So much has been going on in the Five Head world since my last update, that I suppose the best course of action is to jump right in.
New albums coming early this year from Birds of Chicago, Ben Lubeck (Farewell Milwaukee), and Michaela Anne! Welcoming Joshua James as a new artist. Mandolin Orange continues to tear it up, both on and off the road!
Birds of Chicago - They've got a new album called Real Midnight coming February 19 (pre-order here!). It was produced by Joe Henry (awesome!) and funded by a humongous Kickstarter project (yowza!). Street date is still a week away but things are off to a great start including an NPR First Listen, premieres from the Wall Street Journal and Paste, and an international release tour! It's a cliched bird pun but excited to see how high they fly!
Birds of Chicago - Real Midnight cover
Farewell Milwaukee - While the band's been wrapping up their fourth album, lead singer Ben Lubeck has been making moves to release Rented Rooms. It's a non-traditional love letter to his father that was inspired by the birth of his daughter. It's incredibly heavy at times but it's oh so good. MPR has been showing him some love (download a track here!), he just had a great release show at the Turf Club, and we've got some great national confirms as well. Read more about the record here and check out his Radio Heartland appearance below.
Click to listen to Ben's Radio Heartland appearance. Photo by Nate Ryan
Joshua James - Joshua is a new addition to the Five Head roster and couldn't be happier to have him on board. I'd unexpectedly attached to a number of his songs when I heard them on Sons of Anarchy, then I had the privilege of getting to know him over the last year. He's a great person and a great musician! Check out the video for "Lawn Full of Marigolds" below. It's one of his older songs but I think it exemplifies his honest approach. We are working on lots of ideas, which naturally includes new music, for this year.
Mandolin Orange - Where haven't Andrew and Emily been since September? They wrapped up a successful European run in November, took a little time off over the holidays, and are now traipsing around the mountain west including a big headlining show @ the Bluebird Theater in Denver later this week. This spring/summer will see them doing some headline touring, some bills with Elephant Revival, a return to Europe and quite a few festivals...
but it wasn't all road for them. The great folks over at Nashville were kind enough to feature 'Jump Mountain Blues' on an episode, the band got some fantastic EOY love including a #1 spot on Magnet Magazine's Best Indie Roots list (thanks, Devon!), and they even found some time to curate their own "Feature of the Week" selection on Spotify. Click here to check out the playlist and catch the lovely, animated video for 'Jump Mountain Blues' below!
Michaela Anne - Last but certainly not least, Michaela has been gearing up to release Bright Lights & the Fame. It's due out May 13 and Rolling Stone Country was kind enough to announce the album last week. It features a number of special guests (Rodney Crowell, Noam Pikelny from the Punch Brothers ... no big deal!) and is her ballsiest work to date. Check out the album cover below. In the words of the great Stan Lee, 'nuff said!'.
Michaela Anne - Bright Lights and the Fame
As always, thanks for your support of Five Head and all the artists that I work with. Kudos if you've made it to the bottom of this news post. If you made it this far, here is a great, vintage video of Van Morrison at Montreux for your enjoyment. Take in all 100 minutes...you've earned it!