deep dark woods

To end off the year, we’ve put together a free digital album that includes some of our favorite HearYa Live Session tracks from 2009. It’s called Earwood, named for the intense feeling of pleasure our ears get when listening to these great bands.  Download Volume 1 from 2008 here and download our phenomenal 2009 Volume 2 here.

Thanks to all of the bands that took the time to visit us, to all the labels, publicists and other industry types that have supported us, to Shirk Music + Sound (Steve Shirk) for the studio time, and of course all of y’all for reading. We’ll kick off 2010 with sessions with AA Bondy and The Mother Hips. Cheers to a very Happy New Year!

Exclusive: The Love Language – Providence

Exclusive: Blind Pilot – Go On, Say It

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Banks Of The Leopold Canal

Exclusive: The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin

Exclusive: Lissie – Little Lovin

Exclusive: Alberta Cross – ATX

Exclusive: The Rural Alberta Advantage – Edmonton

Exclusive: Horse Feathers – Curs In The Weeds

Exclusive: The Roadside Graves – Ruby

Exclusive: Other Lives – Paper Cities

Exclusive: The Devil Makes Three – Do Wrong Right

Exclusive: Port O’Brien – My Will Is Good

Exclusive: Heartless Bastards – Out To Sea

Download the compilation as a zip file.

We heard two new songs in our live session with The Deep Dark Woods, “The Banks of The Leopold Canal” and “Ballad of Frank Dupree.” They recently sent us this new track called “Charlie’s (Is Coming Down) and again knocked it out of the park.  DDW’s Winter Hours was actually tied with AA Bondy as my favorite album of 2009 and if the new material is any indication, their next album may be their finest.

The Deep Dark Woods – Charlie’s (Is Coming down)

A great list of mp3’s from last week. These come from our best albums of 2009.

See picks 1-25 | See Picks 26-50

AA Bondy – I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

AA Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose

The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone

The Love Language – Lalita

Other Lives – Paper Cities

The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You

Justin Townes Earle – Mama’s Eyes

Magnolia Electric Co – Josephine

Port O’Brien – My Will Is Good

The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin

Megafaun – Kaufman’s Ballad

Monsters of Folk – Say Please

The Wooden Sky – Something Hiding For Us In The Night

The Mother Hips – White Falcon Fuzz

Heartless Bastards – The Mountain

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Goodbye

Foreign Born – Early Warnings

Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Shampoo

Pink Mountaintops – Vampire

The Roadside Graves – Ruby

The Maldives – Tequila Sunday

Deer Tick – Easy

Deer Tick – Smith Hill

The Devil Makes Three – All Hail

Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man

The Builders and The Butchers – Barcelona

Phosphorescent – Reasons To Quit

The Felice Brothers – Run Chicken Run

White Rabbits – Percussion Gun

Fanfarlo – Luna

Ha Ha Tonka – Close Every Valve To Your Bleeding Heart

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Wind Phoenix

These United States – I Want You To Keep Everything

Girls – Summertime

Alberta Cross – ATX (HearYa Live Session Version)

Neko Case – People Gotta Lotta Nerve

John Vanderslice – Too Much Time

J. Tillman – Though I Have Wronged You

The Dexateens – Down Low

Trainwreck Riders – Chug Along

And here are HearYa’s top albums of 2009. In our opinion 2009 was a better year for music than ‘08, but there was no single album that jumped out at us like Blitzen Trapper last year. Each HearYa contributor had a different favorite, but there was one album that kept emerging as the most listened to album in all of our iPod rotations – AA Bondy’s When The Devil’s Loose.

I can honestly say that I love every album in this list and I think your music collection would be richer with any or all of them. Agree? Disagree? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

1.    A.A. Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose

AA Bondy – I Can See The Pines Are Dancing

AA Bondy – When The Devil’s Loose

2.    The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours

The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone

3.    The Love Language – The Love Language

The Love Language – Lalita

4.    Other Lives – Other Lives

Other Lives – Paper Cities

5.    The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You

The Avett Brothers – I And Love And You

6.    Justin Townes Earle – Midnight At The Movies

Justin Townes Earle – Mama’s Eyes

7.    Magnolia Electric Co. – Jospehine

Magnolia Electric Co – Josephine

8.    Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid

9.    Port O’Brien – Threadbare

Port O’Brien – My Will Is Good

10.    The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin

The Low Anthem – Charlie Darwin

11.    Megafaun – Gather Form & Fly

Megafaun – Kaufman’s Ballad

12.    Wilco – Wilco (the album)

Wilco – One Wing (live via Steregum)

13.    Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk

Monsters of Folk – Say Please

14.    The Wooden Sky – I Don’t Come Home You’ll Know I’m Gone

The Wooden Sky – Something Hiding For Us In The Night

15.    The Mother Hips – Pacific Dust

The Mother Hips – White Falcon Fuzz

16.    Lucero – 1372 Overton Park

17.    Heartless Bastards – The Mountain

Heartless Bastards – The Mountain

18.    Edward Sharpe & The Magnificent Zeros – Edward Sharpe & The Magnificent Zeros

Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeros – 40 Day Dream

19.    Langhorne Slim – Be Set Free

Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Goodbye

20.    Foreign Born – Person To Person

Foreign Born – Early Warnings

21.    Elvis Perkins in Dearland – Elvis Perkins in Dearland

Elvis Perkins In Dearland – Shampoo

22.    Pink Mountaintops – Outside Love

Pink Mountaintops – Vampire

23.    The Roadside Graves – My Son’s Home

The Roadside Graves – Ruby

24.    The Maldives – Listen To The Thunder

The Maldives – Tequila Sunday

25.    Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day

Deer Tick – Easy

Deer Tick – Smith Hill

Here are the tracks discussed this past week.

The Mumlers – Tangled Up With You

Volcano Choir – Island, IS

Shout Out Louds – Walls

Langhorne Slim – Say Yes

Langhorne Slim – I Love You, But Goodbye

The Deep Dark Woods – Sweet Maggie

The Deep Dark Woods – The Banks Of The Leopold Canal (HearYa Live Session)

The Deep Dark Woods – Ballad Of Frank Dupree (HearYa Live Session)

Local Natives – Stranger Things

Local Natives – Airplane

J Tillman – Though I Have Wronged You

The Deep Dark Woods can do no wrong. After hearing their new tracks in our live session, I eagerly anticipate any new material they put out. The band sent us an email today with an mp3 attachment for a cover recorded in-studio during the sessions for Winter Hours.

For those unfamiliar with The Mississippi Sheiks, the were pioneers of the Country-Blues sound that we all know and love today. The Deep Dark Woods would’ve done them proud with this version of “Sweet Maggie.”

If you don’t own them already, I’d recommend buying all of their albums.

The Deep Dark Woods – Sweet Maggie

New tracks recorded in our live session:

The Deep Dark Woods – The Banks Of The Leopold Canal

The Deep Dark Woods – Ballad Of Frank Dupree

One of the best surprises for me at our SxSW party last year was seeing Tigercity perform. They took the stage about 8 hours into the party after a series of alt-country acts like Joe Pug, Justin Townes Earle, The Deep Dark Woods and others. Their set was the turning point in the party. People ordered fewer beers and more red bull + vodka cocktails and things got a little weirder.

I haven’t had a chance to spin the album, but the 80’s inspired “Fake Gold” is here as an mp3 and the video features the bald, bearded lead singer scoring a hot chick. The album is out now and the band is touring.

Tigercity – Fake Gold

Video: Tigercity – Fake Gold

Tour dates:

11/6 – Chicago, IL – Schubas
11/7 – Kansas City, KS – The Brick
11/8 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
11/10 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge*
11/11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Kilby Court*
11/12 – Boise, ID – Nuerolux*
11/13 – Missoula, MT – The Palace*
11/15 – Seattle, WA – Nectar*
11/17 – Portland, OR – Mississippi Studios*
11/18 – Salem, OR – Willamette University*
11/20 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex*
11/21 – San Diego, CA – Beauty Bar
* w/Neon Indian

Here’s the recap from last week.

First, from the amazing live session with The Deep Dark Woods:

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – The Banks Of The Leopold Canal

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Two Time Loser

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Ballad Of Frank Dupree

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – River In The Pines

Download the session as a zip file.

From our live session with Alberta Cross:

Exclusive: Alberta Cross – Broken Side Of Time

Exclusive: Alberta Cross – Leave Us And Forgive Us

Exclusive: Alberta Cross – ATX

Exclusive: Alberta Cross – Taking Control

And the rest.

Monsters of Folk – Say Please

Ox – Unknown Legend

Ox – Surrender (Cheap Trick Cover)

We’ve been all over The Deep Dark Woods since we missed their album Hang Me Oh Hang Me as one of the best of 2007. Since then, we’ve became enamored with their Grateful Dead influenced alt-country style and when Winter Hours was released this year, it quickly became a favorite. They joined the lineup at our first ever SxSW party and then The Deep Dark Woods stopped by Shirk’s studio for a live session during their first ever trip to Chicago.

This is probably the most anxious I’ve been to hear a live session and the end result was well worth the wait. I previewed the tracks to a few folks and here were a few comments that came back:

“Heartbreaking.”

“Devastating.”

“Beautiful.”

Few bands can capture all those sentiments with 6 live tracks in a studio, but The Deep Dark Woods bottled up magic on this day. The session starts with an amazing new song called “The Banks Of The Leopold Canal.” It’s a Canadian soldier’s tale of woe as he’s forced to leave his love for battle in WWII. Ryan was inspired to write the song after seeing a special on The Battle of the Scheldt in which an interviewed soldier was quoted saying “thousands were dead in the Leopold Canal.” That line became lyrics in the song.

“Two Time Loser” is an upbeat honkey tonk reprieve before we’re introduced to another new track called “Ballad Of Frank Dupree.” It’s a fictional song about a man who murders his girl and repents as he faces death by hanging at the gallows. It’s hard not to sympathize with this criminal as he blames the liquor and tries to explain his evil sins to his mother and father.

In addition to “Two Time Loser,” you’ll also hear two other tracks from Winter Hours including the title track and “All The Money I Had Is Gone” before they indulged us with a special request in a traditional cover of “River In The Pines,” my favorite track from Hang Me Oh Hang Me. They’ve also added a keyboardist that gives a new dimension to each song. Anyone that follows us on Twitter knows how excited I was to share these tracks. I can’t wait for you to listen.

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – The Banks Of The Leopold Canal

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Two Time Loser

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Ballad Of Frank Dupree

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours

Exclusive: The Deep Dark Woods – River In The Pines

Download the session as a zip file.

Video: The Deep Dark Woods – Ballad Of Frank Dupree

More videos:

The Deep Dark Woods – All The Money I Had Is Gone

The Deep Dark Woods – River In The Pines