Austin360 On The Record: Nané, Josh Abbott Band, Robyn Ludwick, more

Austin360 On The Record is a weekly roundup of new, recent and upcoming releases by local and Austin-associated recording artists.

OUT THIS WEEK

Nané, self-titled. The debut album from this six-piece band features 10 songs written by engaging frontman Daniel Sahad. “His vocals soar on glorious swells of sound rich with funky riffs and exuberant polyrhythms. Nothing on this album can be described as small,” writes the American-Statesman’s Deborah Sengupta Stith in an Austin360 Artist of the Month feature on the band. “Lead single ‘Always on my Mind’ saunters in with the syrupy swagger of a Saturday night slow dance before exploding into a bombastic dance floor banger with Sahad’s voice building from a sweet falsetto to an unbridled wail over crashing cymbals, furious piano chords and throbbing bass. Grimy blues riffs spin into psychedelic flourishes on ‘Wolverine,’ and ‘Clementine Tree’ is an agonizing close-up of the end of a relationship that feels cinematic in its scope.” Limited-capacity album-release show Friday, Nov. 13, at Empire Garage. Here’s the video for “Quaranteen”:

Josh Abbott Band, “The Highway Kind.” Formed in Lubbock 14 years ago while members were students at Texas Tech, the Josh Abbott Band has since released a half-dozen studio albums, this latest following last year’s four-song EP “Catching Fire.” Its songs partly reflect Abbott’s newfound contentment in family life; “Settle Me Down” speaks to his wife’s calming and reassuring influence, while the uplifting tune “The Luckiest” focuses on the couple’s joy in being parents of a son they named Luck. Though the album was recorded (pre-pandemic) at El Paso’s renowned Sonic Ranch studio with producer Marshall Altman, Abbott spent several months before the sessions in Nashville, which led to some notable co-writes and covers. Of the latter, standouts include “Little More You,” written by Troy Cartwright, Benjy Davis and Neil Medley and initially featured on the “Catching Fire” EP; “24-7-365,” an upbeat rocker from John Pardi; and the title track, which isn’t the Townes Van Zandt tune of the same name but rather a sweetly melodic number from Cartwright, Erik Dylan and Jon Randall. Throughout, Abbott and his bandmates — guitarist/fiddler Preston Wait, guitarist Caleb Keeter, banjoist Austin Davis, keyboardist David Fralin, bassist James Hertless and drummer Edward Villanueva — deliver these tunes with impeccable musicianship. Here’s the track “The Luckiest”:

Sour Bridges, “Roll Us Up Something Good” EP. Brothers Bill and Matt Pucci, who moved to Austin from Pennsylvania in 2007, teamed with bassist Will Vaughan and percussionist Dalton Chamblee on this latest three-song release from the stalwart local indie-roots band that describes its music as “browngrass.” Here’s the opening track, “Merita’s Tune (Riverboat Man)”:

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RECENTLY RELEASED

Robyn Ludwick, “Lake Charles.” As the sister of prominent songwriters Bruce and Charlie Robison and co-owner (with her husband, bassist John “Lunchmeat” Ludwick) of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern in Fischer, Ludwick has long been well-known in Central Texas music circles. She’s also slowly but surely built up a solid repertoire of her own country-folk material across the past two decades, with “Lake Charles” (released in September) following five previous full-length releases. An emotionally rich cover of Gillian Welch’s “Look at Miss Ohio” complements seven Ludwick originals here, with some notable special guests joining in: Soulful singer Shannon McNally appears on “Redeem” and the title track, while Ray Wylie Hubbard serves as a perfect character foil on the spoken-sung duet “Don’t Cry Love.” Here’s a lyric video for “Ace Is High,” which features Scrappy Jud Newcomb:

COMING SOON

NOV. 20: Desure, “Pollen” EP

DEC. 4: Alex Maas, “Luca” (Innovative Leisure)

DEC. 4: Mark Willenborg, “Cold Beer and Country Music”

DECEMBER: James Steinle, “Cold German Mornings”

FEB. 12: Cari Hutson, EP

FEB. 19: Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, “Hunter & the Dog Star” (Thirty Tigers)