Album Spotlight: Vandoliers - The Native

From the first line of the first song, "I was born September 1st, in a little town outside Fort Worth" to the album closer "Weclome Home" the new Vandoliers album The Native is Texas through and through.

If you want to know what Texas music is all about, this album is a crash course. It takes snippets of Red Dirt, Southern Rock, Tejano, mariachi, Rockabilly, Texas swing, honky tonk, country, 80s pop rock, punk and beach/island music to create a diverse 10 song journey. Some of it may be a bit too inside baseball to resonate with everyone, such as the song "Pantego", but hell, if Cairo, IL can get a couple of songs recently, why not Pantego?

The Vandoliers are self aware and The Native never takes itself too seriously. Sure, there is some introspection and some nostalgia, but all in all, it's just fun summer fare with a perfect release date, the Friday before Memorial Day, which kind of indicates the beginning of summer in the United States.

The Native may not be for everyone, and frontman Joshua Fleming's vocals are unique, but they fit perfectly in the context of these songs.  The instrumentation and playing is spot-on throughout the album. This is just a fun album and these guys sound like they'd be great live.

Album Spotlight: Caroline Reese and the Drifting Fifth - Tenderfoot

Photo by Lisa Boehm

Tenderfoot is the fourth release from Pennsylvania native and independent artist Caroline Reese, either as a solo artist or with her band the Drifting Fifth. To be quite honest, I had never heard of her until a week ago. I'm sorry I have missed out.

Ranging from hook-laden pop rock to introspective acoustic singer/songwriter songs, Tenderfoot is a great listen from start to finish. From the atmospheric "Stormchasers" to the stripped down acoustic "Unlocked" to the catchy "Airshow" to the swampiness at the end of "Beast", Reese and her band deliver an interesting journey through and amongst genres that all flows and never seems disjointed.

Fans of pop rock, Americana, and country can all find something to like, but the real winners fans of good music, because Tenderfoot is chock full of good music.

Check out some music:

Natalie Stovall and the Drive

I have heard that country music is the most popular form of music in the United States right now. If that's the case, then by definition, country music is pop music, right?

Natalie Stovall and the Drive are a pretty good pop rock band that you just might hear on mainstream country radio or CMT and GAC.

Stovall fronts the band and plays a pretty mean fiddle. The strength of the Drive is the musicians. With James Bavendam on drums, Zach Morse on bass and guitarists Miguel Cancino and Joel Dormer, The Drive is a jam band of the highest quality. Evidenced by this medley of mostly classic rock songs, Natalie Stovall and the Drive excel in the live setting. And that's a good thing as sales of physical forms of music as well as digital downloads are on the decline, being replaced more and more by streaming.




Stovall and the Drive released a self-titled, six-song EP in late 2013. They are currently working on a full-length record slated to be released sometime this year. A single from that EP was released accompanied by the video for "Baby Come On With It". Country, it ain't. But it is some good fun pop rock.



Natalie Stovall and the Drive on Amazon.

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