"It Always Can Get Worse" is off Tex Perkins & Matt Walker's forthcoming Before The Show album due in August.
Here's the scoop...
‘It Always Can Get Worse’ is the first taste of Tex Perkins and Matt Walker’s forthcoming debut album, Before The Show.
Released on Friday, May 22, the acoustic track reflects on pushing through the hard times without getting stuck in your own pain, reminding us to be grateful - as others have been through, and got through, worse.
The song unfolds in a way that can catch you off guard - something that carries across the whole album.
Before The Show encapsulates the nexus of these two celebrated Australian artists. Perkins and Walker’s working partnership - which includes recorded work with The Fat Rubber Band and The Cruel Sea - has led them to this album which shines a light on their unique collaboration.
"It Always Can Get Worse" is available now on Bandcamp (get the digital version here) and most streaming platforms.
The album, Before The Show, will be out in August via Cheersquad Records & Tapes.
The Drive-By Truckers reunited with guitarist Jason Isbell for their final appearance on The Late Show on December 2, 2025.
From Patterson Hood...
"To say that DBT are massive fans of Stephen Colbert is an understatement in the league of saying I kind of like The Beatles, The Stones, Zeppelin or The Clash. Mr. Colbert is not only the best at what he does on TV, he is among The BEST of what America has to offer itself and the world. A true class act, top to bottom. Smart (another understatement), kind, caring, full of love and joy. And funny as hell. Truly sidesplitting hilarious, always punching up and never punching down, speaking truth to power and the ridiculousness that so often accompanies it.
"We were honored to play Hell No, I Ain’t Happy (with Jason Isbell sitting in) on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert this past winter. We did it knowing that it would be the last time. To say it was joyful would be another understatement. DBT has been doing late night TV for nearly 25 years, having done so numerous times for hosts ranging from Craig Kilborn, Conan O’Brien (numerous times on two of his shows), Jimmy Fallon and David Letterman, but this was a next level experience. The joy we witnessed backstage was moving and infectious. The staff was next-level wonderful to us and Mr. Colbert himself came back to personally greet us. It was truly one of my favorite experiences of the 30 years DBT has been a band.
"I’d like to thank Stephen Colbert for being the man you are. A man of rare intelligence and grace, a source of joy and light in these dark times, a man of wisdom and humor when we needed it most. Thank you for what you’ve done and especially for how you’ve gone about doing it."
Much Love and Respect,
Patterson Hood and Drive-By Truckers
Watch The Drive-By Truckers with Jason Isbell perform "Hell No, I Ain't Happy" from the Definitive Decoration Day box set below.
Check out the Macbain Brothers' "White Devils" off their 2014 debut 999999999 4-song EP for Hozac.
Here's the scoop from Hozac HQ...
"Isn’t it insane that we are STILL mining some incredible bands and side projects from the MySpace heyday? Yes, those days of throwing your identity to the wind and any baggage your previous band(s) carried, and creating an entirely new musical persona, a shedding of the skin, nothing to hold anyone back from investigating.
"Someday this will be looked back on as a phenomenon, but we can tell you that already, and 999999999 are one of the many great “side projects” such as SPIDER, NICE FACE, BLACK ORPHAN, BLANK DOGS that we built this label on during that golden era, all who found themselves uploading tracks and “putting on the mask,” avoiding any comparisons to previous work or prejudice based on external criteria.
For fans of the pivotally punk Brookline, MA rulers TUNNEL OF LOVE, who effortlessly decapitated crowds during the mid 2000’s, this 999999999 concoction cooks down the Macbain brothers’ formula into a glistening pop serum no one could have expected. Anthony Macbain started recording as 999999999 as far back as 2004, and we have rescued four face-fucking, skin-scathing, and filthy pop gems from his quiver, presented here on vinyl for the first time. Instantly drawing comparisons to King Tuff and Sic Alps, this EP sizzles with nasty fuzz, yet rolls like a river, and will leave you panting for more, aching to have your “face carved on the side of a mountain.”
We are proud to present such a crucial and raw underground slab of pure skuzz pop gold wrapped in a grimy layer of infectious flytrap-fidelity, for now, and for the ages." – Victimoftime.com
Get a digital copy of 999999999's debut EP via Hozac right here. Listen to "White Devils" below.
New York's WKCR-FM is once again celebrating the life and music of Sun Ra for 24-hours on Friday at 12 am to midnight.
Here's the scoop...
New York's WKCR 89.9 FM is excited to announce a 24-hour broadcast on May 22nd celebrating the 112th anniversary of the arrival of Sun Ra! This special broadcast will run from 12am to midnight on the 22nd and will preempt all regularly-scheduled Friday shows.
Le Sony’r Ra began his life in Birmingham, Alabama, where he studied piano under teacher Fess Wheatley at Industrial High School, before attending Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College. By the mid-1940s he had moved to Chicago where he apprenticed with swing bandleader Fletcher Henderson. This mentorship eventually led to him experimenting with his own bands and compositions during the 1950s, often utilizing instruments previously deemed as unconventional for jazz music. Sun Ra’s bands were also some of the first jazz bands to employ electronic instruments, including electric piano, clavioline, celeste, and synthesizers.
The Sun Ra Arkestra was officially formed in the mid-1950s and led by Sun Ra until his death in 1993. During his roughly forty year leadership of the Arkestra, with whom he relocated to New York in 1960 and Philadelphia in 1968, Sun Ra and the band invented a music that was deeply rooted in spirituality, various philosophies, and multimedia experience.
While many would be quick to label this new sound as Avant-Garde, Sun Ra held that the music was more than that: “[My Music is] more than avant garde, because the ‘avant garde’ refers to, I suppose, advanced earth music. But this is not earth music.” While the musicians in the Arkestra often changed, several crucial contributors stayed with the group for many years such as John Gilmore, Ronnie Boykins, Pat Patrick, and Marshall Allen.
Sun Ra is an eternal pioneer and cosmic adventurer, and he continues to be a guiding light for those very fortunate to have discovered his music. His music and concepts have ignited inspiration among artists and movements spanning diverse realms, including Afrofuturism, and electronic music. His legacy persists as a testament to his enduring influence as one of the preeminent artists of our time, and WKCR is honored to celebrate him this month on the 112th day of his arrival.
"Jailbird" is taken from the GOONS! album Never Go Back out June 12 via Hi-Tide Recordings, now available for pre-order.
When you are looking for trouble, who do you call? GOONS!
Who's waiting in a dark alley looking for a fight? GOONS!
Who's going to start a riot on the dance floor? GOONS!
Guilty of rock 'n' roll in the first degree? GOONS!
The GOONS! Never Go Back album is being released by Hi-Tide Recordings on June 12th but you can pre-order a copy now via Bandcamp right here. While you're there, you can also pick up their 2023 single "Crime Spree" b/w "Junkie For Your Love" – neither of which appears on the new 11-song album. Watch the Bryan Moak-directed videos for "Jailbird" and "Rob Cheat Steal" below.
Don Pyle will be telling tales from his Rough Description memoir and Yo La Tengo's Georgia & Ira will spin records in Toronto!
Writes Don...
My book, Rough Description, is released on Tuesday, May 26th (you can pre-order from ECW Press here here), although I see that some stores already have it. Here are the current reading/slideshow tour dates. More to come. Could it be where you live?
Joining me at the Toronto launch at Standard Time (165 Geary Ave, 2nd Floor, Unit A) on Thursday, May 28 are writers Jason McBride, Kirby, Tabatha Southey and Chris Colohan, reading their writing. Damian Rogers leads the interrogation after my reading. Extraterrestrial DJs Georgia Hubley and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo spin records all night. (Get tickets here: https://ra.co/events/2368611).
Jenny Mitchell conducts the line of questioning at La Poche (40 Quebec St) in Guelph on Saturday, May 30.
Liz Worth will ask probing questions following my reading in the Bright Room at The Staircase (27 Dundurn St. North) in Hamilton on Sunday, May 31.
Pete Crighton will read from his 33 1/3 book Cosmic Thing, along with my presentation at Books & Company (289 Main St) on Thursday, June 4 in Picton.
I will be in conversation with Kirby, about Rough Description, on June 11 at Kitchener Public Library (85 Queen St. North).
And in London, Ontario on June 19, I will be joining (Faith No More co-founder) Roddy Bottum at Midnight Mass Books (1034 Dundas St) who will read from his new memoir The Royal We. I'll read from my own book and show some pictures.
Blast off with J.R. Williams for another expedition into uncharted sounds where few podcasters dare to venture for entertainment.
J.R. Williams presents a selection of futuristic sounds from outer space along with some entertaining film, T.V. and radio ads. Listen to the May 2026 edition of Call Me Cannibal via Boss Radio 66 right here. Tracklisting below.
Call Me Cannibal with JRW, May 2026
00:00 - Ennio Morricone/Audrey Nohra Stainton - CANNIBAL (Chitarra E Voce) (excerpt)
00:54 - Movie trailer audio - THE GREEN SLIME
01:48 - The Green Slime - THE GREEN SLIME (movie theme)
04:08 - John Keating - THE UNKNOWN PLANET
08:07 - Barry Gray - UFO MAIN THEME (from the TV series “UFO”)
09:15 - William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy - STAR TREK ANTI-DRUG PSA
10:16 - Phase Five - STAR TREK (Theme from the T.V. Series)
12:32 - Leonard Nimoy - HIGHLY ILLOGICAL
15:20 - “Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space” LP - WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE
17:43 - The Bob Crewe Generation Orchestra/The Glitterhouse - BARBARELLA (movie theme)
20:22 - Marty Gold - DAY TRIPPER
23:19 - Criswell - Excerpt from “THE LEGENDARY CRISWELL PREDICTS!”
23:33 - Hugo Montenegro - MOOG POWER
26:33 - Hot Butter - POPCORN
29:00 - Don Knotts - THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT (movie radio spot ad)
29:54 - Don Spencer - FIREBALL (I WISH I WAS A SPACEMAN) (from the TV series “FIREBALL XL5”)
Dallas Good's Were The Watchtowers, features Kurt Vile, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Jon Spencer, Scott McCaughey, Gary Louris, Neko Case and others.
From Yep Roc HQ...
Yep Roc is honoured to announce the June 26th wide-release of Were The Watchtowers, the final recorded work of Dallas Good, completed before his unexpected passing in February 2022. Written and recorded slowly over more than a decade with Richard Reed Parry, the project captures a deeply collaborative, cosmic strain of psychedelic Americana. Guest appearances include Neko Case, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo, Jim Jarmusch, John Doe, Jon Spencer, Scott McCaughey, Gary Louris and Margaret Atwood.
Elizabeth Shepherd and Michael Occhipinti will be playing songs from their latest ES:MO recording at Hugh's Room on Saturday.
ES:MO (Elizabeth Shepherd & Michael Occhipinti)
at Hugh's Room (296 Broadview Avenue)
Saturday, May 23
Show at 8pm, Doors at 7pm
$30+ in advance, $37+at the door
Elizabeth Shepherd and Michael Occhipinti (ES:MO) have been featured in each other's projects for almost a decade, with Elizabeth being the vocalist and pianist for Michael Occhipinti's The Universe of John Lennon, and Michael touring as the guitarist in Elizabeth's group promoting her albums Montreal and The Signal. Their duo album, The Weight of Hope, was nominated for a 2022 JUNO award and we can’t wait to hear their new album to be released at Hugh’s Room on Saturday May 23. Get tickets right here.
Check out the new video for the ES:MO version of Jason Isbell's "If We Were Vampires" along with a few tracks from the Sunshine In My Bones album out now. Get the album right here.
Flowers Of Hell members become Velour Underground to play your Reed/Cale faves at The Baby G on Tuesdays 8 pm to 12 midnight.
Here's the scoop...
Lou Reed championed Toronto’s Flowers Of Hell, so this May they’ll be performing two sets of Velvet Underground songs at The Baby G (1608 Dundas St. West) every Tuesday in May as The Velour Underground. Expect fan favourites and a changing array of deep cuts each week, plus a light show. With the similar capacities of the Baby G and NYC’s Max’s Kansas City where the Velvets did their 1970 residency, this is as close as you can get to the real experience! Take a walk on the wild side!
100 tickets available in advance (no charge via Dice right here), remaining tickets available at the door on a first come-first served basis. Doors open at 8 pm. Velour Underground residency at The Baby G continues May 19 and May 26. Check out The Velour Underground in action below.
Check out The Ichi-Bons' performances of "The Witch" and "Little Lil" along with the original versions below.
Here's the scoop from Ugly Pop HQ...
Ugly Pop is very pleased to announce our second single from the finest group playing in Toronto today, the mighty Ichi-Bons! Tearing it up on two potent slabs of their patented Desperate Rock'n'Roll, Ichi-Bons are joined here by sax savage Spencer Evoy for maximum blaze. Topside's a delicious, delirious take on an obscure Mel Dorsey rocker from '59, while anybody with an ear for this music will recognize the flip's all-time Sonics scorcher. This is a one-time only pressing of 400. (UGLY POP UP085).
You can get it directly from the Ichi-Bons at their show with The Deltas at Toronto's Legendary Horseshoe Tavern on Friday (May 22) or you can mail order a copy via Big Cartel right here. While you're there, grab a copy of Ichi-Bons guitarist Mamoru Banzai's new "Strollin' At Dawn" 3-song solo instrumental EP – which should appeal to fans of Link Wray – also on Ugly Pop available here.
Get tickets for The Ichi-Bons' double-bill with The Deltas at the Horseshoe Friday (May 22) right here.
Delmore's new Gary Stewart rarities disc One Track Mind makes an ace companion for Jimmy McDonough's new biography of the late honky tonk hero.
Previously unreleased, pre-RCA recordings by the once, future and forever King Of The Honky-Tonks. For nearly two decades, we obsessively scoured the vaults of multiple publishing houses along Music Row, and the endless archives of Gary's closest friend, Tommy Schwartz, all in search of elusive performances rumoured to exist. One Track Mind is Delmore's third deep dive into the Gary Stewart legacy, which began with the Grandma's Roadhouse LP in 2010.
One Track Mind (out July 17 via Nashville's Delmore Recording Society) finds Gary toward the beginning of his career as a songwriter—newly arrived in Nashville from Fort Pierce, Florida, signing first with Cedarwood and then Forrest Hills publishing. Working primarily with early songwriting partner Bill Eldridge, several tunes heard on this collection would be recorded by luminaries of the genre, including Del Reeves ("One Track Mind"), Cal Smith ("You Can't Housebreak a Tomcat"), Jack Greene ("There's a Whole Lot About a Woman (A Man Don't Know)") and Nat Stuckey ("The Snuff Queen”). But no one sang these songs like Gary Stewart.
Also included are a handful of stripped down departures from the Nashville sound. Recorded in Gary's Williamson County, TN trailer, "Beautiful River" is a gorgeous, solo ballad, complete with his signature whistling. Alongside it is a guitar-vocal demo of "The Snuff Queen" -sourced from a beat-to-hell acetate disc- that puts an altogether different country-blues spin on this early Gary classic. (The studio version of "The Snuff Queen", was released as a B side by Kapp in 1970, and later included on the 1975 MCA compilation LP, "You're Not The Woman You Used To Be"). The LP culminates in a jaw dropping, early recording of "Williamson County", which is unlike anything Gary recorded before or since. A singular performance that needs to be heard to be believed, and almost unrecognizable from the polished version recorded for 1975’s Out of Hand, Gary’s debut LP for RCA. The whereabouts of the other songs Gary recorded that day remains a mystery.
What isn't a mystery is that Gary sings every song here with everything he's got. Whether you're new to the powerful artistry of Gary Stewart, or a long time obsessive, there's much to love within these fully loaded grooves. Delmore couldn't be prouder to have the opportunity to bring more Gary Stewart music into the world.
The digital / CD release contains four bonus tracks, including the complete legendary Mowtown session. Delmore released the first two Motown numbers as a Record Store Day vinyl only single in 2018. Gary's demo of the Four Tops classic "I Can't Help Myself" (Sugar Pie, Honeybunch), is heard here for the first time, and all three are making their digital debuts.
Last month, a definitive biography, Gary Stewart: I Am From the Honky-Tonks, was published by Jimmy McDonough (author of the New York Times bestseller Shakey: Neil Young's Biography). Read more about Jimmy McDonough's Gary Stewart biography on The Perlich Post right here. And check out an interview with Jimmy McDonough over here.
Is the Country Music Hall Of Fame next? It's about damn time.
Pre-order a copy of Gary Stewart's One Track Mind via Bandcamp right here. Check out a short documentary on Gary Stewart following the track listing below.
Gary Stewart – One Track Mind
1. One Track Mind
2. Kings And Queens
3. Woman Will Tear The Heart Right Out Of A Man
4. Big Bad Train
5. Living The Life Of A Dog
6. Don't Put A Poor Hand On Me
7. Her Apple Pie
8. My Mind Is On You
9. Iron Bar Motel 02:46
10. The Bottom Of The Pile
11. There's A Whole Lot About A Woman (A Man Don't Know)
Promising UK country rockers Brown Horse hit the Monarch Tavern with the well-crafted songs from their Total Dive album out now. Doors at 7 pm!
Here's the scoop...
Brown Horse is a Norwich-based country rock band. Rooted in a collaborative approach to songwriting, the six-piece mix guitar-driven 90s alternative rock with the folk and country sounds of the 70s.
In April 2026 Brown Horse released their third album Total Dive on Loose Records. Their strongest and most grounded work to date, it showcases a new level of skill and assurance in the Norwich band’s thoughtful lyricism and musicality. Leaning away from the playfulness and eclecticism of their previous works, Total Dive sees Brown Horse step forward into the darkness with a cautious optimism. With songs from each of the four members (Patrick Turner, Nyle Holihan, Emma Tovell and Rowan Braham) the writing charts a world of small revelations and painful changes. As they move confidently between searing noise and delicate reflection, Brown Horse take time to note the beauty and agony of the mundane; the death rattle of a vending machine, headlights flashing in the eyes of a road-killed fox, the heather-pink of a winter sky.
The new album is the clearest expression yet of Brown Horse’s unique sound - somewhere between Jay Farrar's darker impulses of Uncle Tupelo's country rock, the raw intimacy of early Cat Power, and the haunted landscapes of Magnolia Electric Co., while embracing the self-possessed noisiness of alt rock trailblazers like Built to Spill and The Breeders. Bolstered by the playing of Norwich drummer, Ben Rodwell, and the vocal harmonies of Leeds-based musician, Neve Cariad, Total Dive is the sound of a band coming fully into their own. These are songs inhabited by wide Norfolk skies, thousands of shared miles on the road, the noise of heartbreak and humour, and the echoing silence of long hours spent in strange in-between places.
Tickets for Brown Horse's much-anticipated Toronto show at the Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton) tonight (Saturday, May 16) are $27.75 and available here. Doors open at 7 pm. Check out a couple of Brown Horse's videos after the impressive title track from their Total Dive album below.
Ace Records has gathered 19 stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan for Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow.
Here's the scoop...
With undeniable cultural gravity, the team of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan join luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, Brian Wilson and Laura Nyro in Ace Records’ long-running series of multi-artist compilations celebrating the great American songwriters of the modern era. Hundreds of artists from all walks of music have recorded songs from Waits and Brennan’s matchless catalogue, 19 of the finest of which comprise the hand-picked selection Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow (out May 29th), including many chosen by the songwriters themselves.
Few artists have remapped the terrain of popular music, and culture at large, like Tom Waits. Over the course of five decades, he has forged a singular aesthetic that defies genre and turns the marginal into myth. His work is neither fully inside nor outside the mainstream tradition but moves restlessly between them, drawing from vaudeville, blues, jazz, folk, theatre – and just about anything else that catches his ear – to craft something wholly his own. His influence reverberates not just through the underground and avant-garde, but across theatre, film, literature, and visual art. With his long-time creative partner and wife Kathleen Brennan, he has dismantled and reassembled the idea of song itself, crafting works that exist as both raw expression and high art. This collection honours not only the extraordinary versatility of Waits and Brennan’s songwriting, but the importance of an artist who continues to haunt and inspire from the edges inward.
Ace’s selection is sequenced chronologically by song, opening with Bruce Springsteen’s live recording of ‘Jersey Girl’, Waits’ ode to Brennan from 1980’s Heartattack And Vine, and closing with folk matriarch Joan Baez’s version of Waits and Brennan’s anti-war ‘Day After Tomorrow’ from Waits’ more recent Real Gone. “All the great things that came out of New Jersey don’t hold a candle to Kathleen Brennan, at least not in Tom’s eyes,” Bob Dylan said on his Theme Time Radio Hour show. “She rescued me,” reflected Waits in an interview for The Guardian. “Maybe I rescued her too, that’s often how it works. Upshot is that we both got into the same leaky boat. Everybody knows she’s the brains behind Pa, as Dylan might have said. I’m just the figurehead. She’s the one who’s steering the ship.”
In addition to “steering the ship”, Brennan became Waits’ songwriting partner. The couple’s first-released joint composition, ‘Hang Down Your Head’ from Rain Dogs, is heard here in a raunchy rendition by country-blues heroine Lucinda Williams. Elsewhere, performers from the worlds of jazz, blues, gospel, soul and rock put their own stamps on great songs with which Waits devotees will be familiar on Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years, Big Time, Bone Machine, Mule Variations, Real Gone and Orphans. Pride of place – because it’s a particular favourite of Waits and proved incredibly challenging to license – goes to the heart-wrenching recording of ‘Down There By The Train’ from Johnny Cash’s late-life masterpiece American Recordings.
Made with the blessing, approval and involvement of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow is an essential collection for any fan of this remarkable artist’s unique work.
Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow:
Words & Music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
1. JERSEY GIRL - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND
2. 16 SHELLS FROM A THIRTY-OUGHT-SIX - BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND
3. GIN-SOAKED BOY - SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES
4. JOCKEY FULL OF BOURBON - LOS LOBOS
5. HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD - LUCINDA WILLIAMS
6. TEMPTATION - DIANA KRALL
7. YESTERDAY IS HERE - BETTYE LAVETTE
8. WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE - THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA
9. STRANGE WEATHER - MARIANNE FAITHFULL
10. I DON'T WANNA GROW UP - RAMONES
11. DOWN THERE BY THE TRAIN - JOHNNY CASH
12. HOUSE WHERE NOBODY LIVES - KING ERNEST
13. PICTURE IN A FRAME - WILLIE NELSON
14. HOLD ON - MADISON CUNNINGHAM
15. THE LONG WAY HOME - NORAH JONES
16. 2:19 - JOHN HAMMOND
17. DIAMOND IN YOUR MIND - SOLOMON BURKE
18. TRAMPLED ROSE - ALISON KRAUSS / ROBERT PLANT
19. DAY AFTER TOMORROW - JOAN BAEZ
Get a copy of Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow directly from Ace Records right here. Check out a few alternate performances by some of the artists included.