Store | All

ERIC’S NOTES ON DAYTIME HIGHS AND OVERNIGHT LOWS

I didn’t expect to be making another Last Train Home record. It had been a while.

The first album by a trio that has actually been a trio for quite a while, Profiles in Courage, Frailty, and Discomfort is fourteen songs by all three members, tackling such weighty topics as moonwalks, steamboat captaining, dollar-slots, Johnny Cash’s gravesite, Jerry Lee Lewis’s birthplace, Willie Nelson’s notions of eternity, the downside of Parkersburg, West

2015

For his fourth solo album, Depot Light, Peter Cooper has chosen to set aside his own powerful songwriting muse and record twelve breathtaking compositions by Eric Taylor. The Houston-based Taylor has been crafting his extraordinary songs for decades. A contemporary of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark, he's called "the Hemingway of our time" by Nanci Griffith, and if you don't know his body of work, these elegant interpretations (arranged by acoustic music maestro Thomm Jutz, with help from Justin Moses, Andrea Zonn, Pat McInerney, Mark Fain, and other stellar musicians), are an excellent place to begin your exploration.  An album of depth and nuance, plot twists and texture, sadness and beauty.

2015

Jerry Lawson, lead singer and founding member of The Persuasions, makes his solo debut at 71 years old. With help from Grammy-nominated producer Eric Brace, Jerry makes the thirteen songs on Just a Mortal Man his own, with elegance, heart, and soul. The album features songs from a diverse group of writers including Paul Simon, Robert Hunter, Ayo, Phil Lee, Peter Cooper, and Brace. And Jerry pays tribute to two of his heroes, recording tunes originally done by The Temptations’ David Ruffin and Bobby “Blue” Bland. The recordings feature a core band of Nashville's finest: Joe Pisapia on electric guitar and bass, Jen Gunderman on keyboards, and Duane Blevins on drums.

While guest musicians like Jim Lauderdale and The McCrary Sisters also make appearances on Just a Mortal Man, the album is about Jerry, singing with a sweet and smoky voice that's only grown richer throughout his 71 years.

By Eric Brace and Karl Straub, featuring performances by Kelly Willis, Tim O'Brien, Darrell Scott, Jason Ringenberg, John Wesley Harding, and Andrea Zonn.

Hangtown Dancehall is the story of two young lovers, Betsy and Ike, who leave their Missouri home for California during the Gold Rush. Eric first met the two characters in a folk song that he heard in his childhood in Placerville, California, the epicenter of the Gold Rush, known in the 1850s as Hangtown. That song, "Sweet Betsy From Pike,"  tells the story of Betsy and Ike's trek by wagon train across the continent. The song's final verses tell of their arrival in Hangtown but Eric decided that though that's the end of the song, it wasn't the end of the tale. With Hangtown Dancehall, Eric and Karl tell the rest of Betsy and Ike's story.

CD packaging includes lyrics and narrative in a 24-page booklet, featuring the art of Julie Sola.

2013

Opening Day, Cooper's third solo album, features nine superb Peter Cooper originals as well as a compelling cover of Bill Morrissey’s “Birches,” hailed as one of the album’s “finest moments.”

"In short, it’s an album rippling with all the heart and humanity of a great Peter Cooper editorial." - CM Wilcox, Country California

2015

"Raised On the Plains...brings to life a sweeping, sonic panorama of her literal and emotional pilgrimages." - Rolling Stone

"Lafser has a unique and raw balance of western folk sounds that are as blue as the Sea of Cortes...Her vocals are genuine, the music is simple and purposeful." - Ear to the Ground

An 8x8, 28-page lyric book suitable for coloring, with original lineoleum cut artwork by Julie Sola.

2012

"Full of lovely guitar touches and brimming with clever, mordant songs"
-Martin Chilton, The London Telegraph

"Clearly maintaining his standard, mature songwriting is married to some classy playing, whilst Jon's warm, slightly gruff but very relaxed singing holds the centre. ... Though he sings of heartbreak and regret, there's something enormously reassuring about Jon Byrd's music, a refuge in troubled times."
-John Davy, No Depression/Flyinshoes

2009

Eric Brace & Peter Cooper (plus a stellar Nashville band) combine forces on their own songs and on songs by Kris Kristofferson, Jim Lauderdale, Todd Snider, David Olney and more.

2009

Another stellar collection of original tunes from some of East Nashville's talented songwriters. This volume follows up the original East Nashville compilation, "The Other Side, Music from East Nashville," released in 2006, and the much lauded holiday CD, "Yuletide from the Other Side." This 19-track CD includes music from Phil Lee, Kieran Kane, Eric Brace, Peter Cooper, Anne McCue, Kevin Gordon, Chuck Mead, Elizabeth Cook, Matt Urmy, Carey Ott, Audrey Auld, Jon Byrd, Amelia White, Stephen Simmons, Tim Carroll, Duane Jarvis, Taylor Bates, and Tom Mason.

2008

Fayssoux's debut album "Early" is a stunning work of grace and beauty, featuring a combination of originals, works of old friends (like Rodney Crowell and Paul Craft), traditional folk, old-time gospel, country rock and love ballads.

NOW ONLY $5!

We have a limited number of these one-of-a-kind posters made by Julie Sola and Hatch Show Print for the May 25, 2011 celebration of the release of I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs of Fox Hollow.  The poster is about 21 inches long by 11 inches wide.

2007

Following on the heels of the acclaimed collection of East Nashville music, The Other Side (2006), comes Yuletide From the Other Side, a splendid compilation of 37 songs of seasonal cheer. Once again, the tunes are courtesy of East Nashville's booming music scene. Two CDs packed with December fun, but that you can listen to all year long.

2006

"A seamless and stirring mesh of talent...While this nearly all-acoustic set does feature some bluegrassy moments, the album defies easy categorization...All of it is held together by the sublimely soulful feeling that is a hallmark of Last Train Home." - Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

2003

"...enough soulful ballads and mood-shifting treats to make you wish they'd reconsider their Nashville travel plans..." -Washington Post