Back in 1990, The Rave-Ups ended their third album, Chance, with “Faint Sense of Success.” The title just about summed up the band’s career. After generating some initial buzz with 1985’s Town + Country and an appearance in the movie […]
Mason Jennings’ creative pendulum has found a predictable oscillation in recent years between exploration and homecoming. These are rhythms of departure (Wild Dark Metal, Painted Shield) and arrival (Songs From When We Met), which makes Real Heart, Jennings’ latest album, […]
Albert Smith’s music has a smile in it. No matter the subject, the South Carolina pianist’s rattly, rollicking keyboard accompaniment creases a listeners’ face with happy lines as Smith tosses off raucous jelly-roll licks fit for curing any malady. Another […]
Bluegrass artist EmiSunshine, also known as Emilie Sunshine Hamilton, moves in her version of a more pop-oriented direction on Diamonds, a truly solo album made, for the most part, without The Rain, her usual band (which is also her family), […]
The Sun Is Shining Down is the perfect title to describe the brilliant light and heat that radiates from this bluesy, rootsy, and soulful collection of songs from John Mayall. In addition to his longtime rhythm section— bassist Greg Rzab, […]
For the past 25 years, brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson have been relaying muddy-footed, shimmying missives from their Hernando, Mississippi, home as the North Mississippi Allstars. Their lineup has changed a bit over the years, with longtime bassist Chris Chew […]
You can’t really describe love at first sight to another person, but you know it when you feel it. Maya de Vitry’s new album, Violet Light, will likely make you feel that special pang within the first few bars of […]
When Paul Janeway discovered he had a soul man’s panther scream lurking inside his body, crunching numbers for a living no longer seemed like an option. The former accountant-to-be from Birmingham, Alabama, quit his job back in 2012 to play […]
Lilting fiddle notes wind around spry mandolin strums and runs in the bright, swirling title track kicking off Surely Will Be Singing, a gorgeous collection of 12 original songs from guitarist Thomm Jutz and Tammy Rogers, fiddler and co-founder […]
Much has been written of the wildfires ravaging the American West, but when Anna Ash’s quiet quiver sings about it, something seems to sink in deeper. “I can’t help but pray / That when we see those flames / You’ll […]
