Apr 172013
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

It’s hard to believe, but in a couple months we’ll be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the release of Exile in Guyville, the benchmark indie album that revealed Liz Phair to the world at large. She won a reputation for her lyrical candor, never using a euphemism when a dysphemism will do (look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls), and delivering those lyrics in a perfectly imperfect everywoman voice, set to spare but incredibly catchy melodies. Subsequent albums saw her staying true to her voice no matter where it took her, and as songs like “H.W.C.” attested, she never lost her spunk. Continue reading »

Mar 202012
 

A few months ago Tyler Ramsey released an acoustic cover of the ’80s hit “All Through The Night,” written by Jules Shear and famously covered by Cyndi Lauper on her 1984 debut album. Now the tune seems to be making a full-fledged comeback, as a new collaborative project called U.S. Elevator recently released their own cover as a single. The voice behind the group is none other than Sarah Lee Guthrie, daughter of Arlo and granddaughter of Woody, who has released several albums with her husband Johnny Irion as a folk-rock duo. To form U.S. Elevator, the pair joined forces with San Franciscan production duo The Rondo Brothers, who are connected to acts like Galactic and Foster the People. Continue reading »