Shovels & Rope's By Blood is a record that smacks you in the face as a first impression, but then, still demands time to give up its secrets and grow on you. Give it the time.
Inspired by a haunting stay in North Fork, California, indie folk band Grand Canyon expand their sound with the shimmering, Americana-tinged pop of "Heaven".
Mean Dog, Trampoline is a thoroughly enjoyable album that highlights Matthew Lorenz's skills as a songwriter. Having Steve Berlin along as a producer certainly helps bring out more color in the Suitcase Junket's music.
Freakwater's Morgan Geer has returned with the best Drunken Prayer LP to date, Cordelia Elsewhere. Filled with hooks and mixed by Mitch Easter, it's the one we've all been waiting for and Geer tells us about it.
Inspired by her own tales of suffering and salvation, Kelly Augustine meshes her rootsy soul with folk authenticity on her debut album, Light in the Lowlands.
Born from self-realization in the aftermath of a divorce, Americana artist DL Rossi delivers a searingly honest note-to-self on his latest single, "Better".
Long-running alt-country act Son Volt mixes some forceful politics with a bit of filler for an album that's not quite as unified as it could have been.
Singer-songwriter Tony Lucca's first full-length album following a "self-imposed time-out" offers a refreshing look outward as he expands his musical boundaries.
Having written the song after a difficult discussion with his wife about living with abuse, Dan Hubbard's latest single is "a really earnest conversation about getting out".
