Release Day Picks: May 5th New Album Highlights

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 Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’, Big Walnuts Yonder, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Mac DeMarco, At The Drive In, Grateful Dead, Joan Shelley and a Brandi Carlile charity covers album. Read on for more insight into the records we have all queued up to spin.

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Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ – TajMo

The Scoop: If you haven’t guessed it from the title of their album, TajMo is the new collaborative effort from blues guitarists Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’. The two musicians recorded the album intermittently over a two and a half year stretch and it includes guest spots from Joe Walsh, Bonnie Raitt and Shelia E. The 11-track effort mixes originals the duo penned together with a few covers, including a take on John Mayer’s “Waiting On The World To Change” that Raitt provides backing vocals on. Check out the lyric video for “Don’t Leave Me Here”:

Label: Concord Records

Producer: Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 45:17

Guest Musicians: Joe Walsh, Bonnie Raitt, Shelia E., Liz Wright

Tracklist:

1. Don’t Leave Me Here
2. She Knows How to Rock Me
3. All Around the World
4. Om Sweet Om
5. Shake Me In Your Arms
6. That’s Who I Am
7. Diving Duck Blues
8. Squeeze Box
9. Ain’t Nobody Talkin’
10. Soul
11. Waiting On The World To Change

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Big Walnuts Yonder – Big Walnuts Yonder

The Scoop: “It’s sick,” guitarist Nels Cline said in statement describing the newly formed Big Walnuts Yonder, adding “it has an extreme quality and kicks ass.” Minutemen bassist and previous collaborator Mike Watt brought Cline into the project following a 2008 discussion while on tour in Japan with Tera Melos multi-instrumentalist Nick Reinhart. The Wilco guitarist pressed Reinhart to seek out a drummer and Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier – who Cline had taken Watt to see perform unbeknownst to Reinhart – was given the call. Busy schedules postponed recording until a three-day session was held in 2014 with former Pere Ubu bassist Tony Maimone at his Brooklyn-based Studio G. Recorded live and mostly without overdubs, vocals were later added by Watt to two songs and by Reinhart on seven of the tracks. Learn more about the album via our interview with Cline and listen to “Raise the Drawbridges?” below:

Label: Sargent House

Producer: Tony Maimone

Number Of Tracks: 10

Running Time: 37:25

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. All Against All
2. Sponge Bath
3. Flare Star Phantom
4. I Got Marty Feldman Eyes
5. Raise the Drawbridges?
6. Ready to Pop!
7. Forgot to Brush
8. Rapid Driver Moon Inhaler
9. Pud
10. Heat Melter

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Chris Robinson Brotherhood – Betty’s Blends, Vol. 3: Self-Rising, Southern Blends

The Scoop: For the latest installment of their ongoing live archival release series Betty’s Blends, Chris Robinson Brotherhood mined the best of a their 2015 Southern run. Recorded and mixed live from the soundboard by Grateful Dead recording engineer Betty Cantor-Jackson, this latest edition mixes The CRB favorites with a healthy dose of cover tunes. Vol. 3: Self-Rising, Southern Blends finds the band showing off their influences tackling songs by Allen Toussaint, Bob Dylan and Slim Harpo. Give a listen CRB’s cover of Slim Harpo’s “The Music’s Hot” from the release :

Label: Silver Arrow Records

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 45:17

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. I Ain’t Hiding
2. Got Love
3. Clear Blue Sky & The Good Doctor
4. The Music’s Hot
5. Roan County Banjo
6. I’m A Hog For You
7. Oak Apple Day
8. Get Out Of My Life Woman
9. Honeysuckle Interlude
10. Ride
11. Tales of Thunder Teeth
12. Girl I Love You
13. She Belongs To Me

Stream / CD/LP

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Mac DeMarco – This Old Dog

The Scoop: Eccentric, 26-year-old guitarist Mac DeMarco moved to Los Angeles from his home in Queens, New York with a cache of demos that would become his third full length This Old Dog. The Canadian-born musician released the EP Another One in 2015, with his last LP, Salad Days, having come out in 2014. The acquisition of a CR-78 drum machine proved pivotal to the creation of the album that is otherwise mostly based around acoustic guitars and synthesizers. Here’s the reflective “My Old Man”:

Label: Captured Tracks

Producer: Mac DeMarco

Number Of Tracks: 13

Running Time: 42:24

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. My Old Man
2. This Old Dog
3. Baby You’re Out
4. For the First Time
5. One Another
6. Still Beating
7. Sister
8. Dreams from Yesterday
9. A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes
10. One More Love Song
11. On the Level
12. Moonlight on the River
13. Watching Him Fade Away

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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At The Drive In – in • ter a • li • a

The Scoop: Much to the elation of longtime fans, seminal prog punk powerhouse At The Drive In returns this week with their first album in a whopping 17 years. The band started writing the material for in • ter a • li • a while on their reunion tour in 2016 at a small studio in Korea and then formally recorded at the famed Sound Factory in Hollywood. The band no longer includes longtime co-founder Jim Ward, but by most accounts the current lineup still combines their whimsical intellectualism and acrobatic guitar workouts into a fiery furnace of guitar rock. Given the band has aged a good 15 years since their peak, the music comes across a bit more subdued that the post-hardcore material of the early days, but overall initial reviews are coming in very positive. Have a look at the video for “Incurably Innocent”:

Label: Rise Records

Producer: Rich Costey, Omar Rodríguez-López

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 41:01

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

1. No Wolf Like The Present
2. Continuum
3. Tilting At The Univendor
4. Governed By Contagions
5. Pendulum In A Peasant Dress
6. Incurably Innocent
7. Call Broken Arrow
8. Holtzclaw
9. Torrentially Cutshaw
10. Ghost-tape No.9
11. Hostage Stamps

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Joan Shelley – Joan Shelley

The Scoop:Joan Shelley may be the most suitable album title for the singer-songwriter’s fourth studio album as it will likely serve as her introduction to a wider audience thanks in part to the fact that Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy produced the record. Accompanied by her musical partner, guitarist Nathan Salsburg, the album was recorded over five days at Wilco’s Chicago-based studio The Loft and features not one, but two Tweedys – Jeff and his son Spencer on drums. The 11 tracks showcase Shelley’s gentle folk style and introspective lyrics that are a perfect remedy for when you need to unplug and decompress. Give a listen to the album’s lead single “Where I’ll Find You”:

Label: No Quarter

Producer: Jeff Tweedy

Number Of Tracks: 11

Running Time: 33:58

Guest Musicians: Jeff Tweedy, Spencer Tweedy, James Elkington

Tracklist:

1. We’d Be Home
2. If the Storm Never Comes
3. Where I’ll Find You
4. I Got What I Wanted
5. Even Though
6. I Didn’t Know
7. Go Wild
8. The Push and Pull
9. Pull Me Up One More Time
10. Wild Indifference
11. Isn’t That Enough

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Various – Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of The Story – An Album to Benefit War Child

The Scoop: An impressive array of acts ranging from Jim James of My Morning Jacket to Pearl Jam to Adele to The Avett Brothers and beyond have contributed to the new charity tribute album Cover Stories: Brandi Carlile Celebrates 10 Years of The Story – An Album to Benefit War Child. Like the name implies, the 14-song LP features covers of each song from Brandi Carlile’s 2007 album The Story. All proceeds from the album will go towards War Child UK and its mission to support children affected by conflict. Dave Cobb produced Cover Stories which was inspired by Adele’s version of “Hiding My Heart.” All of the tunes were recorded last year with the exception of the Adele track and Ruby Amanfu’s “Shadow On The Wall.” Stream Pearl Jam’s rendition of “Again Today”:

Label: Columbia

Producer: Dave Cobb

Number Of Tracks: 14

Running Time: 46:00

Tracklist:

1. Late Morning Lullaby – Shovels and Rope
2. The Story – Dolly Parton
3. Turpentine – Kris Kristofferson
4. My Song – Old Crow Medicine Show
5. Wasted – Jim James
6. Have You Ever – The Avett Brothers
7. Josephine – Anderson East
8. Losing Heart – The Secret Sisters
9. Cannonball – Indigo Girls
10. ntil I Die – TORRES
11. Downpour – Margo Price
12. Shadow On The Wall – Ruby Amanfu
13. Again Today – Pearl Jam
14. Hiding My Heart – Adele

Stream / Download / CD/LP

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Grateful Dead – May 1977: Get Shown The Light

The Scoop: The Grateful Dead’s May 1977 was one of the strongest months of live performances in the group’s history. May 1977: Get Shown The Light compiles every note played at four landmark concerts early in the month. The box set includes the first official release of the Dead’s famed May 8, 1977 concert at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York and Cornell ’77 is also available as its own release today. Get Shown The Light also features the band’s performances from New Haven, Boston and Buffalo surrounding the Ithaca show. Listen to the all-time “Not Fade Away” from Cornell ’77 included on Get Shown The Light:

Label: Rhino Records

Producer: Mastered by Jeffrey Norman

Number Of Tracks: 70

Guest Musicians: N/A

Tracklist:

May 5, 1977 @ Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum – New Haven, CT

Disc One

1. Promised Land
2. Sugaree
3. Mama Tried
4. El Paso
5. Tennessee Jed
6. Looks Like Rain
7. Deal
8. Lazy Lightning>
9. Supplication
10. Peggy-O
11. The Music Never Stopped

Disc Two

1. Bertha
2. Estimated Prophet
3. Scarlet Begonias>
4. Fire On The Mountain>
5. Good Lovin’
6. St. Stephen >
7. Sugar Magnolia
8. Johnny B. Goode

May 7, 1977 @ Boston Garden – Boston, MA

Disc One

1. Bertha
2. Cassidy
3. Deal
4. Jack Straw
5. Peggy-O
6. New Minglewood Blues
7. Mississippi Half-Step Uptown Toodeloo>
8. Big River
9. Tennessee Jed
10. The Music Never Stopped

Disc Two

1. Terrapin Station
2. Samson and Delilah
3. Friend Of The Devil
4. Estimated Prophet

Disc Three

1. Eyes Of The World >
2. Drums >
3. The Wheel >
4. Wharf Rat >
5. Around and Around
6. U.S. Blues

May 8, 1977 @ Barton Hall – Ithaca, NY

Disc One

1. New Minglewood Blues
2. Loser
3. El Paso
4. They Love Each Other
5. Jack Straw
6. Deal
7. Lazy Lightning >
8. Supplication
9. Brown-Eyed Women
10. Mama Tried
11. Row Jimmy

Disc Two

1. Dancing In The Street
2. Scarlet Begonias >
3. Fire On The Mountain
4. Estimated Prophet

Disc Three

1. St. Stephen >
2. Not Fade Away >
3. St. Stephen >
4. Morning Dew
5. One More Saturday Night

May 9, 1977 @ Buffalo Memorial Auditorium – Buffalo, NY

Disc One

1. Help On The Way>
2. Slipknot>
3. Franklin’s Tower
4. Cassidy
5. Brown-Eyed Women
6. Mexicali Blues
7. Tennessee Jed
8. Big River
9. Peggy-O
10. Sunrise
11. The Music Never Stopped

Disc Two

Bertha>
2. Good Lovin’
3. Ship Of Fools

Disc Three

1. Estimated Prophet >
2. The Other One >
3. Drums >
4. Not Fade Away >
5. Comes A Time >
6. Sugar Magnolia
7. Uncle John’s Band

Stream (Cornell ’77) / Download / CD/LP

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Compiled by Jeffrey Greenblatt, Ryan Dembinsky, Andy Kahn and Scott Bernstein.