Two Upcoming In-Store Performances with Sam & Ruby

Sam & Ruby play 2 Barnes & Noble In-Stores this week in Austin, TX and Brentwood, TN. Both shows are FREE and at 6pm. Full details are below. Be sure to stick around after the shows for CD signing sessions!

Thursday, November 12, 2009
6:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
10000 Research Blvd #158
Austin, TX 78759

Saturday, November 14, 2009
6:00 PM
Barnes & Noble
1701 Mallory Lane
Brentwood, TN 37027

Check out more Sam & Ruby dates here.

Ryko Welcomes Allison Moorer to Our Roster

We are pleased to announce the addition of Allison Moorer to our artist family and roster. Allison's Ryko debut, Crows, will be released on February 9th, 2010. Produced by R.S. Field (Buddy Guy, John Mayall) at the House of David Studio in Nashville, TN, the 13-track album is a refined and lyrically honest collection of songs that is a marked stylistic departure from her previous work. Crows is the anticipated follow up to her critically acclaimed 2008 album, Mockingbird, which was a celebration of songs composed by a stunning cast of female songwriters including Nina Simone, Patti Smith, Cat Power, her sister Shelby Lynne, and more. It also follows Moorer’s first Grammy Award Nomination for the song “Days Aren’t Long Enough,” a composition she co-wrote with her husband, Steve Earle, for his Grammy Award Winning 2007 album Washington Square Serenade.

Ruby Marchand, head of A&R for Ryko, stated “Ryko is enormously proud to welcome Allison Moorer to our family of artists. Allison’s extraordinarily evocative songs and vocal style capture her unique signature in the singer/songwriter community. With the February 2010 release of Crows, Ryko celebrates the beginning of a worldwide relationship with Allison through an album of astonishing breadth and scope.”

Read more about Allison Moorer's signing to Ryko at Billboard.

Leslie Mendelson - The Joel Dorn Sessions

Fans of Leslie Mendeslon who are hungry for new material since the summer's release of Swan Feathers can finally satisfy themselves with an EP of un-released songs. The Joel Dorn Sessions are a handful of tracks Leslie recorded with acclaimed producer Joel Dorn, including a breath-taking rendition of "Be My Baby." The EP will be available digitally on November 17th and it's one you will truly not want to miss out on.

Thea Gilmore's Strange Communion

Critically-acclaimed UK singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore helps Ryko ring in the holiday spirit with Strange Communion, out November 3rd. This carefully crafted album is a stirring, poignant journey into the heart of the winter season filled with twists and turns of celebration, introspection and often skepticism. With deep humanist joy at its core, Strange Communion reflects on the rituals and contradictions that come with the trimmings of the holidays.

From the choral splendor of "Sol Invictus", her acappella opening ode with the award-winning Sense Of Sound choir, to the ethereal beauty of “Midwinter Toast” and “December in New York”, to cover versions of obscure songs by Elvis Costello (The St. Stephens Day Murders”) and Yoko Ono (“Listen The Snow Is Falling”), Gilmore’s crystalline voice and dazzling lyrics shine throughout this collection. Rounding off the festivities on a cheerful note, the catchy single "That'll Be Christmas" indubitably adds more spice into the mix as Gilmore lightheartedly sings “French beer and mistletoe…faith, hope and gluttony…me missing you again, that’ll be Christmas.”

Strange Communion isn't out until next week but you can pre-order on Amazon today.

Matt Duke at CMJ 09

If you are in the New York City area, be sure to catch Matt Duke this Friday, October 23rd at The Living Room. Matt plays as part of the Paste Magazine Party at this year's CMJ Music Marathon. The show if free and Matt Duke hits the stage at 7pm sharp.

Reissue Release Day for Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - Swimming Hour

Originally released in 2001, the third and final album from Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire, The Swimming Hour, is available TODAY on vinyl for the first time as a Deluxe 2x Vinyl LP set.

Newly re-mastered under the watchful eye of Bird himself, this significant Ryko release is the last recording to feature Bird's backing band, Bowl of Fire.

As a special addition to this vinyl package, the original CD album art has been reinterpreted by artist Jay Ryan, turning the photograph on the original cover into a pop art illustration.

Order The Swimming Hour at Insound today and receive a signed record sleeve signed by Andrew Bird and Jay Ryan (while supplies last)!

Nickel Eye Matches You and Everyone Else

Nickel Eye (aka Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes) is back with a brand new video off of his debut album, The Time of the Assassins. It's for the latest single, "You and Everyone Else."

Click on the banner to your left to watch the video and to find "the one" for you at www.matchesyou.com.