Tuesday 21 January 2014


JosieJo's Great Big Pair of Tips
The JosieJo Show 16

Well hello. I like that introduction I might keep it. It suits my husky voice this week. Well I'm telling myself that anyway. Please bear with me. Show 16 seems to be the croaky show, but I'll soldier on because that's how I roll. This show is simply good music. Two tracks from two different bands or artists that you may just fall for in a big way. Let's see what we've got for you.

From Canterbury, U.K. We have a five piece called CoCo & The Butterfields. They came together through the “busking scene”. How wonderful is that? Canterbury has a busking scene and these guys kept bumping into each other and have formed this wonderful collection re-inventing and re-enforcing each others talents to come up with a great band and a whole new genre. What would you get if you fuse hip-hop with folk? Fip Fok of course. It's superb and such a great concept they named their first EP after it. I discovered them when I stumbled on a brilliantly creative video made with stop-frame animation to their excellent track “Astronaut”. The whole band is a creative melting pot. Their latest single “Warriors” has a video that has created a whole world including maps, glorious costumes and tribes of peoples. It's genius and I'll post a link to those videos on the JosieJo Show facebook page. Go there and you'll also find a video I filmed at a recent gig of theirs of one of my favourite tracks of theirs “Tipperary Boy” it's a bit wobbly because I was dancing so much, but I hope that it captures just how infectious they are live. It was a blinding night and seeing them live is highly recommended. They start a little big tour of the Uk on the 24th of April in Swindon taking in cities including London, Bristol,York and Sheffield amongst many others. Follow me on twitter @JosieJoShow and I'll try and keep you up to date with where they're off to next.

So why are they so good? Well it's the sum of their parts really. This track “Walls” is like the signature tune for CoCo & the Butterfields. It has pretty much everything. Beat boxing, fiddle, banjo, double bass guitar and cracking lyrics. It's about striving. Oh and not letting anyone tell you when or how to feel. I completely agree with this track's sentiment that no one can tell you when to stop loving them.The line “I'll only stop loving you when I'm dead” just seems so defiant, independent and honest. I love the timing as it stop and starts, swings and rises higher and higher. Stand by. This is high energy stuff. CoCo & the Butterfields and “Walls”

Oh yeah! And that, my friends is what you get when you collaborate hip-hop and folk. It's Fip Fok. It occurs to me that I don't actually know what a Butterfield is, but since my word processing programme never throws it up as a spelling mistake then it must be a word. I imagine it involves something like rural fields of buttercups skipping and long skirts. They have a new six track EP out called “King of the Corner” It's incredibly reasonably priced. Go to www.cocoandthebutterfields.com for all that and more.

So that was Fip Fok. I know what you need next... some post grunge, post indie rock from Yekaterinburg in Russia. This next band is Sundoze, five rocking dudes playing their hearts out that won my heart back in 2013. We've played them on Round At Milligan's and for my very special birthday show they sent in a really cool happy birthday message. They have bags of personality and care deeply about live music, and serious fun. I'm bringing them to The JosieJo Show because I really believe in them. They released their EP “Waking Signs” in 2012, but I'm pleased to announce that they have just released a new single “Closure”. Its graphic is shockingly sparse; a white, blank cover with a tiny, delicate red logo that really made me sit up and take notice. “Closure” is a plea for peace, a track about faith. Its vocal has a silky slur that helps its sincerity and it has a poetry that plays with twisting cliches. I love the way they play with your senses and ask you to “breathe in the silence.” That driving vocal and pushing timing mean that I'll take the risks they ask me to. Ladies and Gentlemen, from Yerkateringburg, Russia I present you Sundoze and “Closure.”

Aww. From Russia with peace and love from Sundoze. Extraordinary. They'd love to hear what you think of their sound so get in touch with them on bandcamp or via their Facebook page. Links to all the bands I've played on the JosieJo Show are right there on my website www.josiejoshow.com My Facebook page has extra content including photos and videos of CoCo & the Butterfields and a link to that Round At Milligan's show I was talking about. Thank you for listening and finally if you grew up in the UK in the 1980's and watched darts themed quiz shows you'll know what I mean when I say listen to Tony.



Thursday 16 January 2014

JosieJo's Great Big Pair of Tips
The JosieJo Show 15

Well hello. This is The JosieJo Show presenting you with two great tracks from two different artists for your aural delight and this week I may very well have a sneaky little bonus track for you at the end because you've been so good. Let's see what happens.

Caddy is the solo project of Tomas Dahl form Norway. I found him because he's been played by several American radio stations. These radio plays have all been by people that are passionate about independent music and we've been passing Tomas between us for a while now mostly because he has a great new single out called “Beautiful Strange”. Tomas brought an album out called “Electric Hero” back in 2010, although he has been touring and working as a session musician with many different bands for the past 15 years. He tells me that he's been in bands like Turbonegro and the Yums Yums and while this doesn't mean much to me I'm going to check them out after the show. I really like doing this show for several reasons and finding Caddy has recently highlighted some of those things for me. I love the journeys through music it takes me on, like following up this show by going to listen to Tomas's previous bands. I also love the community that I have found which has nurtured me since finding, firstly Scrub Radio, and then others. There are the others out there playing great music. Among those that have played Tomas for instance are Sparky Shockpop on Scrub Radio, the mighty Dennis “Songsmith” Holseybrook on Hamilton radio, Steve Jarrott on Qstar and Deb Millstein's Crystal Cavern Show on Hamilton Radio, Friday's 8pm Uk time 3pm EST.
Tomas was in a recent edition of Deb's The Crystal Cavern where artists choose an original favourite track of their own to be played alongside a track that they think has influenced that music. It's an original and interesting way of presenting new music and Deb would love it if you could tune in sometime. Treat yourself and make it soon.
Back to Caddy and his new single “Beautiful Strange”. It is the first single from a new album and is pop harmony produced, written and recorded by Tomas himself. It's a happy, upbeat track about sunlight, travelling and promises. I love its sense of youth, motion, progress and life. This is a good wake up track. It has hand claps, guitar solos and tinkling percussion. I like it. Caddy and “Beautiful Strange.”


That was Caddy and “Beautiful Strange” a project from Norwegian born Tomas Dahl.
Xander & The Keys are the next band to have taken my fancy. From Bournemouth in the UK Xander and the Keys formed after Luke Adams, their manager heard Xander play and decided to team him up with The Keys. Xander is the fun, bouncy front man who provides the vocals and guitar ably backed up by Lee Hammond, on bass, and Marko Owen, also known as “The Beast” on drums. Let's face it, it you're going to have a drummer with a nickname you probably can't get much better than “The Beast”. They've had a busy year, getting signed to Dorset based Red Dragon Records which is where I found them and September 2012 saw the launch of their debut EP “The First Marker”. They play live at the Thomas Tripp in Christchurch, England on January 18th 2014, the 24th at The Forester's Arms, in Andover Uk, followed up by a smattering of gigs within the South of England including at Blandford Forum and Wimborne. Incidentally, last time I looked Wimborne had a rather excellent Town Crier called Chris Brown, also known as Dapper Dan who has an incredibly encyclopaedic knowledge of music spanning back years and a passion for reggae like no one I have ever met (and I've met some reggae monomaniacs in my time).

This track, “Shivers” is the third from the EP “First Marker” and it does indeed have the ability to make me shiver. It has a floating start. The sound flickers in and out of focus creating a sort of pulsating quality. This makes it feel quite intense, like being in a crowded, noisy party as someone leans over and whispers in your ear turning an aural sensation into a physical one. Enjoy the exciting discomfort of Xander & the Keys and the track “Shivers”

Nice... Xander & the Keys there with “Shivers”
As a special meaty treat I'm going to play you out with the track I found in 2013 that stood out, for me, as a true anthem of my soul. Don't forget to follow me on Mixcloud so you'll always know when the next show is available, on Twitter @JosieJoShow for news events, gigs and releases, on the JosieJo Show facebook page for extra content and on Blogger and Tumblr for the show in text form including links to the tracks. Tell your friends and send them to www.josiejoshow.com so they can see and hear what you've been raving about. Now to play us out with their super, life-affirming track “Dr. Feelgood” is Ring Ring Rouge..oh and thank you for listening.

Tuesday 7 January 2014


JosieJo's Great Big Pair of Tips
The JosieJo Show 14

Hello there. This is The JosieJo Show where I bring you two tracks from two different bands or artists that I just really like. This is show number 14. The very first of 2014. Oh the synergy of show 14 being the first of 2014. Just like 2014 this is going to be better than the sum its parts and those parts are two bands from America, one from Boston and one from Concord, New Hampshire. Are you excited? You should be.

The JosieJo Show is all about great original music and there is a bar in Cambridge, Massachusetts called TOAD and it is beloved by my first band Tad Overbaugh and The Late Arrivals. I'll tell you about Tad in a minute, but first let me wax lyrical about TOAD. I've never been there, but it is now on my list of places I have to go to. TOAD is a live music venue that has a board outside that states, in no uncertain terms “Never a cover” and I'm all for that. Plus, apparently it has great food and does a decent pint of IPA. Now that is my kinda place and Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals play there and they are my kinda band. This band is headed up by Tad himself who provides the tunes, guitar and lead vocals skilfully supported by, Rick Cranford on drums, Bruce Freisinger on lead guitar and BV's (that's backing vocals. Get me and my abbreviations) and Matt Arnold on bass (wasn't he a 19th Century poet?). Tad used to play with his band The Kickbacks, but he is producing his new album with the Late Arrivals right now on Peeled Label Records. It's being worked on in two different states and should be available in the second quarter of this year.
He also has a solo album out called “End of the Decade” which is a lovely sampler of his work from 1998-2008 and includes the much acclaimed track “Banged Up Black and Blue”. I do like that track very much, but it's quite sad and I'd like to start the new year off with something a little less harsh so I'm going to play you “Lazy Eye”. This is a great bar room track that plays with imagery and tells a cute tale of eyes meeting across a crowded room. It doesn't need over-analysing. It's a tune to bop to and I just love that raucous, power-pop, churning guitar. Take it away Tad Overbaugh and the Late Arrivals, and their cracking tune “Lazy Eye”

For such a happy, bouncy tune I think that has quite a sad end chord. “Lazy Eye” by Tad Overbaugh and The Late Arrivals. I found Tad by following links from the Boston IPO festival November 2013 run by the mighty David Bash. It was such a good line up that I got the next band from there too. The Tripping Souls is the creative talent of Paul Makris. With the help of his mates on drums and bass he writes, sings, tickles the keyboard and plays guitars to produce really super, alternative rock. Oh yes and he's a rather cool dude; a sort of better looking version of Paul Weller. He's had a great nine months including releasing an EP self titled The Tripping Souls. He's played IPO Boston, as I mentioned, and get this...he opened for Deer Tick at the Sneakers and Speakers Festival in July 2013. 2014 looks like it's going to be a prosperous year for The Tripping Souls as he starts a run of gigs on the 11th January 2014. Catch him, if you can, opening for Big Bad Voodoo Daddy at the Capitol Centre for arts Concord, New Hampshire.

My favourite The Tripping Souls track is of course the one I'm going to play you, but if you go to my JosieJo show facebook page I'll post a link to his reverbnation site where you can hear several of his tunes and really get a feel of his American take on the Brit-pop sound. I struggled to choose a track from The Tripping Souls because I genuinely think they are all strong, but I chose this one because it reminds me of that great Robert Frost poem “The Road Not Taken”. “The Narrow Road” by The Tripping Souls, has that self-aware assurance, whilst at the same time portraying that feeling that you just can't be everywhere you need to be all at the same time. Its musicality is superb. The tune and lyrics are all part of its poetry. I love the beginning, middle and end of this track. This is the journey that is The Tripping Souls and “Narrow Road”.


Awesome. Thanks to Boston IPO for providing two great bands for me to play. Keep listening to the JosieJo Show in 2014 for more tunes. I really appreciate all your support and remember that the bands and artists do too so if you like what you hear on The JosieJo Show please seek out them out and tell them you care. Oh and tell them I sent ya. Follow me on twitter @josiejoshow for news, events, gigs and releases and my facebook page for extra content including free music and great projects. Let's keep the good stuff coming. Thank you for listening.


Sunday 5 January 2014


JosieJo's Great Big Pair of Tips
Christmas Show 2013

This is the JosieJo Show and each show contains two great tracks from two different artists, bands or other musical brilliantness type people for your aural delight. You deserve a bit of you time and I think you deserve a bit more right now so gather your nearest and dearest round the laptop, PC, tablet or other mobile device for a new seasonal tradition...listening to The JosieJo Show. Heck you can even listen on your own and guess what? I'm giving you four great tracks in this show. We'll start with a tribute to the late, great Nelson Mandela and then launch into three Christmas tunes that you may not have heard before, but may well become your traditional treats. It's the Christmas JosieJo Show, dontcha know?

So let's first give you the super wonderful world music talent of Paula Ryan. Paula was born in the Irish town of Colnmel. I stayed there this year and as far as I could see, as well as being stunningly beautiful, is a town built on the production of cider. As you can imagine it has a great tradition of live music and an incredible disappearing/reappearing mountain as the weather descends and lifts again. Paula has been producing music for many a year now and her style is incredibly diverse. Sometimes her sound is pure irish folk, then the next track will be good old American country, but the track I'm going to play has African roots and an almost worshipful feel, like a hymn sung in church.
She sent me this track “Lion In A Cage” just a few days after Nelson Mandela died and I meant to include it in a show just after his funeral, but I believe that it is still relevant now and will be as long as people remember the man and continue to celebrate his life through music. I never had the opportunity to meet him, but I was in the same room as him several times and I can honestly say that the effect of his presence seemed to change even the air we breathed. He seemed to invoke a sense of peace and calm over everyone present and this track really conveys that golden freedom. I have no idea how Paula creates these sounds and backgrounds to this track. Her website talks of tongue drums and darabukas and Jo, my percussion friend has just told me what those are, but quite frankly I just love the whole world feel of this music and this track is really up-lifting. Please enjoy Paula Ryan and “Lion in a Cage”
https://soundcloud.com/paularyan/lion-in-a-cage

Awesome man and a wonderful tribute I think. Paula recently performed that track as part of a Mandela tribute and all accounts talk of it being very moving. So do you fancy a Christmas track? Do ya?
Well Beartown Zodiac are a Bournemouth band that have a Charity Christmas track out and I'm simply joyous to play you it. Beartown Zodiac are a four piece headed up by David Bird-Hawkins and I discovered them because I loved the fact that many of their songs were written whilst David travelled the world with his white, flying-V ukele and “Mountains in my Sunglasses” still rates as one of my absolute favourite tracks discovered in 2013. They also feature on a very exciting 10 inch vinyl compilation with three other artists from the Bournemouth recording studios of The Burrow and it's called The Burrow Compilation. However Beartown Zodiac have produced this Christmas track “Keep Christmas Just For Us” as a Charity single for Save The Children and it's available right now on their website www.beartownzodiac.co.uk so if you need one more wonderful present get yourself to there and purchase it for a good cause. It's a sweet track and perfect if you want to tell someone what they mean to you. Christmas comes with all sorts of pressures and stress, but this track will allow you a little time out to just care. Beartown Zodiac and “Keep Christmas Just For Us”

https://www.facebook.com/beartownzodiac/app_6452028673

aww sweet! Are you fed up of Christmas yet? Are you? Fancy an antidote song? This next track is from JosieJo Show favourites The Penguin Party and I'm playing it because I can. Also I told Dave Milligan, who wrote this song about the fact that Oliver Cromwell banned Christmas and he included that fact in this track. It's cheery in its tune and grumpy in its sentiment. The Penguin Party and “It's Only Christmas, It'll Soon Be Over”

Genius. Go to penguinparty.bandcamp.co.uk to get your free download of that and check out their facebook page or mine to get a link to a great and very funny video of the song. You'll never be able to look at a cuddly penguin in the same way again after that. Righto. Getting Christmassy yet? Here's the mighty Stonehead from Norfolk England. Stonehead is a sculptor and musician of great talent and he can genuinely create anything out of pewter so if you have a belt buckle commission then visit his site www.badge-supplies.co.uk. Ok Folks. Get yourselves set for tuneful punk, and the Christmas song that every over forty- year old really wants to sing. Stonehead and “Gimme Toys”
https://sites.google.com/site/stoneystradebadgesupplies/




Saturday 4 January 2014

The JosieJo Show 13


JosieJo's Great Big Pair of Tips
The JosieJo Show 13

So here's the thing. It's Show 13 of the JosieJo Show and the last one that will be posted in 2013 so I need to bring you two tracks. One to take you out of 2013 and one to take you into 2014. Do we go out with a bang and float you into the new year on a soothing ballad, or do I soothe you out of 2013 and bring 2014 in with a big celebratory bang? You know you don't need me to tell you what tracks to listen to depending on your mood. All I aim to do is to introduce bands or artists that you wouldn't necessarily come across and you may even find you new favourite band.

So here's a band from London, England. The Mouth of Ghosts are alternative rock with gorgeous electronic sounds informed by lots of intelligent influences and passionate love of music. They've worked hard since being together and are intensely loyal to their fans. Their first album was released just to fans, in late 2012 and they've really dug deep to get lots of airplay and gigs in 2013. They have just released a second EP called “You Will Go Again” and the track “Wrong” which has a disturbing and beautifully rule-breaking video available on youtube, will surely continue that success into next year for them. That EP is available on soundcloud right now and links to that are available on their facebook page and it will also be available as extra content on my facebook page. It's soothing and unnerving all at the same time. A quick look round though and I discover, much to my fragile ego's delight, that my favourite of their tracks “When The Sun Sets” seems to be the track most played by other discerning and impeccably tasted people of radio land. “impeccably tasted” sort of didn't really come out the way I meant it, but I'll push on regardless and hope that you'll work out what I meant. It seems very fitting that as we wave goodbye to one randomly imposed, socially agreed time period, that I play a track about goodbyes. This track though is more about welcomes, possibilities and meetings. Just when you think everything is over, that's when the real stuff happens to watch over your dreams. The music happens in layers in this track almost like instruments coming in and out of hearing. It starts with a tinkly playfulness, but gently develops. Just when you think you have a handle on one sound it changes and moves into something else. Let the darkness reveal its possibility to you with The Mouth Of Ghosts and “When The Sun Sets”

https://www.facebook.com/TheMouthOfGhosts/app_178091127385

I love the way that track ends so hauntingly. I found Mouth of Ghosts on the Straight To Your Head podcast and if you listen out in 2014 I think you'll hear from them again. So if that was the gentle goodbye to 2013 then let's bring 2014 in with some good old fashioned roots, rock, Americana power-pop. Ladies and gentlemen from Somerville, Massachusetts
The Rotary Prophets. This band is a five piece that have been together for just over a year, but they've been in the music game for much longer. How can you not love a band with a guy who plays piano, organ and lap steel? That's good old Ted Collins. The main songwriter is John Maloney and the other three members are Dave Coughlan, Ray Boyce and Damon Vrettos. They have a deep rooted love of story songs and their five song EP called “Faith-Lost-Love” is jam packed with American tales and the love of the brave.
I'm going to play you the first track from that EP. It's called “Sandusky, Ohio”, but its second, bracketted title is “Sweet Vanessa”. It's a song about an unrequited love. What I call escalator love. When you fall in love with someone you see going the other way on an escalator. That bit of your day when you fall in love with a stranger you pass just by chance, you make eye contact, you know it could never work, but just for a second “it's sweet to feel that way”. I make absolutely no apology for liking this track and oh boy, that instrumental bit in the middle eight or what ever you call that bit. Oh boy. It's just great. Get yourself swinging your partner round to a honky tonk piano The Rotary Prophets and “Sandusky, Ohio (Sweet Vanessa)”
Yee ha!

So that was my Show 13, my goodbye to 2013 and hello to 2014. follow me on Mixcloud and you'll get an update when Show 14 is up, that will be the first Show of 2014 and you can't miss that. Follow me on twitter @josiejoshow for news, events, gigs and releases and check out my Facebook page for extra content and links to cool things. See if you can find me in two Tingle Jingle Mingles and enjoy yourselves wherever you are. Happy everything everyone and thank you for listening.