Posts by Shawn Donohue

The newest album from Todd Snider finds a broken man breathily singing sparse numbers as High, Lonesome and Then Some feels less like an album title and more like Snider’s perpetual state of mind over these nine tracks.   Known for his humor and insightful songwriting, Snider scales it all back, delivering generalities via gravelly dirt […]

Whenever an established group releases a self-titled album in the middle of their career, it acts as a symbol of rebirth, a new direction, course correction, or perhaps a last gasp. St. Paul & The Broken Bones’ self-titled release finds them centering their sound and style, as frontman Paul Janeway states, “I think the band […]

When the country music Hall of Famer Waylon Jennings passed away in 2002, the artist left behind a host of recordings that had never been released. His son, famed musician/producer Shooter Jennings, recently discovered these and was amazed by the high quality and sheer number of top-notch offerings. Songbird is the first of a scheduled […]

Last year, Marcus King deviated from his norm with the Rick Rubin-produced Mood Swings. He scaled back his vaunted guitar and valiantly focused on his vocals, experimenting with soul. Now he follows that up by returning to his roots, reuniting with his longtime live band for their first album since 2018’s Carolina Confessions. The new release, Darling Blue, […]

The NYC-based singer/songwriter Kendra Morris stripped down her sound for her newest record, Next. The ten-song collection delivers a cool slice of minimalist indie-soul on Colemine Records.  Morris worked with her band, guitarist Supremo “Premo” Massiv, bassist Monti Miramonti, and drummer Chauncey Yearwood, and co-produced the album with Leroi Conroy, recording in Loveland, Ohio, and […]

There is a reason Emma Swift calls The Resurrection Game, her first full-length collection of all original material, a “bummer of an album,” as it took coming back from a mental health crisis for the singer-songwriter to develop these ten tracks.  The Sydney, Australia-born, Nashville-based Swift had a major nervous breakdown, leading her to be […]

The trio Tchotchke delivers a strong dose of art-pop that is of the current moment but touches on influences from the genre’s heyday, as Playin’ Dumb is far from ignorant. The NYC-based trio, comprising Anastasia Sanchez on vocals and drums, Eva Chambers on bass, piano, keyboards, and vocals, and Emily Tooraen on guitar and vocals, […]

David Byrne has always acted like an outsider, singing/writing about the mundane with an alien-landed-on-Earth, like fascination. On his newest album, Who Is the Sky? Byrne has a song titled “I’m an Outsider”. The smooth grooving jam could be about finding mystical connections deep in the mind or wondering what is inside an exclusive club […]

On her last few releases, Margo Price traveled west (Los Angeles, the desert) to find herself, primarily playing in the realm of 70s-tinged pop rock. Now, on her fifth studio album, she successfully returns to her roots, recording her first album in her hometown of Nashville, as Price’s outlaw-accented country sound rings heartfelt and true […]

The fourth album from the twice Grammy-nominated, New Orleans-based Afro-Indigenous funk collective Cha Wa finds the band in a transitional state, moving in new directions with Rise Up.  The core of Cha Wa, musical director and drummer Joe Gelini, and “Spyboy” Irving “Honey” Banister Jr. of the Golden Sioux Tribe, worked with producer Dave Trumfio […]