Daytrotter.com: The Felice Brothers, AA Bondy, Cold War Kids, Backyard Tire Fire, Ha Ha Tonka

For this week's music from Daytrotter.com, we downloaded several artists that are touring together this autumn. Of the five, we had only previously seen or heard music from The Felice Brothers. You can read about that performance here. In September, the band is touring with AA Bondy, who is touring with the Cold War Kids in October. We also noticed that Backyard Tire Fire is touring with Ha Ha Tonka in September. We hope we are able to attend one of these shows, because the songs were excellent.

We've heard a couple of the The Felice Brothers' songs previously and have always liked Hey Revolver. The same semi-depressing vein includes Chicken Wire and The Devil is Real. Both songs characterize the distinct sound emanating from the Catskills. AA Bondy will be a complementary partner on their tour. His sound is also sad, but more in the acoustic blues tradition, as he uses both the harmonica and guitar to sing about vampire and convicted man's blues. Oh The Vampyre and Witness Blues were our favorite downloads, but all were easy to listen to - particularly while jogging.

We were vaguely familiar with the next two groups, basically from seeing them scheduled at popular venues. Now we have two new bands to add to our favorites list at myjoog.com. Backyard Tire Fire reminds us of Cross Canadian Ragweed - partly rock, partly alt-country - but all Americana. Maybe its a Midwestern thing. Not only is the music great - but they also provide poignant messages. Take the song, Food For Thought. It describes how you can't take what you've bought when you're gone, instead "It Only Matter What You've Done". What a great line. We also really liked the alt-county flavor of I Only Cry When My Momma's Sick and the semi-ballad A Long Time. Ha Ha Tonka is another Midwestern band - but with more of a rock feel than BTF. We were instantly drawn to them after listening to the silly: 12-Inch Three-Speed Oscillating Fan. That continued through Caney Mountain and St. Nick On The 4th Of July. This is one tour we may have to drive great distance to see.