Lori McKenna lays her heart bare on the compelling 1988, painting vivid scenes of youthful discovery and taking a hopeful glimpse into the future. The Massachusetts native takes the weight of the world on her shoulders as she remembers friends […]
A man of myriad moods, Matthew Stephen Ward from Portland, Oregon, can trade breathtaking tenderness for bitter despair in an instant, or display affection and contempt with a single breath. His transcendent Supernatural Thing captures indelible episodes of bright magic […]
It was Alaska folk singer Annie Bartholomew’s eureka moment. After playing a show in Skagway in 2016, she toured the brothel museum at the town’s Red Onion Saloon, which documents the lives of women who descended on the area […]
Love hurts, love consumes, and occasionally love uplifts, according to Brandy Clark. On her absorbing self-titled fourth album, this insightful singer-songwriter catalogs assorted varieties of love, from romantic and greedy to familial and spiritual, making the most universal of topics […]
David Wax Museum calls its sound “Mexo-Americana,” but don’t expect a highfalutin cross-cultural experiment. Wax and his wife, Suz Slezak, play exotic-seeming stringed instruments (jarana jarocha, huapanguera) and percussion (donkey jawbone), but don’t prepare for an exercise in dry folklore. […]
Robbie Fulks has covered a lot of ground since the mid-’90s, most of it qualifying as Americana. The singer-songwriter has released solo projects ranging from somber character studies (2016’s Grammy-nominated Upland Stories) to a rollicking celebration of overlooked country music […]
Nostalgia is a trap, an alluring one to be sure, but often a dead end. California’s Nick Waterhouse has been tempting fate over the last decade, exploring a groove that draws heavily from early-’60s R&B and jazz, yet he’s never […]
Don’t be fooled by the scruffy, seemingly offhand presentation. On The Men That God Forgot, Chicago’s fearless Waco Brothers undertake a deadly serious mission, striving to help lay the foundation for a better world. Unleashing rousing barroom rockers that flirt […]
Consumed by regret, loneliness, and desperation, Chris Tapp is a forlorn traveler on the rocky road of life, weary yet resilient, fierce yet vulnerable. On the electrifying Voices, the frontman for The Cold Stares constantly seems to be on the […]
Listening to Cat Clyde is like spending quality time with a reassuring friend who puts the craziness of the world into perspective. On Down Rounder, her third album of original material, the Canadian singer-songwriter meets the challenge of leading a […]
