‘Tis the season to give records to beloved friends and family (and to yourself too.) In lieu of the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we prefer to observe Krampus Day (honoring the Central European folkloric anti-Santa critter). Shop PoB through Dec. 15 and enter coupon code KRAMPUS during checkout for a 20% discount on all catalog items.
Uncut Magazine’s year-end issue is now out in the world, featuring a trio of PoB artists that they have graciously included on their list of the 75 best albums of 2017: Jake Xerxes Fussell (#44), Michael Chapman (#29), and The Weather Station (#4), the latter of which also gets an in-depth six-page feature by Jason Anderson entitled “The Quiet Storm.” Many thanks to Uncut for the kind words.
We’d like to extend our thanks to The American Association of Independent Music for nominating Michael Chapman’s 50 for Best Country/Americana/Folk Album of 2017.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is Mr. Michael Chapman performing “Sometimes You Just Drive” on Later … with Jools Holland on BBC Two last night, on the same episode as Christine McVie, Valerie June, and Ed Sheeran. We are so proud of Michael and this moving performance.
Tomorrow, April 18, at 10pm GMT/5pm EST, the legendary Michael Chapman will appear for the first time ever on Later … with Jools Holland on BBC 2. He will likely play some material from his critically acclaimed new album 50, produced by acolyte (and spring tour mate) Steve Gunn. He will be joined on the program by Valerie June and another guitar guy called Ed Sheeran… a rather motley crew. Tune in.
Thanks very much to NPR’s Morning Edition and Joel Rose for this morning’s lovely story on Michael Chapman, in which the Fully Qualified Survivor, along with producer Steve Gunn and critic Andrew Male, looks back at his long career and discusses why Yorkshiremen are cheap, how his career started with a rainstorm, why he never sings sober, and his moving, universally acclaimed new record 50 (which you can order, and hear, below.)
We’re excited to welcome to PoB Mr. James Elkington, whose masterful guitar playing and arranging you’ve certainly heard, even if you didn’t realize it. An inveterate collaborator, Jim has been the other guitarist in Steve Gunn’s band since Way Out Weather. He has also toured and/or recorded with Michael Chapman (on 50), Nathan Salsburg (on Ambsace), Jeff Tweedy, Richard Thompson, Joan Shelley, Tortoise, and Brokeback, just to name some of his many enthusiastic admirers. Stay tuned for details on his debut solo album, and catch him onstage this week with Jake Xerxes Fussell and Wilco.
If you require a mind-expanding tonic to our national spell of ignorant, truculent insanity, the new Mind Over Mirrors album Undying Color is available today in your favorite record shops and online merchants, digital and physical alike. Listen, read critical acclaim for the album, learn about Secretly Group’s Our First 100 Days Project, and catch up on current and upcoming PoB tours.
If you need a distraction from the eldritch horrors of Inauguration Day, take a lesson from the Fully Qualified Survivor. Get thee to your local record store to grip what is shaping up to be one of the most critically acclaimed albums of 2017. Or, as Laura Snapes (Pitchfork, NPR, Guardian) recently recommended: “If you’re looking for a peaceful record for this torrid week, 50 is it.” Check out Uncut’s career-spanning 7pp. feature and new rave reviews in The Times, Daily Mirror, i, etc.
January 20th sees the release of Michael Chapman’s 50, produced by Steve Gunn and described by Pitchfork as “a startlingly current and nearly apocalyptic vision of America… an album full of brimstone and brine, perhaps more perfect for this moment in history than we’d like to admit.” Now Stereogum presents 50 in its entirety.
