Kurt Vile has left behind the ‘galloping tempo’ of his former group War On Drugs. Here, his reverbed, moody voice and banjo (his 1st instrument) take “Come Again” from sounding like it’s of the Mother Maybelle Carter catalog to “Oh, that’s Kurt Vile” territory.
Southern Culture On The Skids release Bootlegger’s Choice featuring 16 new recordings of the most requested songs from their out-of-print major label releases.
Carl Broemel, the classically trained guitar player, holds down the lead-guitar spot in My Morning Jacket and has three solo albums under his belt. He and has just released his fourth, Wished Out.
Loretta Lynn has just released her 41st album: Wouldn’t It Be Great. The album features songs written by Lynn over the years which she has decided to re-work for a more contemporary feel.
The most obvious observation about The War On Drugs is they sound like old Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan. However, lead singer and founding member Adam Granduciel would rather have you focus on their progression as a band. Formed in Philadelphia in 2005 with fellow artist Kurt Vile, The War On Drugs put out their first album, Wagonwheel Blues, in 2008. After a few lineup changes, they released their most recent album, Lost in the Dream, in 2014. Despite its name, The War on Drugs, in fact, does not have a war on drugs.
Of all the musical instruments iconic to American music, the paramount would be the guitar. Although blues music originally came in the form of African spirituals and hymnals, it was changed forever when it met it’s six stringed soul mate. Rock n’ roll, arguably the most American genre there is, was built around the glistening tones of the 1957 Gibson ES-350 T. For Kurt Vile, Pennsylvania born indie rocker, the guitar is both the means and the end.
