The Darling Downs stand out as the most unlikely of collaborations between longtime members of the fertile Australian rock scene. While it is not at all insane to imagine the driving force behind The Scientists, Beasts of Bourbon, and The Surrealists, Kim Salmon, working with Died Pretty’s energetic frontman and songwriter Ron Peno, the improbable happens when you consider the result that might flow from such a teaming.
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The first album release for any Mike Ink pseudonym, Life’s a Gas is a set of electro-jazz soundscapes also indebted — surprisingly — to pop music, with the inclusion of a vocal track. Also included is a version of the Ink track “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”

Stewart released the first live album of his career in 2003 with Live at Billy Bob’s Texas, an album that proved that despite his low profile he was still a formidable honky tonker. Stewart took his own life in December of 2003 following the death of his wife of 43 years in November. He was 59. His heyday was in the ’70s, but Gary Stewart deserved to be celebrated for his considerable talent, tenacity, and influence. While much of what passes for contemporary country music in the ’90s and 2000s sounds like reheated Eagles and Lynyrd Skynyrd, what’s really annoying is what a youth-driven market it has become, leaving many great country performers of the ’60s and ’70s out in the cold. This is especially irritating when considering the career of Gary Stewart, one of the greatest of the hardcore-honky tonk school who, at his peak in the mid- to late ’70s, could write and sing circles around just about any contemporary country star you could mention.
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Crystal Stilts have been quiet the last couple years, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t been busy. The Brooklyn band return September 17 with Nature Noir, their third album and second on Sacred Bones
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