For an artist on the cusp, 2020 was a particularly tough year. Unable to gain momentum with live shows and meeting new fans, many probably felt hopeless or forgotten. Julia Bardo channeled those emotions into songs about loneliness and isolation, […]
When you know, you know. In a genre that places so much emphasis on authenticity — and all the fraught debates that brings — when you hear Riddy Arman’s life-weary voice, you know she’s the real deal. You don’t even […]
Kacey Musgraves’ highly anticipated new album, star-crossed, opens appropriately enough with the words “Let me set the scene.” From there, the album unfolds cinematically over the spacious and claustrophobic emotional landscapes through which Musgraves has traveled, physically and psychically, since […]
In the more than five years since Heartless Bastards’ last record, frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom has never left us hanging. The heart and soul of the band released an acclaimed album in 2018 under her own name before realizing that Heartless […]
If you need to get whomped upside the head with some slam-bang guitar, Seth Lee Jones is your go-to string-puller. The blues-rockin’ Oklahoman demonstrates his prowess on a powerhouse sampling of iconic blues covers on his latest outing, Flathead. Clearly, […]
Sitting down to listen to My Bluegrass Heart — Béla Fleck’s first “bluegrass” album in more than 20 years and the third in a trilogy (following Drive in 1988 and The Bluegrass Sessions in 1999) — it’s tempting to get […]
Singer/guitarist Samantha Fish is widely known and respected within the blues rock world for her soulful vocals and fiery guitar playing, but on Faster she shifts in a pop direction, one rooted in blues rock, but a departure from her […]
In 1940, Woody Guthrie released what would be the most successful album of his career, the legendary Dust Bowl Ballads. Though he was just 28 years old, his songwriting and storytelling gifts were already well developed on his commercial debut. Like John […]
“I ain’t a good girl, though everybody thinks I am / I gotta mind that’s dirty as the bottom of a coffee can,” bubbles Dori Freeman on “I Am,” buoyed by a toe-tapping beat that’s anything but nasty. After three […]
If Eric Bibb were any cooler, he’d have to hang out in a refrigerator. Chilled out, blissed-out, and laid back, Bibb radiates mellow like the coils of a Frigidaire, spreading clouds of cool every time he opens his mouth. But […]
