Every January I brace myself for learning about really good albums released the previous year that eluded my attention, because it’s inevitable. In my defense, there are a lot of releases. In my prosecution, Power Up! by David Newbould is absolutely fantastic and I wish I’d covered it. I’ve known his name for years, but I should have been more zoned in on this formidable Nashville veteran. But you can get the crash course you’ve been needing or the fix you’ve been craving of the David Newbould thing on Friday at our weekly live 3rd & Lindsley showcase in a triple bill with country adventurers Lake & Lyndale and roots rocker Foster McGinty.
Newbould grew up in Toronto and took his songwriting passion to New York and Austin before moving to Nashville 13 years ago. His three full-length projects since then, Tennessee in 2012, Sin & Redemption in 2019, and the new one, reveal an artist with the lyrical insights and creative riffage to be named alongside Nashville’s best "amplified folk singers" (his nice term), including Aaron Lee Tasjan, Tim Carroll and Tommy Womack. There’s a searching, lonesome quality to his voice, which can purr or preach or howl as the moment calls for. And he’ll catch you up with cutting lines, as in “Home Depot Glasses” where he notices that John Prine has died. “I read it last night, My phone it tells me the news,” he sings. “Between guessing what I’m thinking and trying to sell me shoes.” (He premiered the track here at WMOT last spring and spoke with Anna Lee.)
Power Up! sounds like garage rock because it was basically made in a garage - a cobbled together studio in the home of his friend Scott Sax. Casual 2020 get-togethers led to songs and then to more serious recording. Over many months of short sessions (they both have kids) they produced a collection that sounds uncannily natural and one-take for a pieced together jam made by basically two guys. The title cut reminds me of what I loved about Peter Case and the Plimsouls or the Replacements years ago. His cover of Crystal Gale’s “Waiting For The Times To Get Better” is an inspired idea, well wrought.
David’s on at 12:45 but our Finally Friday music gets started at noon with Lake & Lyndale, a Nashville quartet with spark, spirit and the voice up front of Channing Marie. You might have seen these guys in 2019 when they pulled off one of the wilder music video feats of recent years by filming a lip synched performance of “There’s A Weight” backwards with smoke, body painting, bubbles and confetti. You’d never dream to see it that they did it all in camera without digital tricks. So they’re playful and creative and they bring that energy to a string of new singles, the lastest being “Circus.” We’ll wrap our Friday show with Foster McGinty at 1:30 and songs from his late 2022 disc Mimosa Drive. The midwesterner also did a stint in New York before moving to Nashville in 2014. Now he’s the proprietor of Mud Pan, a studio he’s built since 2018 for indie artists.
Come down for lunch or listen on the radio on 89.5 FM or wmot.org.
