It has been too easy in recent years to dismiss Neil Young as an eccentric crank, to quit paying attention. As topical and timely as its material may be, Peace Trail (out Dec. 9 on Reprise) is as close to […]
0
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Revival, the archival Boots No. 1: The Official Archival Bootleg (out November 25 on Acony Records) returns the listener to that seemingly organic achievement with fresh ears. It was the rare debut album and […]
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” performed here as the gospel of Mavis Staples, might not be the first song you’d associate with Emmylou Harris, but it’s the one that best evokes the celebratory spirit of this event, and the extended […]
The first album in four years by the singular Texas artist, Burn Something Beautiful (out October 28 on Fantasy) combines a younger man’s passion for rock and roll redemption with an older man’s burden of mortality. It’s a challenging balance to sustain, […]
Rarely does an album write its own review so succinctly. When “It’s Been a Delight” closes the debut of this Chicago quintet, it encapsulates the fizzy intoxication of the whole aural experience. Though the band has long been beloved in its […]
Though the latest from Norah Jones has been promoted as a full-circle return to the breakthrough sound of her multiplatinum debut (2002’s Come Away With Me), Day Breaks (out October 7 on Blue Note) suggests that the artist really can’t […]
On Little Seeds, Shovels and Rope (out October 7 on New West) pushes the envelope in both directions. The noisy, propulsive songs are noisier and more propulsive than ever, as the album-opening, wickedly backbiting “I Know” and the devastating “Invisible […]
Even in younger days, John Prine’s voice was never a birdlike trill, and a couple of bouts with cancer have left their scars, but, boy, does the Maywood Mailman sound like he has aged gracefully. On the eve of his […]
It would be misleading to review the politically-charged American Band (out September 30 on ATO Records) without exploring its political implications. This is an album that bristles with the anger of a band of white, male, middle-aged Southerners—supposedly a core […]
The elemental, organic, homespun music of the Handsome Family occupies a place somewhere between Nick Cave’s and the Band’s. Timeless and sepia-toned, deep and dark, it seems to inhabit a parallel dimension of Americana, one with its own legends and […]
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
SUBSCRIBE NOW
SUBSCRIBE NOW
