One of the records I’ve been playing the absolute hell out of these last couple of weeks is The Graceless Age, the new album by John Murry, who Uncut regulars may remember from World Without End, a sensationally bleak 2006 collection of contemporary murder ballads he made with the Memphis singer-songwriter Bob Frank. The Graceless Age, like World Without End, produced by Tim Mooney, the former American Music Club drummer, at Closer Recording, the studio Tim owned in San Francisco, at 1441 Howard Street. The more I played it, the more The Graceless Age sounded like one of the best things Mooney had been involved in, as either producer or musician, a dark and festering masterpiece.
A lot of old Uncut favourites are featured on Rock'N'Roll With Us, the free CD with this month's issue, including tracks from the new albums by The War On Drugs, Drive-By Truckers, David Crosby, Real Estate, The Hold Steady, Sun Kil Moon, Spain, and Hans Chew.