calhoun record - fwweekly.com
Tim Locke, the guy with the Lennon-McCartney -esque songwriting ingenuity, is currently riding high with Calhoun and he makes the most of every note on his bands recent, outrageously good eponymous full length
Tim Locke - 2008 songwriter of the year - fwweekly.com
Tim locke - 2006 songwriter of the year - Fort worth weekly music awards
calhoun self titled - fineline.com
(the calhoun self-titled record) is a must have if you love gorgeous sorta poppy, sorta rootsy, sorta rockin', really splendid music-written and performed by some of the best musicians in the country - Cindy Chaffin
calhoun: year that never was - americana uk
The sad pop sensibility that acknowledges the fact that suffering is necessary to fuel art and it make the suffering endurable even enjoyable. The band has that offhand way with pop structures like Wheat or Creeper Lagoon. Records like this that arrive unheralded make the job worthwhile.
calhoun's tim locke - stash dauber (k. shimamoto)
Fort Worth's answer to Elliot Smith and Jeff Buckley is just too damn good to remain a secret.
calhoun's calhoun - patrick nichols, 010/10/06
this is texas music
Label: (self-released) / Released: 2006 / (4 out of 5)
I've heard about Calhoun for the last couple years, and I've even searched Austin record stores for the Fort Worth band's 2004 debut, The Year that Never Was. But despite my best efforts, I'd never caught more than a few snippets of the Calhoun sound until getting the self-titled second album this summer. It was worth the wait. Calhoun is a brilliant indie rock album full of catchy melodies and irresistible hooks.
While there are many talents, Calhoun is really a showcase for the multi-talented Locke. He provides lead vocals, lead guitar, piano and assorted keys — and he wrote each of the 11 songs. To hear why he won best songwriter honors from Fort Worth Weekly, just listen to "Edge of the Earth" (listen) — a deceptively simple rhythmic exhortation for a reluctant lover to give in to passion: This heart that was yours ain't a plan ain't a scam / It's a gift you could have it obeys your commands / We fall off the edge of the earth we learn what's real / I know you feel this.
This album has it all — a near perfect pop song in "Bright Eyes" (listen), an epic love song with "Summer/Winter" (listen), a stuck-in-your-head-for-days number (just ask my wife) in "Kick Drum Mind" (listen). And then there's the gorgeously anthemic "The Rain the Stars" (listen), which just might be my favorite song of the summer.
Now if I can just find a copy of The Year that Never Was and begin from the beginning….
calhoun 's new one - bill stella, highest common denominator & GAAMC challenge newsletter
Calhoun Sometimes something brilliant comes to my attention just because a new band puts in an Add Friend Request, as it's called, at my profile at MySpace.com/bearealman . My deadline for a review column was October 20, 2006: And that's the date Calhoun's Add Request arrived. Their self-titled album has completely grabbed me. Somewhere between James Blunt and Conor Oberst's musical identity Bright Eyes in voice and style, Calhoun uncannily understates powerfully romantic notions of love, life and happiness. It's the ballsiest kind of music I can imagine: With relatively few electric guitars and modest use of bass, it doesn't scream at you to bow before its testosterone like headbangers. Instead, its strength is quieter, but incredible for the bravery of its idealism, its use of small gestures of dynamics and instrumental touches, its balanced approach requiring every sound to carry weight and resonance, its literate lyrics. Witness these, sung as if in the moment of their discovery, from "Summer / Winter": "In the summer sun / we walked alone / In the glory of / the sweet unknown // We won't grow old / but we'll never die / I look at you / And sigh // It's gold, It's grass / It's beautiful at last / Your eyes on fire / I want it all [too fast?] // Only one thing here is true / This love will live on / and heaven knew / What we started here today / The world could not subdue // We would always be strong / All Summer, Winter long." The passion grows but never goes over the top as it tumbles out in a long, unhurried, extended two-part refrain. *** And that's just one example. *** I'm loving this album. And I have yet to hear more than the three full songs on myspace and the two-minute samples here. Help bring these guys the recognition they richly deserve: sample the music and, when your heart responds, you're sure to become a fan of Calhoun.