Austin & Elliott - Cradle and Crow (2016)

Tracklist

01. Rocking the Cradle
02. Victor Kill
03. Fat Man With a Flower
04. Lambs Get Slaughtered
05. Hard Landing
06. If It Ain't Broke, Break It
07. Justice Song of the Birds
08. Don't Go Away Mad
09. Bleak
10. Rose on Your Grave
11. Shake Off the Snow
12. Drowning Song
13. We Had Our Run

Based in Western Massachusetts, Austin and Elliott is comprised of singer/songwriters Christopher Thomas Elliott and Lisa Austin. Combining folk and rock influences, their dark but catchy original songs combine bracing harmonies, thought-provoking lyrics, and driving acoustic guitar work.

After years of performing on their own as solo artists, they began collaborating in 2003 with Lisa adding harmony vocals to Chris’s songs. Since then, they’ve deepened their musical partnership, incorporating new instrumentation such as hand drum and banjitar and honing their twin vocal attack.

Their latest recording, Cradle and Crow, was recorded at home in the wilds in western Mass, and features 13 original songs about love gone wrong and death gone right. Their previous record, the 5-cut Truth That Hurts, is their first full-band effort, produced by Lorne Entress (Lori McKenna, Catie Curtis, Mark Erelli) and featuring guitarist Duke Levine (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Jonatha Brooke, Ellis Paul) and bassist Paul Kochanski (Resophonics). Their debut CD 13 Songs Plus is packed with 21 songs performed in stark, powerful fashion.

Influences? Think duos like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Richard and Linda Thompson, Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Richard and Mimi Farina, the Handsome Family and Timbuk 3. The more you listen, you'll hear: Natalie Merchant, Bob Dylan, the Decemberists, REM, Robyn Hitchcock, Randy Newman, the Pogues, Pixies, James McMurtry, Todd Snider, Grace Slick, and more.

DOWNLOAD ALBUM [flac]