The title of Americana artist Nathaniel Rateliff's latest solo LP, And It's Still Alright, suggests that there's joy after pain, but the record's contents also note that the opposite is true.
Americana's John Moreland has a deep voice and sings without affectation. There's an honesty in his straightforward delivery and something down-to-earth even in his most lofty sentiments.
Texas country artist Terry Allen has a sinister sense of humor that he uses to lighten up Just Like Moby Dick and add emotional depth to seemingly innocent situations.
On The Neon Skyline, Andy Shauf reminisces about the bad as well as the good with the fuzziness of alcohol cushioning the blows of memory. Life continues, he notes, even if it doesn't always progress.
Marcus King has a raw ache in his throat that makes him sound as if he's coarsely whispering the words. Even when he's singing about a "Young Man's Dream", King's vocals suggest the experience of age.
Miranda Lambert can be funny on Wildcard, and she makes fun of herself as well as others. The songs are generally radio friendly. No doubt this CD will yield several hits. However, one expects more.
Vetiver get intimate by addressing one person at a time on their new album, Up on High. This music is for dancing alone in one's mind.
For 26 minutes, folk's Darrin Bradbury creatively mines the preposterous to show the benefits of mentally coping with life's problems. Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs provides a kind of talk therapy for our collective disorders.
Stony Plain Records rounds up lost tapes from Canadian country/folk legends Ian and Sylvia Tyson performing as Great Speckled Bird in 1969. It was a very good discovery, indeed.
On Big Thief's Two Hands, the songs flow together and were purposely linked without pauses. This is an arid record purposely made in the desert with an audible dryness and shimmer to the sound.
Americana singer-songwriter, Jeremy Ivey is a romantic in tough guy clothes He may pessimistically perceive the world with his head, but his heart intrudes and he can't keep from smiling at the goodness.
Room 41 showcases Paul Cauthen's continued growth as an innovative country artist who isn't afraid to take risks.
The New Pornographers' latest offers a myriad of listening pleasures on the surface, and the further one digs into its contents, the more one can find to enjoy until one concludes that the journey of discovery is its sole purpose.
On Twelve Nudes, Ezra Furman demonstrates how an explosion of negative feelings can create an enjoyable sensation.
Devendra Banhart's latest album, Ma, is a tender, beautiful meditation on the bonds that ties us together.
Five albums from 1976-1981 on a three-CD box set reveal the underappreciated talents of the Emotions, three Chicago sisters with a sophisticated R&B/disco sound. The group is well overdue for newfound appreciation as their sound has influenced contemporary pop more than one realizes.
On No Man's Land, Frank Turner celebrates everyone from his mother, a spy, a serial killer, a CPR dummy, to more saintly beings on his tribute to women using only female accompanists.
While Pitchfork Music Festival may not be a cutting edge music fest anymore, it shows that festivals will never die as long audiences and artists believe in the power of the music.
Eilen Jewell's music provides a way for us to sonically amble through the daily grind without being weighed down by it. We can all be gypsies for the length of a song, even when lamenting our restricted existence.
Car Seat Headrest leader Will Toledo selected nine songs from over 50 gigs from around the globe recorded during 2018 for the band's new live recording.
Folkies Mat Callahan and Yvonne Moore present a collection of pre-World War II songs about the struggle for economic justice with Working-Class Heroes: A History of Struggle in Song.
Many of the songs on the Black Watch's Magic Johnson explicitly deal with the trope of insanity, a staple of late '60s / early '70s music that declared that the only sane response to living in an insane world was to be crazy.
A music historian could pick out the multitude of sources that inform Diplomats of Solid Sound's A Higher Place. That may be fun and even illustrative, but it's beside the point. This is music to party with, dance to, and enjoy.
Americana duo Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis capture the sound of classic country music from the past and make it part of the here and now on Beautiful Lie.
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