Luther Dickinson feat. Datrian Johnson - Willem James Cowan - Down West - Greenness

Photo - Camilla Calnan

Luther Dickinson feat. Datrian Johnson - Who Do You Love.

Luther Dickinson says about, “Who Do You Love.” - "This Bo Diddley classic is built on a track I wrote on bass and keyboards and finished with my Memphis friends, Mem_Mods (Steve Selvidge and New Memphis Colorways). Their contributions and Datrian Johnson's vocals fit so naturally and felt so good, I knew we were on a like-minded endeavor showcasing some of my closest friends as well as scratching an aesthetic and stylistic itch of mine." 

Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars will release Dead Blues Vol. 1 on October 17, 2025 via Strolling Bones Records. The 9-song set was produced by the 10-time GRAMMY Award-nominated Dickinson and is a collection of blues songs the Grateful Dead performed throughout their career by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bo Diddley, the Mississippi Sheiks, Willie Dixon, and more. The album features vocals by Datrian Johnson, as well as a host of special guests including Phil Lesh’s son Grahame Lesh, Steve Selvidge of The Hold Steady, Dickinson’s brother and North Mississippi Allstars bandmates, Cody Dickinson, and Ray Ray Holloman (Eminem), and more. 

Dead Blues Vol. 1 lands somewhere between the Mississippi Delta and outer space, reimagining an array of traditional blues tunes from the Dead’s catalog through a boldly experimental sonic palette. The songs here bear little resemblance to their forefathers; the musical beds are more Memphis funk and jazz than blues and folk, and the melodies are completely transformed to match. Only the lyrics remain largely unchanged, and the result is an exhilaratingly adventurous work that’s equal parts innovation and preservation. Dead Blues Vol. 1 is a distinctly modern, original take on the foundational building blocks of American music delivered by one of its most steadfast champions.

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Willem James Cowan - You Will (A Brief Reminder to Look Up).

Willem James Cowan’s new single, “You Will (A Brief Reminder to Look Up),” is a warm, Laurel Canyon–inspired ode to optimism – a gentle reminder that no matter how heavy life feels, things will get better. Breezy yet reflective, the track blends folk, rock, singer/songwriter, and Americana influences to create an uplifting space that feels both timeless and personal.

The spark for the song came in an unlikely place – a movie theatre. “A couple months after ending a long-term relationship, my brother and I went to see the movie Beau is Afraid,” Cowan recalls. “The movie as a whole didn’t have a huge impact on me, but I was really inspired by the dream sequence about three-quarters of the way through where a woman is prophesying a character’s life. Each sentence starts with the phrase ‘you will’ as she details the events to come, and I really liked the way it sounded. I had to pull my phone out and write the idea down (against theatre etiquette – sorry everyone). I went home and wrote the lyrics with the same idea. This song is a reminder to myself and others that no matter how down you feel, things will get better.”

From a production standpoint, Cowan set out to capture the comforting, easygoing essence of the Laurel Canyon scene of the ’60s. “There’s something really comforting and easy about a lot of those records and I wanted to capture that too. It’s definitely lighter and breezier than anything I’ve released before. Less wordy, maybe. I’m not usually so optimistic in my writing, so I wanted the production to reflect that.”

The song’s standout moment for Cowan is a personal one: a clever Joni Mitchell reference in the second verse. “It’s specific to someone in my life and a little more personal than I usually get. I like a lot of the lyrics in this song, though. It’s easy to get corny with songs in this theme, and I think I rode that line pretty well.”

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Down West - Little Big Men.

We have to say there is this timeless vibe about Down West, possibly because of their musical influences that they are quite open about, however the musicianship and quality of songwriting demands to be recognized as something quite special and addictive. 

Celebrating their 10-year anniversary in 2025, Down West began life as an acoustic duo in 2015. Now a (much louder) alt rock trio featuring veteran songwriter Steve Stanard on guitar, Zep fan Theo Waddell on drums, and Echo Park native Ron Feliciano on bass, it's the kind of song-focused rock that could only grow in Southern California. With an unapologetic 90s-era emphasis on guitars, hooks and the message, Down West is driving David Bowie into Crazy Horse’s garage in a noisy R.E.M. Ford Taurus. 

Their rock album Cold Sun is set to release on September 17th. It features the singles “Little Big Men”, “Hollow” and “Break Down The Door”. Cold Sun was recorded at Vinegar Hill LA Studios in Downtown LA, produced by Mario DiLeva, & written by Steve Stanard.

The Cold Sun Album by Down West features nine original tracks of indie, psych, and 80’s rock that are easy to listen to and a bonus cover of “No One Is To Blame” by Howard Jones.  Fans of The Flaming Lips, David Bowie, & R.E.M. would enjoy this album.

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Greenness - Meltdown.

This is a gorgeous song and definitely a band to watch out for, the video adds an additional layer of delight and ticks a lot of positive boxes for Beehive Candy! 

Fresh from their Glastonbury debut, and ahead of a much-anticipated full band performance at Victorious Festival, Greenness released their new single Meltdown last Friday (29th August 2025) via One Fern Records. Following on from previous single Hilltop (“Utterly flawless” - Music is My Radar), this indie alt-pop seaside bop is the second single from the duo's upcoming sophomore album, Honeymoons.

In the words of Greenness’ singer and songwriter Cess, “Meltdown is a tragic-comic take on the modern artist’s struggle to get their voice heard in an endless sea of noise. I wanted to write honest and relatable lyrics for anyone out there pursuing their dreams relentlessly, to the point of burnout and despair; chasing fame like an elusive mistress, trying every trick in the book to get noticed, feeling frustrated and stressed… and almost forgetting who you are in the process.”

“As independent musicians, we give it our all, and get caught up in this kind of madness now and then”, acknowledges Greenness’ producer and composer Graham, who plays every instrument on the track. “No role left unassumed, no stone left unrolled, everything in quadruple! It’s too much and never enough, but what it always comes back to is the joy of making and sharing our very own music, just for the hell of it.”

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Emily Popli - KRAMON Ft. Meredith Adelaide - Stephen Wilson Jr. - Rosy Nolan

Photo - Tyler Core

Emily Popli - Lilith Fair Kid (Album).

This weekend singer-songwriter Emily Popli is proud to present her debut album Lilith Fair Kid. Marching behind the tearjerking single “Alight”, the new album is available on most streaming platforms. The first offering of Lilith Fair Kid came last month, as the release of “Alight” captivated fans of blues-y pop. Together, the soulful vocals of Emily Popli and Matt Giraud accompanied by the melodic electric guitar give the track a vivant feeling.
 
Other standout tracks on Lilith Fair Kid include “Play” and “The Guy Who Got Away” , which showcase the diversity of the album. With the former poised against an upbeat backdrop describing the sensuality of being in a relationship, while the latter track is a heavy, yet important message unpacking the trauma of sexual assault. “Nothing” is a perfect breakup anthem, filled with melancholy, yet uplifting lyrics painting the narrator as powerful and unphased. Then there’s the impactful finale of the album, “The Elephant”, which discusses the strains of motherhood.

Lilith Fair Kid embraces its audience in a sheen of unapologetic honesty, as Emily Popli shares true stories of struggles she’s undergone and relationships that have changed her. Sonically, the nine tracks that traipse across the album are coated in a 90’s haze, with racing harmonica solos, twangy guitars, and of course, the soulful vocals of Popli. Taking bits and pieces from Sheryl Crow’s vocal style and Sarah McLachlan’s songwriting, the songs display a heartbreaking yet brave vulnerability as she navigates her ongoing struggles with depression.

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KRAMON Ft. Meredith Adelaide - Change.

On Friday KRAMON and Meredith Adelaide proudly released the music video for “Change”. Released the week before, we have also included the album 'Evolutions' to round off a few features we have carried for Kramon this year on Beehive Candy.

Containing twelve tracks that analyze the constantly evolving nature of the human psyche, Evolutions is the debut album from singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, KRAMON. Showcasing how to navigate the pain and codependency of relationships, both platonic and romantic, the debut album features the extraordinarily impactful track, “Change”. 

At the helm of Evolutions is the incredibly talented Josh Kramon– who’s primarily known for composing the soundtracks behind some of television's most notable screenwriting (Veronica Mars, High Potential, iZombie, Lethal Weapon). Amidst Kramon’s achievements as a  A couple of months ago on May 14th, Josh proudly accepted his second BMI Award for Film and Television, due to his aforementioned contributions.

The focus track of the Evolutions is the standout “Change”, which is accompanied by an impactful video, out today. The track uncovers the internal fight one can find with multiple versions of themself, as the only way to truly change is by viewing life from a gentle and accepting lens. Lead vocalist on the track Meredith Adelaide directs and features in the video, allowing her to further her acting career which has previously seen her guest starring in Portlandia, Grimm, and Leverage. 


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Photo - Acacia Evans

Stephen Wilson Jr. - Blankets (EP).

This weekend, the Indiana-born, Nashville-based rising star Stephen Wilson Jr. released his Blankets EP via Big Loud Records. The four-song EP features moving interpretations of Nirvana’s “Something In The Way,” Temple of the Dog’s “Hunger Strike,” The Postal Service’s “Clark Gable” and The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight."

This week, it was also announced that Wilson Jr. will join Shaboozey for new song “Took A Walk” from the upcoming film The Long Walk. The song, which was co-written by Wilson Jr., will be released on September 5 and appears as the emotional closing piece to the movie based on Stephen King’s novel. 

About the EP, Wilson Jr. explains: “These songs are songs I grew up listening to. Warm blankets that I can always rely on to take me back. Blankets make people warmer than they were. That is the goal. These productions are intentionally lush and denser than the originals. Four covers to perhaps sort through in the hall closet to help get us through the night. Pull the string on the light.”

Already this summer, Wilson Jr. made debuts at Red Rocks where he supported Eric Church across his three night run as well as Newport Folk Festival where he performed a headline set and was a featured performer in the festival’s finale set. Throughout the rest of the year, Wilson Jr. will support HARDY on his Jim Bob Tour, make his AmericanaFest debut at Big Loud’s Takeover at SkyDeck on Broadway on Weds. Sept 10, support Lukas Nelson on October 12 in Wilmington, NC, and continue on his wildly successful sold out søn of dad Tour. On November 23 and 24, he will headline The Ryman Auditorium for the first time with two sold out shows. 

Stephen Wilson Jr. · Blankets

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Rosy Nolan - How It Feels to Fall in Love.

Los Angeles country artist Rosy Nolan’s upcoming LP Main Attraction (out Oct. 17) is steeped in Americana roots, Western swing, honky tonk, and old-time country, paying homage to the great American records of the 1920s–1940s. The album is drenched in heartache and longing—core themes that have defined Nolan’s songwriting throughout her career.

Nolan has shared the stage with country legend Dale Watson and critically acclaimed Emily Nenni, co-headlined a West Coast tour with Rachel Brooke, and performed at major festivals including SXSW, AmericanaFest, the Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Festival, and Stagecoach 2022. Her EP Footprints & Broken Branches was co-produced by punk icon Tim Armstrong (Rancid, Operation Ivy), blending her traditional sound with a raw edge. On Main Attraction, she’s joined by Cajun-country royalty Dirk Powell (Rhiannon Giddens, Joan Baez, T Bone Burnett), who lends his accordion magic to “How It Feels to Fall in Love” and “Don’t Put Her Down You Helped Put Her There.”

Main Attraction is a heartfelt and honest album where Nolan lays bare her desires for love and companionship. From childhood, we’re all searching for connection—a promise woven into us by birth, something we might even feel entitled to by God or society. Nolan emerges as a confident and skilled bandleader, songwriter, and performer. She’s unafraid to express her feelings and thoughts openly, and that fearless honesty is what makes Main Attraction such a touching and intimate experience.

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The Bats - Abertooth Lincoln - Indigo Syndicate - Kolton Moore & The Clever Few

Photo - Martin Sagadin

The Bats - The Gown.

The Bats return with their third single of 2025, ‘The Gown’. With their 11th album, 'Corner Coming Up' on the horizon, the legendary indie rock band are giving us another taste of what’s to come.

The Bats' music has been recently described as "a perfect blend of bittersweet beauty and deceptive simplicity, and the band has a phenomenal ability to create melodies that linger long after the record has stopped spinning."

'The Gown' is not typical Bats, but fits perfectly with the above description and Martin Sagadin’s beautiful video sympathetically represents the emotions and symphonic vibes expressed in the song. Martin's gorgeous new video was shot on location at Grubb Cottage in Ōhinehou, Ōtautahi Grubb, and features band members Paul Kean and Kaye Woodward, as well as film-makers and musicians Annabel Kean (Sports Team) and Callum Devlin (Sports Team, Hans Pucket).

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Abertooth Lincoln - Mother is God.

Dayton, Ohio’s feral art-punk heavyweights Abertooth Lincoln return with new single ‘Mother is God’, a haunting ballad of abandonment, delusion, and the wreckage cults leave behind. Available to stream now on all major platforms via Golden Robot Records. 

‘Mother is God’ marks a bold evolution for Abertooth Lincoln. Their first true ballad, the song is a slow-burning meditation on cult leader Amy Carlson - told from the imagined perspective of the child she left behind. It wrestles with the devastating contradiction of a woman who claimed to love the world but couldn’t love her own kid. 

Musically, the track stretches Abertooth’s dynamic range: down-tempo and restrained in moments but laced with dissonance and tension that builds to a gripping, cathartic conclusion. 

Lyrically, it’s intimate and unflinching - capturing the pain of being cast aside while exposing the seductive, hollow nature of cults and the narcissists who lead them. Like many songs on Abertooth’s upcoming album, ‘Mother is God’ explores how self-styled prophets often cloak self-interest in spiritual rhetoric, leaving real damage in their wake. 

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Indigo Syndicate - Moonstruck.

Indigo Syndicate’s newest single, “Moonstruck,” plunges into the mind of a schizophrenic narrator, spiraling through the darkness of the voices in their head. Weightlessly dancing between an airtight rhythm section reminiscent of Mark Ronson’s work with Amy Winehouse, the song charts the narrator’s progression from denial to bargaining before ultimately succumbing to the voices.

In the opening verse, the warning is clear: “You’ve been looking far and wide but you dug too deep now you’re lost in your mind / paid the price (paid the price) for looking in places I know I shouldn’t be but I’m lost anyway.” The inescapability deepens in the chorus: “You can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it / but you still gotta choose your poison / you can’t change the game you were made to play / and you can’t beat them, so join them.”

By the second verse, the narrator admits defeat: “But there’s nothing wrong with falling for the voices in your head / I can’t cut them off, so I’ll write these songs until they give the go-ahead.” One last refrain drives the point home: “You can’t beat them, so join them.”

Musically, “Moonstruck” fuses soul, pop, and blues-rock with a modern edge. Its combination of classic yet modern production and silky Bruno Major–like vocals creates a sound both timeless and fresh. It’s a track built for fans of Scary Pockets, The Revivalists, and Glass Animals.

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Photo - Brian Andrews

Kolton Moore & The Clever Few - Brave the Weather.

Kolton Moore & The Clever Few have shared their new single “Brave the Weather,” the latest preview of their upcoming sixth album A Place That I Call Home, out September 26. The introspective new song finds Moore exploring the importance of taking care of one’s mental health, especially during life’s more challenging moments.

Moore on the new song: “This song is about navigating through the hard times in life and realizing that you aren’t the only one who struggles with those hard times. ‘There’s nothing wrong with being scared of the storm, you just learn to brave the weather,’ as the song says. This is something I have to remind myself of often. No matter how tough something may seem, it’s okay to be intimidated, but if you push through it, there is always something better on the other side.”

“Brave the Weather” follows the tender “Strawberry Thief” and the anthemic “When We Were Young,” which have garnered praise from Holler, Whiskey Riff and Glide Magazine who praised the band’s “big-hearted twang and songwriting chops.” Produced by GRAMMY-winner Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price), the Texas five-piece’s forthcoming album A Place That I Call Home finds them navigating adulthood while taking stock of hard-earned life lessons along the way. The end result is an album about redefining the meaning of home from a road-warrior band that used to play 250 shows a year when they debuted in 2012.

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Soft Hearted Scientists - Frog - The Last Time - Coloured Paper Shapes - Jesse Harris feat. Norah Jones

Soft Hearted Scientists - Wonder Girl.

Taken from the new album “The Phantom of Canton”. Soft Hearted Scientists are a Cardiff based band who can loosely be described as psychedelic, in the sense that they create a technicolour sound using a huge variety of instruments and sound effects, whether guitars or vintage keyboards. The idea is to transport the listener to a better place, whether that’s on a 3-minute action packed single, or a 10-minute multi section epic. 

Their influences include everything from The Beatles, Beach Boys and Kinks to The Beta Band, Super Furry Animals, 1940s big band music and electronic music. Nothing is out of bounds. It all gets thrown into the SHS blender. The band has had great press reviews and radio play on BBC 6 music shows such as Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe, and Stuart Maconie’s Freak Zone.

“Wonder Girl” A lovestruck song featuring half an album’s worth of hooks, Motown and surf guitars, celestial humming choirs, a sudden mood change middle section, and the whole thing bounces off the walls with energy. 

There are shades of The Beach Boys, The Kinks, ancient Disney film songs, and circus and vaudeville music in this track as well as many obscure 1940s songs (singer Nathan falls asleep every night to such tunes so they must be having a subconscious effect). It crams 80 years of musical genres into just over 3 minutes 30 seconds. The Wonder Girl in question may be real, an ideal, a ghost from an old photograph, or she might just be a product of wishful thinking.

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Frog - BITTEN BY MY LOVE VAR. XI.

Today August 29th, Cult New York-based band Frog announce ‘The Count,’ their seventh album, with the “BITTEN BY MY LOVE VAR. XI” single. The new record will be released on September 19th.

Following February’s ‘1000 Variations on the Same Song,’ Daniel Bateman and brother Steve (drums/percussion) offer another ten variations, locking into a style and sound, stretching its limitations and exploring the possibilities.

The eleven variations released six months ago brought Frog back to the Indie Rock and Alt Country sounds of previous albums like ‘Kind of Blah’ and ‘Count Bateman,’ earning them Stereogum’s Album of the Week, sessions for KEXP and WFMU, as well as praise from Pitchfork, FLOOD Magazine, KLOF Mag, and airplay from stations like KCRW, WFUV, WKDU, and WNYU, which saw them reach the top 30 of the NACC 200 chart, on top of national airplay in Europe from FM4, Kosmos, and the BBC.

However, ‘The Count’ takes a left turn from even Frog’s most idiosyncratic past material, with Bateman assuming the titular role of a mysterious New Yorker turned piano man for one impromptu and unforgettable performance. While Bateman’s skill for penning songs about love, loss, and lust remains unchanged, this is a Frog album like no other.

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The Last Time - She Says She's Lost Her Glow.

After 25 years of existence, The Last Time, a Power Pop group from the island of Yeu, France, has finally recorded 4 compositions at the legendary Blackbox studio. The release date is September 20th, 2025 @ Truly Yours Records. 

It's also the new band of Olivier Popincourt. (For the benefit of the uninitiated, Olivier Popincourt is a stylish French Mod, a musical Anglophile, an accomplished songwriter, and a big fan of Paul Weller - Acoustic Egg Box, 2020). Here is what Jean-William Thoury (lyricist notably for Bijou, Marie-France and Daniel Sani, sound producer, journalist and rock'n'roll critic) thinks of it:

"An arpeggio, a voice in the third, a roll on the toms between the different parts of the song and, abracadabra, the magic happens, you just have to know it and, above all, love it... The Last Time have always loved it. Verse, chorus, bridge, solo, nothing is missing from their songs which have the elegance of never reaching the fateful three-minute mark. Everything here breathes grace and sincerity. With a shared passion for so-called pop music in the Small Faces or The Jam meaning of the term, The Last Time is also one of the best songs of the Rolling Stones golden age period (1965). It also evokes a certain awareness, that of time passing. "Let's be brilliant before it's too late" is what Olivier Popincourt (vocals, guitar), Olivier Cha (guitar), Pierre Borny (bass) and Daniel Le Bris (drums), who have been playing together for 25 years, seem to have said to each other. But this is the first recording!”

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Coloured Paper Shapes - Playtime.

Coloured Paper Shapes is the genre-fusing project of South London-based artist-producer Richard James Jakubowski. Blending jangly guitars, rich storytelling, and subtle experimental touches, his sound finds a sweet spot between indie pop and alternative rock. Honest, human, and emotionally expansive.

Drawing on a lifelong reverence for David Bowie and the stylistic quirks of acts like Metronomy and Japanese Breakfast, Jakubowski crafts songs that speak to people caught somewhere between reflection and release—what he calls music for extrospective introverts. His writing delves deep into the quiet thoughts that live behind loud nights out, exploring the blurry intersections of identity, routine, and connection.

His current body of work forms part of a wider concept project titled Flamingos, a narrative-rich album that plays out like the soundtrack to an imaginary film or musical. Set against the backdrop of an all-night dive bar (based loosely on a real spot once frequented by Jakubowski and his friends), Flamingos follows a group of 30-something co-workers caught in the familiar loop of post-work drinks, blurry weekends, and existential stasis—until one of them starts to see the cycle for what it is.

His upcoming single “Playtime” began life as something separate from the Flamingos arc, originally inspired by a scene from Sean Baker’s The Florida Project. The artist shares, “I was watching The Florida Project, and there’s a scene where these kids are running around a motel parking lot, laughing and causing mayhem. That moment really stayed with me — the way the film captures innocence and joy even in tough circumstances.” He continues, “I wanted to write a song about that feeling of being able to let go — how, whether we’re kids or adults, we have certain people or places that let us tap back into that carefree sense of play.” 

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Photo - Logan White

Jesse Harris - Having a Ball (feat. Norah Jones).

"Having a Ball" is the new love song from Grammy Award-winning songwriter Jesse Harris and features him in a duet with his longtime collaborator and friend Norah Jones. Wrapped in a lush orchestral arrangement by Brazilian composer Maycon Ananias, the song blends classic elegance with emotional intimacy. It’s the second glimpse into Harris’s forthcoming orchestral album, If You Believed In Me, out this fall: a sweeping, cinematic journey from one of today’s most quietly iconic songwriters from NYC.

"Since I first met Norah in 1998, she has always brought magic and energy to every song she sings. It had been years since we'd recorded together, and ‘Having a Ball’ seemed to cry out for her to harmonize with me. Once she got in the studio, her improvised ad libs and scats added so much, so I asked her to do two separate takes of it, which you can now hear throughout the song" says Jesse Harris.

If You Believed In Me began with an unexpected offer: “If you ever need an orchestra…” Jesse Harris’s friend and arranger Maycon Ananias had extra recording time with an Estonian orchestra and invited Harris to send a song. That first experiment, Dolores, sparked something new. Though Harris - a Grammy winner and longtime collaborator of Norah Jones, Willie Nelson, and Cat Power - had released over twenty albums, he had never recorded with an orchestra.

Inspired, Harris wrote eight more songs in five weeks, crafting intricate compositions designed for symphonic arrangement. Recorded between New York, Rio, and Tallinn, the album features guest appearances from Norah Jones, Brazilian guitarist Guilherme Monteiro, Jake Sherman, and Marine Quéméré of Nouvelle Vague.

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