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Fall Seasonal Podcast Picks

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Matt Woods’ new album, “How To Survive,” will be released Oct. 13.

Steam or download our Fall Seasonal Podcast Picks: Fall ’16 podcast picks

It’s Record Release Madness this season in the world of That Much Further West Podcast, where we’re sifting through so many great new albums being released by some of our favorite artists just as summer turns to fall out here in Portland, Oregon, U.S.A.

We kick off our seasonal podcast picks with an awesome new song by Matt Woods, whose record “How To Survive” comes out on Friday, Oct. 7. The song “Bound To Lose,” co-written by Woods and Jeff Shepherd and featuring Liz Sloan on fiddle and Aaron Lee Tasjan on guitar, is quick snapshot of everything great about Woods’ music. It’s a sweet slice of storytelling with a just a touch of road rash delivered by one of alt-country’s biggest, most authentic voices. Watch for Matt and his full band on the road this fall — the “How To Survive” tour kicks off this Friday and will cover lots of ground east of the Mississippi River — you can find tour dates at Woods’ website.

Our picks also include a few superb takes on race relations in America from newly released records by Drive-By Truckers and M. Lockwood Porter; killer new songs from Shovels & Rope, John Prine, Aaron Lee Tasjan, Elizabeth Cook and Blackberry Smoke; a terrific, original take on traditional country from Caleb Klauder and Reeb Wilms; some secret nuggets you probably wouldn’t hear elsewhere (read: Springsteen); and even new cuts from Bob Weir ad Bon Iver, taking us gently off the podcast’s well-worn pathways.

Lots of a great stuff here, folks. So dial it up and share it with your friends — we hope it adds a little light as the darkness of fall starts closing in. And remember to get out and support live music . . . many of these acts will be coming to a town near you soon.

Here’s the playlist:

Bound To Lose, Matt Woods
Just To Be With You, Aubrie Sellers
What It Means, Drive-By Truckers
Charleston, M. Lockwood Porter
Beauty Seldom Seen, John Calvin Abney
Botched Execution, Shovels & Rope
Look At Us (featuring Morgane Stapleton), John Prine
Memphis Rain, Aaron Lee Tasjan
Evacuation, Elizabeth Cook
Diamond State Heartbreak, Lucero
Here’s To The Losers, Drag The River
Let’s Hit One More Place, Richmond Fontaine
Sunrise In Texas, Blackberry Smoke
Coming On Strong, Caleb Klauder & Reeb Wilms
Gonesville, Bob Weir
About To Find Out, Margo Price
The Ballad of Jesse James, The Bruce Springteen Band
Falcon, Charlie Parr
Sad, Sad Music, Dwight Yoakam
00000 Million, Bon Iver

Review of Drag The River

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I’m not a music critic. I’m not a musician. I am just one lucky SOB who has been working in venues and with bands for better part of my adult life.

— Mike Lee
That Much Further West Podcast

Drag The River (2013, Last Chance Records)

I first head Drag The River in the summer of 2001. I was managing the Bluebird Theatre in Denver, Colorado and we were hosting a 30th birthday party for Luke Schmaltz (lead singer of the seminal Denver punk band, King Rat). The band tapped to play was Drag The River. I had not heard the band yet and judging by the cast of characters assembled on stage and in the crowd I was ready for a punk rock show. I mean, for Christ sake, I had seen every single member over the previous year in their separate punk bands.

I was too busy to notice the pedal steel sitting on stage. I suppose from the first note plucked I was definitely intrigued. I am not sure if it took a full song to be all in and wanting to leave my post at the bar and set up in front of the stage with a large glass of bourbon and a smile.  The show was epic. The party was an epic adventure with many stories still told to this day.

I bought the Hobo Demo’s cd the band had at the show and it was in heavy rotation over the next couple of months (or the past dozen years). Listening to that album made me feel like I had suddenly been given a road map following a lifetime of roads traveled listening to old country with my step dad and the punk rock I ingested later in life.

Here I sit over a dozen years later and once again I am wearing out the newest release from Drag The River. A 10 song, self-titled recording released on Last Chance Records. The EP is everything I have come to expect from a Drag The River record. The songs rock. They twang. They are punk. They are country. The lyrics will make you slam whiskey; hug a friend and drunk dial an ex in less than 30 minutes.

In my life, the punk rock heroes picked up acoustic guitars and slowed it down with charged songs about living, family, addiction, the road and so much more. The gentlemen in Drag The River (Jon Snodgrass and Chad Price) can hold their own with anybody in that group while bringing their own humor, stories and the ability to rip out a scorching rock tune with plenty of twang. They are steady. They are part of home base. I suspect 12 years from now I will find as much solace in this new EP, Drag The River as I do in the original recording.

Interested in learning more about Drag The River? Go to www.dragtheriver.com for show dates, merch and music information. They will be on tour this winter with Cory Branan.

The music can also be purchased at Last Chance Records www.lastchancerecords.com

For more info about their other projects look up:

Jon Snodgrass: Armchair Martian / Jon Snodgrass / Scorpios

Chad Price: All / Chad Price

JJ Nobody: The Nobodys