americana

Singer/Songwriter Sarah Hughes is a local favorite, playing the bars and venues in the college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas. The powerful Southern voice anchoring her folk-rock style has drawn comparisons to Janis Joplin, Bonnie Raitt, & Lucinda Wiliams. She draws from such diverse influences as Gillian Welch, Neil Young, Willie Nelson, & Widespread Panic, resulting in a sound that houses traditional country storytelling in steady rhythms & strumming with some southern jam-rock on the side.

Anders Parker is a modest man who lives in Burlington, Vermont and works as a musician. People who are into American songwriters know him as the frontman of Varnaline. That band enjoyed the support of so many enthusiastic reviews and high-profile fans (most recently Steve Earle, who released the last Varnaline record on his own boutique label ESquared/ Artemis) that it became a widely held consensus that they were underrated. Which was impossible, though not the fault of the listening public, who actually really do have a bit of an ear, sort of.

The Dukes are Steve Earle's backing band. While makeup of The Dukes is fluid, SteveEarle.net lists recent members including Eric Ambel, Kelly Looney, and Will Rigby. Past members include such luminaries as Buddy Miller, Norman Blake, Mark Stuart, sister Stacey Earle, and the artist's son Justin Townes Earle.

On “Plainsman’s Lament,” above an organ that stands tall like a support group and guitars that wobble loose like weak knees, Austin, Texas’ The Golden Boys howl, “We’ll drink until we’ve had our fill/ No one who knows us can stop us/ And no one will.” And while they might be singing (again) about drinking, the most noteworthy thing here—aside from a hook that you’ll never forget—is the sense of irrepressible joy and abandon that The Golden Boys bring.