Album Reviews

With projects as varied as Armchair Martian and Drag the River, it’s pretty clear that Jon Snodgrass is comfortable in some different musical arenas. His new album Tace isn’t really a solo album, it is a project that falls under the umbrella of Jon Snodgrass and Buddies. Some of the buddies include Stephen Egerton (Descendents, […]

The folk ensemble Darlingside impresses in their live shows by their versatile musicianship, keening four-part harmonies, and witty banter between songs. Seeing the four of them clustered tightly singing through just one microphone easily brings smiles. They naturally create a relaxing, joyous vide.  Listening to their albums though requires much more concentration and often leaves […]

As music fans, we often want our favorite artists to continue doing the same sort of thing that made us fans in the first place. On the one hand, it’s understandable. On the other hand, it’s unfair to the artists. After all, they experience different things as they move on their lives, and those experiences […]

When we brought you Jeremy Ivey’s wife, Margo Price’s, review several months ago, we wrote about Ivey’s battle with COVID-19 and the scare that the couple had when the tornado wreaked havoc on East Nashville this Spring. Well, this is Ivey’s musical response to those events and in a larger sense our world in 2020 […]

One of the great things about art is that you never know what will inspire an artist to create. For Blitzen Trapper on the new album Holy Smokes, Future Jokes, the inspiration was Bardo. What’s Bardo? Well, it’s the transitional state between death and rebirth, thanks for asking. Wouldn’t it be difficult to write about […]

Ten years ago Jónsi, Sigur Rós’ distinctive frontman, released his debut solo album Go. Hotly anticipated at the time, it served to expose the post-rock luminary to a wider audience, and for the most part, was pretty successful.  Now, with the help of in-demand producer A.G. Cook, Jónsi is tapping into a very different kind of […]

GarciaLive Volume 14 carries the distinction of being the first solely acoustic entry in this ongoing vault series. But this complete show from The Ritz New York, NY January 27, 1986 (and its direct companion piece, from the following night, in the form of a bonus disc offered during pre-order of the main title) isn’t altogether […]

Back in January Drive-By Truckers dropped an incredibly timely album, The Unraveling, which examined current American life, addressing topics such as children in prison at the border and mass shootings via direct lyrics and excellent musicality. Amazingly, less than ten months later, inspired by these unprecedented times, one of the greatest acts at chronicling our […]

Sometimes you see the description a band has for itself and you wonder what it means. In the case of 49 Winchester, you don’t really have to wonder. The band describes its sound as “alt-country soul from the heart of Appalachia.” Granted, you have to know what Appalachian music sounds like, but alt-country soul in […]

Under the Spell of Joy, the newest release from the Los Angeles based Death Valley Girls vacillates between cosmic black hole psych-rock and punchy lo-fi poppy garage numbers as the band seeks to engage old fans and newcomers with their dark-tinged, yet upbeat sound.   The core group (vocalist/guitarist Bonnie Bloomgarden, guitarist Larry Schemel, bassist Pickle […]

The Nude Party’s strong 2018 debut found the sextet knocking loudly on the door. With Midnight Manor, they kick it off its hinges. The 12-track record finds the upstate New York band (by way of North Carolina) digging deeper into their ‘70s rock influences – from the swagger of the Stones to the swamp funk […]

It’s been fascinating to follow Dawes over the course of its decade-plus existence and never more so than since 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die. Produced by former group member Blake Mills, that album plays like a brainstorming session conducted to figure out how the band could move beyond its by then well-established Laurel Canyon nouveau […]

At the latest count eight of the sixteen tracks on Blue Note Re-Imagined have already been released as singles so you may have heard from this album already. Don’t be surprised if more aren’t released before and after the album drops. This is a major project with classic Blue Note albums interpreted and re-imagined by […]

It’s purely coincidental that we should be hearing the best soul singer you’ve never heard of on the heels of Johnny Rawls’ latest album title, “Where Have All the Soul Men Gone.”  Not only that, but the title of Sonny Green’s album is stated practically as a response – “Found! One Soul Singer.” Leave it […]

Johnny Nicholas doesn’t get many headlines, but he is arguably one of the most important roots artists over the past five decades. Any time he releases an album, it should be a “must listen” occasion. You’ve often heard the term triple threat or even quadruple threat associated with both athletes and musicians. Yet, we could […]

Chris Smither fans fondly recall the 24-song 2014 release Still on the Levee, billed as a ‘retrospective’ even though it was filled with plenty of new songs. The now-iconic five decades-long singer-songwriter, together with producer David Goodrich, has now unearthed more tracks from those two-week long 2013 sessions that yielded the double CD, offered here […]

Okay, the headline is a bit inaccurate as Bonnie Whitmore did release her own 2016 F*** With Sad Girls, the title of which indicates that she’s the no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners type. All of that and more is on display on Last Will and Testament. Yet, for the past two decades, Whitmore has had a long career […]

The Lost Berlin Tapes were recorded – incredibly in both mono and stereo – at Berlin’s Sportpalast on March 25, 1962 with Ella Fitzgerald bringing her ‘A’ game with her longstanding trio led by pianist Paul Smith, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. There was just something magical about Berlin for Ella. In February […]

Polaris just may be the best band that never really existed. For those who aren’t hip to this fact, here is the backstory: way back in the 90s there was a television show called the Adventures of Pete and Pete. Balancing oddball humor and the heartfelt dynamic of two red-headed brothers growing up in suburban […]

Will Butler is best known for being one of the multi-instrumentalists in Arcade Fire and younger brother of Win Butler. Though Win and wife Regine usually take center stage in Arcade Fire, Will is often the most memorable at live shows. His charismatic energy on stage commands an audience as he thrashes around and throws […]