Wind up with a trick-or-treat bag full of rocks again? Dump ’em in the gutter and fill it up with great records by Nashville musicians (and at least one in which the marquee artist is from elsewhere but relied heavily on Music City players). The Scene’s music writers have nine new recommendations for you to add to your streaming queue or pick up from your favorite record store. Some of our picks are also available to buy directly from the artists on Bandcamp. Though a recent sale has sparked some troubling developments for the widely loved platform, its Bandcamp Friday promotion — in which the company waives its cut of sales for 24 hours — returns on Nov. 3.
Soccer Mommy, Karaoke Night (Loma Vista)
On her new EP, Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy, takes on five songs by other artists: Pavement’s “Here,” Sheryl Crow’s “Soak Up the Sun,” Slowdive’s “Dagger,” Taylor Swift’s “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” and R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” It’s no easy task to make someone else’s song your own, but Soccer Mommy does just that. Working with multiplatinum co-producer Matt Cohn, guitarist-vocalist Allison and her band — guitarist Julian Powell, guitarist-keyboardist Rodrigo Avendano, bassist Nick Widener and drummer-percussionist Rollum Haas — bathe each song in an almost otherworldly soundscape that transcends the sonic limits of the original and leaves the listener hoping there will be a Karaoke Night II. DARYL SANDERS
Jyou and K.O.N, The Boombox (Inner Circle)
MCs K.O.N and Jyou stand tall on their own: K.O.N’s 2022 LP Kids Being Kids nonchalantly blurs the line between rap and future funk, and Jyou’s Living on the Edge from January elegantly blends old-school boom-bap and more contemporary styles. The pair deftly covers a lot of ground on their collaborative EP The Boombox. They swagger right into the club on opener “Hips,” and circle through several other seasons of life by closing track “Leisure,” a nuanced look at long-term relationships. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Find The Boombox on your favorite streaming service via Linktree, and keep up with Jyou and K.O.N on Instagram for more.
Luke Schneider, It Is Solved by Walking (Centripetal Force/Third Man)
Odds are pretty good you’ve heard the name Luke Schneider, and they’re even better that you’ve heard him play. For years, Schneider and his Emmons push-pull pedal steel have been a mainstay in Nashville country, alt-country, Americana and more, and with his debut LP Altar of Harmony, he took a deep dive into New Age and ambient sounds. On his second solo release, Schneider keeps pushing the boundaries of the instrument, transforming its typical country twang into an effects-laden ambient soundscape. With inspirational touchstones like the work of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, these five tracks envelop the senses, layering sustained drones with flourishes reminiscent of Bruce Kaphan’s ambient experiments with pedal steel. The end result is heady and intense, but immensely rewarding — like Schneider’s daily meditation practice. BEN ARTHUR
Stephen Wilson Jr., Son of Dad (Big Loud)
Stephen Wilson Jr. — who longtime followers of Nashville rock will remember from Aughts ensemble AutoVaughn, a group he toured with after earning a microbiology degree at MTSU — holds nothing back in the 22-song magnum opus that is his debut solo album Son of Dad. A trailer-park Kerouac whose dark, left-of-center country fuses back-40 grit and lo-fi grunge with a flair for droning (yet catchy) dissonance, Wilson has a view of the rusting American Dream that’s hard to look away from. With a title nodding to his late father, who raised Wilson as a single parent, the album ultimately feels like a declaration of creative independence — intriguing and insightful at all levels. CHRIS PARTON
Find Son of Dad at your favorite record store or on your favorite streaming service, and follow Wilson on Instagram for updates.
Abby Johnson, Abby Johnson (Earth Libraries)
One of the striking points of songsmith Abby Johnson’s debut album is the production. Working with producers Kyle Buckner and Drew Carroll and with longtime local faves Ornament as her band, Johnson navigates easily between folky sounds, indie rock and country funk. It’s a fine match for insightful songs about things you want to remember because they’re enriching, as well as things you don’t want to forget because the lessons sting. “If I stop wanting more, will there ever be another door?,” she sings in “Try Me On,” a song about the things that keep us together when maybe they shouldn’t. “Will it open slowly, or swing out wide? / I crossed my heart / Each and every time it shut on me / Or when I lose the key.” STEPHEN TRAGESER
Wesley & The Boys, Switchblade Twist (Sweet Time)Â
Wesley & The Boys’ grimy garage-punk barrage wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the Memphis scene at any point over the past 25 years. Fittingly, the Switchblade Twist 7-inch arrived in late September, right in time for the band’s first GonerFest after-party gig. Juvenile delinquency reigns on the pogo-till-you-drop title track and the deliciously sarcastic “Jail, Again.” Live-set standout “Car Song” closes things out, and it’s a tongue-in-cheek sendup of tough-guy posturing. Ryan Sweeney, longtime local and regional rock booster, issued the three-song collection on his Sweet Time imprint. The 7-inch previews a recently completed second album by one of the tightest and most road-ready punk bands in town. ADDIE MOORE
Austin Stambaugh, Midwest Supernatural (Anti-Corp)
There’s a whiff of the outsider-country ethos on Ohio-born singer and songwriter Austin Stambaugh’s Midwest Supernatural, which he cut mostly live with a tactful band that’s adept at bringing old-school styles back to life. Stambaugh strikes me as an exponent of postmodernist, expressionist country, and he delved into Bert Jansch-style folk-blues on his 2019 album Where She Will Go. What you get on Midwest Supernatural are stories that Stambaugh delivers in a gliding voice that registers as both country-inflected and bluesy. When it works — check out the modal underpinning of “Final Delivery” and the skirling fiddles on the post-blues track “San Marcos” — Stambaugh’s fusion of narrative and music is genuinely innovative. Stambaugh makes like a newfangled realist of neo-country, and this couplet from “Final Delivery” sums up his approach: “But neither John nor his woman ever got the paper signed / So his last will was forgotten to his estranged ex-wife.” EDD HURT
Sugar Sk*-*lls, Star Time (YK Records)
You might find it funny that despite many years as a mostly solo electronic project, Ben Marcantel’s Sugar Sk*-*lls named their new album Star Time after expanding into a trio by joining forces with G. Seth West from Gray Worry and Tye Bellar of Financier. But it’s no less appropriate; the LP puts the deeply personal into perspective with the vastness of the cosmos. Standout track “Crystal Orchids” features an all-too-rare appearance from Cortney Tidwell; her voice anchors the song, about tension in a relationship, while the soundscape swells, pulses and glitches. STEPHEN TRAGESER
Bethany Cosentino, Natural Disaster (Concord)Â
While Bethany Cosentino may be the Queen of L.A. via her surf-rock-inspired indie duo Best Coast (currently on indefinite hiatus), she chose Tennessee as the place to record her solo debut. She’s traveled from the beach to the Thompson’s Station, Tenn., farm-based studio of rock artist and producer Butch Walker. Nashville musicians grace some of the tracks’ production credits, including contributions from in-demand session and touring musician Ellen Angelico on pedal steel and guitar from Jeff Trott, a veteran songwriter known for his extensive work with Sheryl Crow. Cosentino cites Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt and Crow as early influences on her songwriting, and they come to the fore on Natural Disaster. She still rocks, but now in a rootsy way. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
