The latest artist to challenge traditional country music is Orville Peck. Self-identified as queer and performs with his face obscured with an elaborate mask, Peck delivers a modern twist to his classic country influenced sound on his debut album, "Pony". His mug is not the only thing the singer is keeping covered as he has not publicly revealed his background beyond that "Orville Peck" is a pseudonym, he is from Canada and that he's older than twenty and younger than forty. However, in this day and age, nothing can remain secret for long. It has been uncovered that he is Daniel Pitout who was once the drummer of the Canadian punk band, Nu Sensae.
But let's keep the focus on his music. The collection of songs on "Pony" were inspired through many of his life experiences and some of the interesting folks he met along the way. Peck wants to challenge heteronormative expectations while offering a bold, alternative voice to country music. And with that, I think he has fully succeeded. The visuals are just as important to Peck as his music, as you can tell by these stylish music videos from this exciting new artist:
The identical Canadian alt-rockers, Tegan and Sara have been making music together for almost twenty-five years since they were young girls. The now thirty-nine year old musicians have just released a memoir, “High School” which looks back on their childhood and early musical beginnings. Each twin wrote alternating chapters from their own point of view.
And Tegan and Sara have also released their ninth studio album called “Hey, I’m Just Like You”. This record came together as they were writing the book when they found old cassette demo recordings they had made between the ages of fifteen to seventeen. The sisters decided to bring these unreleased songs to life. While they did do a little rewriting, Tegan and Sara kept the essence of those raw teenage emotions and re-recorded these songs with a mature production. It’s a really interesting concept and returns the duo back to their indie-rock roots. Have a listen to a couple of track I really like:
Alabama Shakes, the blues rock band, broke out in 2012 with their critically acclaimed debut, "Boys & Girls". After an extensive tour to promote that album, the group's follow-up, "Sound & Color" helped make Alabama Shakes even bigger. The album debuted in the US at number one, reached the top ten in several countries and won the band four Grammy Awards.
Following all of this success, the band's dynamic guitarist and lead vocalist, Brittany Howard decided to take a step back and put the band on hiatus so she could explore her own musical pursuits. She and her wife, Jesse Lafser hit the road, traveling around the country to experience modern-day America. This road trip lead to the Southern-based singer's first solo album, "Jamie" with the title named after her sister who passed away from a rare form of cancer as a teenager. With this record, Howard was inspired to go deeper in to her personal history and viewpoints to create her music. She also incorporates a little jazz, funk and hip-hop in to her songs. This is an exciting and bold new work from Howard. Here are a couple of tracks including the funky single, "Stay High" with the music video featuring actor Terry Crews:
For his fifth solo project, "Jimmy Lee", Saadiq has created a concept album that is deeply personal. The record is named after his brother who had contracted H.I.V. and later died from a drug overdose. The songs, inspired by other family losses in his life from addiction and tragedy, features the inventive production you expect from Saadiq yet the lyrics have a deep emotional complexity that you don't usually find in his work. Here is the clip for the single, "Something Keeps Calling" featuring Rob Bacon and a mini-documentary with Saadiq discussing the creation of his art and latest album:
