RECENT ARTICLES

When Minneapolis-based masterful guitar player, Cory Wong, was a young person, he was already dedicated to music. So much so that on weekends, he would bring his guitar and amplifier to school and, after classes, he would take a different bus home with a friend where the two would rehearse and practice their instruments and watch MTV music videos all night. The next morning, the two would wake up and play music all day and on Sunday, Wong’s parents would pick him up to go back home. This is but one example of Wong’s lifelong devotion to music and one of many reasons why his songs are both deeply nuanced and joyous. As evidenced by his most recent release, Dusk, and also his forthcoming release, Dawn, on which appears the new single, “Bluebird,” which we’re happy to premiere here today.

“I don’t know how my parents or my friend’s parents let us do that,” Wong says, with a laugh. “They were just down with it!”

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If you can spare the four minutes, or so, that it takes to watch Future Islands perform on David Letterman from 2014, you’ll likely find it delightful, extraordinary. It also changed the lives of the Baltimore-based band’s members in ways the group could never have imagined. Ever since, Future Islands has gone on lengthy tours and amassed hundreds of thousands of fans. But the success has also allowed for the band’s members the freedom in their down time to explore other creative impulses and dig into new creative goals. The result for the group’s bassist, William Cashion, was the June release of his debut solo record, Postcard Music, a collection of ambient song. And American Songwriter is proud to premiere the video for the record’s single, “Vizcaya,” here today.

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London-based singer-songwriter and producer, Dave Bayley, front man for the electronic group, Glass Animals, remembers spending formative years in a small Texas town, huddled at night around a radio that offered just a few channels. Luckily, for Bayley, one of the stations played classic Hip-Hop songs from artists like Missy Elliot, Dr. Dre, Eminem and, perhaps most importantly, the producer, Timbaland. These songs opened Bayley’s mind to new musical sounds and possibilities. Raised on groups like Talking Heads, The Beatles, Nina Simone and Bob Marley from his parents, Bayley says he became consumed by all of it. And each of these influences appears on the forthcoming Glass Animals record, Dreamland, slated for release August 7th.

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Eric Rachmany, front man for the wildly popular reggae-rock group, Rebelution, remembers being in school as a young person and feeling terrified. The songwriter, who plays in front of multiple thousands of people at any given gig today, says he would get nervous when he had to speak in front of the class. So much so that he’d try and memorize his reports word-for-word. Now, years later, Rachmany is comfortable in front of a crowd. He’s embraced the space that’s his within any Rebelution show. As a result, his group has garnered hundreds of thousands of fans from all over the world. Rebelution will surely grow in followers given the release of its latest LP, Dub Collection, which hit stands and streams last Friday.

“I learned through performing to get into the art,” Rachmany says. “When you do that, you can really put on a show. People can tell when you’re into it and when you’re not. That’s the beauty of art and of expressing yourself. It’s such a great feeling to let go and give it your all.”

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We’ve all experienced it at least once. Looking at a vase or bouquet of old, dried flowers that were once lovely and knowing they must go. Often, it comes with a moment of sad reflection. The flowers were once – recently! – so tremendously beautiful. Their bloom, perfume. But now, without roots, they’ve gone brittle and died out. For Nashville-based singer-songwriter, Courtney Marie Andrews, this experience is also a metaphor for lost romantic love, which is why the musician titled her forthcoming album, Old Flowers (set for release July 24th, read our review), and why she sings of them forlornly on the album’s title track.

“Old Flowers is a relationship album,” Andrews says, “a breakup record. It’s telling the tale of a relationship and letting it go – or, trying to, at least. Old flowers signify love, for me. They were once in full bloom, beautiful at one time. Now they’ve wilted. But that doesn’t make the past any less magical. They can still be memories to keep between the pages of your favorite book.”

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Musician and writer, Mickey Leigh, is a walking library. Leigh, who is the younger brother of famed Ramones front man, Joey Ramone, grew up steeped in music. Rock ‘n’ roll would play on the radio during breakfast. Leigh and his brother bonded over the Beatles and other prominent bands during their childhood together in the 1960s. Later, though, Leigh, living in New York City, would undergo a wild drug bust and see firsthand the oddities that come when dealing with the FBI and DEA. Most importantly, though, Leigh saw that there are two systems of justice, one for those who have money and one for those who don’t. And this is the subject of the artist’s recent single (and music vide), “Two Kinds Of Law.”

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