Posts by Joey Willis

Jazz Dispensary’s compilations tend to work best when they lean into a specific mood, and Magia Brasileira takes the listener to the Samba-filled Brazil of fifty years ago. This set spans the late ’60s through the ’70s, focusing on Brazilian artists and adjacent players who blurred samba, jazz, and funk in a way that feels […]

Released in 2012, Just Tell Me That You Want Me brings together a wide range of indie and alternative artists to reinterpret Fleetwood Mac’s catalog. The compilation doesn’t just revisit the band’s biggest songs; it draws from multiple eras, from the early blues years to the more polished pop records of the late ’70s and […]

Arriving as part of Third Eye Blind’s 30th anniversary run, Rarities & First Drafts pulls material largely from the band’s first three albums: Third Eye Blind (1997), Blue (1999), and Out of the Vein (2003), and presents it through demos, alternate takes, and acoustic versions. Instead of revisiting these songs in their familiar form, the collection strips back some of the studio layering […]

Coming off the stripped-down intensity of Hallowed Ground, Violent Femmes pivoted in a noticeable way with 1986’s The Blind Leading the Naked. Produced by Talking Head’s Jerry Harrison, the album expands the band’s wiry folk-punk foundation into something more layered and polished. It still carries that anxious energy that defined their early work, but adds […]

Coming off the buzz of their debut United, Phoenix returned in 2004 with Alphabetical, a record that trades some of that scrappy indie energy for a more controlled, polished approach. The Versailles band leans harder into groove here with tight basslines, clean guitar tones, and a subtle nod to R&B that gives the album a […]

Released as a companion piece to 2001’s Greatest Hits, Acoustic Hits strips The Cure’s catalog down to its core and puts the songwriting front and center. Recorded at Olympic Studios in London during the same sessions, these versions remove most of the band’s signature production (no dense synth layers or effects), just acoustic arrangements that […]

By the time The Cure released Greatest Hits in 2001, they had already built one of the most recognizable catalogs in alternative music, moving from scrappy post-punk minimalism to lush, radio-ready pop without losing their identity. Owing one last album to Fiction Records, Robert Smith agreed to put out a greatest hits under the condition […]

By 2001, Stone Temple Pilots were in a different place than their early ’90s peak. Shangri-La Dee Da had just come out, and instead of chasing the heavier sound of Core or Purple, the band leaned into something looser and more varied. Live at Rolling Rock pulls from across their catalog, and you can hear […]

Years before Primal Scream bridged the UK’s rave and rock cultures with their landmark album Screamadelica, the Scottish group’s debut, Sonic Flower Groove, was decidedly more jangle pop than acid house. Pulled from a pair of 1987 singles tied to their debut 1987 EPs collects Gentle Tuesday and Imperial for the first time on a single pressing, […]

Originally released in 2000, United finds Phoenix at the very start of their run, before the polish and global recognition of later albums. At this point, they’re still figuring things out, but the core of their sound is already there with clean guitar lines, understated grooves, and Thomas Mars’ conversational vocal delivery. It sits somewhere […]

The 2026 edition of Big Ears Festival once again turned downtown Knoxville into a dense, choose-your-own-adventure listening experience spanning four days, dozens of venues, and a lineup of almost 250 performances that leaned heavily into contrast. Across the sets from Flying Lotus to David Byrne, Reggie Watts to Dirty Three, John Scofield Trio to MJ […]

Few artists left a mark on Latin music like pianist Eddie Palmieri. Born in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, he came up playing in Tito Rodríguez’s orchestra before forming Conjunto La Perfecta, a group that helped redefine salsa with a heavier, trombone-driven sound. By the late ’60s, Palmieri was moving in a more […]

The 2026 iteration of Big Ears Festival, set for March 26–29 in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee, promises one of the most ambitious programs in the festival’s thirteen-year arc. Over 250 concerts, films, art installations, panels, and spontaneous pop-ups will unfold across historic theaters, churches, clubs, and public spaces downtown. Headliners and anchors include David Byrne, Robert Plant’s Saving Grace, Flying […]

Before albums like A Love Supreme and Giant Steps cemented his reputation as one of jazz’s most visionary figures, John Coltrane spent the late 1950s establishing himself as a bandleader after notable stints alongside artists such as Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Released by Craft Recordings to coincide with the centennial celebration of John Coltrane, […]

Morgan Nagler has spent years behind the scenes shaping songs for other artists, quietly building a reputation as a sharp lyricist and collaborator. In addition to fronting Whispertown, Nagler has co-written with artists like Phoebe Bridgers, HAIM, and Kim Deal, and her work on Bridgers’ “Kyoto” even earned a Grammy nomination. With I’ve Got Nothing […]

Few artists are as closely tied to the foundation of country music as Willie Nelson. Before the outlaw movement, before the braids and bandanas, Nelson was a Nashville songwriter absorbing the work of Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, and Merle Travis. Originally released in 2010 and produced by T Bone Burnett, Country Music is his direct […]

By 1962, Wes Montgomery had already changed the way jazz guitar sounded. A self-taught player from Indianapolis, he built his style around his thumb instead of a pick, creating a warm, rounded tone that cut through without ever sounding harsh. His use of octaves became a signature, but what really set him apart was his […]

By the time From All Sides arrived in 1965, Vince Guaraldi had already scored a pop-jazz hit with “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” and Bola Sete was gaining recognition as a singular voice in Brazilian guitar. The duo had already developed a strong musical rapport the previous year by performing together at the Trois […]

When Voxtrot reunited in 2022, it didn’t feel like a nostalgia grab. The Texas indie band, which first gained traction in the mid-2000s with a pair of self-released EPs and a strong debut album,came back with renewed purpose. Dreamers in Exile is their first full-length in nearly twenty years, and instead of trying to recreate […]

Getting signed to a major label with two albums full of “dick and fart” jokes doesn’t seem like something achievable for most, but that is exactly what blink-182 did. Originally signed to Grilled Cheese, a subdivision of Cargo Records, Blink released Cheshire Cat and Dude Ranch. While the former mostly gained attention in the 90s […]