It finally happened. Winter arrived. Snow fell and we woke up this past Sunday with about three inches of the stuff. I’m glad it didn’t arrive earlier, as Friday saw me at KSVR for a four hour stint of music.

The first two hours flirted with folk music and the latter half was full-on garage rock, garage pop and psychedelic pop. Much of the 10 to midnight show came courtesy Finest Kiss, who posted some great 2011 lists.

Taking a week off from radio this Friday, as in appreciated for covering Stuarto’s show on the 13th he’ll be covering mine on the 20th. Here’s the list. Get ready, it’s a long one!

“Sunset Tulips” by Night Genes off Like The Blood
“What Never Comes” by Crooked Fingers off Forfeit/Fortune
“Cavern In A Square” by Ham 1 off Let’s Go On And On And On With Ham 1

“Valhalla” by Jack Wilson off S/T
“End of Days” by Brown Bird off Salt For Salt
“Can’t You Tell” by Vetiver off The Errant Charm

“My Pillow Is The Threshold” by Silver Jews off Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
“The Stations” by The Gutter Twins off Saturnalia
“Be Invited” by The Twilight Singers off Dynamite Steps

“Sixteen, Maybe Less” by Iron & Wine with Calexico off In The Reins
“Changing” by The Moondoggies off Don’t Be A Stranger

“The Wrong Light” by Kasey Anderson and The Honkeys off Heart of a Dog

“Close My Eyes” by Ólöf Arnalds off Ólöf Sings
“Smoke Will Rise” by The Lower 48 off Where All Maps End

“Wings Won’t Behave” by Whistle Peak off Half Asleep Upon Echo Falls

“Alphabet” by The Twilight Sad off No One Can Ever Know
“The Jessica Numbers” by The New Pornographers off Twin Cinema
“Yoshi Battles The Pink Robots Pt. 1″ by The Flaming Lips off Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

“Here Comes Success” by Royal City off 1999-2004
“No Reply” by Giant Sand off Chore of Enchantment
“October Boy” by Mick Harvey off Sketches from the Book of the Dead

“Dance” by Astrid Williamson off Pulse

“Moon See, Day See” by The Heligoats off Live Free & Let Loose
“Golden Friends” by Leopold And His Fiction

“Don’t Wait” by Bears off Greater Lakes
“Summer Gang” by Afternoon Naps off Summer Gang 7″

“If You Choose To Stay” by The Webelos off Shadow Seasons
“(I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind” by The Limiñanas off (I’ve Got) Trouble In Mind 7″
“Israeli Blues” by Index off Black Album + Red Album + Yesterday & Today [Disc-1]

“As Times Change” by Sea Lions off Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sea Lions But Were Afraid To Ask
“Can You Feel The Backwash” by A Classic Education off Call It Blazing
“Pretty When You Smile” by Sweater Girls off Pretty When You Smile 7″

“Pretty Ballerina” by Left Banke off There’s Gonna Be A Storm – The Complete Recordings 1966-1969
“Like Dylan in the Movies” by Belle & Sebastian off If You’re Feeling Sinister
“Conventional Lullabies” by Young And Sexy off Panic When You Find It

“Roosevelt Island” by Eleanor Friedberger off Last Summer
“Dour Percentage” by Of Montreal off Paralytics Stalks
“The Golden Age” by The Resonars off Bright And Dark

“Catamaran” by Allah-Las off Catamaran b/w Long Journey
“Malkaus” by The Panthers off Pakistan: Folk and Pop Instrumentals 1966-1976
“Where You Gonna Go” by People’s Temple off Sons Of Stone

“Invitations” by Puberty off Invitations 7″
“Shari Vari” by The Dirtbombs” off Party Store

“Tuscaloosa Bar” by Indian Wars off Walk Around The Park

“Sycamore Tree” by Crystal Stilts off In Love With Oblivion
“Raspberry Thighs” by The Mantles off Raspberry Thighs 7″
“Bad Feeling” by Veronica Falls off Veronica Falls

“Give Me Back My Man” by Boyracer off Little Darla Has A Treat For You [Vol. 24 Disc 1]
“Blowing Kisses” by Exlovers off Blowing Kisses 7″
“So High” by Ringo DeathStarr off Colour Trip

“Plastic Disaster” by Little Cuts off Plastic Disaster 7″
“I Wanna Join The Army” by Dan Sartain off Too Tough To Live

“The Start of Something” by Voxtrot off The Start Of Something

Of late, I haven’t been much of a concert-goer. Shows tend to last too late for me, and festivals are often too packed. However, I love small, local festivals! In July we caught What The Heck Fest in Anacortes. For August, there’s Stanwood’s very own Slow Roots Festival.

For you locals, mark your calendar for the weekend of August 27 and 28, and get your Google Maps directions set for the Stanwood-Camano Community Fairgrounds. The music starts around noon and goes into the evening, and with the last band scheduled to hit the main stage at 8pm… well, let’s just say I’ll still be awake enough to attend.

Of note are two regional favorites — Kasey Anderson & The Honkies and The Moondoggies. Both play the Main Stage on Saturday. Kasey goes on at 1:30pm and The Moondoggies at 6:30pm. I hope to catch both.

Here’s the full lineup (at the bottom of this article, you can sample a few tracks from some of the artists on this list):

Saturday

Main Stage
12noon: Tubaluba
1:30pm: Kasey Anderson & The Honkies
3pm: Los Straitjackets
5pm: Kim Field & the Mighty Titans of Tone
6:30pm: The Moondoggies
8pm: Dave Alvin & the Guilty Ones

Cattle Barn Stage
1pm: Stilly River Band
2:30pm: Knut Bell & the Blue Collars
4pm: Zoe Muth & the Lost High Rollers
5:30pm: The Picketts
7pm: Ben Gilmer & the Sidearms

Sunday

Main Stage
12 noon: Two Scoops Combo
1:15pm: Nick Vigarino’s Back Porch Stomp
2:45pm: Clinton Fearon
4:15pm: Clumsy Lovers
5:45pm: Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Wronglers

Cattle Barn Stage
12:30pm: Side Saddle
2pm: Kim Field & Lisa Theo w/ the Titans of Twang
3:30pm: Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs
5pm: Contraband Countryband

I was turned onto the festival by a friend who works at the Skagit Valley Food Co-op, a minor sponsors of the festival (and my favorite place to grab groceries and coffee in town, as well).

The festival includes more than music, too. There will be plenty of food. Organic food vendors, chef demonstrations, a Farmers Market, and a lot more. So be prepared for a delightful sensory overload.

Again, Slow Roots Festival takes place August 27 and 28 at the Stanwood Community Fairgrounds. If you’re local to NW Washington, don’t miss it!

Here are a few sample tracks from the artists slated to play the festival:

Download: “It’s A Shame, It’s A Pity” by The Moondoggies

Download: “The Wrong Light” by Kasey Anderson

Download: “For When I Go” by Star Anna

Earlier this month, Portland’s Kasey Anderson dropped another album in our hands. On Heart Of A Dog, he’s backed by his band The Honkies. You can tell right off that Anderson has taken a slightly new path, one capitalizing in blues-oriented rock. He still has those drawl-tinged, country-like vocals, but Heart Of A Dog is heavier and greater in overall scope. “The Wrong Light”, opening track from the new album, screams with wild, bluesy electric guitars wrought with distortion. And Anderson’s vocals, too, seem more confident in their gritty, back-country nature. “The Wrong Light” is cool. Very cool. Anderson knows this, and he flaunts it on “The Wrong Light” in the most tantalizing of ways.

Heart Of A Dog is out now on Red River Records.

Download: “The Wrong Light” by Kasey Anderson

The line between roots music and downright country music has blurred of late. Country pop artists tend to say they draw influence from powerful down-home roots artists, but rarely sound like them. So, to call Kasey Anderson an alt-country artist because of the twang in his vocals, or the subtly delightful stories he tells, would be absolutely absurd. What you year on Nowhere Nights are the words of an artist deeply rooted to what it used to mean to be a songwriter with some sad stories to tell. And that makes his music virtuous.

Anderson’s distraught yet relaxed vocals consistently sound like the drizzling of rain on a tin roof. He has a smooth sense of tranquility as he moves through tracks like “Leavin’ Kind” and “From Now On”. These songs are meant be played by candlelight amidst smoke and dusty glass. There is a painful reminiscence of Grayson Capps in his voice. He sings like a cool Dad – he never really raises his voice, even when he seems most upset. This is cat is cool as ice tea on a hot summer’s day.

Nowhere Nights is a perfect catalyst for why Kasey Anderson deserves every bit of confidence in his abilities to perform and create. He keeps it simple – write sad/pretty songs, sing them well, and pluck the good ole acoustic or soft electric guitar in a classic country/folk style. So I unpack my dreams and arrange them on the shelf / started passing out little pieces of myself, he bouts on “Real Gone”. Yep, that pretty much explains it.

Kasey Anderson: I Was A Photograph (Blake’s Song) [mp3]

Kasey Anderson: Sooner/Later [mp3]

Red River Records [CD/LP, 2009]

1. Bellingham Blues
2. All Lit Up
3. Sooner/Later
4. Home
5. Torn Apart
6. Leavin’ Kind
7. Nowhere Nights
8. From Now On
9. I Was A Photograph (Blake’s Song)
10. Like Teenage Gravity
11. Real Gone

Today, a few blogs have joined together to exclusively premiere demos off Kasey Anderson’s upcoming LP, Nowhere Lights. The new album doesn’t hit until February of next year via Red River Records, but thanks to this post and the other participating blogs, you now have a chance to win it early. As a massive bonus, these early copies will not only be on vinyl, they’ll be hand numbered and signed by Anderson himself.

Each participating blog will debut a demo version of a song off Anderson’s forthcoming LP. These demos come from the Nowhere Nights Demo Sessions. Now here’s where you, the reader comes in: be among the first to use the clues from these various blogs to form a phrase, which will guide you to your signed, hand-numbered, vinyl copy of Nowhere Nights.

FensePost’s clue is written on the album art below the exclusive mp3 of “Nowhere Nights”. Now head over to Kasey Anderson’s Blog for the next step. And if you missed the previous one, backtrack it over to My Aimz Is True.

Kasey Anderson: Nowhere Nights (Demo) [mp3]

An old memory: I recall grabbing coffee at Stewarts in Bellingham one summer long ago while visiting a friend. There on a rack tucked into a corner was a face I recognized. It was Kasey Anderson; the release was Harold St. Blues and I soon had “Boulevard” on repeat. Since then Anderson has released Dead Roses (2004) and The Reckoning (2007).

It’s now 2009 and so far this year, Kasey Anderson has been a busy man. Already he has dropped two EPs, both full of tracks off two upcoming albums out this coming fall and winter, and both available for complimentary download from Anderson’s website. The Real Gone EP has five tracks off the upcoming Nowhere Nights and Mercy EP the same off the pending The Lucky Ones.

Today Anderson releases Way Out West, a collection of twelve covers from artists as diverse as Arcade Fire, Springsteen, Dylan, and Marah. The album is also available for free download, this time from Red River Records. It’s an eclectic expanse of tracks, many of which receive complete overhauls from their original states. Take, for example, “Keep The Car Running” by Arcade Fire, where Anderson’s hashing keeps all but the chorus recognizable.

High points on Way Out West are vast. There’s the Dylan track, for one, “High Water (For Charley Patton)” and the ballad “To Live Is To Fly”, a Townes Van Zandt original.

As alt-country goes, Anderson’s songs are filled with descriptive tales, colorful storyboards that paint themselves on the back of your eyelids. This style lends itself well to songs like Tom Waits’ “Hold On” and Springsteen’s “Open All Night” and even Pearl Jam’s “Drifting”. It all leads up to one realization: Way Out West is not your typical album packed with covers in that it’s better than your typical album packed with covers. Way better.

Kasey Anderson: High Water (For Charley Patton) [mp3]

Kasey Anderson: To Live Is To Fly [mp3]

Red River Records [Digital LP, 2009]

1. Open All Night (Bruce Springsteen)
2. Keep The Car Running (Arcade Fire)
3. Hold On (Tom Waits)
4. Days Go By (Keith Urban)
5. Drifting (Pearl Jam)
6. Walls (Tom Petty)
7. High Water (For Charley Patton) (Bob Dylan)
8. Round Eye Blues (Marah)
9. I Still Miss Someone (Johnny Cash)
10. To Live Is To Fly (Townes Van Zandt)