This edition of LITM Singer-Songwriter Picks brings you banjo-driven Americana, front-porch folk storytelling, and more. The list features artists Kev Adkins, Ruffner, Meaney & the Misfits, Biggelaar, and Maria Grazia Altea.
Kev Adkins - Last Life
A song about two people who feel like they've met before, 'Last Life' by Kev Adkins is a striking start to a new chapter. The Alexandria, Virginia-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist used to front the Celtic-rock band Icewagon Flu and co-founded the indie-pop project Franklin Gotham. Now he steps out on his own with a gritty debut solo single. A hypnotic banjo hook carries the track, backed by a driving bass pulse and raw slide guitar, and it all builds to an anthemic finish. British producer Adam James wraps those roots textures in modern alternative production. Kev's raspy voice sits right between vulnerable and determined. The lyrics leave the mystery open, so you can hear the bond he sings about as spiritual, as a memory, or as plain longing.
Ruffner - The Interpreter
The title fits: 'The Interpreter' by Ruffner is a debut album that plays like one man making sense of his own life, one memory at a time. Ruffner is the musical alias of Matt Godfrey, an Audie-nominated audiobook narrator, and he brings a storyteller's ear to all 13 tracks. He calls the record organic Americana from the Deep South. He wrote, recorded, and mixed it himself at home. Most of the album is just guitar and his jagged but precise voice, with a full band filling things out now and then. Songs like 'Nostalgia,' 'Cahaba Lily,' and 'A Circle, Not A Line' deal with looking back and making peace with it. The closing reprise, 'Front Porch, 9:26pm,' sends you off in a quiet late-evening mood.
Meaney & the Misfits - Walk You to the Altar
Few songs cover a whole lifetime in a few minutes, but 'Walk You to the Altar' by Meaney & the Misfits does. Meaney & the Misfits is the recording project of Plymouth-based songwriter Peter Meaney, who records in a shed at the bottom of his garden. The song moves from childhood memories under an old oak tree, to holding a newborn daughter, to the day he walks her down the aisle. Intricate acoustic guitar and airy pedal steel back his soft, tender vocals. The close-miked home recording keeps the character of the room, so it sounds like he's playing it just for you. It's a moving song about fatherhood, aging, and how fast time goes.
Biggelaar - You Won't Pick Up
'You Won't Pick Up' by Biggelaar opens on a feeling anyone who has lost someone will know: calling a number you know nobody will answer. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist mixes indie folk-rock with blues and soul, plus a jazzy touch that harks back to old R&B. His deep voice is at the center of this track. The song faces grief head-on, but it isn't heavy-handed. It finds room for optimism, focusing on what love leaves behind as much as what loss takes. His songs often deal with hope, spirituality, and love, and this one has all three.
Maria Grazia Altea - Quale Colore (Rework)
Closing this edition, 'Quale Colore (Rework)' by Maria Grazia Altea comes from her new album, 'Up to Here.' The Italian singer-songwriter grew up in Tempio Pausania, Sardinia. Her influences include Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, PJ Harvey, and Portishead, and you can hear that moody, intimate spirit in her music. As on her recent single 'Black Out,' she chooses feeling over polish and leaves the rough edges in. The song is in Italian (the title means "What Color"), and at just over two and a half minutes it's short and haunting. It ends the list on a hushed, beautiful note.
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