Don’t Let Go, Fantastic Cat (from the Missing Piece Records release Cat Out of Hell) A scream-along-at-the-top-of-your-lungs anthem about holding on to your dreams. Nothing you can buy can save what you soldSo hold on tight to the light in your soulDon’t look down, baby don’t let… Don’t let go Suffer, Boy Golden (from the […]
Mayer’s Picks – the Best of 2026 (So Far), the Albums
Cat Out of Hell by Fantastic Cat Fantastic Cat’s third album is another classic, nothing but pure pop perfection. Four songwriters with distinct styles blend here in a way that shouldn’t work as well as it does — sharp and spirited in both lyric and melody. And credit where it’s due: any album title that […]
Now & Then: Hurray For The Riff Raff’s Live Forever and the reach of Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Live Forever is a live album, but it also feels like a check-in from the road, a way of hearing Hurray For The Riff Raff’s songs in a shared space. Alynda Segarra has long written with one foot in folk tradition and the other in a tougher, more restless world, where memory, loss, survival, and movement blur together. That makes Car Wheels on a Gravel Road a useful earlier marker, not because the records sound alike in every respect, but because Lucinda Williams showed how roots music could carry intimate detail, regional texture, and emotional wear without losing its bite.
Readers’ Pick: Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong
You picked Lucinda Williams – World’s Gone Wrong as your favorite new release for the week of January 23, 2026.
The Twangville Early 2026 Preview
The Dreamin’ Kind by Langhorne Slim (16 Jan) Langhorne Slim cranks up the electric guitars on his newest release. Yet while the sound may be different, the songs remain the same – brilliant sing-along anthems that don’t shy away from the darker side of humanity. From start to finish, he wears his heart on his […]
Monday Morning Video – Jesse Malin
Some may know the story of Jesse Malin. The longtime cornerstone of New York’s East Village music scene suffered a traumatic spinal stroke in 2023, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. The singer-songwriter, who has long preached “positive mental attitude”, persevered through months of medical treatments and physical therapy with the hope of returning […]
Colin James – Chasing the Sun
To say that Colin James is big in Canada is an understatement. With eight Juno Awards (Canadian Grammies) and 31 Maple Leaf Blues Awards, James might be the most prominent member of a healthy Canadian blues scene that has included the likes of Steve Dawson, Colin Linden, Sue Foley, Jim Byrnes, JW-Jones, Big Dave McLean […]
Monday Morning Video – Lucinda Williams “Passionate Kisses”
While it was Mary Chapin Carpenter’s cover that ultimately earned Lucinda Williams a Grammy award for the song, I’ve always been partial to the grittiness of Williams’ original version. Here’s a performance by Williams from Austin City Limits.
Monday Morning Video – Lucinda Williams
I referenced this song in my SXSW coverage last week so figured that I’d share the video this week. This is Lucinda Williams performing “Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings”.
Readers’ Pick: Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels
You picked Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels as your favorite new release for the week of April 24, 2020. New Releases Did we miss something? If you feel a new release is missing from our current poll, please let us know in the comments. Readers’ Tops Winter & Spring 2020 Robert Vincent – […]