Hal Horowitz
Hal has been a professional music journalist since 1994, writing predominately about country, blues, Americana, roots rock and singer/songwriter genres for a variety of publications.
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.
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.
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.
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•Israel Nash - Topaz
There aren’t many artists talented enough to pull off a concept this uniquely creative and idiosyncratic without a hint of pretension. But Israel Nash has honed this territory for a while. The result is an immaculately constructed, filmic album that’s both expansive yet personal.
STAFF PICKS•Rhiannon Giddens - They're Calling Me Home
Rhiannon Giddens doesn’t need much time or supporting instrumentation to create fervently moving art. Even though the stripped-down qualities of They’re Calling Me Home are the result of the pandemic, they yield some of the most stirring music you’re likely to hear, this year or any other.
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.
STAFF PICKS•Amythyst Kiah - Wary + Strange
For Staff Picks, we share with you our favourite new releases that you need to listen to. This week, it's Amythyst Kiah's Wary + Strange - a mesmerizing, frequently hypnotic and always challenging work.
ALBUM REVIEW•Sara Watkins - Under The Pepper Tree
Even if this leans to pop more than the country or bluegrass she is best known for, Watkins’ affection for this collection of children's songs is obvious. She successfully crafts an album adults can enjoy, just as much as their little ones; maybe even more so.
ALBUM REVIEW•M. Ward - Think of Spring
Leave it to M. Ward to release one of the most downbeat and melancholy albums of his career - just in time for the Christmas season.
ALBUM REVIEW•Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band - Dance Songs For Hard Times
Dance Songs for Hard Times is high-spirited, rambunctious roots music and a soundtrack to help dance away the blues - pandemic or otherwise.
ALBUM REVIEW•The Pink Stones - Introducing... The Pink Stones
There's a depth of honesty, sensitivity and integrity to Introducing... The Pink Stones that few debut releases have the capacity or courage to display. The Pink Stones aren’t trying to reinvent the cosmic American music wheel, just get behind it and drive for a while. Come along and enjoy the ride.
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.
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•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•Willie Nelson - That's Life
There aren’t many surprises on That's Life, but that’s unimportant. Nelson’s in terrific voice, he clearly loves the material and delivers each of the eleven Frank Sinatra cover tracks with beautifully nuanced authenticity.
ALBUM REVIEW•The Band - Stage Fright (50th Anniversary Edition)
How great were The Band? Great enough to craft ten remarkable songs that remain moving and often exhilarating, even under trying and some might say demanding circumstances.
ALBUM REVIEW•Morgan Wade - Reckless
Reckless is an impressive initial showcase for a relatively new artist laying out her voice, personality and affecting lyrics for the world to hear. It’s still early in 2021, but this is likely to be one of the year’s top country debuts.
ALBUM REVIEW•Parker Millsap - Be Here Instead
Every talented musician needs to grow and mature. That’s what Parker Millsap effectively does on Be Here Instead, his shot to attract a larger audience while preserving the organic qualities that have served him well to this point.
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•Dale Watson - Presents: The Memphians
Watson's spirited, affectionate work on Presents: The Memphians may only be a side trip in an extensive career, but it further confirms his love of a genre he will never abandon.
ALBUM REVIEW•Barry Gibb - Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol. 1
The theory is enticing, but Greenfields is frustratingly a missed opportunity to breathe fresh life into Gibb’s music.
STAFF PICKS•Jimbo Mathus & Andrew Bird - These 13
The duo plainly love this music, but instead of just covering musty classics, have crafted new songs every bit as genuine.
ALBUM REVIEW•Joy Oladokun - in defense of my own happiness
It’s an impressive introduction - a balancing act that keeps one foot in deep, dark impressions while the other stands within enough commerciality to attract newcomers to Oladokun's sound.
ALBUM REVIEW•The Cadillac Three - COUNTRY FUZZ
On the genre bending COUNTRY FUZZ, The Cadillac Three dispense with anyone’s idea of what they should sound like and instead march to the beat of their own drum.