Tom Heyman | That Much Further West Podcast

Nikki Lane’s new full-length LP “Highway Queen” will be hitting the streets in February 2017.

Stream or download our December Podcast Picks: December Podcast Picks

She’s logged a lot of road miles since the release of her breakthrough 2014 breakthrough album “All Or Nothin” and now Nikki Lane is ready to take the world by storm with “Highway Queen,” the much anticipated follow up due early next year.

We kick off our December Podcast picks with the title track from the record, which Rolling Stone.com describes as “an amalgam of gritty twang, dirty blues and a whip-smart taste for dangerously delightful melody” — in other words, more of what we’ve come to love from the sassy, stylish outlaw country chanteuse. After “Highway Queen” hits the streets, Ms. Lane and her band will hit the road for an extensive tour that includes a stop at California’s Stagecoach Festival in April.

Nikki is just one of several of our favorite female singers featured among this month’s podcast picks. Amanda Shires’ new record, “My Piece of Land,” is receiving across-the-board praise while Lydia Loveless continues to tour behind her genre-busting Bloodshot Records LP “Real,” released in August. We also have an official outtake celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gillian Welch’s debut album “Revival,” and a song from Courtney Marie Andrews’ much (rightly so) praised “Honest Life” record, released this past summer by Portland-based Mama Bird Recording Co.

We also added a little modern rock muscle to the mix with cuts from Two Cow Garage, Drunken Prayer and Blackberry Smoke, but still managed to keep it country with songs old and new by the likes Billy Don Burns, Western Centuries, Chris Stalcup and Brent Cobb. And we always seem to find a way to salute the forefathers, with a careful nod to a legend lost, the great Leonard Cohen.

So dial it up. These should help hold you through the holidays. Here’s the playlist for our December Podcast Picks:

Highway Queen, Nikki Lane
Continental Distance, Two Cow Garage
Keith Whitley Blue, Billy Don Burns
Gold, The Handsome Family
The Old You, Western Centuries
You Are My Home, Amanda Shires
Fell Into The Sun, Drunken Prayer
Chickenhawks and Jesus Freaks, Tom Heyman
Me and the Whiskey, Whitey Morgan and the 78’s
Midwestern Guys, Lydia Loveless
Burnin’ Up These Highways, Chris Stalcup
Drinking, Cheating, Loving and Leaving, Adam Lee and the Dead Horse Sound Company
Show Me, Neil Young
Merry Christmas From The Family, Robert Earl Keen
Go On Downtown (Revival Outtake), Gillian Welch
Diggin’ Holes, Brent Cobb
Sunrise In Texas, Blackberry Smoke
15 Highway Lines, Courtney Marie Andrews
Chelsea Hotel #2, Leonard Cohen

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Tom Heyman and Dan Stuart on stage at Star Theater in Portland during the Five Years of Gravy celebration. Photo by Chad Lanning for Chad Lanning Photography (www.chadlanningphoto.com)

Stream or Download TMFWP Special: A conversation with Dan Stuart
and Tom Heyman: TMFWP Special: Stuart & Heyman

Having spent more than 30 years in the record business — both as a solo artist and leader of the seminal 80s indie-rock band Green On Red — Dan Stuart can speak to the changes he’s seen in the industry over the years. And when he says, “There’s no music business any more,” he speaks with considerable authority.

But having survived a good amount of personal tumult since the breakup of Green On Red, Stuart is back to making records, and damn fine ones at that. His record from last year, Marlowe’s Revenge — released in America on the Portland-based label Fluff & Gravy Records — earned excellent reviews. And he’s spent much of 2016 promoting the record, touring the U.S. and Europe with friend and fellow indie-rock holdover Tom Heyman.

Podcast producer and co-host Phil Favorite caught up with Heyman and Stuart recently when the duo appeared in Portland for a performance during Fluff & Gravy’s five-year anniversary celebration — three nights of live performances by label artists and associates hosted over the weekend of Nov. 11-13.

Holed up in the bunkhouse at the Fluff & Gravy headquarters, Heyman and Stuart share stories of their extensive histories in the American indie-rock scene and how their paths crossed over the years. Stuart talks freely about his move to Mexico and working with other notable international artists and producers, and Heyman tells how their mutual friendship with former Green On Red guitarist Chuck Prophet led to them working together.

Tom Heyman, left, and Dan Stuart, strumming and singing in the bunkhouse at Fluff & Gravy Records headquarters in Portland.

They also play a handful of songs on acoustic guitars — Stuart sharing tunes from his solo catalog as well as, “Jimmy Boy,” from Green On Red’s classic 1985 album “No Free Lunch.” Heyman takes on singing duties while strumming a 12-string guitar on “Keep The River On The Right,” a song from his terrific record That Cool Blue Feeling, recorded with Portland’s own Mike Coykendall and released in 2014.

We’re stoked to be able to share this intimate interview and performance by two fantastic American songwriters. Special thanks to John Shepski and Chad Lanning of Fluff & Gravy Records for their help in setting up and executing this podcast and post, and also to the great Fernando Viciconte for his friendship and assistance with the interview.

Here’s the playlist, all performed live in the Fluff & Gravy bunkhouse:
Last Blue Day
Jimmy Boy
Keep The River On The Right
Searching Through The Pieces

That Much Further West Podcast

Sharing our favorite Americana, Alt-country and Roots Rock music from the Pacific Northwest

Tag Archives: Tom Heyman

December Podcast Picks

TMFWP Special: A conversation with Dan Stuart and Tom Heyman