The Walkabouts issue career-spanning collection Long, Long Drive via Bandcamp

The Walkabouts' Long, Long Drive is a new 14-track collection of previously issued recordings only available via Bandcamp.

Here's the scoop from The Walkabouts...

We're happy to announce that The Walkabouts have released an exclusive BandCamp only compilation of 14 previously released tracks recorded over the years entitled "Long, Long Drive - Selected Songs in The Walkabouts' Own Words."

The collection features songs culled from the band's first full-length album released by Seattle's PopLlama Records in 1988 to their last Glitterhouse Records Germany release in 2012 - each track with extra liner note memories and musings written by members of the Walkabouts tribe - an offering to you from Grant, Terri, Bruce, Glenn, Carla, Paul, Tony, Chris, and Michael. 

Get a copy of The Walkabouts new collection Long, Long Drive right here. Check the tracklisting below.

The Walkabouts – Long, Long Drive

1. Christmas Valley 05:19

2. Winslow Place 05:38

3. Wild Sky Revelry 06:15

4. Train to Mercy (Italia version) 06:27

5. Who-Knows-What 04:15

6. Up in the Graveyard 06:12

7. When Fortune Smiles 05:34

8. Fuck Your Fear 04:15

9. Rebecca Wild 04:48

10. Where the Deep Water Goes 03:11

11. Every River Will Burn 06:38

12. Blue Head Flame 05:05

13. Slow Red Dawn 05:28

14. Bordertown [Live in Berlin] 06:10

One For The Weekend: Chris Eckman

Watch Slovenian director Jan Mozetič's lovely clip for "This Curving Track" off Chris Eckman's new album Where The Spirit Rests.

Get Chris Eckman's fantastic new album Where The Spirit Rests right here​.

Chris Eckman Trio on tour:

09.10.2021 CH-Zürich, El Lokal

10.10.2021 D-Geislingen, Rätsche

12.10.2021 D-Wetzlar, Kulturzentrum Franzis

14.10.2021 D-Berlin, Quasimodo

15.10.2021 D-Frankfurt, Nachtleben

16.10.2021 D-Heidelberg, Karlstorbahnhof *

17.10.2021 D-Köln, Kantine *

* solo

R.I.P. Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, 1925-2021

Sadly, Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis passed away at his Athens home. He was 96. Here's a tribute from The Walkabouts.

Watch a solo concert by The Walkabouts' Chris Eckman

Chris Eckman's performance was filmed at Ljubljana's Vodnikova domačija. His new album Where The Spirit Rests is out June 4th.   

Where The Spirit Rests, the fifth solo album from Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts, Dirtmusic, Distance, Light & Sky) is a deep dive into the vagaries of extraordinary times. Eckman’s luminous songwriting navigates loss, disorientation, redemption and the search for home. Recorded raw and direct with a small ensemble, the record is framed by expansive sonic textures: treated strings, analogue synth drones and ambient guitars. Where the Spirit Rests was co-produced with British electronic composer Alastair McNeill (Roísín Murphy, Yila) and includes an inspired cast of collaborators: pedal steel maverick Chuck Johnson, avant-garde violinist Catherine Graindorge, Dream Syndicate/Green on Red keyboardist Chris Cacavas, Seattle pedal steelist Jon Hyde (Karl Blau, Laura Viers) and Eckman's long time Ljubljana-based rhythm section of Žiga Golob (upright bass) and Blaž Celarec (drums). 

The All Music Guide called Eckman “one of the most underrated U.S. songwriters, a man who can pack a short story into image-laden lyrics.” The new album - Where the Spirit Rests - is amongst his most personal and vivid. A place to which he has been headed all along.

Get a copy of Chris Eckman's new album Where The Spirit Rests via Bandcamp right here. Watch the video for the title track below.

Chris Eckman – Where The Spirit Rests

1. Early Snow 06:03

2. This Curving Track 05:43

3. Cabin Fever 05:12

4. Drinking in America 07:08

5. Northern Lights 06:25

6. Where the Spirit Rests 09:11

7. CTFD 04:52

Townes Van Zandt vs. The Walkabouts

Many folks missed it, but Townes knocked out a great version of The Walkabouts' tune "The Stopping Off Place"

One For The Weekend: The Walkabouts

Here's The Walkabouts' Morricone-esque instro Desierto with visuals from Terrence Malick's "To The Wonder"

Happy Birthday Chris Eckman!

Here's a brilliant Walkabouts performance of Soul Thief issued as a limited seven-inch in 2012.

The Walkabouts' Long Drive In A Slow Machine

The Walkabouts discuss Travels In The Dustland



Jack Candy live in Athens - January 28, 2012

How many music execs does it take to hear a hit?

My Darling Clementine's Michael Weston King and Lou Dagleish

While those in charge of struggling record labels like to blame their financial woes on illegal downloading, the real reason many are facing difficult times has more to do with a fundamental lack of vision and what people in the music business call "ears."

It's difficult for well-compensated executives to admit this but the majority of those who have signing authority simply wouldn't know a great recording if they heard it. And even if someone still working for the label did, they're now too scared to pull the trigger for fear of their capital investment wouldn't be instantaneously profitable.

Take for example the illuminating case of My Darling Clementine, the inspired male/female country duet project of UK singer/songwriter Michael Weston King and his wife Lou Dagleish. Their impressive debut disc How Do You Plead? (Drumfire) has received rave reviews across the board from venerable print publications and music blogs alike and continues to get the sort of BBC support that's very unusual for something with a twang. Yet so far, King still hasn't been able to curry any label interest in a North American deal. Everyone he's corresponded with has apparently shrugged off the offer of a finished album that's already been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic. "Thanks, but no thanks."

That might be understandable if Americana mainstays like say Bloodshot, New West, Lost Highway, Sugar Hill or Rounder already had their own top-selling male/female duet acts that could write, record and perform their own material but the fact is, they don't. Moreover, even if you put aside that radical duets concept, the sophisticated level of compositions, arrangements and musicianship on How Do You Plead? puts My Darling Clementine's debut ahead of 90% of those labels output over the past decade.

It makes you wonder what other great Americana talents U.S. major indies have foolishly slept on – well, apart from The Walkabouts, Dylan LeBlanc, The Rizdales, Caitlin Rose, The Pining, Alela Diane, Scotty Campbell, etc.