If It's Too Loud...

Photo via Facebook As any regular reader of If It's Too Loud would know, we love cover songs here. This was one of those sneaky covers that I didn't recognize until about halfway through. Mark Lavengood also plays with Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellies, but has a solo album coming out next month. I tend to like Springsteen covers more than I tend to like Springsteen (although my 40 year odyssey of appreciating The Boss has me actually kinda getting into him in the past year), and I have a huge love of folk and bluegrass covers of his songs, which makes sense since I like Bruce the Folk Singer more than Bruce the Rock God. Lavengood's cover of "Hungry Heart" is a great bluegrass version of the Springsteen classic. It's as faithful a cover as a genre switch can be, and exists in both worlds of traditional bluegrass and more modern nu-grass. If I'm being completely honest, I loved the instrumentation at first, but almost balked at Lavengood's voice. I...

Because we can't hear them all? Diana Krall - Wallflower : I'll listen to almost anything, but jazz always seems to get away from me. Diana Krall is a noteworthy exception to this for whatever reason, though, and her latest album, a cover record called Wallflower , is both a step in a more accessible direction as well as somewhat less interesting as the smooth jazz takes on some classics are...not great. I love a good cover song, but too many of the tracks here end up being more dirgey than anything else, and that's not always a welcome thing. Worth a listen, but beware. Jenny Owen Youngs - Slack Tide : Most musicians, when repackaging their music for an EP, tend to irritate me. When Jenny Owen Youngs does it, for whatever reason, I keep getting hooked over and over. I listened once for the new song and the curiosity, and I must have replayed it at least 6 times within a few days of that first listen. It's a solid EP anyway, more fun if you're a fan of her...

Michigan doesn't conjure thoughts of roots/Americana music, but Lindsay Lou & the Flatbellys might change that. They recorded their new album, Ionia , over the course of four days last fall at home. The album is this purely chill collection of bluegrass tinged folk. It reminds me of Lake Street Dive with more folksy influences than jazz. There are still touches of jazz in the album, most particularly in Lindsay Lou's smoldering torch singer voice. Maybe a better comparison would be if The Punch Brothers and Lake Street Dive formed a super group. One of the best features of the new album is that it's free! For the mere price of joining their email list, you can download Ionia  for free! Not too shabby for a brand new album. Head on over to their website  to get your copy. You can also watch a video they did for "House Together" with The Bluegrass Situation below.