Happy Birthday Lenny Kaye!

Celebrating Lenny Kaye's 79th birthday with a few interviews and performances (some with Peter Buck) you may have missed. 

The Minus 5 say "Blow In My Bag"

Scott McCaughey's video for the Minus 5's "Blow In My Bag" – off their new album Oar On, Penelope! – boasts an all star cast.

Here's the scoop...

The Scott McCaughey directed and edited video for The Minus 5's "Blow In My Bag" off their forthcoming album Oar On, Penelope! (available here: https://ffm.to/oaronpenelope) which stars Scott along with Peter Buck and Kurt Bloch with cameo appearances from Alejandro Escovedo, Nate Fassold, Patterson Hood, Debbi Peterson, Linda Pitmon, Chuck Prophet, Wesley Stace, Steve Wynn and yes, Nick Saloman's boot. 

Watch The Baseball Project live in Milwaukee & Kansas City – Cheers Scott!

Since it's Scott McCaughey's 70th birthday today, we're celebrating with some of his recent Baseball Project performances. 

40th Anniversary deluxe reissue of Young Fresh Fellows' 1984 debut on the way

Young Fresh Fellows' debut album, The Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific Northwest, is getting remixed and they're going on tour!

Here's the scoop...

It’s 2024, the 40th anniversary of the YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS trendsetting debut -- the record that put soggy Seattle on the map! In celebration, the band will release a deluxe remixed Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific Northwest on Omnivore Records. 

John Perrin (of NRBQ!) has been handed the sticks by the now-retiring Tad, joining Scott, Jim and Kurt to play a handful of shows culminating at Wilco’s fabled Solid Sound Fest.  Don't be afraid.  LLYFF!!!

Young Fresh Fellows on tour

May 24 - SEATTLE  Tractor Tavern (w/ Tripwires)

May 25 - PORTLAND  Mississippi Studios. (w/ Reverse Cowgirl)

June 21 - MADISON  Kiki’s House Of Righteous Music

June 22 - CHICAGO  The Hideout. (w/ Aunt Kelly)

June 25 - CLEVELAND  Happy Dog (w/ Cheap Clone)

June 26 - PHILADELPHIA  Kung Fu Necktie  (w/ Bret Tobias Set)

June 27 - BROOKLYN  Union Pool

June 29  NORTH ADAMS MA  Solid Sound Fest

The Baseball Project knocks it outta the park with "Grand Salami Time"

Peter Buck, Steve Wynn & Scott McCaughey hilariously cram all the home run clichés they can fit into the title track of their new Baseball Project album. 

The Baseball Project previews Grand Salami Time with "Journeyman"

Steve Wynn, Peter Buck, Mike Mills, Scott McCaughey & Linda Pitmon return with Grand Salami Time! on June 30th via Omnivore. Listen to "Journeyman"

Here's the scoop from Omnivore HQ...

In 2008 they busted out of the box and easily reached first with their Frozen Ropes And Dying Quails. The Baseball Project was on base and immediately posed a threat to go further. In 2011, they moved on to second with some wildness aptly called High And Inside. They were halfway home. Three years later in 2014, the quintet of Big Stars moved on down the line to the aptly titled 3rd, an epic double dip delight of craftsmanship and savvy.

And there they stayed. For nine long years at the hot corner, but we’re happy to say that The Baseball Project is finally coming home, scoring big and touching ’em all with their fourth album Grand Salami Time. The scoreboard is lighting up and the fireworks are illuminating the sky.

Speaking of reaching home, this album is a homecoming of sorts, as the band recorded and produced the album with none other than the legendary Mitch Easter. BBP members Peter Buck and Mike Mills’ made their first albums with Mitch back in the early ’80s with a swingin’ little combo called R.E.M.

Scott McCaughey and Steve Wynn kept busy themselves, busting out new tunes with the Minus 5/Young Fresh Fellows (Scott) and The Dream Syndicate (Steve), while stockpiling a passel of penned poetics about the national pastime, many co-written with Peter. Mike adds a new classic of his own about doctored baseballs called “Stuff.”

Linda Pitmon, who along with Peter and Scott has been part of a steady rhythmic nucleus, bashing out epic rock platters with Filthy Friends, (Alejandro Escovedo, Luke Haines & Peter Buck), is back driving the ship from behind her mighty drum machine.

All in all, a fancy pedigree but, as Wynn points out, “this is our only band that plays stadiums”—true story as The Baseball Project has performed full sets along with the National Anthem and “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” at major league parks in Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, Minneapolis, Philadelphia and more minor league and spring training fields, as well as having thrown out some exceptional first pitches (nothing but strikes!) as well.

It’s all part of an unusual arc and fun story of a band whose first gig was an appearance on Late Night With David Letterman followed by a festival in a medieval Spanish city. For a quintet that has seemingly done everything over the years with their other bands, The Baseball Project always offers new and uncharted experiences.

The album was recorded at Mitch Easter’s fabled Fidelitorium Studios in Kernersville, North Carolina, with the entire band performing live together in the same room, a joyous experience that seemed impossible to imagine only one year before. Mitch adds guitar on a few tracks and the record also features appearances by Stephen McCarthy (The Long Ryders) and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos).

In the meantime, the band will be out on the road throughout—when else?—the upcoming baseball season. And we all know they’ll find their way home. Get out the rye bread and mustard, Grandma, it’s Grand Salami Time!

Available on CD, Digital, and as a double-LP (with an etched 4th side), Grand Salami Time is the home run music fans have been waiting for. Packaging features stories behind the songs from band members, and makes Grand Salami Time more than a game—it makes your season! 

You can pre-order The Baseball Project's forthcoming album, Grand Salami Time! from Omnivore right here. Listen to "Journeyman" followed by the album trailer clip below. 

 

The No Ones (Scott McCauhey & Peter Buck) release My Best Evil Friend on March 31

The No Ones get vocal assists from The Bangles' Debbi Peterson, Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake and Death Cab's Ben Gibbard. 

Here's the scoop...

"No one is defined as nobody. An example of no one is how you would describe who is in an empty house. Not one person, nobody. The logical negation of someone." 

OK, that makes sense. The No Ones are also defined as "not a single person" and that's fine too. In this case there are but four No Ones, and you can put them all in one room, though not very often at the same time. They are, alphabetically: 

Peter Buck - R.E.M., Minus 5, Filthy Friends, Baseball Project, Luke Haines, etc. Countless songs -- you can only hope to contain them! Double-LPs and pizza. Hound Dog Taylor, Raspberries and Sault. Warm weather and walking. Made three amazing and fucked-up solo albums that are available only in an alternate analog world. 

Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen - I Was A King, Rural Tapes, etc. Drums, keyboards, percussion, vocals, etc. Arne played the controversial piano solo on "Turn Again" from first No Ones long-player. He loves forest green, his Korg MS-10, Can, and Raymond Scott. Rural Tapes (solo/collaborative instrumental project) release 2nd album Inner Space Music November 2022. 

Scott McCaughey - Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5, R.E.M., Baseball Project, Filthy Friends, etc. Primary lyricist, plus bass, keyboards, guitars and vocals. He enjoys coffee in his spare time, and dreams of Neil Young and Irma Thomas fronting Sun Ra's Arkestra, with Nice As Fuck opening. Casablanca and The Florida Project are required viewing. Scott The Hoople is his solo side-career. 

Frode Strømstad - I Was A King, Rider, etc. Master of melodies as well as guitars, capos, chords, and vocal cords. He parties down with GBV and Elf Power. I Was A King releases its 8th album Follow Me Home in September 2022. 

So, making music comes naturally to this band, despite the obstacles. Conceived above the Arctic Circle, split by thousands of miles, and compounded by ridiculous schedules and pandemics... Thirty-plus songs later and we have My Best Evil Friend (out March 31 via Yep Roc Records), the band's third release and follow-up to 2020's exceptional (by definition) The Great Lost No Ones Album. 

My Best Evil Friend was realized in the way it was required, bouncing tracks back and forth from studios in Norway to the Dungeon Of Horror in Portland, Oregon, with a few other helpful home-recorders. Arne and Frode were able to track live guitars and drums together in Oslo, which somehow gives the vibe of a combo rockin' a high school gym -- owing much to the engineering work of Bård Ingebrigtsen, who also did the final mixes. 

Whereas Great Lost Album was imagined as being discovered in 2054 by a retro-hipster-scribe in Mojo ("The Last Magazine"), the latest is a blurry tribute to our own LP collections and memories, the artists that populate our turntables, and those that continue to inspire us. Not exactly in linear or transparent ways, but you'll find shadows of Plastic Ono Band, Joe Tex, Sugar Pie de Santo, Nick Lowe, beat poet Michael McClure, Blind Tom, Pamela Polland, Dean Martin, and on and on. There are even outright paeans to George Harrison, Jenny Lewis, and Phil Ochs, among others. And once again the quartet has enlisted contributions from generous friends, through the voices of Debbi Peterson (Bangles), Norman Blake (Teenage Fan Club), Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie), as well as 'lead bass' from Camper Van Beethoven's Victor Krummenacher, and strings from Marin Ballemo Bakke. 

With a 2020 tour of Norway repeatedly Covid-canceled, as well as lost appearances at Roskilde and other festivals, you might think it makes sense to hang it up. Well, it does, but that's not the way it works. When downtime is forced upon you, the committed musician just turns it into more songs, more records, more life. The No Ones still hope to meet you all in person, but for now, let's hope that My Best Evil Friend can at least pull you into their orbit, like a beacon from RKO.  – Robert Stove, The Electric Bird Digest, THE Quarterly Magazines for Amateur Electrobirds 

Get a copy of The NoOnes' My Best Evil Friend via Bandcamp right here. Listen to the first three tracks shared from the new album, "304 Molino Way." "Phil Ochs Is Dead" and "Song For George" 

Happy Opening Day from The Baseball Project!

Watch Peter Buck, Steve Wynn, Linda Pitmon & Scott McCaughey ring in the new baseball season with "All Future and No Past."

Season's Greetings from Scott McCaughey & The Minus 5

Here's a spirited yuletide ripper from Scott McCaughey off the Minus 5's Dear December album from 2017. 

You can still get the Minus 5's Dear December album from Yep Roc or your fave streaming platform right here.  

Alejandro Escovedo inducted into Austin City Limits Hall of Fame on Thursday

Congrats to Alejandro on the ACL honour, it's just surprising that the Austin icon wasn't in already. 

Here's the scoop on the event from Austin City Limits...

Austin City Limits is proud to announce the newest class of Austin City Limits Hall of Fame inductees, recognizing a pioneering trio of music’s great live acts: Alejandro Escovedo, Lucinda Williams and Wilco. Music greats Jason Isbell, Margo Price, John Doe, Sheila E., Lenny Kaye, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, Rosanne Cash, Bill Callahan, Terry Allen and Del Castillo’s Alex Ruiz will take part in saluting the newest class of inductees with one-of-a-kind music performances and tributes.

The 2021 Austin City Limits Hall of Fame inductees will be saluted at a star-studded ceremony to be held October 28th, 2021 at ACL's studio home, ACL Live at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin. Musical highlights and inductions from the ceremony will air as a special on PBS stations across the country in January 2022.

Alejandro Escovedo

Called a “rock and punk godfather” by Rolling Stone, Alejandro Escovedo first debuted on Austin City Limits in 1983 with his seminal band Rank and File, and has made five indelible appearances. The San Antonio-born, California-raised trailblazer has been a punk of the rebel kind in early band The Nuns, a cowpunk of the non-Western variety in Rank and File, commander of a guitar army in The True Believers, an orchestral conductor in his solo work, and a sensitive boy who has outrun death, demons, lust, and lost love in his songs. Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has taken in his lifelong search for the heart of rock ‘n’ roll. No Depression magazine declared him the Artist of the Decade at the onset of the millennium. His 12th studio album, 2018’s The Crossing, is a testament to his enduring power as a uniquely talented artist and collaborator. Escovedo has appeared on ACL five times - in 1983 (as part of Rank and File), 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2017.

Lucinda Williams

Louisiana-born Lucinda Williams has traveled a long road since her 1979 debut, Ramblin’ on My Mind, followed by Happy Woman Blues, her first album of originals released over forty years ago in 1980. (She says that she’s still “the same girl” except that now “I have a bigger fan base and I can afford to stay at better hotels.”) Over the course of fourteen remarkable albums, three Grammy awards, and countless accolades, including Time’s Songwriter of the Year of 2001, Williams is one of music’s most revered artists, beloved for her singular vocals and extraordinary songs. In 2018, she celebrated the 20th Anniversary of her watershed Americana album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road with a sold-out milestone tour. The pioneering artist returned to the gritty blues foundation that first inspired her as a young singer-songwriter in the late 1970s, releasing a career highlight, 2020’s Good Souls Better Angels, to critical raves and a pair of Grammy nominations, hailed “one of the most searing, potent and passionate albums you’ll hear” by American Songwriter. Williams has appeared on Austin City Limits four times, in 1990, 1992 (as part of a songwriters special), 1999 and 2008.

Wilco

In their over two-plus decades as a band, Wilco has won multiple Grammy Awards, released 11 studio albums, as well as a trio of acclaimed albums with Billy Bragg penning music to lyrics by Woody Guthrie. Led, as always by singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy, the influential Chicago band have founded their own record label (dBpm Records) and festival (Solid Sound). Wilco continue to be regarded as a live powerhouse, as described by NPR, “To see Wilco on stage is to hear the best of the best.” Rolling Stone hails their most recent album, Ode to Joy, “Their best in years, a beautiful exercise in downhearted uplift,” while New York Magazine raved “[Ode to Joy] is Wilco’s best album in over a decade, and solid proof there’s room for bands to grow even when they’re already ten albums in.” Wilco has appeared on the ACL stage four times, in 2000, 2005, 2007 and 2012.

Austin City Limits 2021 Hall of Fame Induction & Celebration

Thursday, October 28, 2021

ACL Live at The Moody Theater

310 W Willie Nelson Blvd, Austin, TX 78701

6:00 pm gates and will call open

6:45 pm doors open

7:30 pm showtime

VIP Party Begins at 6:00 pm

Get tickets right here. Watch Alejandro Escovedo perform "Johnny Volume" with Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Kurt Bloch which wasn't originally televised as part of the ACL broadcast. 

 

Watch the Young Fresh Fellows' creepy video for "Becky Doll"

"Becky Doll" feat. Coco Hames is off The Young Fresh Fellows' Toxic Youth album out now. Get it right here. 

 

One For The Weekend: Scott "The Hoople" McCaughey

Check out Scott McCaughey with The Sadies doing Neil Young's "Revolution Blues" not on Scott's salute, Neil (Vol.1) out today.

Here's the scoop from Scott The Hoople...

"Neil Young turns 75 glorious years old next week. 

For 50+ years, his music has been a huge part of my life - a source of immense pleasure, comfort, and pleasurable discomfort. 

When I had a major stroke three years ago, I lost my ability to talk, sing, make music. As I found my way back, I turned to the songs I had a best chance at recalling, music somewhere deep in the recesses of what was left of me. The Beatles and Neil were my subterranean lode ... words and chords COULD be unearthed if I tried hard and often enough. 

When this homegrown effort started taking shape, in the bowels of 2020, I consciously swerved away from much of the best known Neil songs to me, and the casual listener. Digging deeper, like I had tried to cough up favorite songs in the ditch of my fucked-up brain. 

Neil is so many things. I wanted to represent some of them. But, I also decided, hey, call it Volume One. There are a thousand more songs... "

Check out Neil, Vol. 1 right here. Watch Scott perform Neil's "Revolution Blues" at the Horseshoe below.

Scott The Hoople - Neil (Vol. 1)

1. Music Arcade 05:27

2. For The Turnstiles 02:41

3. Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing 04:45

4. Buffalo Springfield Again 02:56

5. Sad Movies 03:56

6. Trans Am 05:34

7. Mideast Vacation 04:40

8. Thrasher 05:34

9. Shots 04:56

10. Almost Always 04:54

11. Ramada Inn 07:03

12. Barstool Blues 03:35

13. Light A Candle 04:11

CREDITS: 

Performed/recorded/mixed by Scott McCaughey at Dungeon Of Horror, Portland OR. 

Lead guitar (tracks 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13) by Mike McCready, recorded at Hockeytalkter Studios, Seattle WA. 

Mastered by Kurt Bloch at Strictly Vintage, Seattle. 

Scott McCaughey releases Anything Is Better Than YOU EP

All proceeds from Scott's new Anything Is Better Than YOU EP  on Bandcamp will go to the Color Of Change organization for racial justice. 

Peter Buck knocks out two new albums!

Peter Buck cut Beat Poetry For Survivalists with The Auteurs' Luke Haines and joins Scott McCaughey with Norwegian pals in The No Ones. 

THE GREAT LOST NO ONES ALBUM

The No Ones – a bi-continental collaboration featuring Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey, Frode Strømstad and Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen – is a band that stretches from the southwest of Norway through Athens, Georgia to the northwest corner of the USA, consisting of members from I Was A King, The Minus 5, The Baseball Project and R.E.M.

As this pedigree almost dictates, they wield Fender and Rickenbacker guitars, cutting, chiming and fuzzing their way through songs dealing with abduction, interstellar mysteries, witchcraft, and more mundane fare like climate change, gentrification, and the desolation of the soul. The vocal harmonies and psychedelic flourishes fuse the sunny turbulent sounds of the ‘60s with the darkness and decay of today.

 The 13-track LP, The Great Lost No Ones Album – out on Yep Roc March 27th – was recorded way back in June 2017 at Type Foundry by Adam Selzer in Portland, OR, and features Patterson Hood (“Straight Into The Bridge” and “Sweet Home Mississippi”), Darren Hanlon (“All You Need Is Rain,” “Too Blind To Believe, “Turn Again”), Andrew Reiger and Davey Wrathgabar (“Dream Something Else”), Lucy Parnell (“Sun Station Vadsø”), and Debbi Peterson (“Gone”).

Initial pressings come with a bonus 7" with the otherwise unavailable tracks "Apples" and "Slow Century." You can pre-order The Great Lost No Ones Album from Yep Roc right here. Watch the video for "Straight Into The Bridge" below and the lead track "No One Falls Alone".

BEAT POETRY FOR THE SURVIVALIST

Beat Poetry For The Survivalist is the new collaboration between Peter Buck and Luke Haines. Peter Buck was the guitarist R.E.M., the biggest band in the world. Luke Haines was the guitarist for The Auteurs who were not the biggest band in the world. Luke Haines also does paintings of Lou Reed.

One day, Peter Buck bought one of Luke Haines’ Lou Reed paintings (for £99.00) They had never met before but decided that the fates had brought them together and they should write some songs together and make an album.

Beat Poetry For The Survivalist (Omnivore) is that album. With songs about legendary rocket scientist and occultist Jack Parsons, the Enfield hauntings (of 1978), a post-apocalyptic radio station that only plays Donovan records, Bigfoot, and Pol Pot. You can order a copy of the album directly from Omnivore Recordings right here. Listen to "Jack Parsons" below.

Tommy Wade & The Country Rebels opening for The Sadies, Minus 5 @ The Horseshoe, Tuesday

If you're going to see The Sadies at The Horseshoe on New Year's Eve, don't miss Tommy Wade or The Minus Five (with Steve Wynn!). 

A few Christmas Hymns from The Minus 5

Scott McCaughey and The Minus 5 wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Alejandro Escovedo signs with Yep Roc, new studio album due in 2018

Yep Roc Records recently announced the signing of acclaimed Texas singer/songwriter Alejandro Escovedo whose most recent album, 2016's Burn Something Beautiful, was issued by Concord Music Group's Fantasy imprint. Currently working on material for his Yep Roc debut anticipated for 2018, Escovedo will headline the Think About the Link 12-city tour beginning January 13, in Austin, TX. A full list of concert dates follows the video clips below.

In partnership with Prevent Cancer Foundation, the Think About the Link tour will raise awareness of the Foundation’s educational campaign about the connection between certain viruses and cancer, www.thinkaboutthelink.org of which Escovedo is a spokesperson. As a hepatitis C survivor, Escovedo hopes to raise awareness about the link between hepatitis C and liver cancer. Each night he will perform his A Man Under the Influence album in its entirety with most of the original musicians featured on the album and a string section.

“I had a great time performing at Yep Roc Records 20th anniversary show,” says Escovedo, “connecting with friends old and new, I look forward to joining Yep Roc’s esteemed roster.”

“We are massive fans of Alejandro,” says Yep Roc’s Glenn Dicker. “I first met with him about Yep Roc in 2003 at a little festival outside of Chapel Hill called Shakori Hills. Through Alejandro directly and a handful of managers, we’ve managed to stay in touch over all of the ensuing years and, you know, I just can’t put you down!  We’re so proud to be finally working together.  Let’s have some fun!”

With 14 solo albums throughout his illustrious career, Alejandro Escovedo has a rich musical history and future. In a trailblazing career that began with The Nuns, San Francisco’s famed punk innovators in the mid ‘70s, to the Austin-based alt-country pioneers, Rank & File, to Texas bred darlings, True Believers, through countless all-star collaborations and tribute album appearances and a series of beloved solo albums beginning with 1992’s acclaimed Gravity, Escovedo has earned a surplus of distinctions, including No Depression magazine’s Artist of the Decade Award in 1998, and the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing in 2006.

Previously produced by John Cale, Tony Visconti, and most recently Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey who also played on the aforementioned Burn Something Beautiful album, Yep Roc will release his 15th album in 2018.

Watch Alejandro perform "Horizontal" and "Johnny Volume" with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey on Austin City Limits. Scott is currently receiving medical treatment in San Francisco for a stroke suffered while on tour with Alejandro back in November. Scott's partner Mary Winzig has begun a GoFundMe campaign to help defray the costs of Scott's medical bills and extensive physical and speech therapy to which you can contribute right here.








ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO'S THINK ABOUT THE LINK TOUR
January 13 – Austin City Limits at Moody Theater – Austin, TX
January 16 – The Hamilton – Washington, DC
January 18-20 – City Winery – New York, NY
January 21 – City Winery – Boston, MA
January 23 – World Cafe Live – Philadelphia, PA
January 25-27 – City Winery – Chicago, IL
January 28 – The Castle Theatre – Bloomington, IL
January 30 – City Winery – Atlanta, GA
January 31 – City Winery – Nashville, TN
February 6 – Knuckleheads – Kansas City, MO
February 8 – The Kessler Theater – Dallas, TX
February 9 – The Heights Theater – Houston, TX

Alejandro Escovedo gets Horizontal at WFUV

 Watch Alejandro cut loose with Kurt Bloch and Scott McCaughey on "Horizontal" from Burn Something Beautiful. 

Alejandro Escovedo enlists Peter Buck & Scott McCaughey for new album

Alejandro Escovedo brings Burn Something Beautiful to The Horseshoe November 23.

Alejandro Escovedo announced that his forthcoming album, Burn Something Beautiful – co-written & produced by Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey who also play on the recording – will be released by Fantasy Records on October 28.

Overseen by Alejandro's longtime pal, A&R man extraordinaire Bill Bentley, Burn Something Beautiful is described as a "deeply collaborative effort" recorded in Portland, Oregon with a stellar cast of contributors including Fastbacks guitarist Kurt Bloch, Decemberists drummer John Moen and Los Lobos saxophonist Steve Berlin. The cover art was shot by Nancy Rankin Escovedo and features Peter Buck hoisting what appears to be a mid-60s vintage Mosrite Joe Maphis double-neck guitar. Check "Heartbeat Smile," the first track off the album, right here. Get tickets for Alejandro's return to Toronto to play The Horseshoe November 23 via ticketfly.

Watch Alejandro perform an early composition "Five Hearts Breaking" and "Bottom Of The World" (co-written with Chuck Prophet) from 2012's Big Station album (below).

New album from Tuatara due in August

Barrett Martin's Tuatara project with Peter Buck & Mike McCready release Underworld on Aug 5.