Brooklyn folkie Ana Egge collaborated with Dick Connette and Stewart Lerman on "This Time", which was directly inspired by the murder of George Floyd.
Alabama Slim's "Rock Me Baby" is music that stays mostly still, allowing the world to move around it and reveal its fullest heart and soul only when the listener becomes one with the music's masterful simplicity and quiet elegance.
Rather than succumb to the difficulties of our era, many progressive creators doubled down on their artistry to produce some of their best work and tighten their relationships with their admirers.
San Diego's Kimm Rogers taps into frustration with truth-masking on "Lie". "What I found most frustrating was that no one would utter the word 'lie'."
Los Angeles' Swerve share their new single "Escape", which marries 1970s-inspired aesthetics with contemporary sensibilities.
Country singer-songwriter Rachel Brooke reflects on life in a small town where winters are long and comforts can be few in "The Lovells Stockade Blues".
California singer-songwriter Rick Shea, whose credits include stints with Dave Alvin and Chris Gaffney delivers a dispatch on life of this most trying of years, 2020.
Drawing on inspiration from Gillian Welch, Ryan Martin delivers a song that taps into classic country-rock of the early 1970s. "You can certainly dance to it," he says.
Guitarist Jason Sissoyev speaks about Coastlands' emotionally-charged new LP, a meditation that is heavy in more ways that one. "It pummels you, then there's this release and then it keeps going," he says.
David Poe's "Gun for a Mouth" works in a fine tradition of smart, hook-driven American songwriting that lands between Matthew Sweet and Kevin Gilbert.
Jesus and Alice Cooper are tighter than you think, but a young Jim White was taught to treat them as polar opposites. Then an eight-track saved his soul and maybe his life.
Is social distancing something we've been doing, unwittingly, all along? Brett Newski pulls some pranks, raises some questions in "What Are You Smoking?".
3 Pairs of Boots are releasing Long Rider in January 2021. The record demonstrates the pair's unmistakable chemistry and honing of their Americana-driven sound, as evidenced by the single, "Everywhere I Go".
Dancer, healer, musician Devi Mambouka shares the trippy "Sundown Forest", which takes listeners deep into the subconscious and onto a healing path.
Gloom Balloon's Patrick Tape Fleming considers what making a music video during a pandemic might involve because, well, he made one. Could Fellini come up with this plot twist?
Brian Cullman's "Someday Miss You" taps into American roots music, carries it across the Atlantic and back for a sound that is both of the past and present.
David Lord teams with Jeff Parker (Tortoise) and Chad Taylor (Chicago Underground) for a new collection of sweeping, frequently meditative compositions. The results are jazz for a still-distant future that's still rooted in tradition.
Afro Transcendentalist Laraaji prepares his second album of 2020, the meditative Moon Piano, recorded inside a Brooklyn church. The record is an example of what the artist refers to as "pulling music from the sky".
Johnny Ray Daniels' "Somewhere to Lay My Head" is from new compilation that's a companion to a book detailing the work of artist/musician/folklorist Freeman Vines. Vines chronicles racism and injustice via his work.
The Parson Red Heads' "Turn Around" is a pop tune, but pop as heard through ears more attuned to AM radio's glory days rather than streaming playlists and studio trickery.
How does Chris Smither play guitar that way? What impact does New Orleans have on his music? He might not be able to answer those questions directly but he can sure write a song about it.
The Last Shall Be First: the JCR Records Story, Volume 1 captures the sacred soul of Memphis in the 1970s and features a wide range of largely forgotten artists waiting to be rediscovered. Hear the Masonic Travelers "Rock My Soul".
Chicago's the Flat Five deliver an exciting new single that exemplifies what some have called "twisted sunshine vocal pop".
Bass giant Brian Bromberg revisits his 2012 tribute to Jimi Hendrix 50 years after his passing, and reflects on the impact Hendrix's music has had on generations.
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