Bob Dylan makes his third appearance on the Acclaimed Music list with his 1975 album, Blood on the Tracks. Counterbalance’s Eric Klinger and Jason Mendelsohn are planting their stories in the press.
At 25, Phoebe Bridgers is, by all metrics, an artist at the beginning of her career, though Punisher sounds more like the work of a time-tested veteran perfecting a style she's been honing for years.
Psychedelic rockers the Grateful Dead changed directions in 1970 and went country with Workingman's Dead, becoming early folk-rock/country-rock pioneers.
Larkin Poe pack Self Made Man with unadulterated power. The multi-instrumentalist sisters strut their musicality while firmly rooting their sound in Southern rock 'n roll.
The rock 'n' roll crossfire of Counterbalance returns with a look at Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 epic Born to Run. Strap your hands ’cross their engines!
Teddy Thompson's Heartbreaker Please raises one's spirits by accepting the end as a new beginning. He's re-joining the world and out looking for love.
Through vibrant imagery and inventive musicality, Rearrange Us showcases Americana band Mt. Joy's growth as individuals and musicians.
Mark Olson (The Jayhawks) and Ingunn Ringvold share a 20-minute performance video that highlights their new album, Magdalen Accepts the Invitation. "This was an opportunity to perform the new songs and pretend in a way that we were still going on tour because we had been so looking forward to that."
Inspired by love and life, and of persistent present-day issues, indie folk band Annabelle's Curse expand their sound while keeping the emotive core of their work with Vast Oceans.
Folk rock's Woods create a superb new album, Strange to Explain, that mines the subconscious in search of answers to life's unsettling realities.
Indie folk powerhouses Ferdinand the Bull and the Accidentals' Sav Buist and Katie Larson team up for a song about self-dedication and self-worth, "Who's Got My Good Times?"
An old tale is retold with a different take and Americana band Satin Nickel prove heavy is a state of mind on "Shadow of Doubt".
Indie folk's Sophia St. Helen makes an impressive debut with her album, None the Wiser, an ethereal expression on love, heartache, and self-discovery. Stream it in full ahead of release tomorrow.
Pop's Brendan James is prepping a new album, but paused to release this new single with a message of hope and reconciliation.
Jeff Buckley's journals, photographs, and memorabilia of the late singer are compiled by his mother, Mary Guibert, and Rolling Stone's David Browne in Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice.
Tamikrest's Tamotaït adds a welcome lyrical side to their brand of Saharan desert rock. The group advocate for both unity and diversity in wonderfully dulcet tones.
Able to write and sing the blues, gospel, folk, rock and alt-country with the same amount of true grit and passion, Lucinda Williams comes out swinging while discussing her explosive new album during these troubled times.
On her new searing album, Good Souls Better Angels, Lucinda Williams rages against the darkness of our era and seeks the strength to get through it.
Daniel Romano's Outfit would be the perfect act for a club outside the industrial park on a Friday night when paychecks are cashed, hard drinks flow, and all one wants to do is get lost in the loud music.
Returning with his first album under his own name since 2011, Teddy Thompson remains the king of heartbreak. "I just don't know how to write about anything else. I don't see that there is anything else really impactful to write about."
Happy Hour on the Floor is a considerable departure from Parsonsfield's acclaimed rustic folk sound signaling their indie-pop orientation. Parsonsfield remind their audience to bestow gratitude and practice happiness: a truly welcomed exaltation.
Lilly Hiatt sings about a different kind of love on "Some Kind of Drug". Hers is for a city and the impact gentrification has had its soul.
The sometimes Wilco and Richard Thompson sideman, in-demand producer, and songwriter, James Elkington, muses on why it's taking longer than he expects to achieve more in a week than most of us get done in a lifetime.
Arriving less than a year after Drift Code, Rustin Man consolidates a rich vein of form with the sepia-toned Clockdust, an autumnal record rendered generous and exquisite by each song's emotional weight.
Every track on Lilly Hiatt's Walking Proof shines with imaginative playing, spirited vocals, and sensitive, literate lyrics. It's truly a kick ass record.
Neo-folk/black metal artist Myrkur bolsters her impressive discography with yet another distinctive and enthralling album that draws on other music while remaining uniquely her own.
Six Organs of Admittance's Companion Rises begins and ends in a pre-dawn haze, shadowed by an inky sky that stretches out toward the cosmos before landing softly back on Earth.
Mud-folk, psychedelic Americana band, Lord Buffalo deliver a new video tracked in Norman, Oklahoma and spotlighting the depth of their upcoming LP, Tohu Wa Bohu.
Number seven marks the first appearance of a fellow we’ll be seeing a lot of, one Bob Dylan. He’s a poor fool in his prime on the 1966 opus Blonde on Blonde—Counterbalance has a listen.
You Know I'm Not Going Anywhere is a sonic and lyrical breakthrough for the Districts, a record that's years beyond anything else in their catalog.
Daniel Pearson retains the knack for atmospheric melodies that garnered his reputation while confidently strutting back to his grittier rock roots on "Brother".
South London alt-rockers, Smoke Fairies allude to the danger of looking too closely in the light on their new album, Darkness Brings the Wonders Home. It's only in the darkness where one can experience the marvelous.
Stephen Malkmus' Traditional Techniques melds folk-rock flavoring with junk-food surrealism delivered through his characteristic brand of irony.
Phoebe Bridgers' "Garden Song" is a travelogue of memories and dreams, woven together gracefully and delivered with perfect effortlessness.
The father of soft rock is the latest to mine the Great American Songbook for inspiration, but unlike his peers, James Taylor approaches the material with the love, care, and sincerity of a true fan.
© 1999-2020 PopMatters.com. All rights reserved.
PopMatters is wholly independent, women-owned and operated.
