Album Reviews

Making a sound instilled with a decided brashness and bluster, Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band’s name represents something of a misnomer. The Big Damn Band is, in fact, a mere trio, though a powerful one ...

This is only Amy Helm’s second solo album and if you’ve been to her rocking, infectious live shows it may surprise you. Helm is essentially restrained throughout This Too Shall Light, choosing a subtler, but ...

“We’re experimenting with some new sounds”.  Those were the words of 22-year-old Marcus King when this author spoke to him back in March of this year. Patiently answering my questions via cellphone about his upcoming gig ...

Quick categorization often incurs the danger of stereotyping an artist whose versatility deserves far better. While it may be a convenient way to pigeonhole a performer, it also runs a risk of ignoring their great ...

Five years between albums can invite a lot of curiosity, and in the case of Phosphorescent, whose 2013 record Muchacho felt like a tall peak for Matthew Houck as an artist, it has also left ...

Whether or not it was recorded subsequent to or simultaneous with its predecessor, The Modern Lives Vol. 2 is much superior. Otherwise fully complementary to Vol. 1 right down to the cover graphics, Jackie Greene’s ...

Americana songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist Sylvia Rose Novak is releasing this self-produced effort, Someone Else’s War, that calls attention to the mostly darker sides of human nature, the duality of the South, and our current ...

[ratomg The kick in the Brandy Alexander is the cognac/brandy, smoothed out by fresh cream and crème de cacao.  This new soul-rock band from Brooklyn takes their name from the cocktail as powerhouse vocalist Brandi ...

Wanderer, Cat Power’s tenth album, is a return to the slower, softer sound that characterized 2006’s The Greatest, after a brief flirtation with upbeat pop on 2012’s Sun. Cat Power, whose real name is Chan ...

Will Hoge’s My American Dream has a copy of the U.S. Constitution printed with the lyrics in both the LP and CD, clearly signaling the messages within. Hoge is Americana’s answer to the late Gil ...