Posts by John Moore

Months on the road fueled by cheap beer, gas station food, and likely a little grass (and likely more) are most of the ingredients behind the latest from Seattle’s Smoker Dad. Hotdog Highway, the sophomore effort from the band, is a brilliant Pacific Northwest take on classic Southern Rock, echoing everyone from the Allman Brothers […]

Benjamin Tod is probably known by most for the more folk-adjacent Americana sound with his group, the Lost Dog Street Band, than classic country, but his latest solo effort, Shooting Star, finds him comfortably shifting back to his roots playing an inspired brand of honky tonk. The result is an impressive departure that doesn’t take long for fans […]

It’s easy to see what Margo Price heard in Jack Quiggins and Ryan Jennings, the duo behind Teddy And The Rough Riders. The two Nashville artists play a uniquely original brand of country music that has absolutely nothing to do with the mullet-sporting, overproduced, twangy pop that has dominated country radio currently. Rather, Quiggins and […]

Conor Donohue’s latest, Stray Dogs, may be rooted in Americana, but it exists in a genre-agnostic space that sees his music careening from pop to funk to cosmic country to psychedelic rock on any given track. The result is a refreshingly satisfying playlist that sounds more like a soundtrack with contributions from various artists rather than […]

He was the posterchild for Satanic Panic in the 1980s and the inspiration for a slew of shitty teenage metal bands (and likely a few cool ones, as well). But above all, Anton LaVey (real name, the less ominous, Howard Stanton Levey), was an impressive showman/conman in the vein of PT Barnum and LR Hubbard. […]

All The Days, the latest from Ireland’s The Devlins has a decidedly retro feel to it. Across 11 beautifully airy, synth-driven tracks the band brings to mind the early ‘80s UK sound pioneered by bands like The Waterboys, U2 and Simple Minds, but there are also nods to more modern peers like Coldplay, Travis and […]

It’s been 15 years since Superdrag – the stellar Knoxville alt-rock band that only had one single but a slew of brilliant albums – last put out a proper studio LP, but their frontman has continued to release the occasional solo record with a sound more or less reminiscent of his former band. His latest […]

Almost 30 years into their career as a band, the Conor Oberst-helmed Bright Eyes has managed to whittle out their sub-genre in indie rock. Lyrically mixing pop cultural touchstones with esoteric historical references sung over a musical soundtrack that combines rock and pop with folk and even jazz at times, the band has created a […]

On their sophomore effort Pavlova’s Dog, Ontario-based four-piece The Meringues make a frenetic mix of dance-punk and pop that recalls everyone from Gang Of Four and Sparks to Weezer and Wet Leg.  Across 11 tracks, dueling vocalists Amanda Pants and Ted Evans trade off turns at the mic. There is an immediacy to the music, […]

Much like his last release, 2021’s shamefully underrated Music City Joke, Mac Leaphart’s latest seems to capture him once again genuinely enjoying doing what he does. Not since John Prine has Americana had a musician that acts so casual and even surprised by their own brilliance. There is nothing forced or manufactured as Lephart reels […]

Nada Surf’s latest, Moon Mirror, is not only their first release for Americana-dominated New West Records, but it also marks a new musical step forward for the long-running indie pop band. Despite now sharing a roster with bands like 49 Winchester and John Hiatt, don’t expect an album full of banjos and mandolins, but it does […]

There is a brief but impressive history of ice cream shop workers transitioning from scoop jockeys to rock stars. At least one D.C. Haagen Daz store can boast both Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye as former employees; Gwen Stefani used to work at a Dairy Queen in Anaheim, CA; and both members of the Dresden […]

There is a remarkably nostalgic feel to Good Times for a Change, the fourth studio LP from Tamar Berk. Much like her 2021 debut solo record, Restless Dreams of Youth, this latest one also pulls heavily from the 1990s alternative music scene, drawing strong comparisons to artists like Aimee Mann, Juliana Hatfield, Michael Penn and […]

On Roll It Out, the latest from New Orleans-based Americana band The Deslondes, the five-piece manages to move forward the sound they found on 2022’s come-back record, Ways & Means, incorporating new instruments while still carrying along plenty of the laid-back elements of their first two records that made the band so entertaining in the […]

Something Is Working Up Above My Head is the closest thing to a live album from South Carolina Americana/folk duo Shovels & Rope. Unlike past albums, where the band had to figure out how they would play their just completed albums live – with only two performers on stage – this time they worked backwards, […]

Newcomer Jana Mila’s debut, Chameleon, is a prophetic title. Though it’s taken from a song about changing to please others, it could just as easily be a descriptor of her sound, which seamlessly moves from Americana to Country to Laurel Canyon throwback folk to classic 1970s rock and pop, all coming across as natural and unforced. […]

It’s been four years since the Portland, OR-based quintet Fruition last put out a new record. How To Make Mistakes marks the first time in their 15-year history the band tried recording the album entirely live. “We recorded 17 songs in 7 days, with everybody playing together in real-time, and we didn’t overdub anything. The […]

The Irish Post-Punk band Fontaines D.C. seemed to come out of nowhere in 2019 with their stellar debut, Dogrel, and through sheer originality – and strong word of mouth – quickly became one of the most exciting new bands forging a path away from the mainstream. In quick succession, and despite a global pandemic that […]

Two decades into his career, you pretty much know what to expect from a Ray LaMontagne record. Across nine albums now, the New England musician turns out beautifully crafted contemporary folk music heavy on delicate harmonies. And that’s pretty much what you get with Long Way Home, LaMontagne’s latest. Across nine tracks, he weaves his […]

Last year’s North Georgia Rounder was a beautiful aural travelogue of the southeast, with Pony Bradshaw using parts of Appalachia as a recurring character throughout the album. Just a year later, on Thus Spoke The Fool, the scenery in and around North Georgia and the people that populate it still play a prominent role in […]