Category Archives: Music

Sloan Dylan (ex-Gospel Claws) releases first solo song

As Gospel Claws, the then-reigning kings of Phoenix’s indie music scene, began to disperse to Washington, Idaho, and elsewhere, vocalist, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and handsome man Sloan Walters began working on solo material.

Using his middle name, Sloan Dylan released “Loan Star State” today via Soundcloud. He cowrote the song with Eric Lauterbach in 2015.

In a post on the newly minted band Facebook page, Sloan noted he has “a lot of new stuff coming out this year and am excited to share”

A few years ago, I bumped into Sloan at Crescent Ballroom and asked what his next steps were. He mentioned he had something in the works and that it was going to be a little more country than Gospel Claws. He rattled off a slew of influences that I can’t remember at all.

The single sounds like a natural progression from his days with the Claws. His unique vocals always stood out on every song and now blend perfectly with the jangly guitars of his new project.

Listen to “Loan Star State” below.

 

Richard Edwards Reborn

Richard Edwards doesn’t sound tired anymore. His voice is still soft, but there is an optimistic vibrancy that hadn’t been there in recent years.

He is in a quiet room in his home in Indiana talking to me on the phone. I apologize for not being able to meet in person; I couldn’t afford a flight halfway across the country. He gets money woes, though. He gets health woes, too. In fact, Edwards gets most woes that come in life. They’ve all knocked him down. He’s gotten up every single time.

The Indiana-based songwriter was diagnosed with C. Diff – an infection of the intestines – and spent most of 2015 recovering from a near fatal attack that robbed him of 40 pounds, his energy, and a tour. He says the rare disease essentially forced him into retirement. He’s since recovered, but the ailment still lingers.

“My stomach issue is a pretty consistent part of my life, but I do have longer stretches where I feel really good. I’m in one of those right now.”

More

‘Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset’ is a vulnerable masterpiece

[Read my feature “Richard Edwards Reborn” for an in-depth look at the album from musician himself.]

For nearly a decade, Richard Edwards released music as a band called Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s. Don’t be fooled; he was the band. The players came in on different albums to help, but he was always the maestro. His lineups changed year to year, as did his music.

Now, Lemon Cotton Candy Sunset is his first true solo album under his own name. I wrote a feature about it that will appear sometime shortly on All Things Go about why this was time for him to step out from behind the Margot moniker.

More

Watch Taylor Upsahl’s music video for “Digital Papers”

Taylor Upsahl may only be 18, but she is a seasoned rock star. The Phoenix New Times wrote about how her musical talent “will blow you away” when she was barely old enough to drive legally. I must have been living under a rock because I hadn’t heard of the singer-songwriter until I caught her performing at this year’s Phoenix Rock Lottery.

My jaw dropped during the impromptu band’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” She. Killed. It.

More

28 songs for my 28 years on earth

I turned 28 today [January 3, 2017]. That means I have lived 10,220 days, 336 months, and have completed 28 rotations around the sun. Twenty-eight isn’t a significant birthday at all, but I wanted to start collecting a playlist of songs to represent each year of my life. It was hard to do because I only wanted an artist represented once. So this isn’t a “best of” or anything like that. Just a playlist… a playlist that will probably shift throughout time.

More