The past week of releases have had some decent tunes. Also included are two bands covered by blogmates: Big Wreck by Max and Stackridge by Clive. Links to the posts follow below.
Staff Party by Big Wreck is a close knock off of Soundgarden. It’s not putting it down; it’s more admiration for carrying on the music. Max covered Big Wreck recently and it was coincidence they showed up on RR.
Pretty Polly, off his new album, Minnesota, by Trond Kallevåg has a unique and compelling sound to me. When you hear steel guitar you usually think of country and western or Hawaiian music, but this is neither of those. Lifted directly from YouTube (difficult to find info on him in English):
Trond Kallevåg is a Norwegian guitarist, pedal steel player and composer known for his lyrical blend of Americana and Nordic folk traditions. His music carries echoes of Ry Cooder and Bill Frisell, and has been described as cinematic – like a soundtrack to a Coen Brothers or even Wim Wenders film. His newest album Minnesota (Hubro, Oct 24, 2025) continues this transatlantic journey, weaving Nordic folk song, American roots and cinematic soundscapes into a lyrical, atmospheric whole. On his acclaimed album Amerikabåten (2023), Kallevåg explored the mystique and stories connecting Norway and the United States, inspired by the journeys of thousands of emigrants crossing the Atlantic. The album was named one of Bandcamp’s Best International Jazz Albums of 2023. This release followed Bedehus & Hawaii (2019) – selected by Bandcamp as one of the 15 best international jazz albums of its year – and Fengselsfugl (2021), both praised by international critics.
I Wonder by Julianna Riolino is another compelling tune. Riolino is described as a Toronto alt-country artist. Prior to going solo, Riolino had been part of a band, the Outfit. She said her role in the band was largely vocals. In 2022, her debut solo album, All Blue, was released. Her 2nd studio album, Echo in the Dust, was released in October of this year. Find a full review of the album at Exclaim.com.
Show Me by Chicago Blues Artist, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Steve Cropper is a cover of a song I know, but not from where. This cover is from a 2017 album, “Times Have Changed,” by Ronnie Baker Brooks, where he has guest artists play on 11 tracks. Steve Cropper plays on this first track. “Big Head” Todd Mohr, Lonnie Brooks (Ronnie’s dad,) Al Kapone, Angie Stone, Eddie Willis, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Felix Cavaliere, and Lee Roy Parnell are on other tracks.
No Ones More Important Than the Earthworm is on Stackridge’s 4th studio album Extravaganza (1975.) Stackridge is a band Clive featured recently on his blog.
Love Letters by Samantha Fish. I’ve added a couple of her songs to my liked songs playlist. Who is this Samantha Fish? From wikipedia, Samantha Fish (b. 1/30/89) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter from Kansas City, Missouri. While often cited as a blues artist, Fish’s work features and draws from multiple genres, including rock, country, funk, bluegrass, and ballads. Her just released album, Paper Doll, is her 13th studio album. My choice for today’s playlist is from her 2019 album, Kill or Be Kind.
Tao Talk 
Whew! That Samantha Fish is a keeper! Thanks for the intro.
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V, she’s good! I listened to half of her new one yesterday and will listen some more.
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Thanks for the feast of music Li, my ears are alive …
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That’s what I like to hear, Paul. I have a general playlist of liked songs numbering in the hundreds. Would love to post them 5 at a time.
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Thank you for the link! After I published that post, their facebook fanclub posted it…great band that I thought people would over look but I got some great comments.
I love Stackridge…that is great. I like the Julianna Riolino cut as well!
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You are welcome, and I thought why reinvent the wheel for them. I appreciate how much easier that made it for me ;) So cool on the fb fc posting it also. Happy they are getting some recognition. It used to be DJs that could facilitate breakthroughs, but not us bloggers can help also.
Stackridge is a band I will listening to more of also. And same with Riolino. Thanks for listening, Max.
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You make a good point…bloggers do help now at a grass roots level and more really because we are worldwide.
I’ll check out more of Stackridge….
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Yes we do. I’ve picked up a whole catalogue of new artists since I started blogging at WP.
About Stackridge, I know you aren’t historically a prog rocker but this stuff is good!
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There are some I like…well like Jethro Tull… but overall…yea you are right.
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Some great music here, and thanks for linking to mine 👍
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Thanks, Clive, I think it’s a good batch. You are very welcome. Knowing you are a big fan of theirs and have their discography, as well as having seen them live, who better to link to for readers to get the deets on them :)
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Thank you, it was kind of you 👍
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You’re welcome.
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Great tunes, Lisa as I loved all of your selections.
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Happy you enjoyed the tunes. Spotify is going down the rabbit hole for me for music.
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These are all great finds, Lisa. I also recently covered Big Wreck as part of my weekly new music review series. Your post also reminds me to check “my” Release Radar” again! :-)
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Christian if you want me to link it to my post, send me the link and I will :) What I like about RR is that once you like a band/artist, they will include other works by that artist, both past and current.
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I don’t know how you have time to keep up with all this music. (K)
BTW, did you know that there is a boycott going on for Spotify because of their ICE ads? They are asking people to cancel their subscriptions.
https://indivisible.org/cancel-spotify
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K, I listen to music while doing other things. I’ll listen to a playlist multiple times and the ones that emerge from it are the ones I put a check by. I had heard something about the boycott because of the ads. I don’t get ads because I pay for it. I understand the call to boycott them for that and for other things I have read about them. Right now it’s too convenient and I have too much time wrapped up in my playlists to boycott them. I feel somewhat guilty about that, but for now I’m keeping it.
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I understand. I still shop at Target, a better evil than Amazon.
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That’s quite a selection of music, all songs were new to me. As far as the boycotts, it’s a challenging world. I was aghast that Apple put money into the DC ballroom when there are many good causes they could support with those millions. I haven’t cut off the streaming service but am not mentioning them by name anymore as my source (free advertising).
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Oh my goodness, didn’t know Apple put money into the ballroom/bunker (underneath.) Maybe I’ll just leave it at Release Radar and not mention them beyond that.
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I believe all the beholden tech giants did. Ugh. So appalling.
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I can’t say I’m surprised. They all think they’ll have a space in the bunker if it all goes to … They don’t know orange boy very well do they.
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Exactly.
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p.s. This week’s RR playlist has several other tunes by these. Also a new one by Mavis Staples. I was lucky enough to see her perform it live on either Colbert or Kimmel.
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Ohhh, Mavis is marvellous!
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Whoa. That’s a powerful track… thanks so much for finding and sharing it, Lisa!
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You are welcome. They are doing a good job of promoting it also.
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