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David Cantwell

@cantkill.bsky.social

Music critic. Husband. Dog Lover. Author of “The Running Kind: Listening to Merle Haggard.” Cofounder No Fences Review. Midwesterner

580 Posts1927 Follower417 Folgt
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · last wk.

This @cantkill.bsky.social No Fences Review rec of my band's new album (full of songs I cowrote and on which I play fiddle) feels as great as a twirl on the dance floor. As Bob Wills would say: "ah-haa!" (And you really should click through to watch the Lydia Ricci dino video.)

No Fences Review logo Owen Lake & the Tragic Loves – “Over You” (from Bury Deep My Heart, 2026) When not dressed up like a midcentury country & western star, Owen Lake goes by the title Dr. Jeffrey Snyder, Director of Electronic Music in the Department of Music at Princeton University. These roles might suggest some seriously conflicting skill sets. But the wonder of Snyder’s work on Bury Deep My Heart, his third album in Tragic Loves mode over the last couple decades, is how warmly his drum programs, synth bass lines and bespoke gadgets such as the “Electrosteel” compliment his country melodies and themes, as well as the traditional color instruments like fiddle and pedal steel that he also uses. What I feared would be some sort of sneering art-project novelty is, in other words, a damn good country album. The more I listen, the more I like everything here, but a couple of standouts include the Outlaw-on-the-dancefloor title track and a country duet called “Let’s Go Back” (Not important, but… Its electronic pulse combined with its dinosaur-themed video gave me not unpleasant flashbacks to David Van Teighem’s These Things Happen!) I think my favorite cut here is “Over You,” which rolls along like Human League gone country. In a voice that’s not twangy in the least but still plenty lonesome, Owen Lake calls up his ex, Evaleen, to inform her he’s finally over her. Sounds suspicious to me. Evaleen will be forgiven if she thinks he still cares. – DC (Thanks to Phil Overeem for the heads up) Embedded YouTube link for Over You.
Charles Hughes@charleshughes2.bsky.social · last wk.

New at No Fences Review: @cantkill.bsky.social & I are back with fresh Turn It Up recs. New stuff from Shania Twain & Tanya Tucker, Charli XCX, and Aaron Lee Tasjan, plus an archive treasure from Bob Seger, a Neptune returns, and more! Plus reading recs. Please share & subscribe.

David Cantwell@cantkill.bsky.social · last wk.

This exchange about the class/racial/regional connotations of "veranda" reminded me what Mavis Staples once told me. Her Pops grew up on Mississippi's Dockery plantation and back there they called the front porch of the Staples' house something very different--used it differently too!

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Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · last wk.

Not just a bigass porch, as others correctly say in the thread, but a bigass porch in the south. Veranda is very southern plantation coded. Other regions may use it, but veranda connotes place and politics of bucolic southern plantation leisure, all implications intended.

Kai Ryssdal@kairyssdal.bsky.social · 2w ago

The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the White House press corps knows and accepts both the appearance and reality of its obeisance

Carl Quintanilla@carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2w ago

“.. he was met with applause from roughly half the room .. before turning toward new #WHCA president Jacqui Heinrich, who smiled .. and embraced the man who had just spent more than an hour assailing the work of those seated before him.” @passantino.bsky.social www.status.news/p/the-white-...

The 14th Amendment Center@the14thcenter.bsky.social · 3w ago

@duvernay.bsky.social is bringing the 14th Amendment to @netflix.com. 14th. a documentary on birthright citizenship and equal protection, arrives this fall and our Director @sifill.bsky.social is featured in the film. Who gets counted in America? We're about to find out deadline.com/2026/07/ava-...

Ava DuVernay & Netflix Reteam For Constitutional Documentary '14th'

A decade after Ava DuVernay's award-winning 13th debuted on Netflix, the filmmaker & streamer have reteamed for Constitutional documentary '14th'.

deadline.com

Goldstein@goldstein.latinsky.app · 3w ago

Here is Graham gloating about "killing all the right people." Just in case you see anyone try to do the whole "we should have decency for the dead" nonsense.

snake-nc@snake-nc.bsky.social · last mo.

Great essay by @charleshughes2.bsky.social, reminded me in 1999 I somehow found myself engineering a tv performance by Jay Bennett and Jeff Tweedy (duo) playing some Mermaid Avenue. They were very kind and it was a fun session and really lucky I got to be there. youtu.be/SQ0a_LJ5tZ8?...

Rock.alt featuring Wilco, August 15, 1999

YouTube video by Austin History Center

youtu.be

David Cantwell@cantkill.bsky.social · last mo.

Great essay on Billy Bragg and Wilco's Woody Guthrie project Mermaid Avenue, on the occasion of their first live performance of the album together last month. By @charleshughes2.bsky.social for No Fences Review

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · last mo.

One of my favorite musician bio’s too. An interesting dude, from an underexplored part of the American racial hierarchy, with a clear class position that came through his art

David Hollingsworth 🏳️‍🌈@daveyh39.bsky.social · last mo.

Remembering the legendary and soulful Bill Withers, Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, on his 88th birthday. Celebrated for his hits ""Ain't No Sunshine", "Lean on Me", "Lovely Day", "Use Me", "Just the Two of Us", and "Grandma's Hands". He was #BOTD on 7/4/1938.