Posts by Maeri Ferguson

Julia Jacklin’s Don’t Let the Kids Win was one of 2016’s best offerings. Aussie-born Jacklin and her band pair lyrics about deep fears, rejection, and self-realization with a mix of clanging garage rock guitars and soft, homespun arrangements that showcase Jacklin’s angelic, but strong vocals. After her standout set at the 2017 Newport Folk Festival, […]

The rockabilly crowd came out in droves to see JD McPherson and his band tear up the dance floor with their fiery, rock and roll grooves. at Brooklyn’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 7. 2017. McPherson, ever the class act and with stellar stage presence, gave them and the rest of the packed room […]

Kacy & Clayton are astoundingly good. A cousin duo that hails from Canada, their sound is like something that was beamed down from a bygone era. It’s psychedelic, mystifying, haunting and full of the kind of wisdom that typically comes with decades of life experience. But both are under 25 and brimming with an intimidating […]

[rating=8.00] I deserve to occupy this space/Without feeling like I don’t belong,” sings Jessica Lea Mayfield on the title track off her new record Sorry Is Gone. It’s a gut punch of hyper-focused pop rock about leaving behind a destructive relationship and reclaiming your identity in the aftermath. And it’s a nod not only to […]

[rating=7.00] It’s been four years since we’ve heard from New York City duo Cults, and things have shifted a bit since their last release, 2013’s Static. Specifically, they’ve leveled things out, with both members of the band taking equal part in the creation of their new album, Offering. While Madeline Follin often took a more […]

[rating=6.00] Not exactly fresh off the heels of their highly acclaimed 2013 release Essential Tremors (a triumph of headbanging southern rock and roll), J. Roddy Walston and the Business have certainly evolved with the much anticipated follow up, Destroyers of the Soft Life. It might seem crazy for a band that was so hyped to […]

[rating=7.00] When Dave Lamb of Brown Bird passed away in 2014, the loss felt so great and the future of the band felt so uncertain. Lamb’s bandmate and wife Morgan Eve Swain, finding herself a young widow, had to reassess and grieve. Brown Bird was a prominent fixture not just in the Providence, Rhode Island […]

[rating=7.00] Tom Brosseau has the kind of voice that makes you lean in just a little closer to hear it. It is arresting and beautiful, completely unique. At once delicate and grounded, Brosseau is creating some of the more compelling traditional folk music at the moment, and his latest record is no exception. Treasures Untold […]

[rating=7.00] Whether you know Cory Chisel from his last record, 2012’s Old Believers, or from his more recent stint as one third of the super group Traveller (with Robert Ellis and Johnny Fritz), or whether you’ve never heard of him at all, his music is worth your time. Chisel and his partner, Adriel Denae have […]

Newport Folk Festival’s third day always moves just a little slower. The first part of the day – as groggy festival-goers wander in a bit later – is packed with gospel and choir music to ease us into a third day of being on our feet in the hot sun. And the sun shone down […]