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What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone is having a nice week. We’ve had some great weather here in Raleigh and it’s kinda been feeling like fall a little bit. Especially in the morning, with that nice, crisp air. Of course, we’ll probably be hit with another heatwave here soon before fall really rolls around. Here at Sorry State, Dominic has set off for a month-long visit to his home across the pond in England. I’m happy my buddy gets to go home and visit his family and friends, but I’ll miss having him around for our shifts together at the store so he can show me my new favorite album or cut up to some bluegrass records. He’s left me with enough great music to listen to tho in his absence, including this Lush album, Spooky. I honestly had never heard of Lush till the other week when we got in a few of their albums at the store. Dominic saw them and was like, “oh shit” and told me about them and that I’d probably like them a lot. Of course he was right. I think we ended up listening to all three that had come in and I was introduced to the serenading sounds of Lush. I really enjoyed all of them, but out of the bunch I’d have to say my favorite was Spooky, their 1992 album. The whole album just flows so nicely, some of the vocals on here kinda remind me of Julee Cruise too on some of the slower songs. My favorite two tracks on here are Tiny Smiles and Laura, the latter which has this part in the middle of the song that just sounds so fuckin cool. I guess it’s an effect on the guitar or something, but it sounds like an underwater UFO. If you listen to the song, I feel like it’s pretty clear what part I’m talking about despite my lack of accurate description. Without fail, each time I play this record in the shop someone always asks “who is this?” which I usually see as the mark of a good record. Get some luscious Lush in your life today.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone has had a nice last two weeks. There are big things brewing here in Raleigh with the announcement of the full lineup and schedule for the Sorry State 10 Year Anniversary fest and I can’t fucking wait. It’s gonna be such a fun weekend. I’m excited to see all the bands but particularly, I’m looking forward to the midnight show at the Pour House on Friday night with Delco MF’s, The Hell, and G.U.N. all performing. It’s gonna be a wild show. I missed last week’s newsletter as I was out visiting my dad in Seattle with one of my buddies and my brother. Man, I love Washington so much. It is the most naturally beautiful place I’ve ever been to. It feels like being in a whole other country sometimes. There’s so much to do out there, especially if you like being out in nature and camping and stuff. We went out to the Hoh National Rainforest and camped out there for a night and woke up to some elk eating leaves off the branches around our campsite. We also went up to Mount Baker and had an awesome campsite right on the river and stayed up too late sippin cold ones before getting up the next morning and going for an eight-mile hike on the mountain. It was fucking awesome. I love just going on a big hike around dramatic snow-capped mountains. It feels like those scenes in Lord of the Rings when they’re just running around middle earth. If you’ve never been out towards the Pacific Northwest, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s amazing out there. Anyway, back to music now. One night while we were in the city we went out for dinner and had about a 45 minute wait. The restaurant happened to be right next to a record store (shout out to Daybreak Records) though so naturally, that’s where I killed my time. I honestly don’t really like buying records if I have to fly back, cause flying with records is one of the most stressful things. I happened to be flipping thru the bargain bin though and came across this Bob Willis 2xLP box. At $2 I couldn’t pass it up. If something happened, not a big loss but also the box it’s in is really solid, so I figured it would be fine. It was kinda a full circle moment too, cause my dad first introduced me to Bob Wills’s music a year ago when I was visiting him out there and then we came across this on this trip. This particular record is Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys For The Last Time, which, if you couldn’t tell by the name, is the last recording of Bob Wills and his original Texas Playboys and honorary Playboys (like Merle Haggard). By this point in his life, Bob had suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed, which affected his speech and bound him to a wheelchair. Nonetheless, on December 3rd and 4th, 1973, Bob led his Playboys through all of his classic tunes as he had so many times before. You can tell through the recordings how much fun they were having during these final sessions with the king of western swing. It’s nice to hear some of these songs in such clear quality as a lot of his stuff was recorded in the ‘30s and ‘40s so the recordings can be a little shoddy. Bob would go on to pass away less than two years after this session, so this stands as a monumental recording. There’s a reason why there’s a Waylon Jennings song called Bob Wills is Still the King. If you don’t know, now ya know, so go get some swing in your life.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has had a nice week. Sometimes you just wanna listen to some loud, fast and fun punk and Fuck Music City by Schizos delivers that. This 7” arrived in our most recent package from Goodbye Boozy Records (which was full of other great titles) and it's a certified shredder in my book. I can’t lie, I was originally drawn to this record when I saw the back cover, which is a picture of two dudes taking a dump and pissing on the Nashville skyline. Dominic and I gave it a spin and I was immediately a fan on the first listen. The A-side definitely has a Memphis garage sound, which if you know me, is right up my alley. Pull It was the standout track on this side with its catchy and memorable lyrics. The B-side of this record surprised me though, with it being a three and a half minute rock song. It fucking rules though. You could tell me this was some 80’s rager and I’d totally believe you. All I can think when listening to this record is how sick it would be to hear this band live. This is your next soundtrack for when your slammin cold ones.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has been enjoying the end of summer. I also hope if you’re reading this that you were able to catch one of the shows from the Scarecrow / Vidro tour that just wrapped up. I caught the one here in Raleigh and it was a killer show as always and it was awesome to get to see Vidro live. They were amazing. Anyway, this week I’m writing about a record that I immediately fell in love with, which is always a great feeling, the 1986 Demo from the Brazilian post punk band Ida & Os Voltas. When Dom and I first opened up the package that had these in there he pulled it out and was like “Man they really nailed the ‘80s aesthetic with this cover” till we turned it around and realized this band actually was from the ‘80s. As far as I know, these are the only studio recordings from this band, but they sound amazing. I was instantly hooked from the first listen and clocking in at just around 15 minutes, this mini-LP is one you just wanna run back as soon as it’s over. My favorite track on here is Samambaias Voadora; it just sounds so fucking cool. The guitar has this like surfy sound to it and the riffs are just so catchy and get stuck in your head. I’ve been listening to this nonstop since discovering it when we got copies in the store and I still haven’t gotten tired of it. I can’t recommend this album any more, definitely a great addition to any collection.

What’s up Sorry State readers? It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done one of these. I hope everyone has been having a nice summer. It’s been real hot down here in North Carolina, but I’ve been trying to make the most of the season this year and go to the beach or river or just anywhere outdoors on my days off. We’re so lucky here in North Carolina to be able to go to the beach for the day or drive over to the mountains, so I’ve been trying to take advantage of it. Billy Strings came down the road to Cary for a three-night run and it was a blast. It was so fun getting to go to the shows with a bunch of different friends and seeing familiar faces around. Dom even came out to the first night! It was awesome to get to go to a show with him and hear a bunch of old bluegrass tunes we love listening to at the store together by some of our favorite artists like David Grisman, Flatt and Scruggs, and The Stanley Brothers, to name a few. One of my favorite memories of the weekend was for the encore of the first night, Billy played a cover of Ruby, in honor of Bobby Osborne, who just recently passed away, and Dom and I were out there cuttin a rug. Anyway it’s been a fun summer, but there’s been so much good music coming out it’s hard to keep up with. This week I was checking out some of the new stuff that had come in and came across this Haunted Mansion 7”. I decided to throw it on and was greeted with the sounds of quite literally, a spooky haunted mansion, only to be then hit by an onslaught of loud and raw hardcore punk for the next five minutes. All killer, no filler, straight to the point. It’s just right up my alley and I’ve had it on repeat since I picked up my copy. I highly recommend snagging this one. At the time of writing this I think we still have a couple copies left so grab it while you can!

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone has been having a nice week. The weather has felt great here in Raleigh recently, so it’s nice to catch this little window of nice weather before it gets real hot this summer. Speaking of hot, this week I’m writing about this Enemic Interior S/T 7”. The other day Dom and I were going thru and listening to some of the new 7”s we had gotten in over the last couple weeks and I threw this one on. I was immediately pulled in by the catchy guitar riff on the first track. Every song on here rips. I lack the proper music knowledge and vocabulary to tell you why it’s so good, but I just love the way this whole thing sounds. Vocals are always a big factor for me and can make or break a record, especially with music like this, but I really dig em on this. I realize I’m a little late to the party for these Barcelona madmen, as this EP was originally released on cassette last year, but better late than never. In fact, they just released their second EP a couple months ago, but we sold out of it pretty quick here at Sorry State, so here I am bumping this one. Give this one a listen if you haven’t yet and if you like it, we still got a few copies left, so snag one on this sweet red vinyl while you can!

What’s up everyone? I hope you’re all having a nice week. I’m going to the Dead and Co. show tonight here in Raleigh, so I figured it’s a good time to write about my favorite Grateful Dead record, Reckoning. I know some people reading this newsletter probably hate the Grateful Dead’s music, and that’s okay. Some people don’t care for it, and some people really enjoy it, and I happen to fall in the latter category. I remember listening to some of the more popular stuff when I was like thirteen and I liked it, but didn’t think much more of it than that. Then probably about five or six years ago I was visiting my buddy out in Colorado and we went on a hike in the mountains and when we were driving back down, he put on Terrapin Station and it just clicked for me. I started listening to all the live stuff and just went down the rabbit hole from there. Diving deep into their music has been very integral on my musical journey and led me to so many other artists and music I love today. If I never had this deep dive, I probably wouldn’t have discovered Billy Strings and been to all the shows I’ve been to this past year and become obsessed with old folk and bluegrass music. Which leads me to the album I’d like to talk about today. My brothers got me this copy of Reckoning (from Sorry State!) for my birthday a couple years back. I remember when I got it, I was a little thrown off by the tracklist. What the hell were all these traditional songs on here I didn’t recognize? An acoustic set? It was all a little different from the stuff I’d heard before from them. I remember I listened to it and thought it was good, but nothing that really stood out to me and it kinda just sat on my shelf for a while while my other Dead records got more love. Fast forward to my revelation with folk music and I come back to this album. Hold up, they’re covering Dark Hollow, Been All Around This World AND Deep Elem Blues on here? Fuck yeah. I love this record so much now, sometimes some things just need a lil bit of time to grow on you and this album has aged like fine wine to me.

What’s up Sorry State readers, I hope everyone is having a nice week. This past Saturday, me and Dom were working the store together, and it was pretty busy, as Saturdays tend to be. Artsplosure was going on downtown as well, so there were a lot of people out n about. I was in a Willie Nelson mood that particular morning and we had just got some of his records from a buy we did a couple days earlier, so I decided to give those a spin. At one point, a young girl and her dad came in and were doing some shopping around. The guy explained to me his daughter had just recently gotten a record player and was trying to build up her collection. I happened to be playing Shotgun Willie at this point and they had been in there for about ten minutes before she asked her dad, “Who is this playing?” He told her to go ask us at the front counter who it was, so we told her and showed her the record and she was saying how much she liked it and asked if she could buy it. Of course you can buy this Willie Nelson record. It always feels good to sell something right off the record player, but especially when it’s someone who’s hearing something for the first time and it just really clicks with them. As Dom said, “another soul saved.” I guess it would make sense for me to write about Shotgun Willie for my record this week, but I don’t even own that one. For my choice this week, I’m going with what I think is the coolest Willie album, Red Headed Stranger. I’m always a fan of murder ballads and this album is just one long murder ballad. It follows the tale of a preacher who’s become a fugitive on the run after catching his wife cheating with another man and killing them both. What more do you need? It feels more like watching a movie than listening to an album to me honestly. I also love the way he incorporates older songs like Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain and puts them in a whole new perspective to tell the story. There are so many Willie Nelson albums it’s kinda hard to know which ones are actually really worth checking out and listening to the whole way through, but I would definitely say this one is essential listening.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a nice week. Last week I travelled to Colorado to visit one of my best friends who lives there and we attended the two nights of Billy Strings at Red Rocks. Ever since I learned about Red Rocks when I was probably like 13 I’ve wanted to go to a show out there, so it was awesome to finally have the opportunity to do so. What fun would a trip be without some bumps along the way, though? Upon arriving at my gate to fly out from Raleigh, my flight was delayed by 4 hours due to a tornado watch at the Denver Airport. No worries, as long as I make it over there I don’t mind. I finally make it to Denver and my buddy comes to pick me up and drive back to his place in Boulder and it’s pouring rain. He told me it’s been raining the last two days straight and it should let up tomorrow cause it never rains for that long there. It did not let up the next day. We ended up getting to the venue at about 6 for a 7:30 show time. We park and throw on all our protective layers, raincoats and ponchos and all. It was also about 40 degrees and windy up in the mountains, so not only was it gonna be wet, it was gonna be cold. We have a couple beers and grab some roadies for the long line ahead. We were hoping the rain would eventually let up some, but it honestly only got worse. By the time we got to the end of the line to get into the show, my water resistant boots and two layers of socks had already soaked through and my pants were drenched as well. Really, the only part that kept dry was my upper body cause I had about 6 layers on. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything else, though. It felt like a true journey just to get to the show and only the strong and willing had made it. The huge amphitheater was still packed out despite the weather. The sound of wind ripping through cheap plastic ponchos filled the air. Nary a joint could even be lit in the harsh conditions. But Billy and the boys finally rolled out onto the stage and the place erupted and the attendees who stuck it through were treated to an incredible show. The whole show was fine tuned and songs thoughtfully picked to address the weather, starting things off with Cold On The Shoulder, a song written by the late Gordon Lightfoot, who just passed away earlier this month. Shortly following this was a performance of Dreadful Wind and Rain (how could you not?), a more recent interpretation (made popular by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman) of a traditional murder ballad dating back to the 17th century. Before the end of the first set was also a performance of one of my favorite Doc Watson songs, Red Rocking Chair. Man, I love hearing them play Doc Watson tunes. Set break rolls around and when the music stops and you’re not dancing, that’s when you notice how bad the weather is. It was raining sideways. Sometimes you would think it was letting up, but then the lights would hit the right angle and you could see it was still pouring. It was like being a wet fish in water. The second set started off strong, but my favorite part of the show was when Billy mentioned how a lot of songs he plays were learned by way of Doc Watson and this next song is one Doc picked up from Mississippi John Hurt, which was Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor. I was so happy to finally get to hear Billy perform it, and at such an amazing venue. Like I’ve mentioned before, that’s the reason I love bluegrass and folk music so much, a song passed down from three of my favorite artists, always reaching a new generation. Another highlight of the show was the performance of It’s Raining Here This Morning, a song made popular by a favorite of Dom and I’s, the Stanley Brothers. I think you can pick up a theme for the show from the song titles. It’s cool to think how different the setlist would’ve been had the weather just been different, but having the rain pour on me at Red Rocks is a memory I won’t soon forget. Okay, I’m gonna do a shorter recap of the second night cause that was really long. The weather was amazing for this show. We ended up getting to the lot to hang out before the show at around 4. It was nice just chilling before the show up there in the mountains. We even saw an elk walking around the top of the venue. Hell, people just walked up to you and handed you free mushrooms. Colorado is a great place. I even got to meet up with one of my best buddies from Memphis who I haven’t seen in years, and he joined us for the show. The weather was great throughout the whole show, but compared to the weather the night before, it felt like the biggest luxury in the world. I’m pretty sure I saw a bunch of shooting stars and a UFO during the second set that night, but that’s still up for debate. Anyway, both nights were incredible, and it was such a fun trip out there. I always love visiting Colorado and hope to make it back to another Red Rocks show. Technically, this write up should be about my record of the week, so I’ve picked out this Doc Watson record Dominic got me for my birthday a couple weeks back, the appropriately titled Memories, which features the aforementioned song, Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor. As me and Dom like to say, you just gotta put it out there in the universe. Sometimes things just work out exactly as they should.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a good week. The newsletter this week happens to fall on my birthday, woohoo! I thought it would be fitting to write about one of my favorite voices in all of music, Miss Dolly Parton. More specifically, The Monument Singles Collection 1964-1968, a record that actually came out this past Saturday for Record Store Day (I believe I mentioned it in my staff pick last week). This was one of the RSD titles I was really looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint. Since it’s a compilation of A-sides and B-sides throughout her early career before she was really established, there’s a lot of different sounding stuff on here you wouldn’t expect to find on a Dolly record. Busy Signal is one of the coolest Dolly songs I’ve heard with it being a more soul style, complete with background singers and someone making a busy signal sound throughout the song. It’s cool to hear her trying out these different styles early in her career to see what kinda sticks. Coincidentally, there happens to be a track on here titled Happy, Happy Birthday Baby, which I promptly listened to this morning with my coffee. Thanks Dolly, although unlike the person you’re singing to in the song, I’d never leave you for someone new. This past year has been really great and I think it also happens to be about a year now since I started working at Sorry State. I’ve learned so much and I’m very thankful for everyone here. I couldn’t ask for a better group of co-workers or boss. Dominic even gifted me some sweet Doc Watson records for my birthday. What a pal. It’s still pretty crazy to me to get to work at a job I actually really enjoy doing and don’t ever have to dread going into. Anyway I’m gonna go enjoy my birthday now and go eat Laotian food with my friends. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a nice week and is ready for Record Store Day this Saturday. We’ve been gearing up for it here at Sorry State. There are a lot of great titles coming out this year. I’m personally most excited about the Dolly Parton record coming out, a compilation of her early work (‘64 -’68) on Monument Records. This past week I traveled home to Memphis to visit my mom. We decided to go on a road trip for a couple of days around Mississippi and Alabama and catch some Billy String shows. It was such a fun few days just hanging out with my mom and driving around and hanging out in Mobile. The Airbnb we stayed at also happened to coincidentally be less than a mile away from the old shack my great-grandparents lived in when they first got married, so we went by and checked it out. (I can’t believe it was still standing.) It was cool to see where they started from when they were probably about my age. I never met them, but it made me feel a little bit more of a connection to them to see that in person. The older I get, the more I appreciate learning about family history and stories from it. Anyways, I was a little curious about how much my mom would enjoy the shows. I knew she would have fun cause she loves live music, but Billy shows can get a little out there sometimes and usually go for about three hours. I got us tickets for both nights but I was kinda half expecting to only go to the first night. I wasn’t gonna drag her back for a second night if she didn’t love it. She ended up having a blast, and we danced together the whole night. After the show, we walked around downtown and ended up just walking three miles back to the Airbnb (with a stop at Taco Bell at 1AM naturally). I forgot my mom knows how to throw down; I was passing out before her that night. She insisted that we go back the second night and sneak back into the pit as we had seated tickets that night. Who am I to say no to my own Mom? We went back that night and snuck into the pit and even got up to the front row and danced again all night long. The highlight of the shows for me was during the second set of the second night, he performed a cover of Bob Dylan’s Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again. It was too fitting considering our road trip down from Memphis and me and my mom were just high fiving and hootin’ and hollerin’. Honestly, it’s probably one of my favorite memories ever. I had a smile so big I was like the guy on the Jamming With Edward cover who’s smiling so hard his face falls off. I’ve been to a good amount of Billy shows, but these two in Mobile with my mom are probably the most fun I’ve had at a show and I’m just happy I get to have all these great memories from this trip. I love my mama. Obviously, I was traveling, so I wasn’t listening to records, but before I left, I found myself listening to this Mississippi John Hurt record a lot. Why not listen to some Delta blues and folk if I’m gonna be traveling around the Delta? I love John Hurt’s music so much, it just sounds so comforting. I’ve mentioned many times before but blues and folk music is so awesome cause so many of these songs are like a century old but they still sound incredible and the feelings they convey are still relatable to this day. I love just about every song on here, but if I had to pick a couple of favorites I’d go with Salty Dog Blues, Make Me a Pallet on the Floor, Sliding Delta and Stagolee. Man, I had to cut that short. I realized I was typing out like half the track list. I guess to bring it all back and tie everything together, it was cool to travel with my mom for a concert down to where my great-grandparents are from and listen to Billy play some old ass folk songs they might’ve even listened to back then too. The power of bluegrass and folk baby, the circle is never broken.

What’s up Sorry State readers? I hope everyone is having a nice week. My mind has been all over the place this week and sometimes when I find myself feeling this way, I like to listen to more instrumental music so I can kind of let my mind wander and think about different things. This week I found myself listening to an album I picked up a couple weeks ago, Ravi Shankar At The Monterey International Pop Festival. A lot of people have mixed feelings on live albums, but I’m personally a big fan of them. If your music doesn’t sound good live, then what’s the point of it? I love getting a new record that doesn’t sound like anything else I own already. I went over to a friend’s house the other week and brought some records to play, and at one point I pulled this one out and we listened to the whole thing and at the end my friend said “What do we even follow up with after that?” Probably just more Ravi Shankar records, but this is the only one I have for now, so I’m gonna have to just keep replaying it. As you could guess from the title, the music is taken from his performance at the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, the same festival where Jimi Hendrix famously lit his guitar on fire, which Ravi was “horrified” to witness. His performance took place on the third and last day of this festival, on Sunday afternoon after a rainy morning, in front of a bunch of weird ass hippies, which he wasn’t really a fan of. But he grew to like some of the people in the crowd that he could tell were really enjoying the music. That’s part of the reason I enjoy live albums so much, because I like learning about the history behind the show and what was happening at the time and how people were feeling, because it can really affect how the music sounds. Anyway, this record has quickly become one of my favorites and I hope to add some more of his to my collection.