News

Fresh off his acclaimed solo album Fountain Fire (out earlier this year), Bill MacKay is back to harmonic atom-splitting with all six of his guitar strings in this new collaboration with cellist Katinka Kleijn---entitled STIR.

Both accomplished musicians in their own right (Bill is a guitarist-composer-songwriter, whom any Drag City fan will surely recognize and Katinka is a cellist and veteran of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among others), STIR marks their first collaboration that's been put to wax! Over the... (read more)

Radum Calls, Radum Calls is Sean O'Hagan's second solo album. His first came out in 1990, titled High Llamas - how's that for paths taken and not taken! It's clear we simply can't know what the future brings. So, nearly 30 years down that once-was road, 10-12 albums of the extreme pleasures that High Llamas song craft and sonic obsessions have provided (counting a comp and a remix record, yeah?), here's Sean again, with his second solo album. 
 
In the past decade,... (read more)

You probably already know this, but on Wednesday morning, David Berman took his own life. He’s gone. 

We have to keep reminding ourselves that it is real. Then we’re reminded that is real. Then we wish it wasn’t real. It’s like a trapeze act, and we are the worst acrobats, fumbling these truths from swing to swing. Day after day...

Everybody says these things after a suicide – and this week, we know very specifically why they do. For instance: five... (read more)

We couldn't be more sorry to tell you this. David Berman passed away earlier today. A great friend and one of the most inspiring individuals we've ever known is gone. Rest easy, David. 

Chicago's (erm, America's) busiest musician is on the road again next week! Bill MacKay is headed off to Huichica East Festival in New York, playing a few gigs with fellow DC-ite Mike Donovan (what an excellent pairing! Mike's latest, Exurbian Quonset, is undoubtedly the freshest flower May, if not all of 2019, had to offer!) and then back for a quick jaunt in the Midwest. In honor of the occasion, Bill's unveiled a music video for "Birds of May", a standout track from... (read more)

WATCH CHRIS GANTRY PERFORM LIVE HERE!

Unless you were in the greater Nashville area on Wednesday, you probably missed Chris Gantry's appearance on the NBC morning TV show, Nashville Today, so let us clue you in! Performing "Box of Crayons" with heartfelt sincerity and getting into the rich and detailed history of Nashville songwriting with the show hosts, Gantry delivered the goods! "Box of Crayons" is a poignant and playful tune celebrating diversity and acceptance; here live, it features Chris' bright... (read more)

O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain! For Purple Mountain majesties, above the fruited plain! The hotly anticipated, rapidly approaching Purple Mountains tour of America, the beautiful, (and Canada!) is finally on the horizon. A decade after David Berman last performed live, these upcoming dates could not be more extraordinarily enticing and excitingly essential - with twenty-six shows in nearly as many cities there is simply no excuse NOT to go! Purple Mountains' debut album has arrived and been received with universal... (read more)

It's now twenty years since U.S. Maple and Talker were sent tot he Drag City offices. Their third album took the egretions and abrasions of their early music to a new height of quiet horror, their contribution to the summer of '99 - a hot, trying season, one that won't soon be forgotten. Talker was recorded by Martin Bisi and produced by Michael Gira at Bisi Studios. U.S. Maple made two more records after Talker before dissolving in the mid-aughts. Talker has been out of... (read more)

Ty Segall presents "Ice Plant", his most beautiful song to date, as the final pre-release single from his forthcoming album, First Taste, due August 2nd. "Ice Plant" presents a completely different side of First Taste following the previously released full band, fleshed-out singles "Radio" and "Taste." Between a percussion-based intro and simple piano outro, both performed by Segall, "Ice Plant" strips back any instrumentation, solely spotlighting the mesmeric voices and harmonizing of Segall and newest Freedom Band member, Shannon Lay.... (read more)