Beartrap Spring Records

24/06/2024

OK, hands-up which of you, our esteemed readers, noticed that there was no ‘Monthly EP’ Round-Up’, for May. Well, never fear, for this month we have a bumper edition, with no less…

23/06/2024

from the album Only the Stars

30/04/2024

New The Long Farewells single is out today! Find it on your favorite streaming platform or http://longfarewells.com

We're thrilled to share our first single in more than a year, the lead track from our "High Water or Hell" EP, due out on May 28 from Beartrap Spring Records. Find it on your streaming platform of choice (we'll throw a few links in the comments) and share with your friends!

23/04/2024

What they said. 😉

Of course you do. Sign up for our occasional newsletter of all things audio, including news about shows and new releases from Beartrap Spring artists including The Long Farewells, Aaron Rester, and Theodosia. 

19/04/2024

Sorry to hear about the passing of Clarence "Frogman" Henry. WWOZ will celebrate him this afternoon!

Clarence Frogman Henry, who passed last week, was a longtime friend and supporter of WWOZ. He came to our studios many times.

Today, from 2-4pm CT, WWOZ's Neil Pellegrin will host two hours of Frogman's music, with stories of his life and career. He'll also include a super-rare performance by Frogman recorded by WWOZ in 2003 at Jazz Fest, currently preserved at the Archive of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. Neil hosts the '50s R&B Show every Tuesday, 7-10 pm, and it's a rare treat to have him in the studio earlier in the day! Tune in locally at 90.7 FM or from anywhere at wwoz.org/listen/player.

In Memoriam: https://www.wwoz.org/blog/1041521

Services will be held on Saturday, April 20 at the L.B. Landry High School auditorium (1200 L.B. Landry Ave., New Orleans). Visitation will be held from 8-10am and the funeral will begin at 10am. Repast will follow. Family, friends, band members, New Orleans musicians, and the public are invited to join to celebrate the memory and life of Clarence "Frogman" Henry.

📷 Neil Pellegrin with Henry at WWOZ, March 2012, by Suzy Moran

18/04/2024

The "Hey, Hey, The Gang’s All Here: A Chicago Barn Dance" event honors the centennial anniversary of landmark local radio program the "WLS Barn Dance."

17/04/2024

Looking forward to it!

West Nile virus infections soared in Illinois in the early 2000s, including among crows. Tracking the birds can help keep humans safe.

13/02/2024

Down in New Orleans
Where the blues was born
It takes a cool cat
To blow a horn
On LaSalle and Rampart Street
The combo's there with a mambo beat

The Mardi Gras, mambo, mambo, mambo
Party Gras, pambo, mambo, mambo
Mardi Gras, mambo-ooh
Down in New Orleans

In Gert Town
Where the cats all meet
There's a Mardi Gras mambo
With a beat

Join the Chief with the Zulu gang
And truck on down
Where the mambo's swing

The Mardi Gras, mambo, mambo, mambo
Party Gras, mambo, mambo, mambo
Pardi Gras, mambo-ooh
Down in New Orleans

04/01/2024

The banjo just might have the most complicated cultural history of any instrument in use today. This is a fascinating interview with a scholar who traces the banjo from its roots in dozens of different African stringed instruments to its coalescing into its current form (more or less) in the confluence of cultures among the enslaved on Caribbean plantations, and then into minstrel shows in the U.S., its central role in early jazz, and its relegation to a white "hillbilly" instrument in the latter half of the 20th century.

Laurent Dubois, "The Banjo: America's African Instrument" (Harvard UP, 2016)

01/01/2024

As we head into the new year, I wanted to once again share some of my favorite tunes from the one that just concluded. As usual, these are songs from albums that I liked enough to purchase directly—still the best way of supporting the artists you like! If you dig these songs, I hope you'll consider doing the same.

Links are in the comments below. Hope you enjoy these tunes and cheers to even more great music in 2024!

08/12/2023

Since it's now officially December, we don't feel too bad about reminding you about the Christmas tune we released last year. While you're trying to avoid Whamageddon, fill your ear stockings with this country treat. And even better, if you purchase it on Bandcamp today, it's the equivalent of streaming it approximately 300 times! 🎄🤠 https://longfarewells.bandcamp.com/track/if-it-aint-christmas

30/11/2023

A fun retrospective on Tom Waits' turn to the surreal during his Island Records years...

“Musicians who played with Waits throughout all five Island albums took away similar values — a mutual appreciation of gonzo freedom, openness to happy accidents and treating a song as a living organism.”

Read the full article on “How To Play With Tom Waits” by Morgan Enos via Tidal here: https://tidal.com/magazine/article/waits-bandleader/1-94435

Photo: Brian Graham

21/11/2023

Thrilled to announce the release of Aaron Rester's new single, "Next Time Around," featuring Lost Lore! The brand new song weaves drum loops, a vocal sample from a classic blues field recording, and Jesse Fleming and Erica Masini's haunting harmonies into a folk-hop confection that recalls classic turn-of-the-century trip-hop like Morcheeba, Beth Orton, and Moby's Play album.

Find on the platform of your choice, or check it out here:
http://beartrapspring.com/nexttime.html

16/11/2023

Yesterday marked four years since The Long Farewells first show, and we celebrated the release of "Only the Stars" with a packed house at Montrose Saloon. New Long Farewells tunes are coming soon!

What a fantastic crowd last night! Thanks to John Mead: music, art, writing and Montrose Saloon, and to all of you for coming out. We hope you had as much fun as we did!

14/11/2023

Heads-up that we have some fun news to share a week from today! Stay tuned...

22/06/2023

It’s the 30th anniversary of Liz Phair’s masterpiece, “Exile in Guyville.” In addition to the killer songwriting, I’ve always loved the production on that album. Here’s a fascinating look at what producer Brad Wood is up to these days:

True believers in the immersive audio format say it could restore a musical appreciation lost to a generation that has come up during the streaming era.

22/06/2023

The year was 1918, 22nd of June
When he eased that train out of Kalamazoo
The whiskey and the laudanum didn’t help him sleep
Every time he closed his eyes he had that same damn dream

Still the train, still the train kept rolling
Still the train, still the train kept rolling

The smell of burning wood
filled the air inside his room
Smoke would choke his lungs and
he’d wake gasping in the gloom

Still the train, still the train kept rolling
Still the train, still the train kept rolling

Pulling out of Hammond with his eyes burning red
Two nights had gone since he’d seen a feather bed
He opened up the throttle and then slowly closed his eyes
And finally sleep came to him and offered up her prize

The circus train ahead
Like a casket on the tracks
The geeks and bearded ladies,
the clowns and acrobats

Still the train, still the train kept rolling
Still the train, still the train kept rolling

And the engine’s whistle sounded
Like a howling in the night
Like the cry of a grieving mother
Like a fire burning bright

The sun blooming on the horizon
And in the dawn a shadow loomed
Where the bodies and the twisted steel
All would soon be strewn

Still the train, still the train kept rolling
Still the train, still the train kept rolling

13/05/2023

Gabrielle Schafer: Lead vocals and guitarAaron Rester: GuitarRick Veras: FiddleNate Lindsey: BassMusic and lyrics by Aaron Rester