Good Gawd amitey! This is soul, man — the real deal. Twenty-four-year-old Atlanta native Brooks Mason sings like Eddie Hinton and plays guitar like Freddie King. As his alter ego Eddie 9V, Mason brings a depth to his music that […]
In 2020, Blackberry Smoke released an EP recorded at the storied Capricorn Studios, including covers of well-worn Southern rock classics from the likes of The Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, and Wet Willie. (A delightful bonus was two […]
A mini-genre of music has emerged in recent years: Bob Dylan tribute records from excellent female singers. Joan Osborne, Bettye LaVette, and Emma Swift have all made great contributions since 2017, but Chrissie Hynde, with her new album, Standing in […]
Those even loosely familiar with the contemporary musical traditions of Western Africa might already know of Mdou Moctar. The story of the virtuosic, millennial guitarist from Niger is well-told at this point: Music from his first album in 2008 was […]
After the past few years, the unexpected has become something to dread. Something that wasn’t previously known or anticipated pops up and it’s cause for concern, not celebration. You can forget that sometimes, it’s a whole lotta fun to receive […]
Always Smilin’ is Oliver Wood’s first solo album. But not to worry. Wood has no intention of leaving past glories behind. King Johnson is still embedded in the fabric, entwined with the Wood Brothers, who he says he has no […]
When your first album doesn’t come out until you’re in your 60s, you’ve got a backlog of stories to tell. And if you’ve lived a life like Robert Finley’s, those stories could fill one hundred albums. Alas, Sharecropper’s Son is […]
Discontent and longing tell the story on Shame and Sedition, the bracing third album from New England trio Lula Wiles. From anguish over relationships gone bad to fury at the injustices of the world, Eleanor Buckland, Isa Burke, and Mali […]
It doesn’t take long to realize just how perfect I’m Still Here is for the time and place in which we live. The second track on Travis Linville’s latest record captures the sentiments of a world that is dropping its masks and pursuing […]
Don’t let the sunny yellow album cover and cheery title fool you: Happy Again is an album about being sad. The 11 songs written by Bill and the Belles frontman Kris Truelsen in the aftermath of his divorce provide the […]
