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Life can change in an instant. If you had – at just the right time – read an ad on a Scottish music message board, then you too might be in the popular Glasgow-based rock ‘n’ roll band, The Fratellis. Because at that time, some 15 years ago, only two other people responded to a post that front man, Jon Fratelli, put out. Those musicians – Mince and Barry – comprise, along with Jon, the hit trio. Flash forward to today and the rock group is set to release its sixth studio LP, Half Drunk Under a Full Moon, in the fall on October 30th. The band will celebrate that reality today with the official unveiling of its newest music video for the song, “Six Days in June,” which we are happy to premiere here.

“Barry and Mince were the only people who replied to the advert,” says Fratelli. “Nobody else called. That’s clearly a sign that we were supposed to find each other. We didn’t have to make much effort.”

Buzz Osborne has been making records for 37-years. And while for some, that might not be much to sneeze at, for Osborne, who was born in a town of about 900 people and later moved to a town of about 1,800, the fact that he’s recorded music, known the members of Nirvana (and just about every other famous grunge band) and been such an historic influence on Pacific Northwest songwriting (and beyond), is astonishing. Osborne, who is constantly writing and releasing music, will continue his epic career with the release of his latest acoustic LP, Gift of Sacrifice, slated for August 14th.

“I was about 12 when I first got into listening to music,” Osborne says. “I was in a strange position as a kid. I didn’t have any older siblings, didn’t have any cool friends – I didn’t have any friends at that point, hardly. I lived in a very rural community in rural Washington State with almost nobody there.”

Just six months into playing the guitar and singing, Australian musician, Ziggy Alberts, played his first show. But for those that know him, this was no big surprise. The songwriter is adept at diving into big situations and swimming expertly back up to the top. With a warm smile and a bright batch of energy, Alberts offers ideas of unity and appreciation in his buoyant music. His is a positive attitude. But it’s not one presented without discernment or investigation. Indeed, Alberts is an eloquent talker and a curious artist and while his music is often bubbly and joyous, he’s a thorough thinker, as displayed on his latest single, “Don’t Get Caught Up,” which we’re happy to premiere here today. 

Within the span of two months, Nashville singer-songwriter, Anna Graceman, experienced two traumatic events that changed her life. In one moment, Graceman, eating in a restaurant, witnessed people firing automatic weapons in the streets – towards her. Weeks later, Graceman was carjacked, pushed toward bushes as someone stole her car. While situations like these would leave anyone shaken, Graceman made it her duty to turn those moments into music, as difficult as it was. In so doing, the versatile singer sees life differently now. She sees more clearly the oversaturation of guns in the country and the fear and violence that too-often propel society. All of this and more are highlighted in Graceman’s new music video for the song, “Night Follows,” out today.

Ever since he was a young person falling in love with music, Pacific Northwest songwriter, Noah Gundersen, has been at it. Since 2008, the 31-year-old artist has released 13 studio records and likely many other compositions along the way. It all began at 9-years-old when Gundersen first began taking piano lessons. While he loathed them, he still loved music. So, his father gave him a guitar and he began writing. Gundersen, who was homeschooled, had time aplenty on his hands and, since he felt he could only express himself properly through song, he did so over and over again.

“I didn’t have a lot of friends,” Gundersen jokes.

Nashville-based musician, Maggie Rose, began to sing before she could even speak. In this way, she’s always been forward thinking, readying herself for the future and her place in it while practicing what most contents her sensibilities. Flash-forward a couple decades and, today, Rose is a full-fledged Americana singer-songwriter, blossoming and burgeoning in the genre that itself is doing so, too. Rose’s latest offering – the spritely “Help Myself” – is a nod to her creative core and her ambition to improve. The song, however, never loses track of the lighter side of life and the humor that it takes to press on in a world full of changes and challenges.

“There’s a levity to ‘Help Myself,’ a sarcasm and a self-deprecating angle,” Rose says. “It’s about this idea, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing and neither do you but we’ll figure it out together.’ It’s okay to not be okay, to not know all the answers right now.”

When listening to Peter Donovan’s new debut solo single, “Good To Be Alive,” it’s impossible not to hear a little tragedy in the melody. Donovan, who also fronts the Seattle-based Americana band, All The Real Girls, wrote and recorded the song before the Coronavirus pandemic for the Emerald City’s Bushwick Book Club, which hosts regular shows featuring music based on popular books. Inspired by the children’s series, Frog and Toad, the chorus for the song is, “It’s good to be alive, with a friend by your side. It’s good to be alive these days.” And while music exists, in some way, on its own, outside of context, in another way, this particular song, when heard within the context of COVID-19 is eerie.

“It’s really weird,” Donovan says. “I did write and record it right before the lockdown happened. I kind of wrote it as this, ‘Hey, look on the bright side of life, life’s not that bad!’ But now it almost has this very literal overtone, too.”

Lilting songwriter, William Fitzsimmons, remembers following his mother around the house and mimicking her voice. She sang soprano and Fitzsimmons picked up on the high register affectation. Around their house, his mother and father would also play folk musicians on the stereo, artists like Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, Simon & Garfunkel and John Denver. So, when Fitzsimmons began to sing his own songs later as an adult, the vocal sounds didn’t come from his chest voice. Rather, a softer, more delicate tone emerged. It’s a mood for which he’s become well known and it’s one prevalent on his glinting forthcoming record, Ready The Astronaut, set for release this summer.

“I think I thought that’s just how you’re supposed to sing,” Fitzsimmons says. “I thought you were supposed to sing high. Like when John Denver sings ‘Annie’s Song,’ you don’t really want to belt it out. It’s supposed to be this very pretty, smooth delivery.”

Mitch Galbraith, guitarist for the Northern Beaches, Sydney, Australia-based rock ‘n’ roll band, Ocean Alley, remembers the group’s early days. High school best friends, the six-piece would get together in its formative years in backyard toolsheds or family garages to play and write music after school before dinnertime. Galbraith remembers “a lot of sand” in the makeshift rehearsal spaces, which were a mere five-minute walk from the nearby beaches. He also remembers, in one garage, having to move the car out before setting up the gear and doing that again in reverse after practice. Those stories now, though, seem quaint when considering the success Ocean Alley has achieved, which will again be punctuated by the release of the band’s forthcoming LP, Lonely Diamond, out June 19th (pre-order).

“As you can imagine,” Galbraith says, “the garages and sheds out back were not very acoustically sound. It was interesting learning in such a dingy environment.”

When singer-songwriter, Olivia Rox, was 9-years-old, she played the lead role in Annie at Boulder, Colorado’s Dinner Theater. Rox, who’d already toured the country with her professional musician father, saxophonist Warren Hill, was ready for the assignment. At just two-and-a-half years old, Rox had sung to hundreds, performing, “Someday My Prince Will Come,” at one of her father’s gigs. For Annie, Rox performed 75 nights. At such a young age, she learned the rigors of getting ready and the reward of reading and performing to the room. In other words, she’d quickly become a pro. Now, just over a decade later, Rox has released her own solo record, POPROX, and she’s ready for a great deal more.

“For one,” Rox says, “I’m a perfectionist. Everything I do, I try to do the best I can. Whenever I’m writing a song, I try to make it great. I find myself constantly inspired by the world around me, no matter where I am or whether I’m on tour or sitting at home with my dogs on my lap.”