Today on YTAA, The New Old-Fashioned crashes into the studio, carrying the kind of anticipation that only comes when a band has been quietly building something behind the scenes instead of flooding the world with half-finished updates and social media breadcrumbs.
For fans of the Dayton scene, this is a notable moment. The band’s upcoming single, arriving June 6, marks the first new music released since the Big City EP. This record captured their knack for balancing heartland storytelling, jangling guitars, and the restless energy of musicians who understand that the best songs are often born somewhere between nostalgia and forward motion.
Listening to The New Old-Fashioned has always felt a little like finding a stack of well-worn records in a friend’s basement: familiar enough to immediately feel comforting, and alive enough to remind you why rock and roll keeps reinventing itself while recognizing where it came from in the first place. Their music pulls from the past without becoming trapped by it. That’s a difficult trick. Plenty of bands know how to imitate history; far fewer know how to converse with it.
And that’s what makes this new material intriguing. After the long stretch since Big City, the question isn’t whether the band can pick up where they left off. The question is what they’ve discovered in the meantime. What stories have accumulated? What rough edges have become sharper? What melodies have been waiting for the right moment to emerge?
Tune in this afternoon for a sneak peek at the new song and a conversation with the band about the road from Big City to this next chapter. If rock and roll is a continuing argument between who we were and who we’re trying to become, then The New Old-Fashioned sounds ready to pick that argument back up.
There are reunion shows that feel like exercises in forced nostalgia, half-remembered songs dragged out of storage like old winter coats that still smell faintly of dirt and heartbreak. And then there are reunion shows that remind you why music mattered in the first place. Last night at Blind Bob’s, Charlie Jackson and the Heartland Railway didn’t just reunite — they detonated. They transformed a packed bar into a sanctuary for those who believe in loud guitars played with genuine soul, rust-belt poetry, and the notion that music can still bear the weight of everyday lives without succumbing to irony.
The whole night felt less like a concert and more like a gathering of survivors. Dayton has always been one of those cities where music grows out of cracked pavement and factory smoke, where bands don’t emerge from marketing strategies but from long nights, cheap beer, broken hearts, and a refusal to disappear quietly. The room at Blind Bob’s had that sacred grime to it — sweat on the walls, people pressed together, everyone buzzing with the nervous electricity of seeing something that might actually matter.
Opening the night was Age Nowhere, and if you’ve been foolish enough to think alt-country has become nothing but boutique sadness for people who buy $70 vinyl reissues, this band would’ve knocked that idea straight out of your skull. They played with the kind of battered sincerity that can’t be faked. No posturing. No carefully curated “Americana” cosplay. Just songs that sounded lived in.
And then came the Ray Price cover. Damn. Paul Monin has a deep appreciation for country music that staggers the imagination.
Most bands cover classic country songs like they’re handling museum artifacts. Age Nowhere attacked theirs like they were trying to pull the ghost of every lonely highway bar in America directly into the room. The song swayed and cried and staggered with that beautiful drunken dignity that old country music understood so well.
You could practically hear decades of jukeboxes rattling inside it. It wasn’t revivalism; it was resurrection. For a few minutes, Blind Bob’s stopped being a bar in Dayton and became every neon-lit tavern where somebody ever sat staring into a whiskey glass, wondering where their life wandered off to.
That is the effect of real country music.
Then came The New Old Fashioned, who delivered a set so fierce and emotionally direct it felt like being punched in the chest repeatedly by someone who genuinely loved you. There’s always a danger with bands carrying that kind of roots-rock torch that things drift into bar-band competency — pleasant enough, ultimately forgettable. But The New Old Fashioned played like they understood the stakes.
Their songs had dirt under their fingernails.
The guitars roared without becoming indulgent, the rhythm section locked into a relentless heartbeat, and every song carried the feeling that the world outside the club doors is coming apart faster than anyone wants to admit. They weren’t selling nostalgia for some imaginary better America. They were documenting the actual emotional wreckage people are dragging around right now.
And then they closed with a new song called “What the Hell.” That title alone sounds like a muttered prayer from modern America.
The song built slowly, almost cautiously, before exploding into this furious, weary anthem that captured the confusion and exhaustion of living through an era where everything feels simultaneously absurd and terrifying. It wasn’t political sloganeering. It was something rarer and more valuable: honest emotional testimony. The chorus hit the room like a collapsing ceiling. People weren’t politely applauding; they were reacting physically, shouting the words back by the end like they’d known the song for years. That’s the mark of something real. Great songs don’t introduce themselves. They reveal that they’ve been hiding inside people all along.
By the time Charlie Jackson and the Heartland Railway took the stage, the room already felt transformed, but what happened next elevated the night into something mythic. They didn’t play like a reunited band trying to recapture former glory. They played like a band that had spent years absorbing life and came back with scars and love worth singing about. From the first notes, they sounded enormous — not polished, not slick, but alive in the way only truly great rock and roll can be alive.
Charlie Jackson himself commanded the room with the weary charisma of somebody who has seen enough disappointment to understand joy properly. His voice carried that beautiful raggedness that can’t be manufactured in studios or singing lessons. It cracked in exactly the right places. Every lyric sounded earned. To call Charlie a great songwriter is to underplay the hand you’ve just been dealt. He writes about everyday life, family, real true love like his heart could explode from the weight it carries. A more real songwriter would be almost impossible to find.
And the band — good lord, the band.
The Heartland Railway lived up to their name. They sounded like freight trains rolling through Midwestern darkness, all momentum and thunder and aching beauty. The guitars shimmered and roared, songs expanded and contracted organically, and every player seemed completely locked into the same emotional frequency. This wasn’t technical perfection. It was something better: conviction.
That’s what made the night extraordinary. Conviction.
Nobody on that stage seemed interested in trends, algorithms, branding strategies, or whatever hollow nonsense currently passes for music industry ambition. These bands played because they had to do so, as if their very lives depended upon it. Because songs remain one of the few ways human beings can tell each other the truth without immediately looking away.
And maybe that’s why the reunion mattered so much.
One of the things that elevated Charlie Jackson and the Heartland Railway beyond merely being a great bar band reunion was the sheer emotional force of the harmonies between Charlie Jackson, Denny Cottle, and Brad Bowling. These weren’t polished, antiseptic harmonies built for pop radio or Nashville songwriting camps. These were human harmonies — rough around the edges in all the right ways, voices colliding and lifting each other like old friends finishing each other’s stories after years of hard living. Honestly, I believe that Denny could harmonize with anyone and make them sound better.
At times they sounded almost impossibly huge for such a small room, rising above the guitars with this aching, blue-collar grandeur that felt deeply Midwestern. There were moments when the three voices locked together so perfectly the entire room seemed to lean forward instinctively, like everyone suddenly realized they were hearing something increasingly rare: genuine musical chemistry that can’t be rehearsed into existence.
And underneath all of it was the drumming of Ricky Terrell, who played with the kind of instinctive power that held the whole night together. Terrell didn’t overplay because drummers like him understand something too many modern musicians forget — groove is emotional architecture. His playing was muscular but deeply human, giving the songs both propulsion and gravity. At times he sounded like a runaway freight train hammering through the Rust Belt at midnight; at others he pulled back with astonishing restraint, letting the songs breathe and ache before kicking them forward again. He was the engine underneath the Heartland Railway name, keeping everything moving with relentless heart and soul.
In an age where music is increasingly flattened into disposable content — background noise for scrolling and advertising — Charlie Jackson and the Heartland Railway reminded everyone packed into Blind Bob’s that live music can still feel dangerous, communal, and spiritually necessary. The show wasn’t about reliving the past. It was about proving there’s still life in this battered old form called rock and roll.
If you want to understand American music, you don’t start in the places that market themselves as capitals. You start in places where people have learned how to survive without being watched. Dayton, Ohio, is one of those places. It’s not a brand; it’s a frequency—sometimes distorted, sometimes melodic, often both at once. It’s the sound of basements, nondescript halls, record stores, radio studios on the left side of the dial, and people who keep making music because not making it would be worse.
Dayton has long lived with the mythology of The Ohio Players, Brainiac, The Breeders, and Guided By Voices, and rightly so. Those bands didn’t just “come from” Dayton; they carried its nervous system with them. The Ohio Players reshaped the structure of music. Brainiac turned post-industrial anxiety into neon futurism. The Breeders made abrasion feel intimate. Guided By Voices proved that lo-fi wasn’t an aesthetic so much as a work ethic—songs written because they had to be written, not because the market asked for them. But the mistake outsiders make is assuming the story ended there, like a museum exhibit frozen in amber. Dayton never stopped. It just got better at multiplying.
What makes Dayton’s music community distinct is density. Musicians don’t just play in one band; they circulate. You’ll see David Payne one night in The New Old Fashioned, another night anchoring something else entirely, as if styles were jackets you try on before walking back out into the weather. You’ll hear Rich Reuter bring the same melodic intelligence to Kittinger. You can see Howard Hensley sing the narratives of your life that you keep hidden in a private journal. You’ll catch Kyleen Downes making vulnerability sound like strength, then turn around and hear Chad Wells and Aarika Voegele in Cricketbows and Creepy Crawlers remind you that psychedelia is still a radical act.
There’s a particular Dayton knack for bands that feel communal rather than hierarchical. Shrug operated like a shared engine—power pop with muscle memory, hooks built from collective trust. Smug Brothers do something similar in an indie lo-fi manner, but with a wink, as if to say: yes, we love the song, but we also love the joke inside it. Me Time pares things down until you can hear the room breathe, while Oh Condor leans into texture and atmosphere, stretching Dayton’s sound outward without losing its spine where punk urgency meets craft instead of fighting it.
And then there’s the streak of theatricality that runs through the city—not showbiz gloss, but the drama of people who know that art is a way to survive the week. Moira thrives on that tension between polish and pulse, while Todd The Fox reminds us that music doesn’t have to be ironic to be intelligent. Novena creates music that wraps around you and takes you through the experiences that you need not categorize but live within. Ghost Town Silence and Sadbox explore all of the corners, not as cosplay, but as honest terrain. They understand that Midwestern quiet can be loud if you listen closely enough.
Dayton also knows how to honor the songwriters—the ones who can stop a room with a voice and a guitar. Shannon Clark and The Sugar balance heart and harmony without sentimentality. Nick Kizinis crafts music that feels deeply personal and belonging to all of us at the same time. Mike Bankhead and Heather Redman carry storytelling traditions forward without turning them into nostalgia acts. Charlie Jackson, Sharon Lane, and Colin Richards and Spare Change all work in that space where craft meets community, where the goal isn’t fame but connection.
What’s striking is how the city supports experiments that don’t fit easy categories. The Nautical Theme reminds us that pop intelligence doesn’t have to announce itself with a thesis statement. Motel Faces and Motel Beds (separate names, shared grit) translate restlessness into motion, road songs for people who might not leave but still want to move. John Dubuc’s Guilty Pleasures embraces joy without apology, while Nick Kizirnis’s various projects show how longevity comes from curiosity, not branding.
Dayton’s rap and hip hop scene carries the same DIY backbone as its rock underground, but filtered through sharp lyricism, lived experience, and a deep sense of place. Tino delivers verses with clarity and purpose, balancing organic storytelling with an ear for hooks that stick without softening the message. Illwin brings a cerebral edge, blending introspection and technical skill in ways that reward close listening, while KCarter operates with a commanding presence, turning personal narrative into something anthemic and communal. Around them is a broader network of MCs, producers, DJs, and collaborators who treat hip hop not as a trend but as a language—one spoken fluently across clubs, community spaces, and independent releases. Like every vital Dayton scene, it thrives on collaboration over competition, local pride over imitation, and the belief that telling your own story, in your own voice, is the most radical move there is.
One of Dayton’s greatest strengths, too often undersold, never underpowered, is the depth and range of its women songwriters and musicians, artists who write with clarity, risk, and emotional authority. Amber Heart brings a fearless intimacy to her songs, pairing melodic grace with lyrical honesty that cuts clean through pretense. Samantha King writes with a restless intelligence, her work balancing vulnerability and bite, proof that introspection can still swing. Khrys Blank bends genre until it gives way, crafting songs that feel both deeply personal and quietly defiant, while Sharon Lane carries a lineage of soul, grit, and resilience that anchors the community itself. Add to this constellation the many other women shaping stages, sessions, and scenes across the city—singers, instrumentalists, bandleaders, collaborators—and a clearer picture emerges: Dayton doesn’t just feature women in its music culture; it is being actively defined by them. Their presence isn’t a sidebar or a trend. It’s the spine, the pulse, and the future of the sound.
Poptek Records operates like a pressure valve for Dayton pop intelligence, a label that understands hooks are a form of radical communication. The 1984 Draft brings nervy, literate indie punk rock that sounds like it’s pacing the room while thinking three steps ahead—melody sharpened by urgency, guitars wired straight into the bloodstream. Jill & Micah offer a different kind of voltage: intimate, harmonically rich, emotionally precise songs that trust quiet moments as much as crescendos, proving that restraint can hit just as hard as distortion. XL427 leans into power pop’s finest tradition—tight structures, smart turns, choruses that land without asking permission—while still carrying that unmistakable Dayton DNA of grit and sincerity. Taken together, and alongside the label’s other releases, Poptek’s roster feels less like a genre exercise and more like a shared belief system: songs matter, craft matters, and community matters. It’s pop music that knows where it’s from, isn’t embarrassed by joy, and refuses to confuse ambition with emptiness.
This ecosystem works because Dayton listens to itself. Bands go to each other’s shows. Musicians play on each other’s records. Area radio, house shows, small clubs, and DIY spaces form an infrastructure that doesn’t depend on permission. You can hear that lineage in The New Old Fashioned’s country infused power precision, in Oh Condor’s punk economy, in The Paint Splats’ melodic insistence, in Guided By Voices’s expansive moods still evolving. It’s a scene where influence flows sideways instead of top-down.
If the great rock critic, Lester Bangs (who I have been reading a lot of lately) taught us anything, it’s that scenes matter not because they’re perfect, but because they’re alive. Dayton’s scene is alive in the way a good band rehearsal is alive—messy, loud, generous, occasionally miraculous. It’s alive in the refusal to wait for validation. It’s alive in the way new bands grow up hearing old ones not as legends, but as neighbors.
So yes, celebrate Brainiac,The Breeders, and Guided By Voices. You should. But don’t stop there. Pay attention to Sharon Lane, Shrug, Amber Heart, Smug Brothers, The 1984Draft, Age Nowhere, Moira, Tino, The Heisy Glass Company, Harold Hensley, Todd The Fox, Ghost Town Silence, Sadbox, Novena, Me Time, Oh Condor, Motel Faces, Motel Beds, Mike Bankhead, Cricketbows and Creepy Crawlers, The Nautical Theme, Illwin, Khrys Blank, Seth Canan, XL427, Samantha King, The Typical Johnsons, KCarter and all the songwriters and collaborators who keep showing up. Dayton isn’t a chapter in a rock history book. It’s an ongoing argument about why music matters—and it keeps winning that argument one show at a time.
This week we have created a YTAA Playlist on Spotify for you listening pleasure! Next week we return to the YTAA Studio and the airwaves of WUDR 99.5 & 98.1fm in Dayton and online! We recommend that you visit the artists social media, webpages and bandcamp pages to support them!
The artists this week include new music from Guided by Voices, Benchmarks, Peopleperson, Tiny Stills, Frontier Folk Nebraska, Jess Cornelius, The Psychedelic Furs, Smug Brothers, Kathleen Edwards, Ryan Allen And His Extra Arms, Lydia Loveless, The Jayhawks, Nana Grizol, Samantha Crain, The Avett Brothers, Real Estate, CrocSoc Workshop, The Great Serpent Mound of Ohio, Carbon Leaf, Surfer Blood (featuring Pip Blom), Dolph Chaney and The Blow Monkeys — yup, they have new music for us all!
Some classics from Pere Ubu, The Pursuit of Happiness, Shrug, The Mayflies USA, Lab Partners, The White Soots, Captain of Industry, The New Old-Fashioned, Mandy Jewell, The Katawicks, Whiskeytown, Andrew Duhon, Gretchen’s Wheel, Manray and The Grapes of Wrath!
And some live versions of terrific songs from The Long Ryders and The Kyle Sowashes!
There are always those key individuals in any town who give of themselves to help make the music community stronger. David Payne is just such a fixture of the Dayton Music Scene!
Since he arrived with the achingly beautiful solo albums, ‘21‘ in 2009, he has spun a series of tales about life and music. David recognized the vibrancy of the Dayton music scene with an album of cherished covers ‘Dayton, Ohio‘ in 2017. That same year he released another solo record ‘Cheaper than Therapy‘ which spoke to the powerful healing that lies in making music.
David’s latest solo record ‘Orange Glow‘ was released last year. And that is not the half of his musical productivity. With Kent Montgomery, Tom Blackburn and Matt Oliver — The New Old-Fashioned — he released a stellar debut in 2012. Low Down Dirty Summer Nights was released by the band in 2015. And the captivating energy of the band was obvious to the crowds at their shows. In 2018, the band shared their most recent impressive collection of music, Smalltown, Midwest, USA. Of course, a slew of singles and a fantastic shared ep with The Repeating Arms, Hilltops and Highways is also part of the music that David has been involved in creating.
Most recently he has released an EP of local music covers with his partner Heather Redman called ‘Stay at Home‘. Their two voices glide and slide along as if they have been singing together their entire lives. Listening to their interpretation of these songs is a joy.
As always we wish to thank David for taking the time to answer these questions! We appreciate his answering these questions for our readers/listeners on YTAA! We cannot say this enough — thanks again for taking the time!
Dr. J: What can you share with us about when and how you started recording your latest record, Stay Home (with Heather Redman)?
David Payne (DP): Well, when the stay at home order went into effect Heather and I both started missing our friends and the Dayton music scene immediately. I had just finished up my first month of running my own sessions at Reel Love Recording Company here in Dayton when this all started and I really wanted to keep working.
So, I gathered the small amount of recording gear I had at home, Heather and I both picked a few of our favorite songs written by our friends, and started recording some covers.
We didn’t think of it as anything other than a fun project that would keep us busy and that our friends might enjoy. The response we’ve gotten has been a totally unexpected and very pleasant surprise!
Dr. J: You have worked closely with Patrick Himes at Reel Love Recording Company here in Dayton, Ohio for several years, what first led to your recording with Patrick? How has that relationship shaped your music?
DP: Well, The New Old-Fashioned started recording with Patrick back in 2011 or 2012. I had met Patrick back in 2006 and was a big fan of his old band, Flyaway Minion. By the time TNOF was ready to start recording, Patrick had relocated to Nashville and was running the studio down there. I heard he was looking for bands to record and it seemed like a really good fit for what we were doing. I was a big fan of his previous work like the Minion records and Shrug’s Whole Hog For The Macho Jesus to name a couple, so I was excited to get to work with him.
Patrick has helped shaped my music in just about every way you could think of. When I first started going to Flyaway Minion shows, I was 18 and hadn’t been to very many shows at all. Before then my idea of what a modern rock and roll band was we’re bands like Green Day and Weezer. This huge, most likely unobtainable, pipe dream. What Patrick and Flyaway Minion showed me was there were rock stars right here in my home town and that I could make classic records and play killer shows right here in Dayton.
The other most important thing I learned from Patrick is that we can make classic sounding records the way our heroes did. Modern recording is very convenient and while I think that’s mostly a good thing, it’s easy for the romanticism of making records to get lost in the convenience. Everyone has their own way of making records and every way is valid, but the way we make records at Reel Love helps capture all the things I enjoy about making records. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work with and study under Patrick. He’s taught we almost every thing I know about making records, which has become something I’m very passionate about. I’m forever grateful for that.
Dr. J: Stay Home is a very different record than Orange Glow (your last solo record), how do these records compare? What influenced your work on each of them?
DP: Orange Glow is a very personal record that I made with Patrick at Reel Love and making it was a very cathartic experience. Stay Home was recorded for fun at home on my iPad and is all songs written by our friends. Ha ha!
I’d say personal experience and Willie Nelson we’re probably the two biggest influences on Orange Glow. The pandemic, the subsequent shutdown, and the infinitely inspiring Dayton music scene were what influenced Stay Home.
Dr. J: ‘Outta Town’ addresses forms of self-doubt or concern with a band or a relationship lasting – is that a correct interpretation of some of the lyrics? In addition, if that is correct, did you intend to address overcoming doubt or did the song evolve in that direction over time?
DP: Yeah, I’d say that’s accurate. I wouldn’t say I was trying to address overcoming that doubt as much as I was just trying to express how the doubt made me feel. I guess it just kinda ended up that way do to the reflective, sort of tongue in cheek angle I took when writing it.
Dr. J: How did the song ‘Outta Town’ come together musically for you?
DP: Orange Glow is a pretty heavy record. I was at the tail end of a really difficult period in my life when I was writing those songs. I was reflecting a lot and feeling a little self isolated. I wanted to write a song that still dealt with those feeling but from a hopefully more humorous and lighthearted way. I wanted it to be a brief moment of levity in an otherwise serious record. I think bringing in a bunch of my rowdy friends to sing on it with me helped drive that idea home. We had a blast that day too!
Dr. J: Where do you often derive inspiration to make music?
DP: Of course it can come from anywhere, and often unexpectedly, but I think conversations with people are where I get the most of my inspiration for songwriting. It could be a whole in depth discussion or sometimes just one thing someone said that sticks with me.
Dr. J: How would you describe the music that you typically create? How has that process evolved or changed over time (especially as you think about your journey from Cheaper than Therapy toOrange Glow to Stay Home)?
DP: That’s a tough question to answer and probably best left to outside perspective, but If I had to describe it, I guess I’d like to think that first and foremost, it’s honest. As far as the sound goes, I think it sounds a lot like where I’m from. My own personal take on what the Midwest sounds like, I guess.
I don’t know that my process has really changed that much other than I’ve gotten a little better at it, I hope. Although, I do look to outside perspective a lot more these days.
Dr. J: What is next for you musically as a solo artist and as a member of The New Old-Fashioned? How would you describe your thoughts at this point for your next project after Stay Home?
DP: I’m always writing, and although I haven’t found the shut down to be a very creatively inspiring time, I have written a handful of things.
We’re almost done with the next New Old-Fashioned record which is a companion EP to our last record, Smalltown, Midwest, USA. It’s a couple songs from those sessions and a couple new ones. We’re excited to get it out, whenever it seems appropriate to do so, I guess. Kinda hard to know what to do right now.
As far as solo stuff goes, I tend to plan that out a lot less than I do with the band. That stuff seems to kinda just happen. I’ve got a few things that I’ve written recently that are more personal and I’ve also been working on some more character driven, concept sort of stuff that’s leaning a little more towards traditional country. Anyway, we’ll see what comes of any of that, but I’ve got some wheels turning.
Dr. J: What is your favorite song to perform? What makes it a current favorite in your performances? Do you enjoy Live Streaming?
DP: Favorite song to play with the band is Kid 2000. It’s just got a lot of energy, it’s relevant, and it’s just fun to play. All Over Now, from the first TNOF record is always fun too and has been a staple in our live set for years. It’s one of Kent’s songs, so he sings it and I just get to play Chuck Berry riffs and goof off with Tom and Matt. Ha ha.
Whatever I’ve written most recently is usually my favorite thing to play solo, but a fun one to play from Orange Glow is, What I Mean To You. The finger picking is fun and it’s my only solo song with an actual guitar solo!
I really have enjoyed the live stream stuff I’ve done, but it sure doesn’t beat playing in front of people. I feel like it was fun for a few weeks, but it got kinda old pretty quick, for me at least. The comment sections are always fun on those.
Dr. J: What is one message you would hope that listeners find in the unique nature of your latest music?
DP: I hope ‘Orange Glow‘ helps someone going through heartbreak know that a lot of people understand what that feels like, that they’re not alone, and that there might just be a little light at the end of the tunnel. When you’re in that space, it’s hard to believe people when they tell you it’s gonna be OK. I think songs that express how you’re feeling can be really helpful in hard times.
With Smalltown, Midwest, USA, the grandest hope would be that it might make someone show a little more empathy for someone who has it harder than them. I suppose a more realistic hope is that people that do work hard to show kindness and empathy, know that they’re not alone and that we stand with them. I like to think that record is ultimately about trying to understand people.
Dr. J: As a musician, how are you adapting to the challenges of the Coronavirus?
As a musician, if I’m being honest, I don’t think I’ve adapted very well at all. I’ve never been very good at digital media or promoting and distributing my music online, for better or worse. Hats off to those who are! I’ve always enjoyed the classic approach of trying to make records that sound timeless, then playing the songs live in front of people, and hopefully selling enough copies to make the next one. Rinse, repeat. That model was already dated and out the window before the pandemic. It’s kinda just dead right now and who knows when we’ll get it back. That’s the hard part. I have been able to continue to do some work in the studio, although not as much as I’d hoped to being doing this summer. I am optimistic that when the time comes, people will need live music more than ever.
From a personal standpoint though, it’s forced me to slow down, and spend more time with my fiancee and our little girl. Which has been great! We’ve gotten a lot of family time we wouldn’t have had otherwise and I think it’s made me a better partner and Dad.
My entire identity has been wrapped up in being a musician, performer, and songwriter since the moment I got my first guitar. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. So, I guess I’ve been going through a bit of an identity crises trying to figure out who I am outside of music.
I miss playing loud sweaty rock shows and seeing my friends. I can’t wait to get back to that, when it’s safe to do so.
Until, then I’ll just keep holding on tight to my family, writing as much as I can, and enjoying the brief time I do get to spend with friends in small groups. I can’t wait to see everyone at the rock show and give out a bunch of sweaty hugs. I hope everyone takes good care of themselves and each other in the meantime.
Thanks again to Mr. David Payne for answering our questions! All pictures used courtesy of the artist.
One of our favorite singers in Dayton has a new record that we want to share with you! We refer to him as the “Golden Voice” in Dayton. His voice is simple amazing! And now you can pre-order a copy of his forthcoming solo record! You are a lucky person.
Harold Hensley is a staple of the vibrant Dayton music scene! His work with The Repeating Arms deserves your attention. You know it is going to be an excellent music experience when you see Harold is in the room whether he is singing his own songs or jumping up and singing with pals like Charlie Jackson and The Heartland Railway or The New Old Fashioned!
We have some new music from Mr. Joe Anderl and a cool demo from Fleetwood Mac that has Dr. J rethinking the sound and influence of that band!
Join us from 3-6pm on WUDR tomorrow – wudr.udayton.edu. or 99.5 & 98.1fm in the Dayton, Ohio area! You can always request music by contacting drjytaa on twitter!
We also have special guest Gail Pop in the studio to talk about the important COAT initiative (Community Overdose Action Team). Our pal Gail is on the prevention branch of the team. Check out their important work –http://www.phdmc.org/coat!
Well it is not only that time of the year where everyone debates the “bests” of 2015 — best books, best shows, best foods, etc etc — it is time for us at Your Tuesday Afternoon Alternative to select the song that for us demonstrates the most exciting trends in indie music — and this was a task and a half. There were so many great albums, terrific songs, and artists who stretched themselves and their audience that to select a single song as the very best of 2015 feels a little bit wrong. However, a selection like this can be emblematic and symbolic of what makes a genre or artist powerful.
So, our criteria are simple — the song must be catchy, well crafted, and becomes stuck in your head. This song like all good ‘ear worms’ must be something that is nearly impossible to dislodge. You find yourself wanting to hear it, needing to hear it.
And, in the end, these lists and choices are expressions of the person doing the choosing. Yes. Sure, these choices are partly biographic about the judge and are often more about getting a conversation started about what makes a great song or a great album or truly unique or powerful artwork.
With that said, our favorite song of 2015 is Mittenfields – Optimists.
Released this past April, optimists is a great song from start to finish. From the first hit of the drumstick to the melody line of the bass to the weaving of multiple beautiful guitar parts. And oh what glory is in those guitar fills, leads and strums. The weaving of three guitarists at the top of their game makes for a fantastic listening experience. The guitar parts do not fight one another — they complement, they add to the aural experience and build upon one another. And along with the guitar parts a drum sound that sounds like actual drums. Not a tinny barely audible mish-mash of time keeping, but a strong hard hitting backbone for the song. If that was not enough, Dave Mann’s clever bass play and vocals sung with an urgency that captivates the listener’s attention make the song impossible to ignore. And as he sings optimistic lyrics that are not dripping with sappy syrup or faux sentimental — this gestalt of sounds makes an utterly complete piece of powerful indie power-pop. It is nearly 2 minutes of indie perfection for those of us at Your Tuesday Afternoon Alternative.
How many songs can you listen to and the second that song is finished, you wished that it was still playing! We even once played the song twice back-to-back on our program because close to four minutes seemed to give the song the length that it so richly deserved. This song never gets old. When every instrument is perfectly weaved in and out of the mix and it feels whole and meaningful and you find yourself singing along from the very first time you heard it — that is a great song.
And as the song starts — “We are all optimists, even on our bad days”
The only sour note here is that Mittenfields have broken up; but what a great tribute to leave behind. We look forward to the music projects these musicians will pursue in 2016 and beyond.
There was so much great music in 2015 that we are planning on two back to back radio shows celebrating that music! We will even be joined by some special guests! We will have our list of some of the most interesting music from 2015 — well, at least for Dr. J and Mrs Dr. J but we think that we will have at least a few things you will enjoy!
We also had some new music from Me & Mountains – a few sneak peeks at their upcoming record ‘Gold’ which included the title track and a fantastic tune in The Only Way To Be. The later tune written by a father to his young son. There was also new music from Good English who had a big year in 2015 as well as a few peeks at the new Manray record. There were many fantastic live shows that we will have to discuss as well
This was a year that gave us new music from outside of Dayton too! For music lovers across genres there was some great music from: The Bottlerockets, Lightouts, The Decemberists, Mittenfields, Bad Bad Hats, Low, My Morning Jacket, Ryan Adams, Sleater-Kinney, Sea of Bees, Jason Isbell, Timeshares, Steve Earle & The Dukes, Ultimate Painting, Turbo Fruits, Wilco, Mikal Cronin, Waxahatchee, Varsity, Father John Misty, The Worriers, Pocket Panda, White Reaper, Twin River, a live records from The Drive-By Truckers and The Jayhawks and a fantastic 20th anniversary re-release from Son Volt.
So, join us as we celebrate some terrific music from 2015 beginning this coming Tuesday on WUDR from 3-6pm (e)!
Streaming Forward, Powered By The Past - if you love the 80s music, new music, Eurovision, cheesy pop and awesome playlists then let's get this pop party started!
This week we have created a YTAA Playlist on Spotify for you listening pleasure! Next week we return to the YTAA Studio and the airwaves of WUDR 99.5 & 98.1fm in Dayton and 
There are always those key individuals in any town who give of themselves to help make the music community stronger. 
Most recently he has released an EP of local music covers with his partner Heather Redman called ‘Stay at Home‘. Their two voices glide and slide along as if they have been singing together their entire lives. Listening to their interpretation of these songs is a joy.
DP: Well, The New Old-Fashioned started recording with Patrick back in 2011 or 2012. I had met Patrick back in 2006 and was a big fan of his old band, Flyaway Minion. By the time TNOF was ready to start recording, Patrick had relocated to Nashville and was running the studio down there. I heard he was looking for bands to record and it seemed like a really good fit for what we were doing. I was a big fan of his previous work like the Minion records and 
The other most important thing I learned from Patrick is that we can make classic sounding records the way our heroes did. Modern recording is very convenient and while I think that’s mostly a good thing, it’s easy for the romanticism of making records to get lost in the convenience. Everyone has their own way of making records and every way is valid, but the way we make records at Reel Love helps capture all the things I enjoy about making records. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to work with and study under Patrick. He’s taught we almost every thing I know about making records, which has become something I’m very passionate about. I’m forever grateful for that.
Dr. J: How would you describe the music that you typically create? How has that process evolved or changed over time (especially as you think about your journey from Cheaper than Therapy to Orange Glow to Stay Home)?
We’re almost done with the next New Old-Fashioned record which is a companion EP to our last record, Smalltown, Midwest, USA. It’s a couple songs from those sessions and a couple new ones. We’re excited to get it out, whenever it seems appropriate to do so, I guess. Kinda hard to know what to do right now.
Dr. J: What is one message you would hope that listeners find in the unique nature of your latest music?
My entire identity has been wrapped up in being a musician, performer, and songwriter since the moment I got my first guitar. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. So, I guess I’ve been going through a bit of an identity crises trying to figure out who I am outside of music.
YTAA 07-07-2020 Playlist is set for tomorrow over there at Spotify!
One of our favorite singers in Dayton has a new record that we want to share with you! We refer to him as the “Golden Voice” in Dayton. His voice is simple amazing! And now you can pre-order a copy of his forthcoming solo record! You are a lucky person.
We have some new music from Mr. 
And, in the end, these lists and choices are expressions of the person doing the choosing. Yes. Sure, these choices are partly biographic about the judge and are often more about getting a conversation started about what makes a great song or a great album or truly unique or powerful artwork.
There was so much great music in 2015 that we are planning on two back to back radio shows celebrating that music! We will even be joined by some special guests! We will have our list of some of the most interesting music from 2015 — well, at least for Dr. J and Mrs Dr. J but we think that we will have at least a few things you will enjoy!
your tuesday afternoon alternative 