Local Music Sound Off
Listen: Rhanda Johnson’s “Look to Me”
Montana singer-songwriter Rhanda Johnson has just released her debut album "Look to Me," a compilation of original songs full of strong vocals and intimate lyrics.
Rhanda, a 48-year-old mother of two and grandmother of one, says on her Web site of the release, "It's a dream come true! You know, it's like having a baby. It's an amazing personal creation that has a gestation period and when it's finally born you find yourself saying, "I'm never gonna do this again!" Then you recover and you are so ready for another." Her family is central to the songwriting on this first album and on immediate listen, you get a sense of Rhanda's devotion to faith and family.
Rhanda has offered up Track No. 11 from her new CD for NewWest.Net's Local Music Soundoff (http://www.newwest.net/missoulamusic) listeners. Click here to hear "If I Was My Own Girlfriend."
The Missoula Folklore Society is helping Rhanda celebrate the release this Saturday, February 24 at 8 p.m. at the Loft at 424 Higgins Ave. Missoula's own Jacob Kuntz will open for Rhanda, who will be joined onstage by the band Divine Potion, including Richard Bishop on guitar, Bruce Allen on mandolin and guitar, Carla Green on upright bass, Liz Shone-Slater on percussion, Rachael Wogsland on fiddle and Lois Mandelco-Stienberg on backup vocals. Guitarist Bill Mize will also make a guest appearance.
MVP Events from www.missoulaevents.net
Interview: 16 Questions for Billings’ 1090 Club
The 1090 Club is a Montana indie rawk band from Billings. Recently, I asked band members some questions via the interweb. Here’s what they had to say.
Q. From my knowledge a 1090 is a mullet. Is the band really named after a hairdo? Why not the crewcut club?
A: Yes its true, it started as a joke. HA! The crewcut club sounds like the cutting crew. Plus we see more mullets than crews here in Billings.
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Missoula Music
Nate Schweber and the New Heathens on NPR
Missoula's own Nate Schweber and his New Heathens grabbed a sweet spot today on NPR's All Songs Considered with their song, "141."
Click here to read the story and listen to (or download via podcast) the whole show, in which NPR describes the Heathens as "rootsy rockers grounded in the storytelling traditions of Warren Zevon, Bruce Springsteen, the Drive-By Truckers and the Bottle Rockets."
Nate, who is a legend in these parts as well as a longtime friend of NewWest.Net, does an interview intro to the song, calling out his hometown and giving listeners some juicy background on the song, which is part of the band's debut album, Heathens Like Me.
"Kansas Romeo," another song from the New Heathens' debut was also recently picked as one of the 10 best country singles of 2006 (next to Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks) by the Nashville Scene's Annual Roundup '06.
Local Music Sound Off
New Floridis Album Offers Christmas Guitar
Missoula musician John Floridis' 5th solo CD is full of soulful acoustic guitar versions of traditional Christmas tunes. Locally recorded at The Recording Center, "December's Quiet Joy" offers carols both sacred and secular.
Listen to his version of "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" here.
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Local Music Soundoff
Amy Martin Debuts New CD to Promote Minimum Wage Initiative
Missoula activist/musician Amy Martin is touring the state this month to promote her new album and the cause behind it: the minimum wage initiative.
Amy's Bind Me to Free is the culmination of a partnership with the Montana Human Rights Network, an 11-song album filled with stories of poverty, war and religion, and meant to promote passage of Initiative 151 this November, which would raise Montana's minimum wage.
Amy is giving free concerts during her "Stepping Toward Justice" tour in Hamilton, Anaconda, Kalispell and Great Falls and is celebrating the release of the album with a party here in Missoula this Saturday at the Wilma Theatre. Amy will be joined on stage by at least a dozen other local musicians, author Rick Bass and dancer Anya Cloud. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $7 in advance or $10 at the door.
Amy, who has been part of our "Local Music Soundoff" feature before, has offered up to New West listeners a sample of the album. Click here to listen to Home Uninjured, track 5 on Bind Me to Free.
Missou
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Album Review
Tom Catmull and the Clerics Nail New Album
The last five years have seen a boom of local musicians buying multi-track recorders and software, and converting their basements or spare bedrooms into recording studios. The result has been a few full-length CDs that sound every bit as good as the $18.98 Major Label slabs being delivered by the pallet to Wal-Mart. The line between computer geek and musician has blurred -- that pierced hipster in the trendy glasses you see at the coffee shop just might be mixing down an album on his laptop while he sips his triple mochaccino.
Like my recent release, "American Piehole," (which seems destined to become this generation’s "Sgt. Pepper") "Tom Catmull & the Clerics" is a home-brewed project, one that Catmull has been sweating over for upwards of two years. The majority of it was recorded in Tom’s basement, on his Tascam digital multitracker. Other tracks were recorded here and there, and the whole thing was mixed at his guitarist's kitchen table.
This album has more of a country feel than Catmull's previous releases, but I mean authentic, traditional country. Not that plastic, soft-rock ringtone bait they’re churning out these days in Nashvegas. Right from the first listen, TC&C is polished, confident, and achieves a consistent level of musical and lyrical poise, yet is as comfy and easygoing as an old leather jacket. It’s tasty. It's chewy. Hell, by the fourth song, you want to spread cream cheese on the damn thing and eat it. The aural depth and expansiveness of the mix belie the fact that the album was recorded ten feet from Catmull's washer-dryer.
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Local Music Soundoff
Tom Catmull and the Clerics To Release Rootsy New AlbumTom Catmull and the Clerics are ready to show their roots.
They're releasing their new self-titled CD September 8 at 8:00 p.m. downstairs at the Elks Club. As Tom told us last winter, this album showcases the roosty side of the band so get ready for some knee-slapping. Russ Nasset, with a solo acoustic set up starts things off before the Broken Valley Roadshow takes the stage. Then Tom and the Clerics will play a short acousitc set before the big full-electric blow out. Tickets are $7 at Rockin' Rudy's before the show or $8 at the door.
For a little sneak peek, click here to listen to "Never Say Never", a perfectly rambling, roosty tune with a driving beat and some wicked pickin.
Local Music Soundoff
Listen: Missoula Anti-Folk Artist’s New Album Addresses Politics, Missoula’s Gay CommunityNathan Carter, also known as purrbot, is about to release his third album, civil unrest, upon Missoula.
Unlike purrbot's first two CD's, which were both self-produced, Carter teamed up with Firefly Sessions Recordings in Missoula to produce civil unrest, an album that aims to act as a catalyst for political action concerning the gay community.
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New West Podcast
Listen: Montana Muse with Eden AtwoodThis segment of Montana Muse, with MusEco's Scott Prinzing features the jazz music of Missoula's Eden Atwood.
Click here to listen to the program.
The MusEco Media and Education Project produces Montana Muse and a program called Waste Not Want Not as part of its mission to provide information on the environment, the visual arts, music and Native American issues. The shows are also currently heard on Yellowstone Public Radio.
This segment of Montana Muse, with MusEco's Scott Prinzing features songs about one of Montana's favorite friends -- the dog.
Click here to listen to the program.
The MusEco Media and Education Project produces Montana Muse and a program called Waste Not Want Not as part of its mission to provide information on the environment, the visual arts, music and Native American issues. The shows are also currently heard on Yellowstone Public Radio.
