Friday Link Session

  • The Kickstarter for Danny Says, the documentary about Danny Fields mentioned here a few weeks ago, has 15 days left as of this posting.
  • Fiachna Ó Braonáin of Hothouse Flowers has been cultivating a television and radio career the past few years, and he’s currently hosting a great weekly program on Irish radio station 100-102 Today FM called Poetic Champions Compose. Each program focuses on a classic Irish album and includes interview clips and background stories as well as music. Featured artists include the Pogues, the Boomtown Rats, Thin Lizzy, My Bloody Valentine, and more. You can listen via the web every Sunday through December 2, and past programs are being posted to the site.
  • The Dad Horse Experience recorded a Daytrotter session! I’m so excited to see one of my favorite NTSIB discoveries getting coverage in the wider world.
  • Check out a great NPR Tiny Desk Concert from Dirty Three. Beautiful sounds! Warren Ellis standing on someone’s desk! Thanks to friend and guest blogger Brucini at the Black Keys Fan Lounge for bringing it to my attention.

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Johnny and the Applestompers/The Misery Jackals/The Dad Horse Experience at Now That’s Class, Cleveland, OH, 9.6.12

 

Johnny and the Applestompers

 

Many fledgling bands find that audiences respond better to their cover songs than their originals. While, sure, part of the reason for that is that people are creatures of habit who love what is familiar, another part of it is that bands in their early stages are also more comfortable with what is familiar, finding it easier to let loose on a song they’ve been listening to for years than one they wrote in the garage last week. Johnny and the Applestompers, whose singer appears to be mostly comprised of sticks and who have the gamest bass player I’ve ever seen, are one of those rare young bands who rock their originals even more confidently than their covers. While they covered everyone from Merle Haggard to Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers, it was their originals, based firmly in Americana traditions, about drinking whiskey and pretty girls not giving them the time of day that were the most compelling.

 

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The Dad Horse Experience in Cleveland Tonight

 

It’s not often the surprising and enchanting Dad Horse gets to tour the United States, but he’s on our soil right now, preaching the kellergospel. Here’s a clip from his recent stop at the Muddy Roots Festival.

 

“Through the Hole” – The Dad Horse Experience

Watch this video on YouTube

 

He will appearing tonight at Now That’s Class tonight, and it promises to be an interesting experience. There’s no telling how long it will be before he makes it back this way, so don’t miss it.

 

“Kingdom It Will Come” – The Dad Horse Experience

Watch this video on YouTube

 

Thursday, September 6, 9 PM
The Dad Horse Experience
The Misery Jackals
Johnny and the Applestompers

$5

Now That’s Class

If you’re too far away to catch this gig, Dad has a bunch more American stops coming up with more being added all the time. Keep tabs at the tour page.

Sep.07: THE BRASS RAIL, Fort Wayne, IN
Sep.08: TIP TOP DELUXE, Grand Rapids, … Continue reading

The Dad Horse Experience: Live in Melbourne

 

Today, we are happy to share the good news of a live album from our favorite German gospel artist. To be honest, he’s the only German gospel artist I’ve listened to.

…are there other German gospel artists?

Anyway, regular readers may already know that the Dad Horse Experience is not your typical gospel act. (Indeed, I don’t think Dad Horse Ottn – who usually makes up the whole of the Dad Horse Experience – is your typical anything.) As 2011 shed its old clothes and became 2012, Dad Horse took his unique “kellergospel” – intended to bring light to the dark cellars of the world instead of being played in the already-illuminated churches – to Australia. He gathered up Australian musicians Renato Vacirca (drums) and Anto Macaroni (guitar, harmonica), dubbed the outfit “The Dad Horse Experience XXL”, and set out to make friends and converts in the land of “the people who walk upside down”.

 

I am Falling (live in Melbourne) by The Dad Horse Experience

 

And it was a success. Such a success that they recorded two sets, one at the Old Bar and one at the … Continue reading

The Dad Horse Experience: Dead Babies Singing in the Sky

 

“Like a dead dog on the highway…” sang an unmistakeably German voice. It was the kind of lisping German accent that my American ears associate with camp villains in bad movies. Then in came the banjo.

What?

“Like a dead dog, I’m hanging around,” the German voice continued singing over the quaint banjo melody. “Won’t you stop and pick me up? Dig me a deep hole in the ground.”

I was, to put it kindly, perplexed. What in the world was this? In my head, my conditioned American thoughts, banjo and heavy German accents did not belong together. But I kept listening, fascinated, compelled to find out what this was all about. And as unprepared as I was for the initial track, I was yet again thrown off balance by what the second track brought.

 

Kingdom It Will Come / THE DAD HORSE EXPERIENCE by dadhorse

 

Oh yes, there was definitely something worth investigating here. By the end of the album, I was smitten.

Dead Dog on a Highway is the second long player from the Dad Horse Experience, which consists mostly of a man who goes by the … Continue reading