Release Day Picks: June 24th New Album Recommendations

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by The Avett Brothers, Rich Robinson, The Felice Brothers and Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

The Avett Brothers – True Sadness

The Scoop: There’s been a lot of talk about True Sadness as a departure for The Avett Brothers in terms of their sound – in large part due to an open letter penned by Seth Avett to fans about how the new record is a patchwork quilt of styles. Ironically, having streamed the LP via NPR First Listen, the album is exactly what you’d expect from the Avetts: it’s an album that invites you to sit down and take in the whole thing with ease while your mind wanders. Sure, the music bounces around from foot-stomping pop anthems, soulful folk songs and multi-instrumental rave ups, but the musical categorization is not important. The Avett Brothers are top notch songwriters in a tight band, and an evolution of their vehicle for conveying those things doesn’t take away from the quality in the least. Have a look at the trailer video for True Sadness below (which includes a great shot of Rick Rubin laying on the couch with his eyes closed listening to the band tracking):

Label: Republic Records

Producer: Rick Rubin

Number Of Tracks: 12

Running Time: 50:59

Guest Musicians: Tania Elizabeth (fiddle), Paul Defiglia (keyboards), Mike Marsh (drums)

Tracklist:

1. Ain’t No Man
2. Mama, I Don’t Believe
3. No Hard Feelings
4. Smithsonian
5. You Are Mine
6. Satan Pulls the Strings
7. True Sadness
8. I Wish I Was
9. Fisher Road to Hollywood
10. Victims of Life
11. Divorce Separation Blues
12. May It Last

Stream / Download / CD, Box Set, and Digital

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Rich Robinson – Flux

The Scoop: Returning to Applehead Studios in Saugerties, New York where the founding member of The Black Crowes recorded his previous solo albums 2011’s The Ceaseless Sight and 2014’s Woodstock Sessions, guitarist Rich Robinson penned 13 new originals for his latest LP. He recruited keyboardists Marco Benevento, Matt Slocum and Danny Mitchell, bassist Zak Gabbard, drummer Joe Magistro and vocalists John Hogg and Danielia Cotton to join him at the familiar recording space. The album includes the lead single “Music That Will Lift Me,” featuring guitar and vocals from Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr, check out the collab here:

Label: Eagle Rock Entertainment

Producer: Rich Robinson

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 59:26

Guest Musicians: Marco Benevento, Matt Slocum, Danny Mitchell, Zak Gabbard, Joe Magistro, John Hogg, Danielia Cotton, Charlie Starr

Tracklist:

1. The Upstairs Land
2. Shipwreck
3. Music That Will Lift Me
4. Everything’s Alright
5. Eclipse The Night
6. Life
7. Ides Of Nowhere
8. Time To Leave
9. Astral
10. For To Give
11. Which Way Your Wind Blows
12. Surrender
13. Sleepwalker

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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The Felice Brothers – Life In The Dark

The Scoop: The Felice Brothers seem to inhabit what Greil Marcus termed “the old, weird America,” writing ramshackle country-folk songs about gamblers, grifters, drifters and any number of interesting characters that roam towns that surround their home base in Woodstock, New York. For their latest, Life In The Dark, the band retreated to a garage-turned-recording-studio on a working farm in New York’s Hudson Valley. The record features songs that move deftly between foot-stomping barn dance tunes that feature clever wordplay and introspective laments punctuated by James Felice’s achingly beautiful accordion work. Check out the video for the album’s lead single “Aerosol Ball”:

Label: Yep Rock

Producer: The Felice Brothers

Number Of Tracks: 8

Running Time: 43:12

Guest Musicians: David Estabrook

Tracklist:

1. Aerosol Ball
2. Jack At The Asylum
3. Life In The Dark
4. Triumph ’73
5. Plunder
6. Sally!
7. Diamond Bell
8. Dancing On The Wing
9. Sell The House

Stream,/a> / Download / CD/LP

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Jerry Garcia & Merl Saunders – GarciaLive Volume 6: July 5, 1973 Lion’s Share

The Scoop: The latest installment of the Jerry Garcia live archival series GarciaLive features a Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders performance from the Lion’s Share in San Anselmo, California. The pair were backed by frequent collaborators drummer Bill Vitt and bassist John Kahn for a show that took place just five days before the quartet’s famed Live At Keystone performances. GarciaLive Volume 6 was recorded by acclaimed Dead engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson and then mixed and mastered for release. Merl famously taught Jerry how best to cover songs and the 3-CD set contains plenty of standout covers including takes on The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” JJ Cale’s “After Midnight” and Smokey Robinson’s “I Second That Emotion.” Listen to “That’s Alright, Mama” off the new release:

Label: Round Records / ATO Records

Number Of Tracks: 14

Running Time: 2:39:53

Producer: Marc Allan

Guest Musicians: John Kahn, Bill Vitt, (Unknown Trumpeter)

Tracklist:

Disc One

1. After Midnight
2. Someday Baby
3. She’s Got Charisma
4. That’s Alright, Mama

Disc Two

1. The System
2. The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
3. I Second That Emotion
4. My Funny Valentine
5. Finders Keepers

Disc Three

1. Money Honey
2. Like A Road
3. Merl’s Tune
4. Lion’s Share Jam
5. How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)

Download / CD/LP

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Compiled by Jeff Greenblatt, Ryan Dembinsky, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein