Johannes Hopfner: Blues from the Other Side of the World

So I was wandering around the internet the other night, putting off my reading, and I came across this guy, Johannes Hopfner. And then I listened to his music, and I was like, "hey! this guy's pretty awesome!" (because when I'm talking to myself, I don't use capital letters). And then I read about him a little bit, and I was like, "hey! this guy's not from around here!"

He's French-Danish, actually, which kind of surprised me, if only because there's not much of an accent evident in his music... and because his sonic palette is exactly the sort of indie-blues I'd expect to hear coming out of the mid or northern South. Not so much Europe.

Anyways... I've got his album "One Song, One Take" - a reference to his method of recording it - which came out not all that long ago. Take a listen! If you like acoustic blues, I think you're gonna like this. I like acoustic blues. I like this.

Johannes Hopfner - Over


Johannes Hopfner - Walk Away Leave Away


Off to the library! Have a great day, all you beautiful people out there. And we're all beautiful people.

The Felice Brothers: No Weathermen Needed, Thanks

Do you remember the first time you heard Bob Dylan singing? The nasal drawl, the guitar, the lyrics that, at their best, hovered just on the edge of intelligibility?

Take a listen to The Felice Brothers, and you'll remember that feeling. I'm not saying that they're the second coming of the honorable Mr. Zimmerman, but the similarities are unmistakable - especially in the voice of lead singer Ian Felice and the general folk/blues veritas that the group enjoys.

The brothers performed on the New York subway system before they began touring - something they have in common with the next artist I'll talk about (teaser! you'll have to wait until Sunday to read about him... but if you went to Stetson in 2005, you know him very well). Lately, they've been touring across the southern United States; pretty soon, they'll be heading over to Europe.

I've been listening to these guys pretty consistently for the last couple of months, as anyone who worked with me this summer at Stetson can attest; it's just really solid music.

I've uploaded a song from each of The Felice Brothers' two mainstream albums:

First, from their eponymous debut album, "Frankie's Gun"


Second, from their sophomore album "Yonder is the Clock" (which came out in April of this year), "Chicken Wire"