ALBUM REVIEW•Flatland Cavalry - Welcome to Countryland
If you’re craving some sweet country authenticity, then this young Texan six-piece might be exactly what you’re looking for.
ALBUM REVIEW•'Hiss' 'Golden' Messenger - "Quietl'y Blowing It"....
This release 'feels like the beginning' of a "confident new phas'e" for M.C. Taylor - and might herald that for the music world in genera'l too.
ALBUM REVIEW•Lady Nade - Willing
This feels like third time lucky for Lady Nade, as she flexes her considerable songwriting and performance skills on the very edges of Americana. It’s almost as if Austin, Texas had upped sticks and landed alongside the River Avon. Or perhaps even vice versa.
ALBUM REVIEW•Joana Serrat - Hardcore from the Heart
It might be named after a book by sexologist and essayist Annie Sprinkles, but it is very much the Catalan’s creation, drenched in hugely summery vibes with folk-angled vocals, and instrumentation that swirls and chimes across her tremendous walls of sound.
ALBUM REVIEW•Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - A Few Stars Apart
While the laid-back nature of it could use more of the energy exhibited on much of his other work, it demonstrates that slowing down to reevaluate your life, whether you planned to or not, is time well spent.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Randy Travis - The Storms of Life
Travis’ debut would prove to have an indelible influence on those who quickly followed him and contemporary artists who fly their own flag today.
LIVE REVIEW•Katie Pruitt and S.G. Goodman Live At The Burl, KY
For many music lovers in Central Kentucky, the Burl is a home away from home, so to get to step foot back inside and lay eyes on the glowing stain glass behind the stage is nothing short of magical.
STAFF PICKS•Shannon McNally - The Waylon Sessions
It comes as little surprise that McNally has finally got around to honoring Jennings with a disc dedicated to highlights and a few obscurities from his catalog.
ALBUM REVIEW•Blackberry Smoke - You Hear Georgia
With You Hear Georgia, Blackberry Smoke’s tried and true approach feels as potent now as it did when they started down their long career path 20 years ago.
ALBUM REVIEW•John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band - Leftover Feelings
It’s a classy, frequently moving, always provocative collaboration and one of Hiatt’s finest efforts which, considering his extensive catalog, is saying plenty.
STAFF PICKS•Lord Huron - Long Lost
Relish in this sumptuous look back into an Americana that may have never existed other than in the mind of Ben Schneider, an auteur who crafts this delightful, sometimes challenging conceptual piece without a hint of pretentiousness or affectation.
LIVE REVIEW•Jade Bird at The Burl in Lexington, KY
It may have been billed as an intimate evening of acoustic music, but at their show at The Burl in Lexington, Kentucky, vocal powerhouses Jade Bird and Savannah Conley certainly filled the instrumental void (and then some).
ALBUM REVIEW•Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Déjà Vu (50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)
This is classy and complete. It’s likely the last word on how the disparate musical and personal threads of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young were woven, creating the uneven yet tremendously successful and often musically spellbinding tapestry of Déjà Vu.
ALBUM REVIEW•Riley Downing - Start It Over
The debut solo album from The Deslondes member is bluesy and characteristically laid-back, coalescing different sounds into a soulful, lowdown whole. Once you’re on board with Downing's elusive, often entrancing vibe, you’ll wonder why it took a pandemic for him to hit center stage.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball
When a 48-year-old Harris stepped through the doors of producer Daniel Lanois’ New Orleans home to make her 18th studio album, little did we know that she’d emerge with this haunting masterpiece.
ALBUM REVIEW•Travis Tritt - Set In Stone
The singer’s confident voice and diversity in material display how much we’ve missed his presence in country music. It’s delightful to hear that he hasn’t lost a step.
STAFF PICKS•Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert, Jon Randall - The Marfa Tapes
The Marfa Tapes is the rawest – and some might say most real - recording you’ll get from this trio - and it's all the better for it. Its unembellished sound and scruffy methodology is a quality we don’t have enough of in today’s often excessively tweaked and overly polished fare.
ALBUM REVIEW•Tim McGraw - Everywhere
Everywhere would spark the beginning of a golden era for McGraw, laying the foundations for a truly remarkable career.
ALBUM REVIEW•Amy Speace - There Used To Be Horses Here
It’s clear that crafting There Used To Be Horses Here was a therapeutic process for Speace, one in which she found space for emotional expression and, from that, a sense of healing.
ALBUM REVIEW•Ashley Monroe - Rosegold
The East Tennessee native is wearing rose (gold) tinted specs to see everything in a more magical light – and there’s even something ethereal in the unearthly sonic sweep.