Charlie Overbey has had a fistful of labels hung on him over his career: Cowpunker, rocker, outlaw countryman, Americanan, and even hatmaker. But Overbey opens his latest, In Good Company, with “Punk Rock Spy,” containing his own descriptor: “The punk […]
Billy Strings had to throw a tantrum to get his first real guitar. Exposed to dad and friends jamming in the kitchen of the family trailer from the vantage point of his high chair, Strings was gifted a toy guitar […]
J.P. Soars has always turned heads wherever he shows up to play. Opening for Johnny Winter a few years back, the singer and guitarist held the crowd in place for his entire set and made a bucketload of new converts […]
As befits a wandering troubadour, Marques Morel has a plethora of tales from the road. The Illinois native has polished his world-weary persona over decades of drifting, speaking the language of the street, voicing the thoughts of the down and […]
Jenny Don’t must have gotten tangled up in Wanda Jackson’s DNA somewhere along the line. Cowpunkery is Don’t’s advertised stock-in-trade, but Jackson’s rockabilly heart bleeds into her music like a busted artery squirting in all directions. For her latest, Broken […]
The feet are the same, but there’s a new voice above them. For Sam’s Place, Little Feat’s first studio album in 12 years, they bring conga player Sam Clayton to the mic for the whole session. Clayton has been in […]
Muddy Waters once told a 19-year-old Rick Estrin he had that sound. “You playing like a man, boy!,” Waters said as Estrin sat in with his band in Chicago. “I know that sound when I hear it, that’s my sound!” […]
Adopting James Brown’s mantle as Soul Brother No. 1 for an album title is a ballsy move. But it quickly becomes apparent that on his latest project, The Reverend Shawn Amos is not trying to subvert Brown’s legacy or sound, […]
Alex Harris’ shoes don’t fit in the footprints of most soul singers. His steps have led him into philanthropist territory as well as singer-songwriter domains with his nonprofit Arts Conservatory for Teens, which helps prepare at-risk young people for higher […]
Cedric Burnside has his head and his heart in the hills. On his latest, Hill Country Love, the music is a little grittier than on his previous Grammy-winning release, 2021’s I Be Trying, for which he took home the Best […]
