Shoebox Letters - Car Crash Life (click on image to watch video)

 19 May 2023

Somewhere at the intersection of Power Pop, Country Rock and New Wave stand Shoebox Letters. The Oregon four-piece, Stephanie Cox (vocals) and Greg Paul (guitars, keys, steel guitar and backing vocals) has been a going concern since 2009.

Their latest EP, “Car Crash Life” continues their rich tradition of coloring outside the lines. The opener, “Running For Daylight” weds rumbling bass lines, phased guitars and feathery keys to a rock-ribbed beat. Lyrics like “Running for daylight, running to forget, how did I get here, the sooner I’m gone and moving on the picture will be so clear” take a page from the late Mac Davis’ “Baby, Baby, Don’t Get Hooked On Me” playbook.

Stand-out tracks include “If I Can’t Have You.” Dennis Stephanie’s playful he said-she said repartee wraps around razor-sharp guitar riffs, sinewy bass, Day-Glo keys, snappy handclaps and a rattletrap beat.

Meanwhile, “Under The Same Roof” is a cheerful encomium to marital um, bliss that matches jangly acoustic licks and  riffs to a tick-tock chorus that echo ‘80s bands like the dB’s or Let’s Active. That is until it unfurls a good ol’ Country comfort chorus; “Under the same roof we laugh and we cry, the adventure goes by, under the same roof.”

Then there’s “Drinking Till I Can’t Walk Straight.” Here, Stephanie commands the spotlight. This Texas Two-Step is powered by growly guitars, agile bass lines and a loping beat. A self-proclaimed “heartbroken wreck,” she drowns her sorrows until her swagger is reduced to a stagger.

Other interesting tracks include the chunky delight of “Another Kiss,” the contemplative “Something I Don’t Know” and “Takeoff,” a mid-tempo groover anchored by roughneck bass lines shuddery steel guitar, a wash of keys and a stuttery backbeat.

The album closes with the expansive title-track.

Eleni P. Austin - I was born into a large, loud Greek family and spent my formative years in the Los Angeles enclaves of Laurel Canyon and Los Feliz. My mother moved us to the Palm Springs area just in time for puberty and Disco.  I have spent over 40 years working in record stores, starting back in High School.

I wrote music reviews for the Desert Sun from 1983 to 1988. I began doing the same for the Coachella Valley Weekly in 2012.

I live in Palm Springs with my wife and our amazing dog, Denver. 

To Read All of Eleni P.'s Reviews, Click Here

Shoebox Letters - Flight Risk  (click on image to watch video)

 24 June 2022

“She looks good on paper, she dots all the I’s, you can’t decipher the truth from a lie/She makes an impression, she’s hard to forget, she has all the answers, she’s always correct, don’t fool yourself, she’s a flight risk.” That’s the Shoebox Letters sounding the alarm about a too-good-to-be-true temptress on the title track that opens their latest EP, Flight Risk.

Hailing from the Pacific Northwest, this four-piece includes Dennis Winslow (acoustic/electric guitars, keys and vocals) Dave Strickler (bass), Stephanie Cox (vocals) and Greg Paul (backing vocals, steel guitar and bass). The aforementioned opener cuts a wide swath, the melody and arrangement echo ‘70s Power Pop antecedents like The Raspberries and Badfinger, while a wash of steel guitar adds a bit of high lonesome ache. The six-song set is uniformly excellent, front to back, but stand-outs include the raucous “I Drink To Much” which is powered by angular guitars, wily bass lines and a hi-hat kick. Introspective lyrics reference Phil and Don Everly and kinda contemplate sobriety.

Then there’s the low-key charm of “Bed Of Roses.” “Red Handed In Love” Slashing power chords strafe across a rock steady rhythm. The lyrics offer up a tender encomium to a long-term romance. The record closes with “A World Out There.” Something of a restless farewell, it features sparkly guitars and burnished keys. It’s a moodily elegant finish to the EP.

On Flight Risk, Shoebox Letters serve up a deft combo-platter of infectious Power Pop and good ol’ Country Comfort.

Eleni P. Austin - I was born into a large, loud Greek family and spent my formative years in the Los Angeles enclaves of Laurel Canyon and Los Feliz. My mother moved us to the Palm Springs area just in time for puberty and Disco.  I have spent over 40 years working in record stores, starting back in High School.

I wrote music reviews for the Desert Sun from 1983 to 1988. I began doing the same for the Coachella Valley Weekly in 2012.

I live in Palm Springs with my wife and our amazing dog, Denver. 

To Read All of Eleni P.'s Reviews, Click Here

Tornado Sky - Deluge Of Hurt (click on image to watch video)

 18 October 2022

“If it were possible for Bob Seger and Stevie Nicks to have a musical love child, it might sound a bit like Tornado Sky.  The L.A. two-piece features renowned songwriter Jerry Careaga and his wife, Stephanie Gladhart’ whose background has primarily been in the creative writing field.  Although they have been collaborating informally for more than 20 years, “Deluge Of Hurt” is their first official album together.

            The title track kicks the album into gear. Bluesy bottleneck guitar, wily bass.  supple electric piano and a kinetic backbeat anchor this mid-tempo groover. Stephanie and Jerry’s vocals wraparound like honey and woodsmoke as they attempt to pick up the pieces of a failed romance; “How can I think of starting over when my heart’s still reeling from a deluge of hurt?”

            Stephanie takes the lead on three tracks. Despite the breezy arrangement, the song is a bittersweet encomium to lost loved ones, as she wryly notes; “One window opens, one window closes, born to this life of tears and roses.” Meanwhile, “Am I Mighty” is a restless,  twangy two-step that limns the dissatisfaction that bubbles over from  an orderly and predictable life. Pondering the road not taken, she wonders “Am I the sapling, or a mighty tree?” Finally, the  “Two Beat Up Hearts” traces a chance encounter  at a bar between a pair of  romance-weary strangers just looking for some emotional rescue.

            Most of the songs here wrap indelible melodies around rich narratives that navigate the rocky shoals between love and loss. “The Well,” which is powered by panoramic pedal steel and fleet acoustic fretwork is just seeking comfort in a turbulent world. The Blues-inflected “Red Cloud Road” finds a  former couple tentatively reconnecting, hoping for some  common  ground. “Somebody’s Looking Out For Me,” chronicles a bit of divine intervention. The album closes with the tender benediction of “Blow Me Away.”

Eleni P. Austin - I was born into a large, loud Greek family and spent my formative years in the Los Angeles enclaves of Laurel Canyon and Los Feliz. My mother moved us to the Palm Springs area just in time for puberty and Disco.  I have spent over 40 years working in record stores, starting back in High School.

I wrote music reviews for the Desert Sun from 1983 to 1988. I began doing the same for the Coachella Valley Weekly in 2012.

I live in Palm Springs with my wife and our amazing dog, Denver. 

To Read All of Eleni P.'s Reviews, Click Here

James Kahn - By The Risin’ Of The Sea  (click on image to watch video)

 20 April 2022

James Kahn is a musician who keeps an eye on the big picture. Something of a polymath, he seems compelled to push the envelope, taking his music to the nth degree. His last album, “Matamoros” served as a musical companion to his novel of the same name. His new long-player is 12 song-set devoted to addressing climate change, Covid, and assorted maladies that threaten the human race.

On paper, this seems like it would be a saturnine song-cycle. But in reality, he’s created a dozen rollicking revelations that he’s dubbed “Shanties For Our Time.” The record opens with the boisterous title track, which wraps Celtic instrumentation and freebootin’ vocals around a delicate diatribe that name-checks acid rain, global warming and “bear cubs driftin’ on the floes” and closes with the lachrymose lament of “Sundown.”

In between, songs like “In The Covid Times” and “2020: Ship Of Fools” tackle polarizing pandemic days with wit, grit, gravitas, insistent rhythms and acapella grace. Other highlights include the poignant “O The Ocean Rolls,” which is powered by courtly requinto and honeyed harmonies. 

Then there’s the ramshackle stomp of “On The Other Side.” Strummy acoustic notes and flinty vocals envelope a sad-sack aga of economic downturn, unrequited love and the pitfalls of being tardy. Finally, on “Cast On The Water,” lyrics limn the pleasures and perils of the seafaring life. Meanwhile, the instrumentation is an irresistible blend of acoustic guitar, string bass and hammered dulcimer that bookends brawny and briny vocalese.

“By The Risin’ Of The Sea” effortlessly fuses the personal, political and the planetary and wraps it up in a rich musical tapestry.

Eleni P. Austin - I was born into a large, loud Greek family and spent my formative years in the Los Angeles enclaves of Laurel Canyon and Los Feliz. My mother moved us to the Palm Springs area just in time for puberty and Disco.  I have spent over 40 years working in record stores, starting back in High School.

I wrote music reviews for the Desert Sun from 1983 to 1988. I began doing the same for the Coachella Valley Weekly in 2012.

I live in Palm Springs with my wife and our amazing dog, Denver. 

To Read All of Eleni P.'s Reviews, Click Here