Category: news

Pastime Painting: The Baseball Art Of Will Johnson

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“I think the game itself, no matter what level it’s played on, is one of the most incredible inventions of strategy, physics and geometry that humans have come up with,” artist and musician Will Johnson said of baseball.  ”It’s humbling and humanizing.  As Willie Mays said: it’s “violence under wraps”.  There’s a duality in its flawless simplicity, and consuming, psychological complexities.”

READ MORE AT MODERN AMERICAN…

Will Johnson + Jay Farrar + Yim Yames + Anders Parker: Tour Dates!

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Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Gob Iron, Uncle Tupelo), Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket, Monsters of Folk), and Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron) have announced they will tour in support of their album New Multitudes this upcoming spring. The album is a Woody Guthrie tribute, which will be released the album on Feb. 28 via Rounder Records to coincide with Guthrie’s 100th birthday celebration.

Tour dates:

March
6 – San Francisco, CA @ The Filmore
7 – Lost Angeles, CA @ Music Box
9 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
10 – Seattle, WA @ Showbox
12 – Washington, D.C. @ The Birchmere
13 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
14 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall
16 – Boston, MA @ Paradise

Check it out on Facebook.

“NEW MULTITUDES” OUT FEBRUARY 28

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JAY FARRAR, WILL JOHNSON, ANDERS PARKER AND YIM YAMES PAY HOMAGE TO WOODY GUTHRIE ON “NEW MULTITUDES” OUT FEBRUARY 28

Like a cadre of musical brothers finally coalescing after years on the road apart, Jay Farrar (Son Volt, Gob Iron, Uncle Tupelo), Will Johnson (Centro-matic, South San Gabriel), Anders Parker (Varnaline, Gob Iron) and Yim Yames (My Morning Jacket, Monsters of Folk) gratefully deliver New Multitudes, an intimate interpretation of American icon and musical legend Woody Guthrie’s previously unrecorded lyrics.

Set to coincide with the centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie’s birth year, New Multitudes will be released February 28 on Rounder Records as a 12 track release and a 23 track deluxe, limited edition. The limited edition features original Guthrie lyric sheets, the 12 track release, and 11 additional compositions recorded by Farrar and Parker. The album will also be available on vinyl.

Under the invitation of Nora Guthrie, Woody’s daughter, to tour the Guthrie archives, each of the four songwriters were offered the chance to plumb and mine the plethora of notebooks, scratch pads, napkins, etc. for anything that might inspire them to lend their voices and give the words new life.

“These guys worked on an amazing group of lyrics” says Nora. “Much of it was culled from Woody’s times in L.A. Lyric wise, it’s a part of the story that is still mostly unknown. From Woody’s experiences on LA’s skid row to his later years in Topanga Canyon, they are uniquely intimate, and relate two distinctly emotional periods in his life.”

The spirit of Guthrie may have been involved in more ways than one, as all four songwriters mentioned the immediate connection to the songs they chose, or as they would suggest, “chose them.” The writing came together quickly, as if the mischief muse who originally penned them latched himself to each writer’s grey matter upon first contact.

Musically, it is this sense of collaboration that makes New Multitudes not just another trite and traditional acoustic regurgitation of back porch blues. From the ragged jangle of its opening track, “Hoping Machine”, the loping lilt of “Fly High”, the floorboard stomp of “No Fear”, to the lush warmth and sudden sonic gut punch of “My Revolutionary Mind” the cohorts deliver a lesson in discovering a song’s sweet spot. It’s the function and preparedness of each artist’s dogged work ethic gleaned the old-fashion way; veracious songs, road weary odometers, and sweat stained live shows, all attributes of the man they are honoring.

New Multitudes track listing:

1. Hoping Machine
2. Fly High
3. My Revolutionary Mind
4. VD City
5. Old L.A.
6. Talking Empty Bed Blues
7. Chorine
8. Careless Reckless Love
9. Angel’s Blues
10. No Fear
11. Changing World
12. New Multitudes

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USA Tour Dates In November!

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Centro-matic will be headed to the west coast in November. Polica will be opening all the shows. Please come out and say hello!

November
10 – Kansas City MO – Record Bar
12 – Denver CO – High Dive
13 – Durango CO – Abbey Theatre
15 – Salt Lake City UT – Urban Lounge
16 – Reno NV – The Underground
17 – San Francisco CA – Bottom of The Hill
18 – Los Angeles CA – The Satellite
19 – Tucson AZ – Club Congress

Donation to Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry & Friends of the Lost Pines State Parks

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We were able to donate $1147.50 to the Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry because of your kindness during our fund raiser a couple of weeks ago. Here’s Will Johnson presenting the check to Executive Director Tresha Silva.

If you’d like to donate directly to the food pantry you can do so HERE.

The other $1147.50 we raised went to Friends of the Lost Pines State Parks.

Thank you all for the support.

Will, Scott, Mark & Matt.

 

Thank you!

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Thanks so much to everyone that participated in the painting auctions, and picked up some merchandise during these recent fundraisers for victims of the Bastrop County fires.

Over the span of just a few days, we were able to raise almost $2,500.00 for the cause. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Friends of the Lost Pines State Parks, and Bastrop County Emergency Food Pantry.