Posts by Brian D'Ambrosio

There is a moment—quiet, unguarded—when Tenille Townes describes the making of her new record, The Acrobat, and it becomes clear that this is not simply an album. It is, perhaps more than anything she has made before, an act of reclamation. “Autonomy feels like a really big thing,” she says. “Feeling like what I create […]

Aubrie Sellers has never mistaken volume for truth. In a music industry that often rewards bold personalities and constant visibility, Sellers has built her career in a quieter, more deliberate way—one shaped as much by introspection as instinct. It hasn’t always been easy. But it has led her to Attachment Theory, a record that may […]

Spencer Thomas doesn’t pretend to have invented himself out of thin air. In fact, he’ll tell you the opposite—plainly, even cheerfully. “If you like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, you’ll probably like my music,” he says. “I’m pretty shameless about that.” It’s not false modesty. It’s a working philosophy, one that has come into sharper focus […]

Jessica Lea Mayfield does not enter a room so much as drift into it, like cigarette smoke curling toward a ceiling stained by old songs. She speaks softly, almost apologetically, as if volume were a vulgarity. Yet the life behind that voice has been anything but quiet. It has rattled down highways, slept in parking […]

Rachael Sage has never treated songwriting as a statement alone. Her songs are intimate, sometimes devastatingly so, but they are also theatrical, expansive, and carefully staged. For more than three decades, Sage has built a body of work that feels less like a journal than a series of rooms: some private, some communal, all lit […]

At 29, Madison Cunningham is standing at the edge of a threshold, looking backward and forward at the same time. In a year, she’ll leave her twenties behind—a decade she describes with a mix of nostalgia, sadness, and quiet exhilaration. What she’s carrying with her is not certainty, but something sturdier: a hard-earned sense of […]

When Patrick Davis left Camden, South Carolina, at 25 to chase songs and stages in Nashville, he carried with him the weight of a small town and the wisdom of a working musician’s son. Camden never let go. Neither did his father, a gig-hardened player who taught his boy to love the Beatles, Van Morrison, […]

Emma Swift’s new album, “The Resurrection Game,” unfolds like a series of letters written from the far edge of an emotional winter. It is a record of desolate beauty and delicately held hope, the sound of someone who has passed through collapse and found something luminous in what remained. Swift does not sing to escape […]

For Will Anderson, the act of making music has always been about connection. As the lead vocalist and songwriter for the Platinum-certified pop band Parachute, he spent over a decade crafting songs that soared through radio waves and across festival stages. But nothing in his long career could prepare him for the private, aching creation […]

John Moreland doesn’t chase validation. He just writes songs — slowly, deliberately, and only when the words demand to be written. “I just do my thing,” he said, his voice unhurried. “And hope for the best, honestly.” For Moreland, the act of making music has never been about fitting in. “I don’t really know how […]

John Calvin Abney calls it “spiritual archaeology.” Every record he makes, he says, is a kind of excavation—digging into memory, grief, and fleeting experience to see what can be unearthed in song. His newest recording, Transparent Towns, may be his deepest dig yet. “I can’t help but think that every time I make a record, […]

Anna Tivel’s songs unfold like poems whispered across a room—delicate, precise, but carrying the weight of entire lives. She has long been one of folk music’s most poetic voices, a songwriter who makes space for silence, for breath, for the small gestures that reveal everything. With her new record, Animal Poem, Tivel pushes even deeper […]

Eric Johnson is used to working slowly, turning scraps of melody into full-grown Fruit Bats albums over months or years. But Baby Man, his latest release, came in a rush. Ten days in February 2025: no revisions, no second-guessing, just insomnia, dogs, mockingbirds, and a restless guitar. “It’s like a snapshot of a week in […]

Josh Ritter has never been in a hurry with songs. Over the last two decades, the Idaho-born songwriter has learned to let them arrive when they’re ready—like unannounced guests, or weather patterns rolling across a wide Western sky. In that space of waiting, he has filled his life with novels, paintings, fatherhood, and touring, each […]

A versatile and Grammy-winning musician, Tim O’Brien has built a decades-long career as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Known for his authentic sound and captivating storytelling, O’Brien’s work showcases his adaptability across bluegrass, folk, and Americana genres through his solo efforts and various collaborations. Most recently, he spoke with Glide Magazine about his new recording, […]

Self-producing an album wasn’t something that Sunny Sweeney spent much time pondering – until it happened. Rhinestone Requiem is the pinnacle of her taking charge, hoeing her own bean row, and flexing her self-determining vigor. It’s just the latest from an artist committed to exploring her imaginative energies on her terms. “I’m happy with what […]

Beyond his worth as a powerful balladeer, Woody Guthrie (1912-1967) was a prominent American literary figure. As a singer, poet, and essayist, he embodies the Depression and the war years that ensued.  His grandson, Cole Quest, was born in New York City, at an early age lived in Howard Beach, Queens, and later grew up […]

During those long school bus rides in Franklin County, Tennessee, Mike Farris entered a different planet. It was the world of radio.  The bus driver fixed the dial to WCDT (1340 AM). From country to rock and roll to Motown and soul, from Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn, to the Staples Singers and Al Green, […]

For Amy Speace it all whittles down to believability. Her shows are comprised of rich stories, and her richest stories are filled with the most reflective insights, connecting honestly enough for people to find themselves in the songs.  “It’s all about do I believe you?” said Speace. “If I do, then I’ll go to all […]

“Peak experiences” is what Abraham Maslow called them. The high moments of life where we joyfully find ourselves catapulted beyond the confines of the mundane and ordinary.  Josh Ritter’s ‘high moments’ are exuded every time he performs on the stage. There is no energy shortage here. The artist in Ritter understands that while even the […]