PREMIERES

Luther Russell has a rich history in music. For a decade, he has been one half of the endearing folk-pop duo Those Pretty Wrongs, serving alongside Big Star’s Jody Stephens. Luther is also the grandson of Bob Russell and the grandnephew of Bud Green, whose songs are part of the great American songbook. He has […]

Elle Belle is the alter-ego of award-winning composer/songwriter Christopher Pappas. His debut record WAKO GUMBO, a sprawling 20-song double LP, was released in 2016 to critical acclaim. Pappas grew up in rural New Hampshire, where he started the band The Everyday Visuals. After relocating to Boston, the band began to amass a cult-like following of […]

Sahara Grim is a visionary artist, musician and composer. She makes music that is as innovative as it is emotional, holding an eclectic background in bossa nova, classic rock, jazz and Indian classical music. Sahara has recently established a new artistic direction, joining minds with producer & artist Luke Temple in the creation of her […]

“This song certainly comes from the times we’re living in. It’s hard to turn away from the political climate, where autocrats and strongmen seem to be thriving. It’s not a political song by any stretch, but the bowlegged rider reflects a terrible person doing terrible things… and persisting,” says singer-songwriter and filmmaker Matt Cascella about […]

Partners in life and music, Sarah and Austin McCombie have captured the adoration of fans nationwide and praise from Garden & Gun, American Songwriter, Paste and No Depression. Amid an impressive touring schedule, the two have already released three full-length records and somehow find energy to run their farm in their home state of North […]

Hunger Anthem is an indie-rock band from Athens, Georgia with an unabashed penchant for distortion drenched, gritty, tightly executed power-pop immediacy, deeply rooted in a lo-fi approach and ever-evolving, bearing an evident DIY punk rock work ethic and ethos. Started as a solo project of singer/songwriter Brendan Vaganek in Buffalo, NY, the self-titled first album […]

West of Rome is a South Texas band launched by a group of lifelong friends in 2019 at the crossroads of pandemic lockdowns, deranged governments and a superheated climate. Not easily intimidated, musicians Blake Smithson, brothers Charlie and Jamie Roadman and singer Kevin Higginbotham dug deep looking for the sweet relief of the true grand […]

Josh Gilligan’s wise, full-hearted debut opens where most albums might end: with an epiphany. “It takes a lot to be anything at all,” he sings on the chorus of “Anything,” over a bed of sympathetic piano chords and a shuffling rhythm section. The sentiment sounds straightforward, but the Nashville singer-songwriter finds new implications every time […]

There is something special about a peaceful folk sound that combines introspective lyrics and melancholy guitar chords to resonate with listeners. London-born/LA-based singer-songwriter Ed Vallance displays that comforting stroke of acoustic elegance reminiscent of the worlds of Jose Gonzalez, Feet Foxes, and The Tallest Man On Earth, where mood and serenity prevail. On Vallance’s new […]

Lily Talmers is the band leader for the new age of Americana — her Midwestern-accented and poetically inclined melodies are informed by Greek, Lusophone and classical music, taking you on a unique journey into Lily’s strange intervallic insides, bursting with lyricism coated in intimacy and refined wit. Musically, Lily calls to mind heady 60’s folk […]

Jon Berman—known by many under his chosen moniker Jon22—brings his debut album Muse out into the world on November 22nd. Given how important transparency has become to discerning listeners, he could have picked a better title. Something like My First Rodeo would’ve worked, given how this is Berman’s promising debut and he readily admits there’s […]

Something about distinctive vocals sets the tone for an artist to be forever recognized audibly. Whether it’s a Rod Stewart rasp or a Neil Young ache, we know who these voices are. Grayson Converse of Spooky Mansion has that type of unique delivery that is part country, part punk, and part folk that immediately engages […]

The Washington D.C.-based duo Glosser, composed of Riley Fanning and Corbin Sheehan, has birthed a unique, hazy musical presentation where sweeping musical passages meet edgy beats. With their new EP Angel Dust due out November 15, Glide is premiering “Silver Star” – a track fans of Cocteau Twins and Phantogram will latch their ears upon. […]

“The first time I listened to Pete Seeger, it felt like he directly addressed me in a call to action. His use of rhetorical questions, subterranean imagery, and repetition are the blueprints of all protest music. “Am I American?” was written on an acoustic guitar (as Pete would’ve preferred), but to more expressively convey the […]

Twenty years ago or so, the word alt-country was the go-to for anything with twang and grit that combined the worlds of Steve Earle, Whiskeytown, The Jayhawks, and Gram Parsons. Well, thanks to the rise of mainstream “hey! ho!”, those more authentic sounds have kept to the underground for better or worse. St. Louis’s true-grit […]

Chapel Hill, North Carolina-based band The Old Ceremony are celebrating 20 years as a band this year, and also releasing their seventh album on October 17th, via Yep Roc, titled Earthbound. They also have several celebratory shows in the works, both in North Carolina, and elsewhere on the East Coast.  The Old Ceremony’s songwriter is […]

Winterlark is on their way to something new. The Santa Cruz jazz duo, with their endlessly accessible back-pocket charm and euphonious, bantering harmonies, is turning their gaze outwards on their new EP, Sing To Me About Tomorrow (due out October 18th) — their final product now belied by a sort of understated hand-wringing that looks […]

A great deal has transpired in recent years, and Lucy Isabel captures the essence of these changes in her profoundly touching new album, All The Light. There are the obvious factors: a global pandemic, political turmoil, wide-reaching tragedy. And on a personal level, Isabel has navigated five years of marriage, entry into motherhood, and the […]

Not many artists dare to cover The Allman Brothers Band’s complex instrumental rocker “Jessica.” Perhaps it’s the dare of nailing Chuck Leavell’s ravaging piano solo or the twin drum attack of Jaimoe and Butch Trucks, or Dicky Betts’ soaring guitar leads. Well, if you don’t try to imitate your heroes and instead put your own […]

The Mountain (due out in January 2025) is the new double album by singer/songwriter Jason Sinay. Sinay has performed and/or recorded with everyone from Keith Richards to Neil Young to Bob Weir to Lucinda Williams, but is best known for his long tenure in Heartbreaker Mike Campbell’s band the Dirty Knobs. After exiting the Dirty […]