Thirty Tigers is proud to present
Watkins Family Hour
– an acclaimed musical collective –
new album to be released August 7. 

Watkins Family Hour—an acclaimed musical collective featuring siblings Sara and Sean Watkins along with Fiona Apple, Benmont Tench, Don Heffington, Greg Leisz and Sebastian Steinberg—will release their debut, self-titled album August 7 on Family Hour Records via Thirty Tigers. Watch the album trailer here. Additionally, in celebration of the release, the collective will take their “variety show of epic proportions” (Los Angeles Times) to cities across the U.S. this summer kicking off with a performance at the Newport Folk Festival on July 24. Tickets go on sale this Friday. See below for complete details.

The album, recorded live over three days in the studio of their friend and producer-engineer Sheldon Gomberg, captures the freewheeling spirit of the collective’s live shows. Watkins Family Hour is an all-covers affair; tracks include Sara doing Fleetwood Mac’s “Steal Your Heart Away,” Sean essaying Roger Miller’s wistful “Not In Nottingham,” from Disney’s 1973 animated Robin Hood, and Apple singing “Where I Ought To Be,” originally performed by Skeeter Davis.

Of the album and tour, Sara comments, “Taking the Watkins Family Hour on tour and releasing this record feels like the right next step. The show is about a community of players and that community stretches across the country. If we can’t get everyone to L.A. to do our show, we’ll come to them. We are coming to towns where we have friends and we can have those moments, even if it’s not our home club. It’s the people on stage who make that happen; it’s just a matter of getting the right group of people together. We are being thoughtful about where we are going so we can have that sort of flexibility. It will be a very different show in every town.”

Watkins Family Hour began in 2002 as a monthly musical residency hosted by Sara and Sean and held exclusively at Los Angeles’ Largo at the Coronet. Of the performances, Forbes praises, “This combination of seeing a marquee talent, the element of surprise and the congeniality of an evening of friends makes for a great night out, where the artists appear to be enjoying themselves, and enjoy seeing their friends perform. It feels like a 21st Century version of the Greenwich Village folk scene at clubs like the Bitter End in the 1960s. Mostly, what it feels like is—well—like Largo,” while American Songwriter asserts, “Inside the Largo, a funny thing happens: along with her brother, Sean, and friends like Fiona Apple and Jackson Browne, Watkins leads an evening of folk tunes, bluegrass jams and good old-fashioned musical revelry, a joyful room that brings wailing voices and acoustic strings to an electric city…”

Tracklisting

1. Feelin’ Good Again
2. Where I Ought To Be
3. Not In Nottingham
4. Steal Your Heart Away
5. Prescription for the Blues
6. Going Going Gone
7. Hop High
8. She Thinks I Still Care
9. The King of the 12 Oz. Bottles
10. Early Morning Rain
11. Brokedown Palace

Watkins Family Hour – “Steal Your Heart Away” Teaser

Bhi Bhiman returns to Europe, June 1st, on tour to launch his brand new crtically acclaimed album “Rythm & Reason” .

“I’m moving to Brussels / I’m moving to Spain / I’m moving to Haarlem / It’s all the same…”

“Tamil-tinged Americana with guts and smarts”
– The Guardian 

“What a voice!”
–The New York Times

One never knows where inspiration will strike. For Bhi Bhiman, the seeds of the soul, funk, and R&B narrative featured in his new album Rhythm & Reason were planted when he arrived in Brussels during a European tour with Rosanne Cash.

Bhi recalls the moment: “As soon as I got off the plane, I noticed a lot of African immigrants, and I started thinking about what had made them leave their countries. My parents are immigrants so I’m sensitive to that experience.” These reflections would find voice in “Moving to Brussels”, which Bhi describes as “an immigrant’s story disguised as a breakup song— a Dear John letter to their native country”.

Connections like these are a hallmark of the whole album. Bhi notes that the song cycle is ”deliberately broad. It could be about an immigrant or just an outsider in general – someone on the fringe.” While his songs often touch on political issues they rarely offer a simple view. Bhi explains, “I like to look at both sides of the coin. Sometimes the unpopular view is the most interesting to write about.”

A major change in Bhi’s life and a new inspiration for his songs came about when he became a father. The theme of family is strong in Rhythm & Reason. “A lot of this album was written while my wife was pregnant” he says. “Now we have a nine-month old. Seeing her grow and become a person changes your perspective on everything.” “Bennie Please” is a lullaby melody about a poor mother trying to get her hungry child to sleep. “Bread and Butter” sees our narrator coming home and enjoying the contentment with his family, in the face of the temptations of the seven deadly sins.

Bhi never forgets the creed of the concert performer. He elaborates, “That’s something that I work hard for: being entertaining first and foremost.” The beauty of it is that this is an album to which you could bob your head without noticing— much less worrying about —the social commentary or even the details of the stories. Bhi adds that, “Most of the tracks could be heard as love songs, but there are a few exceptions”, The bitter lyrics of The Fool, which was written with the Sri Lankan civil war in mind, is also an deep soul cut about having the wool pulled over one’s eyes in a relationship.

Exploring soul and soul-based music came naturally to Bhi and critics laud his talents both as a singer and guitar player. The New York Times’ Jon Caramanica wrote, “What a voice Bhi Bhiman has: full-bodied and brawny but delicate.” These gifts are on display in the deep grooves of “Death Song,” a minor-key hip hop-influenced number, the syncopated funk drumming of “Bread and Butter”, the horn-driven “Closer To Thee”, or the double-time “Waterboarded (In Love)”.

Bhiman lights up when asked about his influences for Rhythm & Reason. “Bill Withers’ Just As I Am, produced by Booker T. Jones, was a particular inspiration. The What’s Going On album was a big deal to me. Sly Stone, The Staple Singers, they all had something to say but but it was about the music above anything else.”

Rhythm & Reason was produced by Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim) at his Great North Sound Society studio in rural Maine. Bhi recalls, “Sam has a great perspective. He comes from a jazz background so we were able to meet somewhere in the middle.” Mike Calabrese from Lake Street Dive plays drums on several tracks while friends of Kassirer and Bhiman join on other songs.

Despite some of its more serious notes, Bhi’s sense of humor still strikes through on Rhythm & Reason. “The Color Pink”, which is about religious paranoia, finds Bhi pleading for sanity. As he describes it, “it’s Pop Staples meets Jerry Falwell”.

“Waterboarded (In Love)” is also darkly funny. As Bhi explains it, “The hook was supposed to be a placeholder. But then I started writing lyrics about a man being interrogated by a jealous lover. I liked that metaphor because on the surface, it uses a hot-button term and it makes you uncomfortable. But, comparing love to torture really is nothing new. The connection to the current debate about ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ just struck a chord with me.”

Bhi was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, the son of Sri Lankan Tamil immigrants. He drew on his family’s experience in reflecting on the circumstances of immigrant families—including the xenophobic cold shoulder they often encounter.

Tracklisting

1. Moving to Brussels
2. There Goes the Neighborhood
3. Bread & Butter
4. Bennie Please
5. Up In Arms
6. Death Song
7. The Color Pink
8. Waterboarded (In Love)
9. The Fool
10. Closer to Thee

You can listen the music by clicking the link below

European Tour
with Lord Huron

June 01 – Pop up du Label – Paris, France
Tickets

Headline:
June 02 – The Islington – London, United Kingdom
Tickets

June 03 – KOKO, London, United Kingdom
Tickets

June 04 – Brudenell Social – Leeds, United Kingdom
Tickets

June 05 – King Tut’s – Glasgow, United Kingdom
Tickets

June 06 – Whelan’s – Dublin, Ireland
Tickets

TG Collective and Mike Fletcher Trio
to open new live series
Kings Place, Saturday, May 30

TG Collective

Mike Fletcher Trio

FIND OUT MORE HERE!

Sunday 19th January 2014, The Dunwells appeared on the BBC Andrew Marr show with Ed Milliband and featuring an interview with Putin.  The Leed’s Band’s performance was introduced as “One for Ed Milliband, ‘I Could Be A King’?” by Andrew Marr who also highlighted the band’s British take on Americana music.    The band are currently in the studio with Stephen Harris working on their forthcoming new album and announced a British tour this week for April 2014.

What the press has been saying about… Jason Isbell – Southeastern

“…one of America’s thoroughbred songwriters, with a knack for rueful melodies

and the kind of grainy blue-collar detail that pins a song in your mind…a

breakthrough for Isbell…” – New York Times Magazine

“The words and music are scrubbed clean of self-pity and instead give off

energetic ruefulness, of the kind of that is one of the best combinations of

sobriety and clarity.” – NPR Fresh Air

“Every song on Isbell’s fourth studio album (after his Drive-By Truckers days) punches your gut.” •••1/2 (out of 4) – USA Today

“Isbell is among the finest lyricists working today, excelling at wordplay in the purest sense of the term, finding the music in language, how it sounds and flows and fits within the surrounding sounds…” 8 (out of 10) – SPIN

“’Songs That She Sang In the Shower’ is merely the best-named of the many

masterfully melancholic country ballads found on this album…”– “Must List” Entertainment Weekly

“This album is harrowing and not for the timid, but those who stick with it will betreated to a truthful, moving journey and a master class in songwriting to boot.” ••••1/2 – American Songwriter

“As good as the songs are (and I can’t stress enough just how good they really

are), Isbell’s singing may be even better.” Grade: 9 (out of 10) – Paste

“’Southeastern’ is a solo album in feel, powerfully personal both in sound and in story.” – The New Yorker

“…rich songs about love’s struggle. But “Elephant” is the masterpiece…” •••1/2 – Rolling Stone

“…Isbell has grown into one of music’s most brilliant songwriters, filling his

stories with unparalleled description.” – Garden & Gun

“If you have a pulse, it’ll bring you to your knees…’Southeastern’ is as compelling

a compendium of musical storytelling you’ll hear this year.” – Blurt

“While the album does have its guitar moments, the focus is mostly on Isbell’s

powerful vocals and fearless songwriting.” – Billboard

“…Southeastern is pretty serious business. Then again, so is life and the one that Isbell has lived thus far is certainly worth documenting, especially when the songs supporting it are this stunning.” A- – A.V. Club

“…in the brilliant ‘Southeastern’, he molded the kind of album every musician yearns to make once in his or her lifetime.” – Tone Audio

“…the strongest set of songs yet from the Alabama writer who instantly

distinguished himself as a formidable talent…but who hadn’t realized his full

potential until now.” – Philadelphia Inquirer

“…’Southeastern’ is the sound of an artist coming into his own, just like Steve

Earle did when he finally started to feel alright again.” – Sound & Vision

“He’s always been an incredible songwriter, with a keen awareness of voice and perspective.” – Popmatters

“…the ever-more-captivating-on-repeat-listens record is a quiet showcase for

Isbell’s superbly crafted songs and his evocative singing.” Grade: A

– Lincoln Star Journal

“His finest qualities — an instantly accessible Southern voice; a sidearm way

with rhymes; a sense of hard-won experience, easily passed along remain.” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Jason Isbell is well on his way to becoming recognized as one of the best

songwriters today…” – LEO Weekly

“’Southeastern’ is another fine performance by Jason Isbell, whose career

continues to flourish with each song he writes and album he releases.”– Honest Tune

“What we very well may be witnessing is a songwriting legend in the making…He is the Townes Van Zandt or Guy Clark of our time.” – Saving Country Music

•••• 1/2 – Stereophile

What the press has been saying about…North Mississippi Allstars – World Boogie Is Coming

‘An extraordinary amalgam of envelope-pushing studio manipulation and DNA-fuelled deep gut grooves – the best NMA studio album’ 9/10 – Uncut

‘The riff rules on the new record by Luther and Cody Dickinson as the brothers power their way through with energy, wit and passion’ ­– Sunday Times Culture

‘A raucous retro-modern package to make old Muddy’s eyes water’

– Classic Rock

‘This is thrillingly raw, electric, rural blues’ **** – Mail On Sunday

‘One of the most exciting records of 2013 and a highpoint of the band’s entire career’ – The Blues Magazine

‘NMA’s seventh album is their best yet.  It sounds as if they have just rediscovered the old classics and are determined to give them a furious update’ – Guardian

‘A real treasure and one of the best albums of this year by far, in any genre’ 9/10 – Blues & Soul

‘Moving yet powerful’ – SeeSound

‘A great piece of rockin’ blues. Their best yet’ – Blues Matters

‘The music has absolute integrity and the show has real fire’ ***** – Music News

‘Vibrant, primitive and thriving’ 9/10 – Music Connection

‘Almost unfair to cite favourite tracks – a magnum opus’ 5/5 – Rock ‘n’ Reel