The new CD is a ramble through the southwest, where the banjo meets the gut string guitar and the harmonies flow freely. Backing the duo is a cadre of Nashville A-list players including Justin Moses (banjo, mandolin, fiddle) and Mark Fein (bass), both of Ricky Skaggs’ band as well as Fats Kaplin (steel guitar), Gary Smith (piano), Lynn Williams and Steve Brewster (drums) and Thomm Jutz (guitars, keyboards).On Once in a Blue Moon, Atkinson and Boyd craft a relaxing blend of bluegrass, country and folk sounds that fit like a comfortable pair of boots. Beautifully recorded by Thom Jutz (Nanci Griffith) at his studio in Nashville, the new CD was produced by Jutz, Atkinson and Boyd and features 21 original songs that focus on relationships, as well as funny, insightful stories and some rough tales of the road, all accented with luxurious vocal harmonies that recall Crosby, Stills & Nash and Fleetwood Mac. With a high lonesome twang, an Emmylou-like southern drawl, and blistering guitar techniques, Blue Cactus’ new record Stranger Again exercises the honky-tonk muscles to firmly bear the flag for a new generation of classic country practitioners.San Francisco Bay Area-based singer/songwriters Marty Atkinson and Katy Boyd have joined forces to form Blue Cactus Choir and will release their debut album, Once in a Bluegrass Moon, January 15 on Porgy Records. Their finest work yet, Blue Cactus resuscitate a fleeting style of honest-to-goodness country music considered valueless to a “new” country music where songwriting is officiated by financialĪnalysts and teams of marketing plutocrats instead of woebegone troubadours. Throughout Stranger Again, they explore loss and longing, self-love and reckoning with personal, political and human struggles. The otherworldliness of the music is a perfect contrast to their distinctly grounded, human storytelling lyrics. Stranger Again is a deep dive into Cosmic American music, with the band taking their sound into ambitious new planes, where country-rock meets light psychedelia as the soaring vocals meet twangy slide-guitars and propulsive bass-lines. The album has received enthusiastic attention from tastemakers including NoDepression, American Songwriter, FLOOD Magazine, Talkhouse, and INDY Week among others. Blue Cactus, the North Carolina duo of Steph Stewart and Mario Arnez, make CosmicĪmericana: a blend of grit, glitz, groove, and twang that evokes a celestial soundscape of mid-century heartbreak.įollowing their critically acclaimed 2017 debut and a string of singles in 2020 their evolution is made plain on their sophomore LP, Stranger Again, released on Sleepy Cat Records.
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