After a long hiatus, The Jayhawks made a welcome resurgence nearly five years ago, yet they are still finding new ways to reintroduce themselves to us. Despite going through many lineups over more than 30 years, they have remained such […]
From the opening crescendo of “Trouble in Paradise,” Rufus Wainwright stalks through his latest album Unfollow the Rules with leonine grace and confidence. The album is his first pop album since 2012, though Wainwright has been busy, staging two operas […]
Anthony Geraci may daydream in blue, but when night falls, all kinds of colors come tumbling out of his piano. He’s firmly rooted in blues, an original member of Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters as well as Sugar Ray and […]
First Rose of Spring, Willie Nelson’s 70th studio album, was finished and set to release on April 29 to coincide with the singer’s 87th birthday. Since then, of course, the world has changed in ways that we’re just beginning to […]
Emily Duff claims to have been raised by a pack of cigarettes. Her husky, twangy vocals sound like they might have slipped out of a cowboy’s sack of roll-your-owns. But Duff was born and raised in an urban environment, a […]
It has been over a decade since Thad Cockrell decided he was done with his music career. But as with anything that feels like a true calling, it was undeniable that he still had more to say, more to sing […]
Phil Cook and Hiss Golden Messenger tend to attract a slew of incredible musicians and songwriters into their orbit, and one of them is Ryan Gustafson. Recording as The Dead Tongues, Gustafson has been on a consistent run over the […]
Various Artists The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project, Vol. 1 When John Hartford died in 2001, we lost a musical voice and first-rate humorist whose songwriting carried us down the Mississippi on riverboats and whose musical genius is with […]
Not five minutes into the new Will Hoge album and he’s nodding to Black Sabbath. “First rat off a dead ship / see you sinking like a stone,” the Americana rocker snarls over tense palm-muted chords on punk-metal rager “The […]
Difficult realities and long-cherished values collide with a bang on Canadian Corb Lund’s first album of original material in five years. Eloquent and plainspoken, the excellent Agricultural Tragic finds the affable country rocker exploring his roots as a rancher and […]
