Tony Hannah

Two of the best songs from the EP are ‘Setting Sun‘ which is based on memories of California sunsets and the sound of Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Blue Bayou‘ with the unmistakable melody of the marimba . Another favourite is ‘Tacos and Goodwill Clothes‘ The EP was recorded during the lockdown. Four of the songs on the album were written before the pandemic and two of the songs were born during this dystopia these were ‘Small Money‘ and ‘Paradise‘.

Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris were musical staples growing up as this what Tony’s mother listened to in the flower shop she had. On Tony’s playlist is Dolly Parton, Alison Krause and Emily Nenni, Charlie Marie, Sierra Ferrell and Bonnie Raitt.

Going forward Tony wants to explore more of a soul country sound and also to release a Christmas single. That would be the best Christmas present!

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Tony Hannah. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, blues, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 3 ~ Jeremy Pinnell

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Jeremy Pinnell is a honky tonk musician of the highest order. Having released ‘OH/KY‘ in 2015 and then ‘Ties of Blood and Affection‘ in 2017, Jeremy brings out his third album ‘Goodbye LA‘ on October 1st 2021 from Sofaburn Records.

Killer tracks from that first album are ‘Sleep Song‘ and ‘Rodeo‘ from ‘OH/KY‘ which were already around for 15 years. Alternative County/Folk music was where Jeremy started but Country Music is where he is headed. While in Dayton, Kentucky Sofaburn Records and Jeremy came together to make sweet sweet music. Jeremy lived a wild kind of life back in the day and managed to record these experiences for this album. Jeremy is a connoisseur of hooks, he tries to add those big or small into everything he writes.

Photo: Cowtownchad

Between his first and second album Jeremy met a girl, had a son, got a steady job and got married and all this gratitude and contentment in his life is reflected in ‘Ties of Blood and Affection‘.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJvK-K67LQQ
‘Ballad of 1982’ by Jeremy Pinnell

Zackary ‘EZ’ Nelson absolutely nailed it with the artwork for ‘Goodbye LA‘. Jeremy and the band worked hard for the last two years during the pandemic and can’t wait to show all his hard work so that people can hear the album. It’s an album that can make some fans uncomfortable as it progresses Jeremy’s sound in new directions.

The new album was recorded right under the wire in 2020. The time during the pandemic was used to getting the album mastered up to perfection. Jonathan Tyler as a producer was the right decision for Jeremy as he would make the whole experience of recording the songs and the album super exciting.

‘Big Ol Good‘ by Jeremy Pinnell

One of the most extraordinary songs on the new album is ‘Rosalie‘. It’s a story of a bar girl and a bar guy having a whole lotta fun. The album reflects the life of a troubadour whose living his life one song at a time.

Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee are many of the states that Jeremy and the band have been paying at post pandemic. Going foward Jeremy and the boys will be travelling across the states to showcase one helluva album.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Jeremy Pinnell. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, blues, country

CloudwatcherUno Podcast S6 Ep 1 ~ Katie Jo

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Katie Jo kicks off Season 6 of the CloudwatcherUno podcast.

Katie Jo is a phenomenal singer songwriter from Wichita via Los Angeles who follows in the footsteps of her heroes Patsy Cline, Loretta Lyne and Tammy Wynette. Katie brings her own life stories and experiences to her music and her sound.

On the podcast we talk about the joys and highs of caffeine, tasting the joy of expresso in Italy. Writing songs and releasing an album in the pandemic was not something the Katie Jo envisioned that these themes that are woven into her album ‘Pawn Shop Queen’ of infidelity heartache and life-threatening health conditions are ones that true country music lovers will recognise as stables of the genre.

‘I Don’t Know Where Your Heart Is’ by Katie Jo

Country music rewards and celebrates the redemption arc for example the outlaw music movement which focuses on those who have gone to jail or committed a crime. Katie Jo wanted to show that women could also be badasses and have the strength and fortitude of character to pull them selves out of every situation that they find themselves in.

We also talk about the mystical experience of performing live on stage and the intricacies being vertically challenged while performing in front of a live audience.

Katie Jo one badass musician you need to add to your playlist.

The album therefore is a celebration of all things that are best about the human spirit and its will to carry on regardless of what life throws at it. Killer tracks on the album are ‘Pawn Shop Queen’, ‘Bad Religion’ and ‘Are You Coming Home Tonight? I for one thoroughly enjoyed the album and look forward to hearing more from this tremendous musician.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Katie Jo. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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CloudwatcherUno Podcast S5 Ep 10 ~ Tim Prottey Jones

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The 50th Episode of the CloudwatcherUno podcast features Tim Prottey-Jones. What a journey it’s been with truly wonderful artists. To celebrate the occasion one of with one of UK Country’s brightest stars.

So get ready to listen to a truly EPIC podcast where we chat about Tim’s latest single ‘Fire’ and how he started in the music business through to what’s the best way to keep your beard luxurious!

We talk about his Theatre background and being on ITV Superstar and how performing in front of a live audience every day gave Tim the confidence to start as a musician in his own right. There’s also talk about how UK Country is starting to make a name for itself and shouldn’t be seen as an embarrassing cousin to it’s American counterpart.

The impact of Brexit also rears its ugly head and how it’s made it virtually impossible for musicians to tour across Europe. A running theme throughout the podcast is how expensive it is to tour not only abroad but in England as well.

Tim Prottey-Jones one of the brightest stars within UK Country
‘Fire‘ by Tim Prottey-Jones

For the future Tim is looking forward to touring across England with a full band and bringing his music to fans across the country.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Tim Prottey-Jones. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podcast Addict or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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Behind The Song with Dan Whitaker

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Dan Whitakers new album ‘One More Story Told‘ is out on Friday 13th August 2021 and is a collection of new old songs as in all songs rediscovered or reimagined for a new audience. One such song is ‘Please Tell My Baby‘ a song that was written almost 20 years ago. Then Dan was in a band called ‘Great Plain Gypsies‘ and was the principal songwriter and singer for the band at the time. It’s a song about two lovers who part ways without the ease and convenience of today’s modern technology. For one reason or another the lovers can’t be together and this song explores what happens when two souls can’t be together.

‘Behind The Song‘ is available on Friday 13th August 2021 to watch on @youtube and to listen on @applepodcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Dan Whitaker. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

americana, blues, country

Behind The Song with Sean Devine

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From the CloudwatcherUno™ series BEHIND THE SONG is ONE artist, ONE story, ONE song. Expanding the concept of what a podcast can deliver.

In this inaugural first episode we have Sean Devine speak about his inspiration for ‘Here For It All’ and perform this song live from his home in Montana. Sean explains how at one of the lowest points in his life he met another soul who saw beyond the pain and sorrow and was able to see another soul that she wanted to spend her life with.

Getting married on the 4th of July was their ‘Independence Day’ independence away from all the negativity of the world and be able to just focus on the happiness that they brought to each other. Hearing the back story to this song makes it connect even more with those who have been listening to this stunning song.

‘Behind The Song’ is available on Friday 6th August 2021 to watch on @youtube and to listen on @applepodcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Click below to hear the podcast from CloudwatcherUno featuring Sean Divine. Also streaming on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcasts.