Kacey Musgraves excels at producing cinematic albums that track the vagaries of human existence in kaleidoscopic colors. On Deeper Well, her fifth album and the follow-up to her 2021 chart topper star-crossed (ND review), Musgraves produces another stunning masterpiece that […]
Since the start of his career in the 1950s and ’60s, Dion has surrounded himself with women — whether via musical odes like “Runaround Sue,” “Donna the Prima Donna,” and “Ruby Baby” or through collaborations with musicians like Ronnie Spector, […]
Amelia White knows how to capture the jagged ways that individuals fall in and out of love and hope. On Love I Swore she conveys the depth of loss that often flows out of broken promises. Produced by Kim Richey, […]
As the snow melts and temperatures begin to climb, the fresh tendrils of a new crop of music books break the sodden ground of winter’s desolation. Like those perennial flowers that bloom in April and May, this spring’s music […]
Over the past 20 years, Blackberry Smoke has earned a reputation as a hard-driving, hard-working Southern rock band. Their new album, the Dave Cobb-produced Be Right Here, confirms the band’s place in the rock pantheon with its combination of propulsive […]
How do women in rock shape feminism, how does feminism shape women in rock? The answer is not readily apparent in music journalist Katherine Yeske Taylor’s new book, She’s a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism. Rather, she applies […]
In 2000, Oklahoma-born singer and songwriter James Talley released an album called Nashville City Blues on his label, Cimarron Records. In the title track, he tells a defiant yet poignant tale of his experience in a town where “the music, […]
John Leventhal’s visionary musical genius allows him to dwell in a tune, seeing the notes and the spaces in between them, and to create elegant tunes that capture the imagination. After decades of composing, producing, songwriting, singing, and playing for […]
Although My Stupid Life is Brittney Spencer’s debut album, she’s already established herself as a straight-from-the-heart songwriter who is unafraid to share her vulnerability and claim her strengths. In 2022, the Baltimore native released the EP if I ever get […]
Several memorable music books were published in 2023, and I highlighted several in my previous column. We’re already looking forward to some more very promising books in 2024, but first I wanted to offer a look at a few […]
