On January 1st, Ryan Adams dropped FIVE new albums and became the MVP of 2024. Yes, you read that correctly. FIVE. NEW. ALBUMS. I’ve been taking my time digesting each of them and am going to start with Sword & Stone here. As a self-proclaimed superfan, getting these records as a New Year’s present was pretty […]
Trent Wagler of The Steel Wheels on Office Clutter and His Favorite Day Job
Trent Wagler of Virginia-based The Steel Wheels talks about a first song that prioritized rhyme over meaning and the importance of inner motivation.
Monday Morning Video – Dan Bern
As long-time readers know, I do like me a good kiss-off song. A literal read of the lyrics to Dan Bern’s “Baby Bye Bye” finds it more closure than kiss-off adjacent but I’d like to think there’s a hint of sarcasm in there. And you’re gone, it was time to flyAnd all that’s left is […]
Readers’ Pick: Old Heavy Hands – Small Fires
You picked Old Heavy Hands – Small Fires as your favorite new release for the week of January 19, 2024.
The Third Mind – Live and in Studio
The email started innocuously: “Hey, hope all’s well.” It was from a record company publicist suggesting there was a show at my local spot I might want to go see. Dave Alvin’s jam band had a new record out, they’d played a successful first live gig at Hardly Strictly, and they were going to take […]
Clay Parker and Jodi James on The Louvin Brothers, Christmas Songs, and Rolling Dice
Louisiana singer-songwriters Clay Parker and Jodi James talk about the the band’s home on wheels situation and the importance of diversification.
Monday Morning Video – John Prine
The legendary John Prine pays tribute to fellow Chicago songwriter Steve Goodman in this 1997 performance at Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music. “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” has a unique history, from Prine’s original insistence that his name not be listed on the credits to the final verse that Goodman […]
Readers’ Pick: Chris O’Leary – The Hard Line
You picked Chris O’Leary – The Hard Line as your favorite new release for the week of January 12, 2024.
Love Me Back to Life – A Premiere From Chris J Norwood and the Knockdown Dragout
Sometimes you just want to have fun. And what better way to do so than to hearken back to the classic sounds of Motown and Stax. That’s apparently the approach that Dallas artist Chris J Norwood took with his forthcoming album. As he describes below, Norwood dug into the styles of those legendary musical institutions […]
Sarah Jarosz – Polaroid Lovers
Back in 2005 I had the pleasure of seeing a then-13-year-old Sarah Jarosz in cut-offs and black high-tops shredding her mandolin on a couple of bluegrass numbers in the spot she’d earned by winning the previous year’s youth talent contest at Old Settler’s Music Festival. Several of the other acts that year invited her up […]