Archive: 2020

Punk legends, The Distillers are thrilled to announce the 20th-anniversary reissue of their self-titled debut album. The newly remastered record will be released on October 30 digitally and on vinyl. The exclusive vinyl will be limited to 2000 pieces in opaque sunburst, 1,550 pieces in clear with green/purple/black smoke, and 500 pieces exclusive to Zia in […]

Blue on Blue, the new album by renowned singer, writer and ukulele-player Sylvie Simmons might be her second release but it hasn’t put her in in cruise control by any means. As an accomplished music journalist who has written biographies on Serge Gainsbourg, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and had the privilege of documenting Johnny Cash’s last […]

Molly Tuttle continues to reveal surprises.  The former IBMA “Guitar Player of the Year” and 2028 American Music Award winner for “Instrumentalist of the Year” proved last year with her debut When You’re Ready that she’s more than a capable singer-songwriter. Now, with “…but I’d rather be with you” she shows us her unique takes […]

“The music goes ’round with love. It’s why this band means so much to so many,” writes MC Kostek about his favorite band, NRBQ, in his liner notes from the band’s new rarities retrospective. In their over five-decade career, NRBQ have never played by the rules. Why should they? They’re the ’Q. While other artists […]

Pete Krebs & The Gossamer Wings will release a new album on the first of three Record Store Day Drops on August 29, 2020. The legendary Portland, OR musician’s first solo album in 20 years contains 10 original songs, inspired by a few decades that have seemed like a lifetime and recorded with friends in […]

The prolific Barrett Martin is a Grammy-winning producer, drummer, and composer who sallies forth here with his band’s ninth album Scattered Diamonds. Martin provided a generous heaping of tracks here, making a lengthy CD that features 15 guest artists across its 17 tracks.  These artists reflect Martin’s global influences as they are singers and musicians […]

Acclaimed entertainer Fred Eaglesmith has created a prolific catalog of music praised for its authentic story telling. On September 18, Eaglesmith and Tif Ginn are set to release a new live album, Alive. The two-disc, 34-track set was recorded live from their 2019 concert at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, Virginia, and embodies their performance experience […]

Texas Hill Country blues and roots music MVP Johnny Nicholas announces the release of his new album, Mistaken Identity, via the Louisiana-based Valcour Records label. The digital version is set for release on August 28, with CD and vinyl formats following on October 2. The album was produced, recorded and mixed by Valcour Records co-founder […]

HBO’s latest is quickly becoming one of the best new shows of 2020.

The day before the release of his first album in a dozen years, Brandon Curtis is sitting on his screened-in porch in Northern Vermont, miles from the Canadian border, with a seemingly endless sprawl of pine trees behind him that couldn’t make for a sharper contrast to his younger years. The Secret Machines came up […]

Billy Zoom is in his shed. Chances are, though, his shed is a lot cooler than my shed or your shed. I’m picturing a room with lots of cool guitar gadgets, perhaps a TV and a comfy chair, away from the bustle of a household that includes teenaged twins. With coronavirus out there in the […]

Two-time Grammy Award-winning and one of today’s most highly acclaimed vocalists, Gregory Porter, puts about as many genres and musical configurations as one could fit onto any album with a generous helping of 13 tracks (15 on the Deluxe version) for All Rise, his sixth studio album. In tow are his longtime bandmates, generally a […]

Sometimes music emanates from unexpected places. Zephaniah Ohora, in this case, delivers one of the most classic sounding country albums this side of Nashville, Bakersfield, Austin, or any other likely place you’d care to name. These are 21st-century songs about urban landscapes with an authentic classic country approach, played by a multi-generational band assembled by […]

Jonathan Richman’s fourth solo effort, I, Jonathan, came at a pretty momentous time in American music. In 1992, glam metal was still throwing punches that failed to connect as they gasped for relevancy, meanwhile Nirvana’s Nevermind had just about taken over the world and launched a thousand clones armed with distortion pedals and flannel shirts. […]

Prolific singer-songwriter Justin Townes Earle, who like his father Steve, produced meaningful lyrically driven music that spoke of the plight of the working man and the “small” guy, died unexpectedly today at the age of 38. Earle has never strayed away from talking about his past battles with addiction, and more recently became married and […]

Nine years ago, Bright Eyes released The People’s Key which was supposedly the group’s very last LP. Bright Eyes’ lyricist and vocalist, Conor Oberst said in interviews that there would be no more music under the Bright Eyes moniker. Nine years later the group has double-backed on those statements, with their highly anticipated tenth studio […]

Jimmy Chamberlin Complex has announced its new album Honor, due out September 25th via Make Records. Legendary Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin teams up with bassist/producer Billy Mohler and guitarist Sean Wollstenhulme for Honor, while also featuring Frank Catalano and Kneebody members Adam Benjamin, Ben Wendell and Shane Endsley. The first single “Humility” recently premiered and can be heard below. […]

Nearly 18 years after hip hop legend Jam Master Jay of Run D.M.C, was gunned down in his Queens recording studio, NYPD police announced this week that the men responsible for the murder had been caught. A relief to both family and fans, the murder’s solving closed the file on one of the longest mysteries of […]