Tag Archives: Americana music

The Handsome Family’s Honey Moon

The press release accompanying The Handsome Family’s eighth album, Honey Moon, makes much of the fact that 2009 marks Brett and Rennie Sparks’s 20th anniversary. Indeed the songs on this album all qualify as love songs, but then I believe … Continue reading

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The Handsome Family’s Wilderness

“Can you imagine your own world suddenly made shining, weightless and stretching infinitely in all directions?” This is the question Rennie Sparks asks toward the end of her essay on woodpeckers, the first in her 70-page book Wilderness that accompanies … Continue reading

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The Handsome Family’s Last Days of Wonder

The Handsome Family sound energized on Last Days of Wonder. This is their seventh studio album starting with 1995’s Odessa, in addition to which they have put out a live set and an EP of odds and ends, and contributed … Continue reading

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Interview: The Handsome Family, Aug. 4, 2007

I knew that, for the most part, Rennie Sparks writes the lyrics and Brett Sparks the music for The Handsome Family’s songs, a sometimes surreal blend of dark humor, grim pathos and gritty murder tales. But I was curious about … Continue reading

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Son Volt’s Okemah and the Melody of Riot

Jay Farrar has put out a record that is a worthy successor to his band Son Volt’s 1995 debut, Trace. Okemah and the Melody of Riot is a masterpiece that reflects – somberly, angrily and joyfully – on the current … Continue reading

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The Sharecroppers Home, Boys!

Faith Cormier wrote this review. The Sharecroppers (Guy Romaine, Mike Madigan and Ed Humber) are three teachers from Pasadena, Newfoundland. Even their Web site doesn’t explain why they chose their name, since sharecropping has never been a way of life … Continue reading

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The Sharecroppers’ This New Founde Lande

Faith Cormier wrote this review. The Sharecroppers (Guy Romaine, Mike Madigan and Ed Humber) are three teachers from Pasadena, Newfoundland. This New Founde Lande, their second CD, is largely a celebration of Newfoundland history. The title track speaks about the … Continue reading

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The Sharecroppers’ Natural

Faith Cormier wrote this review. The Sharecroppers (Guy Romaine, Mike Madigan and Ed Humber) are three teachers from Pasadena, Newfoundland. This, their first album, contains a variety of styles. The first cut, “One Room School,” is very country and sounds … Continue reading

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Shine Cherries’ Shine Cherries

John Benninghouse wrote this review. Shine Cherries are a trio from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and are kindred spirits with the more well-known Handsome Family. Both groups play Americana filtered through a rock music sensibility. But whereas The Handsome Family take … Continue reading

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Teddy Thompson’s My Love Of Country

Teddy Thompson is one of the best living interpreters of classic country songs (not counting Willie Nelson, who’s in a class all his own), and he only further cements his status on his latest album My Love of Country. On … Continue reading

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