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Radiator King's "Madame Marie" Is a Wistful Look Back on Childhood (premiere)

Radiator King's "Madame Marie" is an understated Americana anthem that looks back on the wonders of childhood.

Music

Country Westerns Bask in an Unparalleled Sound and Energy on Their Debut

Country Westerns are intent on rejecting assumptions about a band from Nashville while basking in an unparalleled sound and energy.

Music

Margo Price Is Rumored to Be the New Stevie Nicks

Margo Price was marketed as country rock because of her rural roots. But she was always more rock than country, as one can hear on That's How Rumors Get Started.

Music

Counterbalance 18: Bruce Springsteen - 'Born to Run'

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!

Music

Bruce Springsteen's 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' Calls Out to Us

Bruce Springsteen's 1995 album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inherited and built upon some powerful 20th century American literary, political, and pop culture themes. Can we hear its haunting call in these times?

Events

With Musical Range and Noisemaking, Bruce Hornsby Takes San Francisco

The uncle of melodious heartland rock, Bruce Hornsby gets his cues from San Francisco fans at a sold-out gig at the venerable Palace of Fine Arts.

Music

Moody Little Sister Travel to "711 Lucky Street" (premiere)

Combining the sounds of prairie country and heartland rock, Moody Little Sister tease their upcoming album with "711 Lucky Street".

Music

The Hold Steady Return to Form on 'Thrashing Thru the Passion'

The classic rock-inspired Hold Steady sound revitalized on their latest, Thrashing Thru the Passion, with keyboardist Franz Nicolay back and a horn section in tow.

Music

Mark Mulcahy's 'The Gus' Is an Elusive and Mysterious Delight

Taking inspiration from the short fiction of George Saunders and featuring guest appearances from Rain Phoenix and J. Mascis, Mark Mulcahy condenses ten brilliant and baffling short stories into barely a half hour of music.

Music

Jack and Diane: A Little Ditty about Generation X

John Cougar Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane" provided the soundtrack to GenXers growing up in nowhere towns that were expected to adapt to a world that pretty much dismissed them.

Music

Bruce Springsteen's 'Western Stars' Grows More Satisfying with Repeated Exposure

Deeply moving, inventive and even a bit risky, Western Stars will take its place among Bruce Springsteen's solo gems.

Music

Nils Lofgren Celebrates Love, Loss, Friendship Via 'Blue With Lou'

Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young collaborator, Nils Lofgren's Blue With Lou is a career high that frequently recalls his early work with Grin, while rising to new, majestic heights.

Books

On Warren Zevon, the "Kurt Vonnegut of Rock Music"

Author C. M. Kushins talks with PopMatters about the complicated legacy of Warren Zevon, from crack-up to recovery and back again, and his research for Nothing's Bad Luck: The Lives of Warren Zevon.

Music

With 'Ain't No Storm', Tony Lucca Brings Nashville Influence to His Sound (album stream) (premiere)

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.

Music

Dan Hubbard's "Run Towards the River" Represents a New Beginning (premiere)

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".

Music

Andrew Leahey & the Homestead Cover Echo & the Bunnymen's "Lips Like Sugar" (premiere)

Andrew Leahey & the Homestead give Echo & the Bunnymen's hit single "Lips Like Sugar" a lick of heartland paint.

Music

'Springsteen on Broadway' Is Springsteen Fully Owning the Myth of the Working Class Hero

Springsteen on Broadway is a powerful audio document of Bruce Springsteen's 14 month one-man performance run at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theater.

Music

The Effortless Charm of John Hiatt Is Alive and Well on 'The Eclipse Sessions'

Legendary singer/songwriter John Hiatt's 23rd studio album, The Eclipse Sessions, is a sharp, eclectic collection of songs.

Music

Tom Petty: An American Treasure

Tom Petty's An American Treasure is a total win. Its showcase of b-sides, leftovers, outtakes, and live performances keeps a tight focus on the fact that Petty left this world plenty of excellent material.

Music

Ike Reilly's "Clean Blood Blues" Captures Attitude, Artistic Grit (premiere)

Ike Reilly continues exploring the tradition of artist as outlaw in latest track "Clean Blood Blues", and you know he means it.

Music

Will Courtney May Be "Too High Now" (premiere)

Will Courtney gives listeners a reason to anticipate his upcoming album with a blazing new track that rivals Neil Young with and without Crazy Horse. Ragged glory? Galore.

Music

Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles Deliver Love Song With a Sweet Twist Via "House on a Hill" (premiere + interview)

Sarah Borges' songs remind us that simplicity and clarity can be more impactful than clever metaphors and the complicated machinery that accompanies most pop singles today.

Music

Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls Tell the Story of "In Love With My Gun" (premiere)

There are some who have had enough of handgun violence. Roots rockers Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls engage the gun debate in "In Love With My Gun".

Books

Zevon Never Dies: 'Accidentally Like a Martyr' Epitomizes That Wonderful Feeling of Being a Zevon Fan

James Campion's touching, personal study of Warren Zevon's music serves as a reminder of the lasting intimacy of Zevon's songwriting.

Music

American Aquarium's 'Things Change' Is a Solid Critique on the Intersections of Life and Society

BJ Barham assembled a new line-up for American Aquarium's seventh album Things Change to reflect and share thoughts on changes in his personal life and the American landscape.

Music

Yesterday's Jukebox: John Hiatt - 'Bring the Family' / 'Slow Turning'

Legendary singer/songwriter John Hiatt's groundbreaking pair of late '80s albums have been reissued on vinyl. Fire up your turntable and get ready for this thing called love.

Music

Butch Walker: Stay Gold

Butch Walker gives his greatest performance to date on heart-filled album.

Jedd Beaudoin

Music

Waco Brothers: Going Down in History

The omnipresent and perhaps omnipotent Waco Brothers give us a much needed boost of energy that marries the old with the new. That's predictable. What they do with it ain't.

Music

Counterbalance: Uncle Tupelo - No Depression

Fear the hearts of men are failing. These are latter days we know. The great depression now is spreading. God's word declared it would be so. I'm going where there's only the 2,839th most acclaimed album of all time. An alt-rock bellwether is this week's Counterbalance.

Music

John Hiatt: Here to Stay: Best of 2000-2012

John Hiatt is a master, a genius at his art, and here’s hoping that the title of this collection is tellingly prescient in its choice of title.

Music

Cass McCombs: Humor Risk

On his second LP of 2011, McCombs adds to the year's growing list of great, unorthodox takes on the heartland rock formula.

Music

Jim Bryson and the Weakerthans: The Falcon Lake Incident

From the album cover depicting a starry night sky right down to the lyric sheet, there is an infatuation with the heavens that gives the record an underlying dreamy theme.

Music

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Mojo

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers certainly got back their MoJo working on this new album. It has some of the most well-written songs he's released since at least as far back as 1985's Southern Accents.

Music

The Hold Steady: Boys and Girls in America

From bar band to arena-ready rockers, the Hold Steady reach near-Springsteenian heights on their third album, Boys and Girls in America.

Music

John Hiatt: Crossing Muddy Waters

Like Bruce Springsteen on his excellent breakup-tinged song cycle Tunnel of Love, John Hiatt the songwriter and consummate musician still manages to coax some powerfully stirring music out of whatever heartache he might be suffering.

Kevin Oliver

Reviews

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Features

15 Classic Horror Films That Just Won't Die

How 'Watchmen' and 'The Boys' Deconstruct American Fascism

The Top 10 Definitive Breakup Albums

The 13 Greatest Horror Directors of All Time

While the Sun Shines: An Interview with Composer Joe Wong

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PM Picks

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PopMatters is moving to WordPress. We will publish a few essays daily while we develop the new site. We hope the beta will be up sometime late next week.

With today's release of Tom Petty's Wildflowers & All the Rest (Deluxe Edition), we're revisiting Petty's 20 best songs.

Radiator King's "Madame Marie" is an understated Americana anthem that looks back on the wonders of childhood.

Country Westerns are intent on rejecting assumptions about a band from Nashville while basking in an unparalleled sound and energy.

Margo Price was marketed as country rock because of her rural roots. But she was always more rock than country, as one can hear on That's How Rumors Get Started.

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!

Bruce Springsteen's 1995 album, The Ghost of Tom Joad, inherited and built upon some powerful 20th century American literary, political, and pop culture themes. Can we hear its haunting call in these times?

The uncle of melodious heartland rock, Bruce Hornsby gets his cues from San Francisco fans at a sold-out gig at the venerable Palace of Fine Arts.

Combining the sounds of prairie country and heartland rock, Moody Little Sister tease their upcoming album with "711 Lucky Street".

The classic rock-inspired Hold Steady sound revitalized on their latest, Thrashing Thru the Passion, with keyboardist Franz Nicolay back and a horn section in tow.

Taking inspiration from the short fiction of George Saunders and featuring guest appearances from Rain Phoenix and J. Mascis, Mark Mulcahy condenses ten brilliant and baffling short stories into barely a half hour of music.

John Cougar Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane" provided the soundtrack to GenXers growing up in nowhere towns that were expected to adapt to a world that pretty much dismissed them.

Deeply moving, inventive and even a bit risky, Western Stars will take its place among Bruce Springsteen's solo gems.

Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young collaborator, Nils Lofgren's Blue With Lou is a career high that frequently recalls his early work with Grin, while rising to new, majestic heights.

Author C. M. Kushins talks with PopMatters about the complicated legacy of Warren Zevon, from crack-up to recovery and back again, and his research for Nothing's Bad Luck: The Lives of Warren Zevon.

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".

Andrew Leahey & the Homestead give Echo & the Bunnymen's hit single "Lips Like Sugar" a lick of heartland paint.

Springsteen on Broadway is a powerful audio document of Bruce Springsteen's 14 month one-man performance run at Broadway's Walter Kerr Theater.

Legendary singer/songwriter John Hiatt's 23rd studio album, The Eclipse Sessions, is a sharp, eclectic collection of songs.

Tom Petty's An American Treasure is a total win. Its showcase of b-sides, leftovers, outtakes, and live performances keeps a tight focus on the fact that Petty left this world plenty of excellent material.

Ike Reilly continues exploring the tradition of artist as outlaw in latest track "Clean Blood Blues", and you know he means it.

Will Courtney gives listeners a reason to anticipate his upcoming album with a blazing new track that rivals Neil Young with and without Crazy Horse. Ragged glory? Galore.

Sarah Borges' songs remind us that simplicity and clarity can be more impactful than clever metaphors and the complicated machinery that accompanies most pop singles today.

There are some who have had enough of handgun violence. Roots rockers Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls engage the gun debate in "In Love With My Gun".

James Campion's touching, personal study of Warren Zevon's music serves as a reminder of the lasting intimacy of Zevon's songwriting.

BJ Barham assembled a new line-up for American Aquarium's seventh album Things Change to reflect and share thoughts on changes in his personal life and the American landscape.

Legendary singer/songwriter John Hiatt's groundbreaking pair of late '80s albums have been reissued on vinyl. Fire up your turntable and get ready for this thing called love.

Butch Walker gives his greatest performance to date on heart-filled album.

The omnipresent and perhaps omnipotent Waco Brothers give us a much needed boost of energy that marries the old with the new. That's predictable. What they do with it ain't.

Fear the hearts of men are failing. These are latter days we know. The great depression now is spreading. God's word declared it would be so. I'm going where there's only the 2,839th most acclaimed album of all time. An alt-rock bellwether is this week's Counterbalance.

John Hiatt is a master, a genius at his art, and here’s hoping that the title of this collection is tellingly prescient in its choice of title.

On his second LP of 2011, McCombs adds to the year's growing list of great, unorthodox takes on the heartland rock formula.

From the album cover depicting a starry night sky right down to the lyric sheet, there is an infatuation with the heavens that gives the record an underlying dreamy theme.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers certainly got back their MoJo working on this new album. It has some of the most well-written songs he's released since at least as far back as 1985's Southern Accents.

From bar band to arena-ready rockers, the Hold Steady reach near-Springsteenian heights on their third album, Boys and Girls in America.

Like Bruce Springsteen on his excellent breakup-tinged song cycle Tunnel of Love, John Hiatt the songwriter and consummate musician still manages to coax some powerfully stirring music out of whatever heartache he might be suffering.