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Before Shawn James and his Liberty Bell-like singing voice were well known, he remembers sitting behind the studio glass feeling jealous. In his twenties, the Chicago-born singer had studied in college in Florida to be an audio engineer. He’d taken internships in Nashville afterwards, moved there with his wife. But when he was finally offered a job and a permanent position, James remembers feeling his gut sink. He’d sat there twisting nobs and pushing faders but the whole time he’d wanted to be on the other side, performing and singing into the microphone. So, he declined the position and, with the help of his wife, changed his life forever. James, who rose to fame almost overnight (more on this later), released his latest record, The Guardian Collection, last week and the stripped-down LP continues to display his unparalleled vocal power.

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Superstar singer and performer, Leslie Odom Jr., has a favorite Christmas memory. At 10-years-old, the eventual co-lead of the Broadway show, Hamilton, was gifted a double-deck karaoke machine from his parents. He’d already shown interest in music. He’d found his father’s record collection in crates in the basement, and Odom Jr. began listening to it all. His folks saw his interest and wanted to help promote it, so they invested in a portable “Singalodeon.” That investment changed Odom Jr.’s life, helping him to develop the skills and interest that would one day make him a household name. From those early days singing to a Marvin Gaye record or writing his own songs and recording them on the Singalodean, Odom Jr. has developed into an acclaimed recording artist and his next release, The Christmas Album, is out November 6th.

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At five-years-old, Sophia Regina Allison, better known as the singer-songwriter, Soccer Mommy, understood that she wanted music to be in her life always. Allison, who started playing then, saw her dad strum the guitar here and there but he wasn’t a professional musician. A professor, he’d moved their family to Nashville from Switzerland when she was just one-year-old. By pure serendipity, Allison, whose mother was a grade school teacher, was now smack-dab in the center of Music City. She went to a performing arts high school and, later, in college at NYU, studied music business. But instead of graduating, Allison decided to drop out, move back to Nashville and sign a record contract. She’s been releasing popular music under her moniker ever since, including her acclaimed 2020 LP, color theory, and the latest music video for her new single, “crawling in my skin.”

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Growing up, the rapper, Open Mike Eagle, says there were two prominent styles of rhyming in his hometown of Chicago. On the south side, where he was from, the aesthetic was influenced by a more classic New York City style. Whereas, the west side of the city took on touches from down south and Los Angeles. For a while, Eagle says, he adopted the New York City-south side method, rejecting the west side and it’s more melodic approach. But, at some point, a switch flipped. It didn’t have to be one or the other. He could be both. Ever since, in many ways, Eagle’s style has leaned into that truth. He can embrace the many diverse aspects and abilities of his mind. He can have as many interests as exist moments in the day. And this eclectic intellectual bent permeates Eagle’s newest LP, Anime, Trauma and Divorce.

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British-born and Maryland-raised rapper, IDK (aka Jason Aaron Mills), wants the world to understand that music is so much more than an amalgamation of rhythms, melodies and lyrics. For the Los Angeles-based emcee, who released his major label debut LP, Is He Real, a year ago, music is medicinal. It’s a balm, a salve, a prescription, even, that soothes the mind, body soul and heals in the same way therapy, a massage or Aspirin might.

“The thing I love about music is not really publicized,” IDK says. “A lot of people don’t really talk about it or don’t know. Music is almost just as important as a doctor. It can be looked at in the same way as going to see somebody like a therapist. A lot of people without music or the funds to have a therapist probably would be in a way worse place.”

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Musician and performer, Amanda Palmer, has led an eventful life. But, the artist says, it comes with a price. To experience, to be known, to create, to receive adulation, praise and attention requires putting oneself into the world in vulnerable ways. Often an artist will show the recesses of their psyche, as if splaying ideas out on the laundry line for the neighbors and world to see. But Palmer is used to this. At six-years-old, she began singing in church. As a college student, she dressed as an eight-foot statue standing still in the middle of city blocks to earn rent money as onlookers at times berated. And she’s fronted several prominent music projects, including the wildly popular duo, The Dresden Dolls, which is set to release the never-before-seen 2017 live show film, The Dresden Dolls Return To Paradise, on October 31st to celebrate the band members’ first meeting on Halloween two decades ago.

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In an era when information and options seemingly bombard the world’s population at a never-ending assault, Nashville-based songwriter, Molly Parden, aims to be understated. Her work is subtle. It hovers. While so many of her contemporary peers present explosions and songwriting pyrotechnics, Parden prefers a float down the river with a few pals. The artist, who grew up in a suburb outside Atlanta before moving to the metropolis and, later, landed in the Music City, is set to release her latest solo record, Rosemary, on November 13th. For Parden, who is so experienced at working in other people’s projects (more on this later), the forthcoming EP is a rare offering of her solo work in collection. And today we are happy to premiere the video for the EP’s new single, “Who Are We Kiddin’.”

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Whenever 21-time platinum-selling rock ‘n’ roll band, Hootie & the Blowfish, get together to write and record a new album, the group’s lead guitarist, Mark Bryan, usually leaves with enough material for a new solo record. Each of the four core members of Hootie write and so when the band gets together, as it did for its recent 2019 release, some 70-80 songs are composed. From the batch that don’t make the final album, Bryan reuses the favorite ideas he’s found and written, bringing them to his own studio. This was precisely the process for the musician’s forthcoming solo album, Midlife Priceless, which he will release in April 2021. Today, we are happy to premiere the record’s first single, “Wanna Feel Something,” on which Bryan sings about Hootie’s recent successful reunion.

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Mark Everett, principle songwriter and front man for the Los Angeles indie rock band, Eels, was just trying to make his friend happy. Dora, an old friend of the musician’s who used to work on the band’s tour crew as the lighting director, was feeling blue and Everett (better known as “E”) wanted to cheer her up. The two were text messaging back and forth when, suddenly, E realized the exchange made for good song lyrics. Maybe they could be spun in a way to cheer other people up too? A day or two later, Jeff Lyster, who is known as “The Chet,” sent E a bit of music and he realized it would be perfect for Dora’s text message song. It’s an open temperament like this that’s willing to accept creative “lightening strikes” that’s buoyed Eels for 25 years. And it continues today with the band’s latest LP, Earth to Dora, set for release Oct. 30th.

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When he’s not eating, sleeping or talking, celebrated songwriter, Andrew Bird, says he’s often whistling. At first, though, the Suzuki method-trained violinist thought whistling sounded cheap, not classically musical or respectable enough for his nuanced records. But, after dropping a few without his signature high-end sound, Bird relented. Now, he and his whistle are creatively inseparable on his many anticipated releases. It even landed prominently on his forthcoming holiday album, Hark! Bird recorded the new record over two periods of time – one pre-pandemic and one during – and he’s set to unveil the complete 13-track LP on October 30th (with a vinyl release on November 13th).

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For at least a little while, Gavin Rossdale says his voice was actually an obstruction to his success, not the reason for it. The gravely-voiced front man of the U.K. group, Bush, says that when he and the band were on the rise in the late 80s and early 90s, there was a wave of music that didn’t quickly welcome in a rough, raw singer like Rossdale. At the time, Britpop was all the rage, with bands like Blur, Oasis and Suede topping the charts. But Rossdale was more into – and reflected – groups like Soundgarden, Soul Asylum and Jane’s Addiction. Rugged, ravaged bands with aggression built into their distorted chords. But, eventually, a harder version of rock took the world by storm. Suddenly, Bush was at the center of it. The band’s success continues today with the release of its 2020 album, The Kingdom, which hit number-one on the Billboard Hard Music Albums chart and is available in a deluxe format this week.

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Los Angeles-based singer and songwriter, Eric Bellinger, wants to make everything better. The artist, who has done just about everything under the sun when it comes to the music business, has collaborated with famed celebrities like Justin Bieber and Usher, opened for Ashanti while singing in an R&B group and, as a solo artist, released over a dozen records to date. Bellinger’s latest project, the forthcoming LP, Eric B for President: Term 3, highlights his smooth voice, intricate writing styles and steadfast relationship with his longtime wife. But, it may come as no surprise, that’s not the most noteworthy part. Bellinger wrote and assembled much of the album at home live in real-time with his fans during quarantine.

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It had only been a few weeks and Cassandra Peterson was on her way to The Tonight Show to meet and talk with the famed host, Johnny Carson. That’s when she knew what she’d made was going to be huge. Peterson, known better as the ghoulish goddess, Elvira (“Mistress of the Dark”), had been hosting her B-movie horror television show for just a couple weeks, she says, when the late night show called. At the time, she was a local personality in Los Angeles. With Carson’s blessing, though, she could become a star. Ever since that appearance in 1981, Elvira has become a household name, especially during the Halloween season. And this month, Peterson, in character, dropped her latest single, “Don’t Cancel Halloween!” The track is but another in a successful string of releases for the Queen of Halloween that will continue well into next year.

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Just a few days ago, Atlanta-based R&B singer-songwriter, Queen Naija, celebrated her 25th birthday. While, in many ways, she is still quite a young person, Naija has, nevertheless, already seen a great deal of life. She is a mother to two little sons, she’s been married and divorced, and she’s already built up several prominent careers. But, if you ask her, she’ll tell you that she’s “only just getting started.” The often-glamorous, smooth-singing talent will release her debut LP, missunderstood, October 30th on the heels of several successful single releases and her self-titled Queen Naija EP. But, despite the many gains, Naija continues to focus on topping herself. For the new LP, she wrote and rewrote dozens of songs before landing on the cohesive collection that comprise her forthcoming record.

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