Edwina Hayes

Edwina Hayes is a singer/songwriter who has been a regular performer on the UK acoustic scene since 1999. Edwina was born in Dublin in June 1973 and grew up in Preston, Lancashire before moving to the East coast of Yorkshire as a teenager, where she has been based ever since. Dividing her time between the UK and America, Edwina's second home is Nashville where she is much loved as a songwriter and artist. In March 2003 Edwina signed as a writer with Warner Chappell. Her influences include Mindy Smith, Ray Charles, Carole King, Van Morrison, Nanci Griffith, Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin and Bob Dylan. In 2005 Warner Brothers released Edwina's debut album 'Out On My Own' produced by Clive Gregson and John Wood, and her song 'I Want Your Love' from the album was included on the No.1 bestselling CD 'Acoustic Love'.Edwina appears as a guest vocalist on recent albums by Alastair Artingstall, Christopher Holland, Kate Bramley, Jimi Alexander, Shane Lynch, Joan Coffey and Dan Webster.In 2008 Edwina released her second album 'Pour Me A Drink' on her own label Twirly Music. Much more acoustic and reflective of Edwina's onstage style, it continues to attract an increasing number of sales and excellent reviews. Nanci Griffith's June 2009 album 'The Loving Kind' features Nanci's recording of Edwina's song Pour Me A Drink and Edwina's version of Randy Newman's Feels Like Home features in the New Line Cinema major motion picture My Sister's Keeper (June 2009) starring Cameron Diaz and Alec Baldwin. Also in June 2009 Edwina supported Roger McGuinn on his UK Tour and her 3rd album Good Things Happen Over Coffee will be released later in the year.

@ Driffield, UK
♫ Acoustic, Folk, Pop
♥ Feels Like Home (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

Nat Johnson and the Figureheads

Nat Johnson is the former singer, songwriter and guitarist of Monkey Swallows the Universe a indiepop band I was quite fond of. That unfortunately decided to take an indefinite hiatus two years ago. Her debut solo single, 'Dirty Rotten Soul' was released in September 2008. Since then, she has put together a band operating under the name of "The Figureheads". One of The Figureheads (Kevin Gori - Guitar) should be familiar to fans of Monkey Swallows the Universe. Kev and Nat have been playing music together since 2003. The Figureheads are completed by Chris Loftus (bass), who has previously played with Fury of the Headteachers, and Neil Piper (drums), who also drums for Champion Kickboxer. Having recently signed to Damaged Goods, Nat Johnson and the Figureheads will be releasing their debut album, "Roman Radio", on October 19th. This will be preceded by a double A side single, "Wonderful Emergency / Don't Worry Baby", on October 5th. From what I've heard so far Nat Johnson seems to have found and formed a new indiepop band that will make abscence of MSTU easier and with only two songs released so far I dare to say that Roman Radio might even going to be my favorite (british) indiepop record of the year...

@ UK
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Wonderful Emergency
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

LMTY: Nejra, Laurell Hubick, Catherine Feeny

Nejra, one of my favorite Swedish singer-songwriters is finally releasing her debut album "In Hindsight", on October the 14th. The album will be available in stores and via iTunes, cdon, and other providers. It's already available for pre-order here. The next single from the album will be called "Dancing"and can be listened to on her MySpace, together with three other tracks of the new album.



Canadian singer-songwriter Laurell (Hubick) which we featured here two years ago is now releasing her third album on October 13th. It will feature her newest single "Can't Stop Falling". You can have a listen to some of her older songs over at MySpace.



Catherine Feeny's new album “People in the Hole” is now available for pre-order here. When you order the album you will get a signed and numbered album in beautiful matte eco-wallet, as well as an MP3 version of the album, downloadable immediately. Copies ordered between now and Sept. 20 will be shipped by the end of September, and received well before the album is available at other retailers. Six track of the upcoming album are now streamable at her official website.

Leena

Hello everyone, I'm back from France. Since last friday actually. Yesterday all college madness started again, but you really deserve some new music so I saved some time to post this. Enjoy!
Leena is one of my latest discoveries found through a random MySpace browse. She describes herself as "a girl who moved from Hobart to Marseilles to Cork to Fremantle To Los Angeles To Melbourne. And after writing a million songs, having a million adventures and meeting a million lovely people, the time came to release her first EP called ‘Mean Old Clock’ which released a few months ago in Australia. She's find inspiration in other talented aussie's like Bob Evans, Whitley, Josh Pyke and our earlier featured Jess McAvoy. And also has been playing support slots for some on that list. Leena is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (she plays the electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, synths, ukelele in her songs) Australia can be proud of!

@ Australia
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Universe Can Wait (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website

LMTY: Amy Macdonald's Sophomore Album in November?

Will Amy Macdonald release her sophomore album this November? Amazon.co.uk added a new release, temporarily titled "TBC", to their store with a releasedate of November 16th. It's been two years since the release of Amy's very succesful debut album "This is the Life" so it might really be the highly anticipated second album we all are waiting for! Will be continued...

UPDATE: Amy replied this on twitter: @letmelikeit sorry to say but amazon are wrong. New stuff is under way but won't be ready until next year. So no new album this year, but definitely some new stuff next year. Can't wait!

Megan Washington

This post was supposed to on here the third of July but somehow it did not get published, so enjoy this belated feature of this talented singer-songwriter.

Megan grew up in Papua New Guinea, and moved to Brisbane when she was eleven or twelve. They lived near the sea, and she loved hanging out down by the water with friends, or at someone's house playing cd’s. She always wanted to be Judy Garland as a child and used to stay at home and watch old MGM musicals like Easter Parade, Show Boat and Can-Can, and dance around the lounge room, singing along. Once she got older, she spent a lot of time in the Fortitude Valley; the hub of live music in Brisbane. A normal Megan Washington day consists of checking emails, trawling MySpace, having breakfast and putting in a few hours at her piano. She always brings black pens along with her and does not like animal cruelty, crap housemates and people who say 'Lol' in actual conversation. Musically she finds her inspiration in artists like Rufus and his sister Martha Wainwright, Jolie Holland and Kate Miller-Heidke. Megan has previously been known as a collaborator (Paul Grabowsky) and bandmate (Ben Lee, Old Man River), but now she strikes out on her own with Washington, with a unique take on indie-rock and minimalist elegance. Her debut EP "Clementine" received a very warm reception accros the australian musical landscape in 2008, and Megan is now gearing up to release her next EP "How To Tame Lions" this September.

@ Australia
♫ Indie, Pop
♥ Clementine (mp3)
♥ One Man Band (mp3)
▸ Myspace

Sam & Ruby

Nashville-based duo Sam & Ruby are a blend of R&B, folk and pop. Their newest album The Here And The Now is due to come out in August 2009. Ruby, who was born in Ghana, has spent most of her life in Nashville. Her father, a computer scientist, was recruited by a Tennessee-based firm, and he moved his family to Nashville when she was just three. Sam formed a band in high school and, by the time he’d finished college, it was practically a career. It would still be several years before Sam & Ruby officially became a duo. Sam left Nashville for New York City to work as a solo artist, sticking it out until after the September 11th attacks. Ruby released a solo album, Smoke and Honey in the UK, which reached Top Five on the British pop charts with a song called, "Sugah." Just as Ruby should have been savoring this success, record label snafus left her high and dry in Nashville. That’s about when Sam came back into town. So they combined their complementary talents, and the track "The Here And The Now" was born, laying the foundation their partnership. A year later they were invited to play at Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans where they also decided to record an EP that would contain some of the tracks that would eventually make their way onto their debut full length. They cut, mixed and mastered everything in a one-bedroom apartment. That EP led to a publishing deal, access to better recording facilities and, finally, to a deal with Rykodisc. In between, Ruby co-wrote "Heaven’s My Home," and an early version by Sam & Ruby was featured in the Queen Latifah-starring film, The Secret Life Of Bees. Now Sam & Ruby have reclaimed this tune for their debut album, The Here and The Now.

@ Nashville, USA
♫ Folk, Pop, Soul
♥ What Do I Do Now (mp3)
▸ Myspace
▸ Official Website