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Author Archives: Jon Rooney
Ball of Wax 63 Songs: Maggie O’Hara – “Worth the Wait”
Maggie O’Hara makes her debut contribution to ye olde Ball of Wax with “Worth the Wait,” an uncluttered voice and ukulele song written by O’Hara and recorded by scene stalwart and bearded Cascadian musical guru Colin J Nelson. “Worth the … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 60 Songs: Kenneth Lee Nottingham and Four and Five
Kenneth Lee Nottingham: “Cradle” While a folk Americana guitar pattern zigs comfortably, enter the zagging of Bolan-esque light mysticism with lyrics like “giants and jellybeans / angels in perdition” and some “dee dee dee dee”-ing to round things out from … Continue reading
Posted in Ball of Wax, Check Out This Song
Tagged Four and Five, Kenneth Lee Nottingham, Susan McIntyre
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Ball of Wax 59 Songs: Zachary Warnes – “What’s This Death”
Singer / songwriter Amanda Winterhalter has made quite an impact on the Ball of Wax universe and PNW Americana music scene these past few years, going back to her 2016 debut LP Oleo that features a song called “I’m 100 Years … Continue reading
Posted in BoW Covers, Check Out This Song
Tagged Amanda Winterhalter, zachary warnes
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Ball of Wax 59 Songs: Sam Russell – “Everything Is Changing”
Let’s not bury the lede; Sam Russell sings his cover of Zachary Warnes’s “Everything is Changing” in falsetto. Like full, guileless, going-for-it falsetto accompanied by nothing else than tastefully played electric guitar dialed up with a healthy dose of reverb. … Continue reading
Album Review: The Cupholders Present . . . “The Wisconsin Polka!”
Supergroups are strange beasts. Jann Wenner claims that Cream, with members from the Yardbirds, the Graham Bond Organization, and John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, was rock’s first supergroup – soon to be followed by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; Blind … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 58 Songs: The Foghorns – “Queen of Decatur”
Seattle’s Foghorns strip it down to the Americana basics with “Queen of Decatur,” leaving just vocals and acoustic guitar to tell a complex personal story in simple musical terms. This is a bleak, beautiful “end-of-the-line” set piece: a hotel parking … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Grumpy Bear – “Red Weather Tigers”
The desert’s finest bedroom bards Grumpy Bear bring the brooding, spacey folk with “Red Weather Tigers.” A moody, sparse psych ballad that blends Elliott Smith with Parachute-era Pretty Things, “Red Weather Tigers” features both futuristic synth dabbling and finger-style acoustic guitar. … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 58 Songs: Tekla Waterfield – “Come Together Christmas Cheer”
Seattle-area mainstay Tekla Waterfield delivers a polished, fully-realized holiday folk song with “Come Together Christmas Cheer.” With nothing more than acoustic guitar and a few vocal tracks, Waterfield constructs something that would readily hold its own alongside any mainstream country/Americana Christmas … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 57 Songs: Pampa – “Una de Cal y una de Arena”
Seattle via Buenos Aires band Pampa returns to Ball of Wax with “Una de Cal y una de Arena” and it’s an outstanding example of the band’s elegant-yet-naturalistic guitar-driven sound. Singer-songwriter-guitarist Moon Baillie (a better band name than Pampa? methinks … Continue reading
Ball of Wax 57 Songs: The Foghorns – “Night of the Comet”
“It’s the last arcade on the street / it’s the end of the 1980s / and somehow you’re alive” is one hell of a lyric from a band that’s had more than their fair share. As a latchkey kid from … Continue reading